Friday, March 13 - Sunny and very windy on the top of this mesa we are camped on.  We finally crawled out of bed at 8:30 and Jeanne went for a 2.5 km walk trying to get some pictures to show where we are camped, but had to delete them later on in the day.

While Gordon was making toast (cooking on the stove outside) for our toast & tomato breakfast, Glade and his neighbor Ron came over to invite us to a fish fry on Saturday afternoon.  There is no limit to the number of fish one can catch in Lake Mead, and the boys had been out the day before and caught 24.  Everyone is heading home soon and their freezer is full, thus the fish fry.

Around 11:00 am we drove south 11 km to the Valley of Fire State Park.  Capturing the grandeur on our digital camera is impossible, but we took a camera full of photos and had to delete the ones Jeanne took during her morning walk to make room for a few more.  Hope you can get some idea of the vastness and the beauty of this land.  Valley of Fire was Nevada's first state park, so designated in the 20ies.  The winter temperatures range from freezing to 75 F.  Summer highs usually exceed 100 F and can reach 120 F.  They have an average yearly rainfall of 4".  The plant community is dominated by widely spaced creosote bush, burro bush, and brittlebush, with several cactus species, including beaver tail and cholla are also common.  Also common are several species of lizards and snakes, coyote, kit fox, skunk, jackrabbit and antelope ground squirrel.  We saw no wildlife while in the park.  The second and third from the last of the pictures were taken directly across the road from each other.  The last picture shows, in the far distance, the Mormon Mesa we rode up and over yesterday.  There is a little white spot about in the middle just below the furtherest mountains which is the letter "M" on the side of the Mesa.  After our return from the Valley of Fire we drove into town to get some things to make potato salad for the potluck tomorrow.  Gord made popcorn and we read our books then went to bed early.  It got up to 72F today.