RJ Elliott

I can honestly say I've never quite looked so much forward to jumping into a body of water. The hotel pool was luxury after a hot morning. We lounged and swam and truly felt like we were winding down and rolling into 'vacation mode'. Super grateful to God we've been able to meet up and spend time together and immerse ourselves in His spectacular creation.

We headed out towards our camping spot for the night... Somewhere on the Overton arm of lake mead (kidding, when there's a Nomes in the planning process, it's never just 'somewhere... figure out it later' :) More on that later). Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a huge conservation space surrounding the lake created by the Hoover Dam. As we drove through its winding roads we came across a gorgeous stream in the desert and collection of huge red boulders which were begging to be explored...

Redstone was the name of this delightful landscape, and we turned a 40 minute loop into a 1.5 hr expedition. I mean, when there are arches and holes carved into the side of giant boulders they just need to be crawled through, right? Despite the heat and what felt like an already long day (we only arrived, yesterday, what!!??), we jumped and climbed, meandered and photographed our way around 'Redstone' (oh so imaginatively named) before heading onwards to our camping spot: Stewart's Point.

Here's where we were grateful for our ever so slightly raised Rav 4 - jolting over boulders and the desert's version of moguls, even encountering sand and loose gravel that made it feel like we were 4wding. I sat out the window while Becky roared along, skillfully swerving around potholes with Cilla spying out potential camping spots. After touring most of the peninsula and much friendly debate, we settled on an overlook beside a steep, rocky hill leading down to the lake. Hangriness began to set in so we whipped up supper as it grew dark, deciding the 35C temp called for a swim afterwards so we'd be cool enough for bed. Thankful for our headlamps and the bright moon, we scrambled and slid down the hill and just about fell into the lake!

The stars were shining brightly as we floated in the only slighty refreshing waters of lake mead, trying to avoid the squishy mud. It was all worth it to cool down a bit! The milky way was so bright and we enjoyed spotting few shooting stars before scrambling out and back up the hill (avoiding the spiders with their glinting eyes).

We'd decided to sleep under the stars. No bugs, no bears, no tent, no worries! We floated to sleep (a little restlessly with the intense heat and the occasional donkey braying in nearby homesteads) but blanketed by the stars.
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