By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
The contrasting dichotomy between Las Vegas as a bold, busy and vibrant city and the surrounding desert landscape it is located in is what was most appealing to me about visiting the area back in March 2019. As both a history and nature enthusiast, I actually had no idea what to expect from the city and its deserts. Las Vegas was founded in the early 1900s as a stop for railway workers passing through the region, serving as an escape from the “barren” deserts. However today, the deserts have become the escape for many. Upon landing at the McCarran airport in Las Vegas, I was greeted by wild flashes of neon lights pulsating from slot machines standing proudly on guard at the gateways of Las Vegas. After moving my eyes from the clamoring lights and unabashed rings of the machines, I saw a lady walk by me in a sequined denim skirt, cream-colored pointy cowboy boots and a frilled leather vest. It was as if the entire airport was screaming “Welcome to Las Vegas!”, and I was enjoying the unnuanced showing of it all! After several days of experiencing the glitzy hotels, casinos, restaurants, Bellagio hotel fountain shows and copious amounts of second hand smoke, it was time to leave the Vegas strip and rent a car for my planned roadtrip. The trip consisted of venturing across three states (Nevada, Arizona and Utah) in five days. Sleep be damned. I fittingly started off under the brazen sun at the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, which is located just under an hour northeast of Las Vegas. Driving along the sharp winding roads into the park, my eyes feasted on fiery rock formations bursting with iron (which gives off the rocks’ red color) that seemed to have been dropped off by visitors from Mars. Stepping onto the sand and stones, I walked, climbed, photographed and learned about the landscape and the native Navajo people of the land. I imagined them cooking in their ancient clay pots, standing along cave walls as they carved out intricate art on them and then went hunting for the local bighorn sheep that still roam the lands today. Even the Navajo still own and inhabit lands in the American Midwest today. I then ventured to Page, Arizona, where I stepped onto even more fiery sandstone rock formations, some with intense rippling patterns forming earthy staircases as I walked through the ancient lands of the Navajo nation. The deserts were unlike the sandy dunes of Arabia that always come to my mind when referencing deserts. These deserts were full of clay, rock and sand, forming both jagged and smooth edges. An edgy desert, or a desert with edge. I got lost at times, deserted in the desert. But each time I felt at ease, at home and at peace. As rocky as the landscape was, the air was just as calm, with soft warm winds enveloping me in their embrace. I was sold as I became a self-professed desert girl. Antelope Canyon is a major attraction in the area. While it has been heavily populated by tourists in recent years, this did not deter me from exploring it and meeting the Navajo people that run the tours and live on the land. I met both older folks and newer generations of the Navajo who sported the latest iPhones and American accents. The history was immense, and the experiences intense. From Antelope Canyon to Horseshoe Bend, and then on to the majestic Zion National Park in Utah (the latter of which is another story and chapter in itself), my journey into the deserts of the American Midwest were bumpy, beautiful and anything but barren. The glitz and glamor of Las Vegas had set me up for my exploration, as I came to embrace the fiery rocky deserts that thundered loud and shone bright under the sun and starry skies, brighter than the neon lights of the city itself. I now yearn to be deserted around the deserts of Las Vegas.