peace & hate

Here's a bunch of things that have been bugging me lately...

• the chances i get everyday to improve
• the love i receive from those that give love
• education and how important it is
• AND learning whether it be from a book, a video game (YES) or from pure experience
• nourishing my body and taking care of it
• taking care of my brain and mental health
• not letting social anxiety get the best of me
• not caring about what other people think
• exuding positivity and giving love
• how i don't have to prove anything to anyone
• adventure and future travels!!
• creating... anything! like posts for this neglected blog
• how everything will be okay

For day 2 of our trip, we spent a few moments at the hotel garden to appreciate the nice weather and the cute animals living their day to day life of entertaining the visitors. (It can be quite sad when you put yourself in their.. shoes?) The koi fish pond was definitely impressive due to the sizes of the fish in there. Fish are not my fave animals but they looked really beautiful with their colors and grace. We left the hotel mid-morning and drove away from the busy city to the middle of nowhere. Middle of nowhere turns out to be called the Valley of Fire, a Nevada state park. Our trips to Vegas seem to always include visiting a park with interesting rock formations. (Last time we went to Red Rock) The park involves routes for scenic drives as well as for trekkers. Being the less adventurous family that we are, we just opted for the scenic drive stopping at spots for the obligatory picture taking. Valley of Fire was bigger than Red Rock and I only knew that when I realized that we just spent the whole day there. Every spot has a different kind of rock formation molded by erosion way before history started. Thinking about it while taking photos and being amazed by everything I saw there made the experience 100 percent better. It was clearly a place made beautiful by time.

Climbing on the rocks and walking on really fine sand made me feel adventurous and fun but after a few hours, I quickly became tired. It turned out that the whole family was already tired when afternoon came. Good thing was we covered almost the whole park meaning we made the most out of the visit. The drive back to Las Vegas was relaxing in a sense that we were all silent and just reflecting on how beautiful everything around us was. I was convinced that I was (and still am) in love with the desert, how mysterious it is and all the stories it has.

 I'm just gonna let these pictures do the talking now. If you want more talking, visit the place when you go on vacation in Las Vegas. The entrance fee is really cheap plus it's really worth your whole day!

P.S. Here's how comfortable I was with the rocks and the desert.