Dreamscapes in Nevada

 

The best show I've ever seen in my life!  Cirque de Soleil's "Le Reve" - meaning "The Dream" -  began my dreamscape experience in Las Vegas last week. 

 

I visited a reputedly haunted saloon built on the outskirts of Las Vegas in 1913.  Supposedly a gambler was shot in this room after he was caught cheating on a hand of poker.  As I starting taking photos, I could see with my naked eye, orbs of blue light flying directly in front of my camera from all directions.  None of them registered in any of my photos except this one (see above).

 Artificial dreams of glitz, glamour and gambling - courtesy of Steve Wynn.

I can always dream can't I?  Sitting in one of the latest private corporate jets on display at the aerospace industry show at Henderson Airport.

I look fairly hardy for a person who has only ever hiked twice and had never seen a desert in her life!

 



 

 A real-life oasis in the desert!

 

 

Thirty degrees colder during this hike in snow-capped mountains outside the desert.  Different stones, mountains and dreamscape altogether.

 

 

 

This caught my fancy in the Las Vegas airport.  It is the image of an airplane made of paper butterflies.

As seen from the air, coming and going, entering this land of fire and water.

I took this photo in the desert while daydreaming about the inspiration of shamans.  Unlike any other photo I took (and I took approximately 200 in the desert), this one reveals not only rainbow-like rays of sunshine but also a peculiar clear dome shape.  It might be the lens reflecting on my iphone.  But this photo struck me as very strange - made me think of UFOs some of which are clear and/or cloaked.  Further, when I downloaded all my photos and adjusted them for contrast and brightness, this was the only photo that my computer refused to permit any adjustments.  It says it is "read-only" and yet I never did anything to this photo.  Perhaps this photo represents the perfection of the beauty of the desert!

It was difficult for me to imagine ever having such an extraordinary view from my hotel window.  This photo doesn't begin to do justice to the beauty of the ring of mountains, the panoramic cityscapes (neon at night) and the huge skies.

Okay, sometimes dreams can be induced - with alcohol or even politics!

The desert, as I have learned, is beautiful for its geology, which has always been an interest of mine since I was a child.  I collect rocks.  I examine the bedrock along highways.  Here it is abstract art.  The desert is the beauty of colored stones, mountains, outcroppings, boulders, and dry vistas.

In the Nevada desert, I began to understand why anyone would go on a spiritual journey in this place.  It is enormous, silent, untouched by humans, wild, and the rocks begin to acquire a life of their own.  The desert is almost hallucinogenic.  I could see faces, animals, hieroglyphics, cities, oceans - anything - in the shapes of these strange rocks.  They spoke to me.  Above I see a speaking mouth!