On February 6, 2006 Sheila and Rod visited Valley of Fire National Monument in Nevada (about 50 miles NE of Las Vegas). The park is filled with beautiful sandstone formations in a variety of shapes and colors. We visited in midday, but have been told that the formations are even more beautiful at sunrise and sunset.
Among other things we saw, I was able to completely "nerd out" by visiting the Silica Dome. This formation was used in the filming of Star Trek: Generations and was the site of the climactic hand-to-hand fight between Captains Kirk and Picard on one side, and the villain Dr. Soran on the other.
At the time we visited, it had been several months since I last saw the film so I wasn't entirely sure I was even in the right place. I just took lots of shots of anything that either was especially cool looking or just reminded me vaguely of something that might have been in the movie. As you'll see by reviewing the shots, I did get a few that show clearly that I was at least in the right spot. In the QuickTime slide shows below, I have interspersed photos that I took with some screen captures from a behind the scenes documentary included in the Generations DVD, showing roughly the same backgrounds.
Due to the fact that I was climbing the rocks alone (Sheila being pregnant), I didn't have appropriate footwear (just tennis shoes), and we were a bit pressed for time (flying out that day), I did not attempt to climb all the way to the top of the rock. I hope to someday return and do that. I climbed about 2/3 of the way up, the best shots were up there.
All three slide shows are identical, just different sizes for different download speeds. If you have a broadband connection and can stand the wait to download it, the large version is by far the best one to view.
QuickTime movie slide shows:
Small 29M
Medium 45M
Large 229M
Photos:
COMING SOON