Searchlight & Mojave

Reuters Picture of the week included this shot of a double rainbow from Searchlight Nevada.
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A double rainbow in Searchlight Nevada

I've been through Searchlight a couple of times.  It is the way from Vegas to Laughlin and part of the backway home to Palm Springs from Vegas.
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Which got me in the mood to look at some of the pictures  of the Mojave National Preserve. Between the 40 and the 15 there is a giant National Preserve.  It used to be a state protected area until Dianne Feinstein made it a National Preserve (around the same time she got Joshua Tree to move from National Monument to National Park).
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Eddie and I have driven through it a lot to go to Vegas.  I have also driven through it with my mom (about 25 years ago!), and Ed and I have have taken both Lynn and Jane through it.  I've seen this part of the Mojave (called the "High Desert" due to it's elevation above Sea Level - the desert around Palm Springs is the "Low Desert") a zillion and a half times.
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Cacti across the desert floor.

What is crazy, is that it is never the same.  I've seen it at 115 degrees in the middle of the summer, when everything shimmers, and at 40 degrees in the middle of winter, when everything is crystal crisp.  We were there with Jane one year when wildflowers were crazy!
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Anyway, the pictures make me happy.

Joshua Trees grow thick as you get up towards Vegas