Lifelong learning

If this journey taught us anything it's that you never ever should take your knowledge for granted. Check and verify whenever possible!

Like our (European) concept of desert.
A desert is sand, either flat or dunes, with an occasional group of date palms in the distance indicating water.
Ok, there's the Outback, famous for it's red earth and for most parts as barren as our idea of desert.

So you trundle off to the deserts of America, equally famous.
And there you seriously have to reconsider your idea of desert.
Flat?
No.
Barren?
No.
Sand?
Some.
But a lot of rocks, stones and grit as well.
No dunes.
And green. With all sorts of shrubs and cacti and flowers everywhere.
Intriguing. Strangely beautiful.

We show you some pics of the Nevada highlands first: that's more prairie than desert. But the same shrubs - sage (salie) - we found in the far warmer parts as well. Plus, there, a lot of tumbleweed, that was fun to see, they frequently sped over the highway due to the strong crosswinds.

To be honest, I am not much of a geographer, so it's a wild guess where prairie ends and desert starts. But here you go: the landscapes of northern Nevada: high altitude plains, the plains of Utah (lower) and the definite desert of Arizona.

There also the famous saguaro, the candelabra, the (sorry, have to use the word again) iconic cactus of the south-western. When we saw them appear we were really in the desert we so much wanted to see!