The fellow went to Phoenix on a business trip years ago. He asked what I would like him to bring back for me. I requested a shot of a cactus from alongside a road. I mean, come on, where do we see cacti here except in a little pot on a window sill? And I’ve seen photos: Arizona had cactus.
He took my SLR (pre-d days), tripod and dutifully stopped along the side of the road when he saw some picturesque cacti he thought might make a fine photo for me. He trudged over the sand, set up the tripod, then … felt something on his feet (he was wearing sandals and bare feet), looked down, saw his feet were crawling with red ants, which started to bite. Apparently he then made a spectacle of himself by throwing the tripod with camera over his shoulder and running to the car, dancing and throwing ants off his feet as he ran, not really caring what a couple of other people off in the distance were thinking about the sight. That was his first experience with fire ants. Bless his little soul, he did manage to grab a couple of shots of cool-looking cacti before the ants moved in.
I went to Vegas last week — those words still sound funny to me. I attended a trade show, NAB. On my return trip, my flight got delayed — by 12 hours! What to do? I had choices, the first of which was to take a little walk outside the airport to a little park with an interesting-looking statue, interesting trees and birds, and a little further, cacti alongside the sidewalk and hwy! So very cool to see.
As for ants, I saw red ants crawling along the sidewalk and has some intitial trepidation, but these weren’t fire ants, at least not the nasty kind. While red, they didn’t attack, merely went along their way, minding their own business. <whew> I didn’t fancy the notion of becoming another spectacle: some crazy Canadian in heels running down the sidewalk, towing luggage, trying to get rid of ants covering my feet.
I’ll show more of Las Vegas in other posts. After this little walk, I headed back into town and walked “the strip.” The conference part of the trip had been too busy for me to actually see any of the town, so this flight delay was an opportunity. As well as a trip home that I thought would never end — took me 2 days to get home! But that’s another story. For now, enjoy the cactus and other sights around the little park next to the Las Vegas airport.
