Vegas Baby

This week we went to Las Vegas, it is about an hour and a half from Bullhead City. Unlike the guys from “The Hangover” Victoria and I do remember what happened in Vegas and why let it stay there? We stayed at “Circus Circus”. It is an older casino right on the strip. It does show its age but our room was nice and clean.

We didn’t spend too much time there because we wanted to see the sights of the strip. We are not gamblers so we did not spend our time or money in the gaming rooms. Victoria has never been to Vegas and it has been 20+ years for me so just seeing everything was fun for us. We walked the strip looking at all the lights and sights.



This is inside a hotel



We went into a couple of the resorts to see them. These places are HUGE. Every one of them has some sort of theme and the architecture to match. We kept getting lost inside each one. They all have a shopping area and restaurants and some sort of entertainment to watch. I can see how people who stay at one of these resorts never have to leave it. They all have almost everything you need.

As the day turned into night the strip came alive with all the lights from the casinos. The way this place lights up with neon is amazing. It also came alive with all the characters that roam the streets. You do see some odd sights on the streets of Vegas.

Here's a couple of odd balls

We spent the rest of the night walking and soaking in the sights. We stopped in front of the Bellagio to see the famous fountain show. The fountains are very cool. The water goes over a hundred feet in the air and dances to a choreographed show set to music.

Upon waking the next morning I set off to find us our morning coffee. Our room was on the 5^th floor so I went down the elevator to the second floor. I walked a long hallway past all the shops and restaurants, most of which were not open, down an escalator, then down another long hall until I found Krispy Cream. I purchased two large coffees and made the trip back to the room. The round trip was about 20 minutes. Like I said these places are HUGE.

We headed out of our room in the late morning. The day before we had purchased tickets for the local bus that goes up and down the strip. We used it a bit the night before but mostly walked and our feet where soar. The bus was a great way to take in a tour of the strip. We boarded in front of our hotel and road all the way to the end. We stayed on when the bus turned around and road all the way to the other end. After the first turn around we were able to get the front seat on the upper deck. It provided great unobstructed views of everything. We stayed on all the way to Freemont St. and made the return trip up the strip. We went past the “Pawn Stars” shop and the line to get in was almost around the corner.

We ended out first class bus tour at Caesars Palace. We went into Caesar’s and roamed the halls for a while. It was now mid afternoon and we were hungry. How about a BUFFET? We decide on the Bellagio. It took about a half hour to get seated and I was getting grumpy. That happens when I am hungry. I was thinking “this better be worth it”.

Worth it, that is an understatement. This buffet had every kind of food you can imagine. Several pastas, salads, oriental food, seafood, chicken and prime rib just to mention a few. As I sat down with my prime rib (my third trip) I said to Victoria the only thing they don’t have is crab. Just then the guy at the next table sits down with a plate full of king crab legs. Time for round four. The crab was the only thing that was disappointing. It was cold and had been frozen but everything else was super. If you go to Vegas we highly recommend this buffet. Oh, did I mention this was the lunch buffet.  We ate more than we would normally eat in three days.

After grazing the buffet for a couple of hours we wondered the halls of the resort looking at the beautiful gardens and sculptures and walking off some of the pounds we had surly gained. We then hoped a bus back to our room to rest up.

We went past Fremont St. earlier on the bus and knew this was a sight we needed to see. Hop anther bus and in 15 minutes we are under the famous lighted walkway of Freemont St. The two of us walked the street looking at all the interesting sights and people.  It was fun to see some the old Vegas and Freemont had a bit more wilder and slightly seedy feel to it. We took the bus home after another long day.

We checked out of our hotel about 9:30. The one other stop I wanted to make was Rick’s Restoration. That is the place the show American Restoration is made for Discovery Chanel. Unlike Pawn Stars there was no line. We walked right in and had a short tour of the shop. There was a couple of the guys form the show working but we were not allowed to take pictures.

Rick was supposedly there and was going to come out for us to meet him. We along with several other people waited for about a half an hour but he was a no show. Oh well. We had other things to do that are more along our idea of fun than the glitz of the Vegas strip.

Red Rock Canyon is a short drive from Vegas and is part of the national parks system. It is beautiful. The red sandstone mountains are such a contrast to the desert.

We hiked down a steep trail into the red rock formation. The canyon is narrow at the bottom and has fantastic formations and unearthly colors in the rock. Victoria and I are amazed ever time we venture out into the wild places of this area. We carefully made our way through the lower area and climbed up to the sheer rock walls were we watched people scaling up them.

We walked up the trail to another area and soaked in the beauty of the mountains. Victoria and I carefully made our way down the hillside and then back up to the parking area. We drove along the scenic roadway making stops along the way for the different vantage points of the red rock.

It had been a busy few days in sin city and the surrounding area. We have seen some interesting natural and some not so natural sights.  After leaving Red Rock we made a stop at Bass Pro Shop. There are still a couple of things we want to get before heading to our summer job in Wyoming. We both were tired and ready to head back to the comfort and familiarity of our little Rollin’ Home.

Oatman, Az.

Yesterday we went to Oatman, Az. We had been there a couple of weeks ago and had such a good time we wanted to go back. Oatman is an old mining town turned tourist stop. The town madow is “The Ghost Town to Tuff to Die”. The town is up in the mountains at an elevation of about 2700’ and surrounded by higher peaks. The feel of an old mining town has remained and the one street that runs through the town is old Route 66. There are a plethora of souvenir and antique shops, selling everything from Route 66 signs to metal sculptures to tee shirts.

Oatman, Route 66 and the mountains

The main attraction in Oatman are the “wild” burros that roam the street. It is a sight to see. The burros are descendents of burros used in the mines from 1800- early 1900. I would not say these guys are exactly wild. Tourist can buy small hay cubes and carrots to feed the burros. Everyone is happy to feed them and it is obvious they know what the deal is. Victoria discovered they also like trail mix, at least one guy did.

Victoria loved the babies

MMMM GOOD!

The burros are very tame and you can feed, pet and take pictures with them. The all wonder the streets taking the handouts from all the silly humans. On the weekends there is an endless stream of car, motorcycle and 4 wheeler traffic. The traffic is slowed or stopped on a regular bases due to the local 4 legged residences blocking the road.

Burro Jam

You have to watch your step in Oatman

The town also puts on cowboy shoot outs several times a day in the middle of the street. One of course is at high noon. These are light hearted family fun and donations are accepted to maintain the public restrooms and also for the local Shiners. They donated over $60,000 to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospitals just from the gunfight shows and donations of the visiting tourist. We of course did our share. I think that is pretty impressive for a small group of guys from a town smaller than the size of most of your neighborhoods.  

We really like Oatman, even though it is a tourist trap between the burros, the gunfights, the old west feel that the town has kept, the beautiful surroundings and the overall good fun of the town it makes for a great day.

The weather was perfect “no wind”  sunny and 65 degrees so on the way home we found a trail that led out into the desert. We walked it for a short ways examining all the colorful rocks and desert plants. We have discovered that the desert has many spectacular plants. We have also found out “sometimes the hard way” that almost all of these plants BITE. It seems that every plant has some sort of thorn or has sharp and pointy spines. We have learned to examine them very cautiously.

We made one more stop on the way home at the river. A short walk along the rocky shore was a great way to end a great day.

Lake Mohave

Today we went to Lake Mohave just up the road. It is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area which is a huge area that includes the two lakes and thousands of acres of back country land. Lake Mohave is formed by Davis Dam an earthen dam that is only about a mile up the road from us. If it lets loose our RV will become a house bout in a matter of minutes. The dam has a road across it but it has been closed to traffic since 911. They do allow foot traffic so we walked out to check it out.

The park is used mainly for the lake. There is an area called Katharine’s Landing that has a big marina and camping facilities. We walked around the marina and looked at the different boats. In the summer time you can rent a house boat and cruse the lake. The wind as usual was blowing and creating white caps on the lake and made staying at the marina difficult. We wanted to see the rest of the park so we headed up the road.

The road winds along through a mixture of small but steep rocky hills and then opens up into a more flat area. We traveled maybe 10 miles total one way on the road. There are two more stops along the way that have boat ramps, swimming areas and picnic tables. We stopped at each one and enjoyed the views of the lake and the mountains in the background.

It is so weird to see such huge mountains as the background of a lake. I am use to woods and brush not the large stark rocky mountains. It is beautiful and Victoria and I are in awe of this vast landscape. We walked along the rocky beaches at both stops and Victoria hunted for rocks to add to her rock garden back at the RV. I told her she can collect as many as she wants but they have to stay here when we leave. The weight of rocks can add up quick in an RV.

We spent the afternoon walking the shore line taking pictures and enjoying the brilliant Arizona sunshine. It is so nice that we both appreciate the simple things in live and enjoy the outdoors. It was another great day.

Happy Camper

Picks of Around the Park

I promise I won’t regularly post about the everyday goings on of our life, but you give a guy a new toy and he has to play. I have two new toys, a new camera and a new blog. That is a recipe for some boring reading.

It is extremely windy today the only real down side of being hear in Bullhead City. We are just hanging out and I figure I would take a few shots of the RV park, OH! excuse me (resort) we are at. It is a very nice place and located where there is a lot to do within a day’s drive. This is a beautiful area. Victoria and I are both surprised how beautiful and interesting the desert is. We go for a lot of walks in the nearby washes and find all kinds of colorful vegetation and rocks. It is such a contrast to the starkness of the rest of the landscape.

We have some great views of the Colorado River and the casino’s on the Nevada side from just in front of our RV site. We are in valley and there are rugged mountains surrounding us. We get some fantastic views of the sun setting behind the mountains. This place has so many different kinds of landscapes to explore.

Here are a few pictures of our present location.

Our Site

See the hills behind us, They block the wind, Kinda

Our Street

The park form out in the desert

The mountains across the river

That is not a boat it is a building made to look like a boat

The casino's across the river

Hualapai Mountain Park

Hear is our first post.

Today we went to Hualapai Mountain Park,  pronounced (Wolapie) outside of Kingman AZ. The park has altitudes of 8000’. Bullhead City were we are staying is at 500’ so that give you an idea of how high it is. When we left the house today the weather was 55 and sunny. As we entered the park and started to climb up the mountain the thermometer in the truck started dropping. By the time we parked the temp. was 32 degrees and there was snow on the ground.

VICTORIA ON THE TRAIL

Victoria being raised in Miami and living in Florida all her life has never seen snow. Well that was all going to change today. We dicided to do a short hike of about a mile on a loop trail. As we hiked up the trail with snow all around we marveled at the landscape and enjoying the snow on the ground.

THE SNOW BUNNY

We kept walking and sliding and slipping our way up the trail until we got to a sign that said we had reached the loop. Evidently the mile hike was to the loop and then you keep going up from there.

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I'VE SEEN SNOW

Victoria said I think it is beginning to snow. In about 10 minutes time we were in a full fledged snow storm. I decided we had better head back as I was concern about getting back down the steep snow covered mountain road. It was a good thing we did because when we got back to the truck it was getting covered with snow and so were the roads.

SNOW ON OUR TRUCK

We slowly made our way down the mountain passing one truck that had slid off the road. We didn’t stop because others people were already there. We made it back to Kingman and out of the snow and into the rain. We made the 45 minute drive back to Bullhead City were the temperature was 60 degrees and sunny.

TRUCK OFF THE ROAD