Las Vegas, NV Redux…

We bid adieu to our friends at the Valley of Fire and headed to our next stop in Las Vegas. We always enjoy a stopover in Las Vegas as the people watching there is as good as it gets especially downtown at the Fremont Street Experience.

We pulled into our spot in the RV Park at the Main Street Casino in the downtown area. While it is nothing more than a glorified parking lot with full hookups it is the perfect location for us to see what we want to see. After setting up we walked over to register at the Casino Hotel Desk.

Fully registered we checked out the brewery at the Casino. Yes Main Street Casino has its own brewery! Even luckier is there is a happy hour every Monday thru Friday where draft beers are $3.00. Score! We sat down and enjoyed a few of their libations…

While in Vegas we did drive over to people watch on the strip but found the strip to be surprisingly void of the usual crowds. I have been to Vegas many times while I was a working stiff and we have been a few times since we have been on the road. This time if the sparse crowd is any indication this town is in economic trouble!

We know that Vegas is primarily for gamblers but we just love to walk around and check out all of the large casinos such as NY NY, Paris, Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace etc. When we gamble we only gamble with small change and have no desire to lose money. As such we play nickel video poker and feel we always win in Vegas as they still give free drinks to those gambling… even nickel poker!

One evening we walked from our RV the four or five blocks to the Fremont Street Experience. For those of you that have never experienced it it is an hourly light show which draws large crowds and is free. We always enjoy the Fremont Street Experience and were curious if it would be crowded…

Well again the crowds were what we were used to seeing however the people watching was as enjoyable as always. We hoped to see a few of our favorite dressed up characters hawking tips but alas we didn’t see any of them. It has been at least three years since we were last here so I guess it is not really surprising.

There were lots of people dressed up as fictional characters and the normal show girls, buff dudes and nearly topless ladies including some that certainly shouldn’t have been dressed up as they were. It was fun time people watching nonetheless…

Another Vegas stop behind us it was time to move on…

NOTE: We are now in San Diego CA for a two months before spending the rest of the winter in Arizona…

Friends in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada…

We certainly enjoyed our short stay in Mesquite Nevada but we had a plan to meet up with some ladies who we “talked into” full timing during one of our visits to Montana. What was a chance encounter at a brewery in Kalispell Montana turned out to be a life changing event for these two lovely people that by happenstance we met and apparently inspired to become travelers…

After leaving Mesquite we headed out for the  Atlatl Rock Campground in the  Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. It was here we had a happy reunion with some awesome people Linda and Renee. We would only there for two nights but we will do our best to cram in as much fun as we can.

We arrived around 11 but found our site was still occupied.  Amazingly Linda and Renee’s site was so large we actually had room to park our motorhome and car beside them!  We sat and enjoyed the afternoon talking with them as well as new friends Ginger and Mike from Yuma. This campground offered amazing views and the afternoon flew by.  We finally settled into our site then returned to converse and enjoy the views until the full moon finally peeked out from behind the mountains.

The next day we did a great 6 plus mile hike amongst the red rocks on the Prospect trail experiencing all the sights of the desert. Linda hiked along with us as Renee offered to shuttle to the beginning of the hike and pick us up at the end so we ere able to hike the 6 miles of trail without having to return back to our starting point.

After enjoying this great hike we spent the evening with everyone enjoying a campfire and the company of our our friends, old and new. One of the things that made this stop so special is that every morning and evening we were treated to sightings of some magnificent Big Horn Sheep as we were apparently on the path of their normal morning and evening routine.

The two days passed by quickly but Sharon and I crammed in one more short hike to see the petroglyphs within walking distance of the campground. Afterward we bid our “See ya’ laters” and hit the road to our next destination…

If you ever see an RV with an ad for a great 4 handed massage take advantage of the opportunity and you will meet up with some special people in Renee and Linda and their rig, Joyist…

NOTE: We are leaving El Centro CA today and moving over to San Diego CA for a two months…

Why is that Policeman pulling us over???

Our stay in Utah ended and this morning we began our journey over to the CasaBlanca Resort & Casino in Mesquite Nevada. The trip started out grand as we made our way through a very beautiful canyon but we hit some construction and the traffic came to a halt.

We continued to crawl out of the construction and were about 20 miles from our destination in Mesquite Nevada when I noticed a police officer with his lights on right behind me. I couldn’t figure out what we had done but pulled over anyhow just before getting to a gas station where I was going to stop at to check on tire on the CRV I was a bit worried about.

The officer explained that he was driving behind me when my rear tire on our SUV blew out so he pulled us over. I apparently had good reason to worry about that tire and we had planned to have it checked out while in Mesquite Nevada.

We drove very slowly over to the same gas station I had intended to stop at  less than 1/4 mile down the road to change out the blown tire. As I was using our dinky tire jack and tools a fellow named Dale pulled up beside us saying he had a hydraulic jack and better tools than I was using. He then proceeded to take over my tire changing task.

With the doughnut tire in place and the blown tire tossed in the back of the CRV we thanked Dale for his help and drove on to Mesquite. Once set up at the Casablanca Resort we drove back over to Washington Utah to the nearest Costco since the tire was still under warranty.

Of course our warrantied tire was discontinued but with Costco generous warranty program we were able to replace all four tires for under $400 so we now have four new tires!

Not the best start to our stay in Mesquite Nevada but it is part of this lifestyle! It didn’t stop us from enjoying our stay in Mesquite …

NOTE: We are leaving Yuma AZ this morning and moving over to El Centro CA for a few nights… DONE

Assorted Red Cliffs Recreation Area Hikes…

Our last set of hikes while in Utah was at the at Red Cliffs Recreation Area. One short hike we took was over to the Silver Reef Trailhead where we embarked on a short trail to find some dinosaur tracks!

Sure enough we spotted them and we paused to take some pictures to show our grandson Cameron! Successfully capturing the photo we headed back so we could take another short hike. This area was a great place to hike and we marveled that it was such a short distance outside of St George Utah.

We didn't do any hikes in Snow Canyon State Park this time around as there were plenty of other excursions to partake in that didn’t charge an entry fee. Since we were hiking near the Red Reef Trail we decided to check out a dry waterfall hike and after returning to the car we found what we thought was the trailhead.

After a short jaunt up through a stream bed mostly in sand we made our way up over  a small hill thinking we were very close to the “waterfall” but alas we were not. As we made our way up the wash the canyon began to narrow we thought we were getting close. Looking for the rope that would take us up over a rock to the next level we continued on.

We continued on for about a mile but never found the particular feature we were looking for. Admitting we were likely on the wrong trail so we headed back still enjoying the colorful rocks and scenery. We missed out on the sights we planned to see but did not feel cheated since the hike we took was just grand…

The day wasn’t over as I had one more hike in the Red Cliffs in mind. This one had a small arch on an off the beaten track I wanted to check out. So off we went to a small tract of land south of where most of the Red Cliffs Recreation Area lies. Our destination was to hike to the Babylon Arch.

Said to be a very sandy but very gratifying trail we drove a long way on a dirt and sand road that maybe we shouldn't have taken in our “low clearance” Honda CRV. After about a half hour on the dirt road we found the turn to the Sand Cove Trailhead. This was where the trail began…

As we started the trail we were walking down an old ATV road and were sinking our boots in many of the patches of deep sand. A short while later we were at the Sand Cove Trailhead where we walked among some shear rock walls. The trail then took us through a narrow passage that led us through some beautiful Navajo Sandstone rock formations which were out of this world!

We continued on through the sand as we descended down the hill. I read that the arch would be hard to see on the way down but even as we got near the Virgin River we saw no sign of the arch. The river however was stunning all by itself. We kept looking for the arch yet we never saw any sign of an arch anywhere!

After looking for a good while we gave up and headed back hoping to stumble upon it. No such luck! Later I found out the arch is only about 8 ft. tall and 10 ft. wide so that explains why we didn't see it as I was looking for something a bit more grand. Nevertheless it was a great hike except for the hike back…

It seemed like every time we climbed a deep sand hill we found another dead end to the trail… but alas after several failed attempts to climb back up out of the Virgin River valley in the deep sand we finally landed on the main trial back to our car. Walking back through the rock formations and back up the old road we finally saw our car and were sure happy to see it.

We emptied our shoes of sand and got back into the car…We might have missed seeing the sights we planned to see but it was still a great day

Maybe next time we pass through we might finally find  Babylon Arch! 

NOTE: We are leaving Lake Havasu City this morning and moving over to Yuma AZ for a few nights…