HOOVER DAM TOUR

Yesterday was a perfect day for a tour of Hoover Dam.  We paid the senior price of $12 a ticket for the guided tour of the Powerplant.  They do a heck of a job moving masses of people up and down the elevators for the tour but I found the packed elevator rather uncomfortable.  Thankfully, the longest ride is one minute and I swear everyone was holding their breath.

Here's some interesting facts about the dam:

• Construction began in 1931 and finished in 1935 
• Six Companies Inc. completed the project two years ahead of schedule and under budget
• The 17th and final generator went into operation in 1961
• Lake Mead, the dam's reservoir, is America's largest man-man reservoir
• Lake Mead stores 9.2 trillion gallons of water
• The reservoir irrigates more than 1-million acres 
• The water meets the needs of more than 20 million people
• The dam generates more than 4-billion kilowatt hours per year
• It is the nation's largest hydropower facility
• Revenues pays for the operation and maintenance of the powerplant

The photo doesn't do the massive
size and depth of the dam justice

The Winged Figures of the Republic are 30-feet tall and made from more than 4-tons of bronze.  The monument is surrounded by a terrazzo floor with a celestial chart which shows the exact position of key stars on the day the Hoover Dam was dedicated by President Roosevelt.

Winged Figures of the Republic

Memorial to the 96 men that died during
the construction of the dam

Dam High Scaler Monument

There's a sad story about Little Niggy, a black shepherd born on the work site and a loyal friend and mascot to the construction workers for years.  He would run to a supervision at the first sign of a man tumbling into the cement or a crane giving away.  Unfortunately, in 1941 a truck backed over the sleeping mascot.  A memorial plaque was installed on the site.  But you gotta love this one, it was later removed by the government, which decided that the dog's name was offensive.  

Thanks for stopping in to say hi.

YEAH, NO LONGER IN CALIFORNIA

Happy to be out of California and into Nevada.  Nice to be away from the 5-lane highways, crazy Californian drivers, dust storms and sand in the coach.

The road from California to Nevada

The view along the way

We'll be staying at Preferred RV Resort in Pahrump for about a week before going to Vegas and waiting for Christi and Phil to arrive for their big 1-week Vegas vacation.  Very excited to be spending time with them and seeing the sights together.

But for now, like I said, we're in Pahrump, which is kind of a nice park although they seem to be allowing more and more people that "live" at the park instead of just "passing" through.

The park has a nice pond and
cactus garden

It is a very active community with goings-on all the time.  Today was their annual Hawaiian Luau.  They started the fire pit last night and put the beef and pork in around 2:00 in the morning.  They had all the Hawaiian fixings to go with lunch including dancing and music entertainment.

Very talented young ladies

We drove down the road to check out a few of the casinos and explore the area because it's been a few years since we've been here.  I was surprised to walk into a casino and smell cigarette smoke, thought that was banned, but I guess anything goes here.

The cafe here has a buffet for $4.99

We found a nice smoke-free bowling alley that we may get back to.  Denis couldn't resist the Dairy Queen especially with a 20% discount from the park.

We drove to a park that was Western Horizon but has gone private called the Winery RV Park.  They put money into the park and made a lot of upgrades and it looks beautiful.  But even with our membership discounts it would be $25-$27 per night.  I remember the restaurant next door was excellent.

Hope you had a nice day.  Thanks for stopping in to say hi.

Utah National Parks - Here We Come

Two days whipped by and I didn't blog. This happens when we are doing run-of-the-mill chores and we're not visiting or exploring new areas.  Rather than bore you with the past couple of days, I'm going to give you a peek into our future plans.

Tomorrow morning we are heading to Utah to visit Zion, Arches and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  We've been watching the weather closely and Zion's temperatures are ranging in the low 80's during the day and low 50's at night.  Bryce will be about 20 degrees cooler because of the higher elevation.  This is our first visit to that part of the country and we're very excited.

We have our Official Guide to America's National Parks and our National Park Passport Book.  Our first stop at each of the parks is the visitor's center to stamp our Passport Book and purchase the Regional Stamp .. it's fun!  Denis qualified for his Senior Lifetime Pass and our entrance fee is free with camping at half price.  The only challenge is the sites are first-come first-served and most parks have a vehicle length limit.  Hopefully, we'll be able to squeeze in.

We're looking forward to this new adventure.  Thanks for stopping in!

The coach is ready and so are we

We'll be added some new stickers to our map

Vegas to Reno and Back Again

It's been a very long two days of driving in the car.  We left Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. and drove the full 450 miles to make an appointment for 3 p.m.    With the help of Hotwire, we got a room for $18 at the Sands Regency Hotel.  Casinos are not our thing but the room was nice, clean and had high speed wi-fi.   Dinner consisted of a shake, burger and fries at the retro-themed Mel's Diner.  It was funny when the waitress brought our food, Denis got this little tiny turkey burger and I got this HUGE beef burger.  By the time we finished eating, that bed was calling our name and we slept like babies.

This morning we were on the road again by 6:00 and drove the 450 miles back to Vegas.  Thankfully, the roads are excellent and the traffic was light both ways.   Driving along at 75-80 mph, Denis saw the police car coming from the opposite direction and slowed down to the speed limit of 70.  We were surprised to see the police car do a U-turn, turn on his flashers and pull us over.  The officer said Nevada has a compliance law which I think is very generous (when the police drive by a car and that car slows down to the speed limit, the police leave them alone).  However, the police officer continued to say Denis slowed down and then sped right back up again.   We waiting a very long time while the officer went back to his car to write up the ticket.  When he finally returned, he told us that technology is great but we were fortunate because his "technology" for issuing the ticket wasn't working and he voided the ticket for us rather than make us wait any longer.  That was very lucky for us but Denis didn't get off the hook that easily because he had to deal with me for the next 300 miles.  Why does he feel the need to speed?
We drank too much coffee and ate too much junk food on this trip and I'm looking forward to getting back to our healthy habits.

The Original Mel's Diner

My beef burger

Denis' turkey burger

The view from Walker Lake

Went through several mining towns

Town of Goldfield

I was so excited to spot these feral burros - seven of them

Most homes and businesses were in ruins - but not this one

Many homes looked like this

Thanks for stopping in.

Sad Day for Boston Marathon

In respect for those impacted by the bombings in Boston, I will not make a personal post today.  My thoughts and prayers are being offered instead.  God bless those troubled souls.

Alarm Clock at 4 A.M.?

Amanda had to be at the Las Vegas Airport for her 6:33 a.m. flight.  We were surprised to find so many cars at Departures with two lanes of congestion. There was no sign for United which only added to our confusion and caused us to circle around thinking we missed it the first time.  She sent us a text when she arrived safely in Hartford.  Our two weeks with her went by quickly and we enjoyed having her with us very much.

After dropping Amanda off, we went back to bed for a few hours of much needed sleep.  We each spent the rest of the day doing chores.  Denis bought a kit to clean and polish the headlights on the coach which is a very time-consuming job but worth the effort.  The lights look good as new.

Before

The process

After

I did four loads of laundry and two additional loads at the campground's laundry room.  I don't usually use the laundry but I had two blankets that needed special attention.  I baked a loaf of bread, did some house cleaning and steamed rice with salmon in my new rice cooker.  Oh yeah, I got a rice cooker at Amanda's suggestion after she saw the "unprofessional" way I made my rice.  I must admit the rice and salmon came out perfect.  Thanks Amanda.

Thanks for stopping in.

Red Rock Canyon

Congratulations are in order ... we got out before 9:00 this morning.  Our mission was to find those elusive bighorn sheep.   We drove about half way on the 13-mile scenic drive and parked at Willow Springs Picnic Area.  We took the challenging 6.7 mile trail on White Rock/La Madre Spring Loop and it was beautiful.  It took us to the north side of White Rock which is one of the best areas for viewing bighorn sheep.  Unfortunately, no sightings.  However, Amanda and I picked a lot of Juniper berries and some wild sage.

  Juniper berries

Harvesting the berries

Removing seed from berry - Amanda's bracelet is made from Juniper seeds

Before

After

This is how Amanda spent her last night with us - purpose driven!

The colors of the spring flowers continue to surprise me

Just beautiful

Can you find Denis?

That's a snail

The photo doesn't bring out the colors in this rock

This is where we found the snails

This looks like fun

Our feet and legs got tired after going about six miles

Isn't it spectacular?

These guys were hiding from us

Thanks for stopping in.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Another beautiful day to take the scenic drive loop through Red Rock Canyon in search of bighorn sheep and burros.  We didn't spot any this time but we had a nice three mile hike and plan on returning tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping in.

Valley of Fire

Absolutely perfect day for visiting the Valley of Fire.

Bee Hives

Petroglyphs

White Dome

Petrified Log

Gambal's Quail

Amanda and I practiced taking bird photos with our Nikon using our manual settings.  It was fun watching the three pairs of quail scurrying around.

Thanks for stopping in.