Week 3

April 22

see Grand Canyon section of blog

 

April 23

 

Travel day from Grand Canyon, AZ to Laughlin, NV.  We decided to try out Laughlin instead of going to Vegas.  And a funny thing happened on our way to Nevada -- we literally passed and waved to my good friend Gail Newell and husband Billy while traveling on I-40.  They (and some of their friends) were in Vegas and took a one-day tour to the Grand Canyon.  How funny was that??  We are staying at a KOA that is part of the Avi Casino Resort about 10 miles outside of Laughlin.  There is a biker rally here starting on Thursday, the Laughlin River Run 2013.  We'll be leaving on Friday!!! 

More beautiful views on the way to Laughlin, NV

 The view from our front window looks out onto the golf course.

 This is "Antler," our North to Alaska mascot and guardian.  Madison named him and we promised her that we would take good care of him on our trip!!

 Another beautiful view!

So after taking care of chores and dinner, we headed over to the casino and low and behold I won $3,000 on a penny machine (777 Jackpot) betting .60 cents a pop.  I was only down $15 when I hit this jackpot.  Larry told someone that this would help pay for our gas on the trip!!  Ha Ha  I don't think so.....

April 24

 

Today we ventured back a little south to Lake Havasu City, home to the famous London Bridge, which crosses a 930 ft. long man-made canal that leads from Lake Havasu (on the Colorado River) to Thompson Bay. It was bought for $2.5 million from the City of London when the bridge was replaced in 1968, disassembled, then shipped to Lake Havasu City and reassembled for another $7 million. It opened on October 5, 1971.  The London Bridge is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona, often cited as second only to the Grand Canyon.





 

 View from the bridge

We then took part of Historic Route 66 back to Laughlin.

Checked out a pass on Hwy. 163 that we will bypass with the motorhome on our way out Friday.

A few of the bikers heading into town.

View of Laughlin casinos from a distance.

 Right outside of Laughlin is the Mojave Lake, part of the Lake Mead Recreation Area.  During the summer months, these lakes must be a quite refreshing!

 Checked out all the other casinos in Laughlin

 

April 25



This morning we did some Wal-Mart shopping and this is how I spent my afternoon -- relaxing by this beautiful pool at Avi Casino.

 And this is how Larry spent his afternoon - playing on that beautiful golf course our RV overlooks. 

 

 Can you spot our RV?

 

April 26

 

Well we've had enough of the biker noise.  That can get old real fast!!  Today we are heading to Hurricane, UT.  To get there we went through five (5) states.  Started off in Nevada, then went out through Arizona back to the main highway which took us through California, then back into northwest Arizona, before ending up in Utah.  Whew!

 

Driving though the Mojave Desert

 Saw these Solar Panels on the Highway

 Passed through Las Vegas

This is snow still in the mountains!

  The pass we went through in the Virgin Mountains

 Virgin River

 

 We arrived at Sand Hollow State Park and immediately went to check out the lake.

 And the sunset was fabulous!

 



April 27

 

 Today we spent the day in Zion National Park.  On the valley floor, we gazed up at massive sandstone cliffs of cream, pink, and red.  Zion NP has a shuttle system that we used all day.  We hiked a total of 5.1 miles today on various hikes.

 

Temple of Sinawava

The Riverside Walk hike



 Big Bend area

I'm still amazed that people actually "like" to do this!

 



 



I'm not sure what type bird this is, but there were lots of them singing in the trees all around us!  And very hard to catch on camera.  Almost resembles a Hummingbird. 

Any ideas?

 Weeping Rock hike

Gorgeous little flowers growning on weeping rock.

More climbers



 The Grotto/Emerald Pools hike

 

Just "chilling"

 Court of the Patriarchs - left to right:  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

 

April 28

 

 Still in the Hurricane, UT area we headed somewhat south and east today with our first stop at the Pipe Spring National Monument.  The Pipe Spring enabled Ancestral Puebloans and Kaibab Paiute Indians to live in the dry desert.  In later years the Mormons built the ranch and fort, later called Winsor Castle.  In 1907 the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation was established, surrounding the privately owned Pipe Spring ranch.  The Kaibab Paiute Indians maintain the National Monument today.

 

Area landscape

 Puebloan way of life

 Winsor Castle

 Pipe Spring running through house

 "Local" resident

 

Next stop:  Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

 

This sand is formed through a notch in the mountains where increasing wind velocity carries grains of sand from the eroding Navajo sandstone.

 Me at the top of the hill!!!  Ugh

 

 We then headed back to Zion Canyon entering through the "back" way where you can still drive your car through.  Back entrance was just as impressive or more so than the part we went in yesterday.





 Examples of cross bedding on this mountain - layers of wind blown sand dunes glued together by calcite and iron oxide to form sandstone.

 The colors are so vivid

 

This tunnel was "very" dark - no installed lights.

 But the tunnel has windows!



Leaving Zion NP, we headed over to Kolob Reservoir at 8,000 ft.  Spring has yet to be sprung up here!

 Snow still on the ground

 Grove of birch trees

 Drive down the mountain

We then headed back to St. George, UT, one of the cleanest towns I've seen in a long time.  This is the St. George Mormon Temple.

Another sunset at Sand Hollow SP

 The RV at Sand Hollow SP

 

Till next week...