What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas

Yep, wherever you are told that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they are talking about your money, or rather the money you used to have....

Although we didn't gamble away the family fortune, we did find Las Vegas to be expensive...on all fronts, food, gas, hotel, coffee, fun.  It was too hot to stay in the coach, so we stayed at the Mirage Casino and Resort, a beautiful place with everything needed for a complete vacation.  They are set up so you never have to leave the resort but of course, we did.  We had to see the Venetian, Caesar's Palace, all the famous landmarks along the strip.  Oh, and the "Freemont Experience", a canopy'd, light show over a pedestrian street. 

Yes sirrreeee, Vegas is something else.  .  .  .  .  .

In Ceasar's Palace

Part of the Strip

The Freemont Experience

 

 

We moved to San Diego, and will be visiting family here, and further north.  NOW THIS IS WEATHER WE CAN EMBRACE - it's a moderate 78ish degrees during the day, and low 60s at night.  Perfect, and of course, we love all the charm of this area.  A happy coincidence is that Travis is here on business, and we get to see him for a few hours.  

 

Moab Miscellany

Yesterday we took a random drive around Moab, Ut.  It is a small town with one main street geared towards tourists (like us!).

 

 

The town sits in a green valley surrounded by steep, rocky, arid mountains.  Looks cool with all that green, but looks are deceiving. 

 

 

See the tracks on the "Lions Back"?  There is a large, BLM area above town, where ATVs and 4 wheel drive enthusiasts can practice their skills on huge boulders.

 

This unusual home and it's fence are stamped and carved with a southwestern motif.  It is really pretty, and does not look out of place here.

 

This morning we are packing up and heading towards Las Vegas after all.  The terrible heat has cooled just enough that we decided to give it a try.  We will have to stop for one night in Cedar City, just because we limit our driving to under 300 miles a day.

 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July...we will try to avoid leading any parades down main street...

 

 

 

 

 



Dead Horse Point State Park

WOW!  Beautiful sceneary again. 

Dead Horse Point - In the 1500's, Spanish explorers released horses in the area during their travels.  For 300 years the herd roamed the area free.  During the 1800's, cowboys and ranchers chased the wild horses onto Dead Horse Point.  There they build fences behind the horses as the entrance is only 36 feet wide. They removed the saleable horses and "broomtails" were released back into the wild.  Legend has it that a group of "broomtail" horses were left on the point to die of thirst and hunger and that's how it got its name.   Today, wild horses do not live in the park.   

Dead Horse Point State Park

The Colorado River at DHP

Pinion Pine

 

Pinion Pine fence

 





Canyonlands - hazy from smoke.

 

The haze just kept getting worse.....

This area is Utah's "Grand Canyon".  It is not as deep or as wide, but every bit as breathtaking.  Lots of movies were filmed here - Thelma and Louis when they drove their car over one of the cliffs, Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise, are among the more famous.  Canyonlands is "greener" with lots of scrubby bushes, pinion pines, and wildflowers when it rains.  It got really hazy while we were there, and we didn't get a lot of good pictures, but we enjoyed it anyway.  Temperatures are above 110 degrees.

Arches National Park

Arches did not disappoint....it is beautiful.  It was also very hot, we had to take it in two trips, early morning, and later in the evening.  We've loaded an album with all our pictures, just click on our profile, and on the album "6-28-2013".  Rock formations are 300 million years old made by actions of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The Moab region is divided into four sections, the Arches, the Needles, Canyonlands, and the Maze.  Each is distinctly different.  Hollywood has filmed many movies in the immediate area.

Thank you Sherry and Dink for the safari hats, here I am in mine

triple arches

Skyview arch, and Rich in his safari hat

This gives you a good idea of the scale of this place - see the car?

The heat here is horrible.  Dry or not, it depletes energy, and makes doing anything a real challenge.  Other than that, we love it here.  People are super nice, lots of things to see and do. 

The heat is so bad, we've had to change our plans to go to Las Vegas, they are expecting 110 to 120 over the next 10 days.  No thank you!  We will probably head north east for a while.

Preview and Heat, June 27th

We arrived safely in Moab, Utah yesterday. It was a tense drive on two lane, over a mountain road.  We KNOW it's not the best time of the year to visit the desert, but the last time we were in the southwest, we missed three national/state parks that are high on our list of places to see.  We were only 200 miles away, and decided to make the trip.  Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Canyonlands National Park.  We couldn't wait to start, and took the car for a little drive after we set up.  Here's a preview of the beautiful red rock country surrounding us:

 

And here's a preview of what we can expect temperature wise:

 



In case you can't read this, it says it's 7:33 at night, 80 degrees in the coach, and 106.8 degrees outside!

On another note, we've received some nice "nonreply" anonymous comments on the blog, and because they are nonreply status, we will have to answer here: the trout Rich caught were caught on a lake on the Southern Ute Reservation using an imitation grasshopper fly.  He has not fished any of the rivers yet.  Rich watched an Indian woman fishing using a remote controlled motor boat . . . I think that was rather clever.

Fire on the Mountain, Pagosa Springs

It has been a quiet few days for us.  We are still in Pagosa Springs, Co., because Rich still has dental work to be done.  His final appointment is Tuesday, June 25th.

We have watched as a wild fire has grown from the small lightning strike blaze first pictured in the "Wolf Creek Pass" post we made earlier, to over 66,000 acres.  You can find the details by searching for the "West Fork Fire, Co.".  We are not in any danger as we are 8 miles south, but we are so sad for beautiful South Fork, which we left on Monday.  South Fork has been evacuated and the fire is only 1.5 miles from the town.  Wolf Creek Pass is closed to all traffic, the town of South Fork is evacuated, including the campground we stayed in.  We've talked to other RVers, who had to evacuate at 1:00 a.m. in the morning.  It was very scary for them.  One couple went out to eat, and were not allowed back to their RV.  Finally a state police officer and fire unit escorted them back to retrieve their coach, they are here in the same campground with us.

 

 

On a happier note, Rich went trout fishing Friday, and caught his limit.  Trout this size were everywhere.  Our small freezer is now overloaded with trout.

 



One day, we visited Durango, we were there last year also  It is a pretty town, that emphasizes its cowboy, mining, logging, railroading past.  They still have narrow gauge train excursions up into the mountains.  Durango's landmark building is the beautiful Strater hotel.  Inside, the hotel is just like it was at the turn of the century. 

 

 

Louis L'amour was a near permanent resident.  While staying at this hotel, he wrote most of his paperback novels.  All of the staff were in period clothing.  We would have loved to stay here a night.  On the way home, we stopped by the Ignacio Ute Casino.  Bad mistake, we broke our own rule of $40 or one hour and came home losers.

 

Picasa Web Album

We have just learned, slowly we admit.....if you click on our profile picture and scroll down, there will be a link to picasa web albums, where we will upload all our pictures.....if you are interested.