Red Rock Canyon, NV

Red Rock Canyon, 17 miles west of Las Vegas, consists of rugged peaks, ravines, canyons, and sandstone hills amid the ponderosa pine, creosote, and barrel cactus. It is a popular national recreational area, a 197,000 acre preserve. Leon's daughter, Trisha, led the way.

Hiking trails abound and we gradually climbed uphill to the entrance of the canyon, about 1.5 miles one way. I, of course, stopped along the way to view some wildflowers.

A front was moving through the area and the temperature rose to 59 degrees, compared to 81 yesterday. The winds blew and in the canyon they were reported to be gusting at 61 miles per hour. I don’t doubt it!

We finally reached our destination and posed in our Easter bonnets.

Afterwards, the nearby visitor’s center allowed this magnificent view.

Fremont Street, Las Vegas, NV

Fremont Street was once the prime spot in Las Vegas to spend your money! In the 1930s the workers at Hoover Dam would come to this dusty street to spend their wages on prostitution and gambling.

The Golden Nugget, built in 1946, was the largest and most luxurious casino in the world.

In the 1940s the strip was born and Fremont Street was left behind for the more budget minded. Well that has changed!

Fremont Street has put on a new face and nightly there are crowds mingling along the four block long, canopy covered street to watch the laser shows.

12.5 million lights arch across the canopy for a laser show that is phenomenal.

Underneath performers, musicians, shops, and casinos keep the tourists entertained.

I am not so sure this cat was entertained. Poor kitty.

But this fellow sure seemed to be entertained.

Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, NV

In the middle of Las Vegas is one of the nicer Elks Lodges we have visited. Imagine having a half block of space in a town with almost half a million people for your own back yard. We had the parking lot to ourselves. I decided to check on nearby geocaches and the closest one led us to the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

I learned that this is on land where three artesian springs were located that surfaced in the middle of the valley. They formed beautiful pools 20 to 30 feet deep which led to a green oasis in the middle of the desert. Spanish explorers named the area Las Vegas, “The Meadows.” These springs and the creek that flowed from them to the Colorado River allowed for settlement in the area and the beginning of Las Vegas.

Several well derricks are in the area over the original springs.

From the geocacher we also learned that there were some gardens nearby. Off we went to explore and we located the Springs Preserve.

Instead of paying $19.00 we ended up with free tickets to tour the gardens. There were large buildings with all sorts of displays and hands-on activities for children. So we acted like children and made our own fun.

We wandered among the eight acres of flowers.

Information kiosks were set up to explain all about gardening and water use. Gila monsters seemed to be the theme.

Boulder City, NV

Just 8 miles from Boulder Dam and 25 miles from Las Vegas lies the city designed to house those who would build the monstrosity on the Colorado River. It was during the Great Depression and many unemployed came to find work on the dam construction in the 1930s. Boulder City was designed to accommodate the workers and their families in 1931. So as to not distract the workers there was no drinking, gambling or prostitution within the city limits. It would also sustain a workforce that would be needed to operate the dam afterwards. It just happened that we had breakfast in the oldest business in town built in 1931.

The historic downtown is charming and all about town are statues. There are also bighorn sheep in the area but these are the only ones we saw.

The Boulder Hotel was built in 1933 to accommodate visiting dignitaries overseeing the construction of the dam. We enjoyed wandering through a small art gallery, one of the shops that is housed on the second floor.

And if the town isn’t charming enough, just four miles north is Lake Mead, our home for a few days. Lake Mead was formed when Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s. Lake Mead National Recreation Area covers 1.5 million acres and we settled into the Boulder Campground on the shores of Lake Mead for a few days.

There were plenty of sites available at Boulder Campground and we were delighted to be parked under the giant eucalyptus trees.

Before leaving on the 4th day we rode the railroad trail from the campground to the dam. Actually, we drove the bikes up to the trailhead so we would not have to pedal so far uphill! And away we went.

Much of the work done on the dam began in the area that is now under the lake. They built concrete factories; as well as others, and a major railway system to haul materials to the dam. This is where they dumped the concrete that came out of the holes for the turbines. Much remains 500 feet under the lake still.

A few stops were made for small wildflowers blooming along the edge as we passed through the five tunnels on the trail.

At the end I spotted the first cactus I have seen blooming this year. They are full of buds which will burst open quite soon.

Oatman, AZ

We were pleased to learn that my nephew Brian and his family were visiting the in-laws in Kingman, Arizona. Since it was only a 75 mile drive we went for a visit. We drove to the old mining, now tourist, town of Oatman to show Hayden the donkeys.

Jennifer helped Hayden feed this donkey. He wasn't too sure about them.

Hayden did enjoy watching the kettlecorn being made.

Since it was Sunday, we strolled the streets with lots of other tourists.

Hayden did not care much about the motorcycles lining the streets but he was interested in this old tractor.

At noon we got to watch the daily gunfight. I think they were arguing over a bag of gold.

Jennifer's father Tim, Hayden, Brian, and Jennifer kept their distance while Hayden kept his ears covered.

There are some young donkeys in the crowd and Leon checked on this one.

I was busy feeding carrots to another donkey.

It was nice traveling through the mountains on the mother road, route 66, with someone who had lived in the area when it was the main highway. We learned a lot about what had been in the area.

Brian, Hayden, and I could not wait to leap out of the car to check on this rattlenake that had just crossed the road. I think he heard us coming and got coiled just in case.

Back in Kingman I got to meet my youngest nephew Patrick who stayed home and napped while we had our excursion.

Hayden was pleased to ride his new tricycle in the back yard.

Hoover Dam Tour

We are staying only five miles from Hoover Dam so it only made sense to start our day with the tour. We went before the long line of traffic was backed up at the security checkpoint.

Much of the fancy design incorporated into the building of the dam was to showcase American technology in the 1930s with the tourist in mind. They now have up to 4,000 people taking tours each day.

We rode the elevator to one of many tunnels we followed hundreds of feet below the ground.

From inside one of the tunnels we could walk right to the edge and see the Colorado River and new bridge quite well. The bridge will be approximately 900 feet above the water.

And down more tunnels we went. We aren’t sure whether we were in Nevada or Arizona. The state line is in the middle of the dam.

This is the Nevada 1 turbine. There are eight on each side of the dam.

Power lines seem to be everywhere sending electricity throughout the region.

We toured the museum and enjoyed a good view from out on the deck.

As we left the traffic was nonstop going across the bridge. When the bridge is finished people will still be able to drive on the dam but the new Colorado River Bridge, aka Hoover Dam bypass, will provide an alternate route for those not wanting to be stuck in traffic. All in all it was a fine dam tour.