Havasu, Wickenburg, Borrego Springs, and Yuma

Playing catch up again.  After Las Vegas we moved south to Lake Havasu City.

Home of the London Bridge.  Dismantled in London, shipped to Arizona, and rebuilt block by block.

It's great place for city biking and our group of 14 enjoyed over 7 miles of bike paths.

Near Wickenburg we toured the "about to reopen as gold prices are high enough now"

Vulture Gold Mine.

One of the old entrances to various tunnels.  The mine owners hope to be fully  operational within 2 years.

Meanwhile lots of cleanup is going on.  At one time this was a town of over 3,000 folks working at the mine.

Lots of old equipment still around.  This was a cage for lowering men down the mine.  There was lots of "guy stuff" that got "ohs"  and "ahs".  And old saw mill, several cars, drills, etc.

And then still in Wickenburg at the Community Center the WINs held their annual Dance Rally -- open to all singles.  Lessons in the daytime and dancing to live music in the evenings -- for 10 days.

One night was "Dress up Night"  and Wow Silky did it up right with tux and tails.

Here you can see Silky with tails, Bob in the white dinner jacket, Richard in the grey suit.  And certainly to mention the beautiful dresses worn by the ladies.

Another evening wear dance was "Pajama Night".

Joann and Max show off their jammies.

Instead of dancing one night we had the "Talent/No Talent Show".

I was in the kazoo orchestra--second from right.  We played "Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", "Old MacDonalds Farm, and gee I was having so much fun I now forget what else we played.

Then to really make a fool of myself I joined the dance girls.  We had wanted to use tassels but were told that was too "risque".  Oh...

But we still had fun.

All to the tune of "The Stripper".

As a finale 5 of us performed  "Y M C A".   I'm the construction worker on the right with yellow hat.

Whew!   and my performing career is over..for now.  

Then we moved west to Borrego Springs, CA for Thanksgiving.  About 85 WINs gathered on the desert for turkey dinner with all the extras.  This was our view each morning.  

One day we drove out to see the "rock eagle".  It takes some imagination but I've outlined the natural rock formation.  

Moving on to Yuma we toured the Yuma Territorial Prison on the banks of the Colorado River.  Opened in 1875.  Most prisoners were in for robbery, adultery, or murder.  But a few were there for promising to marry a woman, then not going through with the ceremony.  

A model of the prison shows A- the main guard house built over the water storage tank,  B - the sally port, and C - one of the row of cells.

Present day the A guard house, and B the sally port.

One of the cell blocks.  Although at the time this was covered as shown in the model.

The interior of one of those cells-- I'm guessing about 8 x 10 and it housed 6 prisoners.

On to better things.   Christmas Day dinner with the WINs at the Yuma VFW Post.

Later a smaller group at our RV park (I'm not parked with the WINs, but rather in a nearby RV park) as we gathered to sing Christmas carols.  

Followed a few days later by a tour of a large date farm.  Here showing the mother trees that produce these babies each year.  They are cut off at the base and raised in tubs for 2 years when they can be planted for production.  

Since the trees are not producing at this time of year I had to take pictures of pictures.  Here's a tree almost ready to harvest.  We were told a mature tree can produce over 300 pounds of dates.  However, a very labor intensive process.

Harvesting using fork lift type platform where several workers can gather the dates safely--as the trees can be 20 feet tall.

This evening, Dec 31, 2013 our RV park group gathered for soup, bread and desserts before a rousing "Happy New Year"   (at 7 pm)  Well, it was midnight somewhere....

And Happy New Year to all my family and friends.  

Las Vegas, NV Oct 26-Nov 5

Ah, Las Vegas!!  We are camped about 20 miles out of Vegas, on the shore of Lake Mead.  At $5.00 a night it sure beats the hotel prices on the "Strip".

We did car pool into town a few times.  Spent about 2 hours walking the strip and we saw only a small portion.

The Mirage.

The Paris with the Eiffel Tower.

One of the pumpkin displays at the Bellagio.  One in the middle is about 5 feet across.

At the Bellagio the Conservatory is always spectacular.  Now, decorated for Halloween it was scary indeed.

The flowers are beautiful--not a wilted one in sight.

The WINs of course do Halloween right.  Here we are ready to trick or treat on Fremont Street.

Yes, I was right there. 

Tommy Gunn and his lady Karen.

Then on to Fremont Street--a pedestrian mall with casinos, restaurants, etc.

On Halloween night it becomes a walking show of costumes--some extravagant, weird, obscene, cute.

I didn't take a single photo of any of them.   Then there is the overhead light show.

Several of us went to see Cirque du Soleil - "Mystere" at Treasure Island.

I had never been to one of these shows and Wow I was really impressed.  No photography was allowed so I have to rely here on an advertisement.  Even in the nose bleed section it was wonderful.

Here is Lake Mead from the Boulder Beach Campground.  Not where we stayed this year but I took this when on a bike ride.

Now this is near where we are staying this year--Las Vegas Bay Campground.  I walk Parker out along a trail and this is my view.  Parker's view is much closer to the ground.  

Definately desert here--gravel and mesquite bushes.

Also went to see "Last Vegas" at the movies.  Enjoyed a good belly laugh--maybe because I can relate.

Now we leave for Lake Havasu City in Arizona, home of the London Bridge.

Stay tuned.

Zion National Park, Utah October 17-26, 2013

Zion National Park in southwest Utah was open by the time we arrived.




What a gorgeous place to park the RV.  Fall colors were on and I had this view out the windows.




This is one of my favorite National Parks--the walls along the canyon seem to rise "forever".

Now there are shuttle buses that run from the Visitor Center (campground) along the canyon up to the Narrows.  Before the 1 mile paved walk there are many areas you can get close to the river.

No matter which way you look it's breath-taking.

For the adventurous you can hike IN the Virgin River.  I did this hike many years ago (in the summer).  Now hikers can rent insulated boots and waders as these folks have.

Driving east from the canyon area, through a 1.1 mile tunnel you arrive in a different world.  Here the terrain is much smoother.

I loved the beautiful red of the oak brush along the dry creekbed.

I am amazed at the many  layers of sandstone.  And to think each layer took thousands of years to form.

While on the east side we took a short hike.

I would love to know the geological event that caused all these zig zag layers to form.  Ah, the mysteries of nature.

Another short, but steep hike on the east side of the tunnel led to this view.  Wow!!

Everywhere...gorgeous views.

Here at Dripping Rock the water continually leaks from springs.

Almost straight up.

I imagine  this overhang was shelter in ancient times.

On a hike to Angels Landing this is the view back down the canyon--Virgin River.

Me hiking down from Angels Landing.  The line shows the trail upward.  (No, I didn't actually hike TO Angels Landing--but 6 in our group did).

Another view down the canyon.  I took so many beautiful photos it's hard to select a few for the blog.

All along the steep vertical walls there are people rock climbing.  A few had even hung hammocks for an overnight adventure suspended from the wall.  "No thank you."

On my birthday a small group of us put the bikes on the shuttle bus to the top of the canyon and rode the bikes DOWN to the campground.  So quiet and beautiful.  Then cake, ice cream and fresh strawberries.

Our final day we hiked to Emerald Ponds.  The trail goes just in front of the waterfall.

We had a great time in Zion.  Now we have moved on to just east of Las Vegas to a campground near Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.  The new bridge was completed a few years ago and I have driven over it twice with the RV.  Halloween night will be on Fremont Street.