Hello from Spokane,
Karen and I have completed our travels to the canyonlands and desert southwest with our return to Spokane on November 29th.
To pick up our story, we moved from Page, AZ to Echo Bay on Lake Mead where we soon learned that we had NO TV OR INTERNET ACCESS for election night. After considering a quick trip to Las Vegas, we decided to cut short our planned three-day stay at Echo Bay and parlay our fees on one night in the resort hotel where we had both TV and Internet connection for the election returns. For the first time in a long time, our preferred candidates actually won the election!!! Even with the grim economic picture, there came some hope for a better day...
From Echo Bay, we moved to the Avi Casino and Resort near Laughlin, NV. We had a food time here as the casino is relatively small compared to those in Las Vegas and things seemed to be a good fit even if our need to gamble was virtually nil. During our time in the Laughlin area, we were able to visit Oatman, AZ on historic Route 66, hike the mountains above the city and paddle nearby Lake Mojave on the Colorado River.
From Laughlin, we moved to Death Valley National Park for the final stage in our tour of the southwest. Karen and I have come to love this park for its raw beauty and majesty. The Xanterra concession at Furnace Creek is quaint and has a good feel about it. After the better part of a week at Furnace Creek, we moved to Panamint Springs Resort, an old, rustic place on the west edge of the park. Our campsite had the feel of a desert oasis with a garden of various desert trees, plants and cacti. The whole place has a real remote feel which was a very pleasant ending to our trip.
From Panamint Springs, we drove the RV to Bakersfield, where we found a storage facility where we left the RV, the kayaks and bikes until we return for our tour of the Pacific Coast from Central CA to WA which will begin about the last week of January.
Thanks for "tuning in" to our blog. We hope you will visit the pictures at the Flickr site which is found as follows: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24572330@N08/
Bye for now!
Rich
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
From Laughlin, Nevada
Hello from the KOA Kampground on the grounds of the Avi Casino, on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, just south of Laughlin, Nevada!
It has been a long time since my last posting. The main reason was intermittent to non-existent Internet access in the campgrounds in which we have stayed. To bring you up to date, we moved from the Moab area to Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park. During the time we were parked there, we toured both Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park, which lies about 86-miles to the north. We treated ourselves to two nights in a Bryce Canyon Lodge cabin and one in a Zion Canyon Lodge cabin.
From Springdale, we moved to Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon/Lake Powell area. There was much to do in and around Page. We were not able to do everything we had hoped to do there and look forward to our next visit. We did have a couple of nice paddles on Lake Powell, which is a very special place to paddle. The slot canyons and vertical rock formations jutting up out of the water are not found anywhere else, I believe. Our drives to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado below Glen Canyon Dam and to the Horseshoe Bend were memorable.
From Page, we moved briefly to Echo Bay on Lake Mead. The wind was blowing very hard there and getting into the water appeared to be impossible and no one could give us much hope that things would change for the better. Without TV or Internet access in the campground on election night, we made the decision to parlay our money on one night in the Echo Bay Resort Hotel where we had both. We had both the hotel and the restaurant virtually to ourselves as the combination of season, weather and the election rendered this place a virtual "ghost town".
We move to our current location just outside Laughlin, NV. Since arriving here, we have visited Oatman, AZ, a turn of the century gold mining town on the old Route 66 where they still have "gun fights" in the street along with burros wandering and panhandling for carrots. We also paddled the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge and walked around the "casino strip" in Laughlin. We still have several days here before moving on to Death Valley for some "dry camping". The Avi Casino of which our KOA is a part is a nice complex run by the Fort Mojave Tribe of Indians. Neither Karen or I are attracted by the gambling, but the buffet is very good as we found out last night!
Please visit my Flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/, for the best of my pictures from our stay in Springdale and Page. Because of the poor Internet signal at night, there are two uploads that mix pictures from different times and places which might be confusing. Sorry for that...
It has been a long time since my last posting. The main reason was intermittent to non-existent Internet access in the campgrounds in which we have stayed. To bring you up to date, we moved from the Moab area to Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park. During the time we were parked there, we toured both Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park, which lies about 86-miles to the north. We treated ourselves to two nights in a Bryce Canyon Lodge cabin and one in a Zion Canyon Lodge cabin.
From Springdale, we moved to Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon/Lake Powell area. There was much to do in and around Page. We were not able to do everything we had hoped to do there and look forward to our next visit. We did have a couple of nice paddles on Lake Powell, which is a very special place to paddle. The slot canyons and vertical rock formations jutting up out of the water are not found anywhere else, I believe. Our drives to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado below Glen Canyon Dam and to the Horseshoe Bend were memorable.
From Page, we moved briefly to Echo Bay on Lake Mead. The wind was blowing very hard there and getting into the water appeared to be impossible and no one could give us much hope that things would change for the better. Without TV or Internet access in the campground on election night, we made the decision to parlay our money on one night in the Echo Bay Resort Hotel where we had both. We had both the hotel and the restaurant virtually to ourselves as the combination of season, weather and the election rendered this place a virtual "ghost town".
We move to our current location just outside Laughlin, NV. Since arriving here, we have visited Oatman, AZ, a turn of the century gold mining town on the old Route 66 where they still have "gun fights" in the street along with burros wandering and panhandling for carrots. We also paddled the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge and walked around the "casino strip" in Laughlin. We still have several days here before moving on to Death Valley for some "dry camping". The Avi Casino of which our KOA is a part is a nice complex run by the Fort Mojave Tribe of Indians. Neither Karen or I are attracted by the gambling, but the buffet is very good as we found out last night!
Please visit my Flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/, for the best of my pictures from our stay in Springdale and Page. Because of the poor Internet signal at night, there are two uploads that mix pictures from different times and places which might be confusing. Sorry for that...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Leaving Moab
Hi Everyone!
Today is our last day in Moab and the Canyonlands and Arches NP area. Tomorrow, we head south to the Zion-Bryce Canyon area. We have had a great time here in Moab! The daytime temperatures have been in the 70's and low 80's the past week or so. During the past 8-days, we have visited Canyonlands and Arches National Parks; explored up and down the Colorado River; and also visited the La Sal Mountains that provide such a dramatic backdrop for this area. We hope you enjoy the pictures we have uploaded to the Flickr site.
Warm regards,
Rich
Friday, October 17, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Leaving Brigham City
Hi Everyone!
Yesterday was our day to tour the area near Brigham City.
We went first to the very nice Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Visitor's Center. It sits right off the Interstate. I'm not sure the birds really like the Interstate, but it was convenient access. The weather was cold, wet and raw with sleet as we drove around the loop in the refuge which was at least 30-miles around. We came to know that the "refuge" was not really a "refuge" as the bird hunters were evident everywhere. I think they were hiding in their little camo boats, but we knew they were there by their white pick-ups that were everywhere. (Comment: Are white vehicles a Mormon thing? People here have mostly white vehicles, but there are a fair number of black, as well). We saw a slew of coots, a few pelicans and many harriers, but no birds with any real shooting value. No doubt they saw the hunters, too, and took off for warmer climes.
From there we stopped for lunch at the Golden Spike Cafe in Corrine, UT, enroute to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in the Promentory Mountains. We passed a huge, sprawling complex, spread over the hills of an outfit called "ATK Launch Systems" which obviously had very "top secret" trappings. We saw a missile on prominent display in front of the main complex. We realized that part of this organization was Thiokol (Sp?) which, of course, is famous for their "O-rings" on the Space Shuttle Challenger's launch rocket that belew out and resulted in the death of all of the astronauts back in 1986.
The Golden Spike site was very interesting. The highlight was the two replica steam locomotive engines that they run up and down the tracks outside the visitor's center. I have attached a few pictures for you. As you can see, the elevation was 4505', and they had snow the night before.
Well, we awoke to snow on the ground this morning and will head for a hopefully warmer Moab, UT, later as soon as we can get our utilities disconnected and the tow vehicle reconnected.
More later...
Love, Rich
Yesterday was our day to tour the area near Brigham City.
We went first to the very nice Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Visitor's Center. It sits right off the Interstate. I'm not sure the birds really like the Interstate, but it was convenient access. The weather was cold, wet and raw with sleet as we drove around the loop in the refuge which was at least 30-miles around. We came to know that the "refuge" was not really a "refuge" as the bird hunters were evident everywhere. I think they were hiding in their little camo boats, but we knew they were there by their white pick-ups that were everywhere. (Comment: Are white vehicles a Mormon thing? People here have mostly white vehicles, but there are a fair number of black, as well). We saw a slew of coots, a few pelicans and many harriers, but no birds with any real shooting value. No doubt they saw the hunters, too, and took off for warmer climes.
From there we stopped for lunch at the Golden Spike Cafe in Corrine, UT, enroute to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in the Promentory Mountains. We passed a huge, sprawling complex, spread over the hills of an outfit called "ATK Launch Systems" which obviously had very "top secret" trappings. We saw a missile on prominent display in front of the main complex. We realized that part of this organization was Thiokol (Sp?) which, of course, is famous for their "O-rings" on the Space Shuttle Challenger's launch rocket that belew out and resulted in the death of all of the astronauts back in 1986.
The Golden Spike site was very interesting. The highlight was the two replica steam locomotive engines that they run up and down the tracks outside the visitor's center. I have attached a few pictures for you. As you can see, the elevation was 4505', and they had snow the night before.
Well, we awoke to snow on the ground this morning and will head for a hopefully warmer Moab, UT, later as soon as we can get our utilities disconnected and the tow vehicle reconnected.More later...
Love, Rich
From Brigham City, UT
Hi Everyone!
Well, here we are in Brigham City, UT. It is snowing in the Wasatch above us. It is cold and overcast here. We are going out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge later today and probably on to the Golden Spike Historical Site. I doubt it will be conducive to putting the boats in the water at Bear River. We will be moving on to Moab, UT, tomorrow as we want to pass through Salt Lake while everyone is in church. We only have to have some concern for the snow conditions in the mountains as they are talking about "feet" of snow and I don't know these mountains well enough to know where those feet might be falling...
WiFi here at KOA works surprisingly well. Guess these computers will come in handy. It does make it harder to remain ignorant of the things going on in the world at large as I had hoped. In the old days you kinda dropped out of sight of the rest of the world...no longer... Karen even read the Spokesman online this morning! We are watching the SNL skits as well.
The visit with the Earnests went well and Karen had a great time with Kaylee and Rudy as could be predicted.
All the new equipment has performed well which was not a given! I had an episode of Alzheimers last night and couldn't get the CRV disconnected from the RV and Karen had to help me. Glad I have her along... We'll put some miles on the CRV today.
I even slept through the night, three successive nights! I guess I was right about getting away from APS!
That's all for today. More later...
Love, Rich
Well, here we are in Brigham City, UT. It is snowing in the Wasatch above us. It is cold and overcast here. We are going out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge later today and probably on to the Golden Spike Historical Site. I doubt it will be conducive to putting the boats in the water at Bear River. We will be moving on to Moab, UT, tomorrow as we want to pass through Salt Lake while everyone is in church. We only have to have some concern for the snow conditions in the mountains as they are talking about "feet" of snow and I don't know these mountains well enough to know where those feet might be falling...
WiFi here at KOA works surprisingly well. Guess these computers will come in handy. It does make it harder to remain ignorant of the things going on in the world at large as I had hoped. In the old days you kinda dropped out of sight of the rest of the world...no longer... Karen even read the Spokesman online this morning! We are watching the SNL skits as well.
The visit with the Earnests went well and Karen had a great time with Kaylee and Rudy as could be predicted.
All the new equipment has performed well which was not a given! I had an episode of Alzheimers last night and couldn't get the CRV disconnected from the RV and Karen had to help me. Glad I have her along... We'll put some miles on the CRV today.
I even slept through the night, three successive nights! I guess I was right about getting away from APS!
That's all for today. More later...
Love, Rich
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
