Painted Desert, Petrified Forest & Snow? Oh My!!

We've been parked at this spot since the 13th. We're enjoying the nice weather - 75 degrees :0). Wednesday we went to the Painted Desert -- one word, stunning! You could certainly see God's handiwork in full splendor!

Thursday, we went to the Petrified Forest. It was amazing to learn how all of the logs were formed, and how long it took for just one to get to the petrified state. Many things are made from the wood, including furniture, bookends, and jewelry.

The colored material in the middle of the logs is used to make jewelry.
The colors are dependent on the different minerals in the layers of the wood.

And then . . . . . . . . . . the forecast was for up to a foot of snow - YIKES!!

Our Last Day :(

Yesterday, we gave our 4 legged kids baths :), cleaned the 5th wheel a bit, and met family for supper at the Avi. It was nice to see everyone! Today, we'll be meeting again for supper at the Golden Nugget. Just hanging out till then. Tomorrow, we will start heading east to go home. We are planning to stop a few days to see the painted desert and the petrified forest, then on to Kansas for some time with more family before returning to Michigan. Postings and pictures will come as we travel and our internet works!

Laughlin, NV/River Walk

Our RV Park is just across the river from Laughlin, NV, on a hillside with a great view of everything! We've been great fans of visiting the casinos for supper at the various restaurants, especially the buffet at the Avi!

The Laughlin "strip" from the opposite side of the river.

A view of Laughlin from my front "porch"!

There is a sidewalk that runs along the river beside the casinos. These pictures were taken there.

Tour Boat

Colorado Belle Casino

Koi at the Colorado Belle

DUH! Feeding the pigeons on the River Walk right beside the sign telling her not to!

A real oddity - a phone booth! Even more odd . . . WITH a phone book!!

Las Vegas!

Last week, we decided to drive to Las Vegas (2 hrs. away). We left mid-morning, and the drive didn't seem long with new scenery to view. After a stop at Camping World, we drove to the Las Vegas strip. What an amazing sight! There were people all over the place, and the casinos were awesome! We decided to walk along the strip and check out the various buildings, as each one was built to reflect a certain style. I think my favorite was the Luxor, although we didn't get to see it until driving through on our way home, when all the lights were on. It was an Egyptian pyramid with a large statue of a sphynx in front of it. A beacon shone out the top of the pyramid, and the rest of it was outlined in lights. A once in a lifetime visit -- we had a lot of fun!

Treasure Island (note the skull carved into the rocks!)

Caesar's Palace

New York, New York

Luxor

After we saw the strip during the day, we went to "old Las Vegas" on Freemont Street. It was lined with shops and casinos, and covered over the top with lights. There was also a zip-line which went about 1/2 the length of the street. It was fun to watch the brave souls who chose to ride on it! No, we didn't even contemplate taking a turn!  Unfortunately, the second half of our day, the wind kicked up to gale-force, so it was difficult to enjoy the outdoors. Below are a couple of pics from Freemont St.

Freemont Street

Freemont Street

Rodeo!

The internet access here is truly awful, which explains why I haven't posted anything recently.  The rodeo was great! I did kind of feel sorry for the calves tho', when they got roped and thrown down - none of them looked too happy to get out in the ring (not that I'd know what a happy one would look like!)!! The bronco and bull riding was very exciting, but I especially liked the barrel racing! I coldn't believe how fast they rode around them without running into them! My pics aren't the greatest, but I'll post them and try to link a video or two. Hope it works!  Well, it didn't work, so I'll try to post them later when we have better access.

All "the girls" (Miss Rodeo, etc.) in their glitzy outfits, waiting at the gate.

Before the show began. The calves in the pen, waiting to be released for roping.

Rx = Rest, fluids, meds

Finally, after a miserable week of sinus infections and a touch of bronchitis, we're starting to feel like people again instead of medical experiments! We're at a different campground (since Wednesday), which is across the river from Laughlin, NV. We have a really nice view that is especially pretty at night when all of the casinos are lit up. Went out for dinner last eve at one of the casinos. The food was delicious and we all ate too much!

Hoping to go to a rodeo either tonight or tomorrow night. Looking forward to that!

Oatman, AZ

On Wednesday, the 22nd, we went to Oatman. It's a little town similar to Tombstone, but smaller. The main street was paved, but the sidewalks were wooden, and there was a variety of little shops. The big draw, however, was the wild burros who have occupied the shopping district! Many of the shops sold bags of burro food and carrots to feed them, and the burros weren't shy about approaching you! Some even stood in the middle of the road and wouldn't let traffic pass until they were good and ready. The little ones had stickers on their heads warning people not to feed them because they weren't old enough to digest what was offered. A couple of the babies just laid down to nap in the street. There were gunfights, a music man, a restaurant wallpapered in $1.00 bills, and just a good time! We also traveled a little ways out in the desert to see what was at one time a bordello! (I think my brother-in-law may be leading us astray :)!)

Note the sticker on baby's head! 

Music Man

Interesting wallpaper!

Bordello

After we left Oatman, we decided to travel across the Black Mountains to return to our campground. We passed several mining operations, and a few inactive mines on our way. The road across the mountains is the old Route 66. Amazing to us was that it was the main way to get from one coast to the other "back in the day"! As you'll see in the pics, it was very narrow, and very winding. At one point, we saw some desert big horn sheep, and we stopped somewhere near the top of Ash Mountain, which got it's name from people bringing ashes of loved ones and scattering them on the mountainside.

Route 66 from Ash Mountain

Ash Mountain

I can't believe I'm taking pictures of signs! My dad used to do that when we were on vacation, and I thought he was crazy! LOL :)