Horseshoe bend.
A 270 degree turn carved over a 1000 feet deep into the stone. The wild Colorado had amazing power. Just below the dam it is swift but calm and clear and well behaved. Must have been a lot different to have done all this work!
Hanging garden.
One of those curious seeps that makes its way out between
the sandstone and the next layer. It supports an unexpected garden in the desert.
Pretty cool what water does without man’s interference.
Route 89 runs along the Grand Staircase. I still haven’t seen the right perspective to really see the staircase thing but it is beautiful.
The first views of Lake Powell are fantastic with its rugged cliff shores and high mesas all around it. We are looking forward to getting out on the lake soon, as soon as it stops raining and warms up a bit. For now it’s in the 60s but the forecast says by Saturday or maybe Sunday latest.
high on the cliffs and along the road
I saw an enormous bird soaring along the cliffs in Zion Canyon today. They claim that Condors are a regular visitor here in the Park since they introduced a group of the first hand-raised fledglings in the Vermillion Cliffs just south of here. I hope to see it again tomorrow and maybe even get a picture.
We met up with Carol and Dave who are out in LV for a week. It was a fun change of pace from our National Park experiences.
The streets were packed with spring breakers and vacationers. We also encountered Elvis, Michael Jackson, Woody from Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, a pot belly guy in a G-string and sequined bra, and the silver statue people that are everywhere (Edward Scissors Hands version was new), some others too who were just not quite as memorable. There were some talented musicians and some really coordinated bar tenders who were balancing glasses, juggling fire, and making fancy pours. All around, there is great people watching on the strip.
Treasure Island switched their pirate battle to a “Sirens Song”. Essentially just added scantily clad girls gyrating to the cannon battle. Might have been a little awkward for folks who had brought their kids to the show but we enjoyed it. We caught the end of the Bellagio fountain show too.
Kent passed up the chance to gather those street dealt trading cards. You know, the ones that there are handed out by all the bored-faced T-shirt clad hawkers on every corner. He could have had a pretty big deck! Oh well, maybe next time.
Dinner at KGB…(Kelly’s Gourmet Burgers) and a couple Ghirardelli super sundaes for desert.
KGB was a fun place to eat. We never quite figured out the theme of the décor or the waitress outfits. It was sort of minimalist military or something. The food was great. We sampled fried pickles, spicy oil sautéed peppers (a little kick but yummy), lamb burger, bacon BBQ burger, and a veggie burger so we got a pretty good cross section of their offering. A place to go again sometime. The sundaes of course were fantastic just as one would expect.
Hope to get on here more often. 4G broadband access. Woohaa.
A BLM campground with lots of wildlife viewing where the Mojave River emerges from underground and has cut a large canyon.
You are kidding, right?
The BLM office in Barstow said the road was gravel but just about like getting to Owl Canyon (last week). They forgot to mention the rough 10%+ grade to get there. Steep is fine. Rough we can work through. Gravel we can do; but, Steep, Rough, Gravel is more of a challenge than necessary. It seems prudent to camp in the “group campground” on a mesa above the campground without going down the worst of the hills.
Made it out in one piece!!
What a bummer if the parks all close.
Word is they will actually only close the organized campgrounds along with all services.
So, we moved to a non-organized(boondocking) site near the Kelso sand Dunes in Mojave Preserve. Other than not having any services, the boondocking site we found had a marvelous view of the dunes and the mountains and nearly no neighbors. We had an owl perched in the tree next to the motorhome both nights for quite a while. Never saw it but sure did hear it “whooing” and calling.
From this site we were well placed to be the 1st ones to the top of the dune in the morning. It was kinda nice only seeing two sets of tracks to the top of the dune when we got there. It was a little chilly in the breeze. Beautiful view from the moutains on the south across the valley to the dunes and then across the valley and the dry soda lakebed to the northern mountains.