Having had enough of Las Vegas and growing concerned about the coming weekend crowds, we retreated to a popular casino-docking site overlooking Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam Lodge, and stayed there four nights. The desert is a windy place in the spring, we are learning, and on this bluff overlooking the lake we had four days and nights of nearly gale force winds, temps in the 60s, but sunny. We did most of our walking in the casino (masking enforced), and made the usual token offerings there. It was, in my estimation, an unusually fine casino: $.05 machines aplenty, free drinks if you're playing, including something they said was scotch. Ask for it on the rocks and you get a scotch-flavored snow cone. Only a 94% pay-out, however, which is not all that great. The parking lot overlooking the lake and trails was gratuite et illimite, as we say in France, so that made it all worthwhile. Even stronger winds were forecast for mid-week, so we decided to head back to Vegas for some provisioning, and then, via the scenic Red Rock Canyon and a formidable pass, on to the fair town of Pahrump, Nevada, where we are holed up now at the Escapees' Pair-A-Dice (get it?!) RV Park. We'll stay here a few more days before heading back to California. Pahrump is noted for many things, not least of which is the presence of some famous brothels, including the BBC-featured Sheri's Ranch, two-time winner of the Brothel of the Year Award. Look it up.
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| Hoover Dam Lodge; last casino before you enter Arizona; or first you encounter coming from Arizona... |
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| View from our site; what Mars looked like when it had lakes |
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| Our encampment; every night there would be half a dozen or more campers parked there |
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| Alpenglow, sort of |
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| Radio-controlled desert big horn sheep (note collar) |
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| The old railroad line that supplied the building of Hoover Dam, 1931-35, has been converted into a hiking/biking trail; we hiked past the 4th or 5th tunnel, then lost interest |
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| Pinnacles on the mountainside; volcanic rock, sharp, not fun to walk on |
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| So I have decided to stop doing "today's wedding pix" photos, my interest in weddings having waned since 2010 and 2011; from now on I am going to feature "today's influencers" since they are far more in evidence, especially in places like this |
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| Someone else's photo of Hoover Dam; 90 years later, it's not such a big deal, having been eclipsed by many others; we saw the Three Gorges Dam in 2008, and it's hard to beat; we skipped Hoover |
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Now in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, half an hour's drive west of Vegas; a trail only partly explored...it was cold and windy and poor footing... |
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| Red rocks indeed; but mostly they were the usual fifty shades of brown one sees in this part of the world; nonetheless, the canyon drive was "wonderful," Vicki asserts |
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| Up closer, including Calico Tanks |
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| Ditto; nota bene: this area is the best on the one-way 13-mile scenic route...stop here, it doesn't get any better |
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| Non-red rocks |
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| Ditto |
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| Petroglyphs at the terminus of the 0.15 mile Petroglyph Wall Trail |
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| Bonus pictograph |
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| Us, there |
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| We got out just before the rain/snow fell |
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| Hitting one of these would really screw up your alignment |
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| This nice couple had just passed us, at a high rate of speed, but were stopped now, the Lamborghini over-heating, he said; probably not influencers, Vicki observed, but how often do you see a Lamborghini broken down in the boonies? |
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| The area has many wild horses and burros, and there's a $500 fine for feeding them; sign to be added to our "wild animals on the road" collection from Africa... |
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| Google view of Pahrump; the name derives from the native southern Paiute; not French |
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| I was tempted to buy it just to see whether Sheri's Ranch was listed; and for how much |
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