I posted in early March about our visit and cruise to Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California.
Well, those photos were taken by my iPhone, but Jenn also took a bunch of photos with her big camera, a Nikon D7200. She has just gone through those photos, and shared her favorites with me, so I thought I’d do a followup post with her pictures. Enjoy!
Whale tail:
Oil rig:
Lioning about:
Dolphins:
Whale tail:
Dolphins:
Birds:
Arch and island:
Our second trip to Las Vegas was to the Fremont Street Experience in downtown. It’s a couple blocks of that street, covered with a large curved screen, that displays light shows and music videos.
The historic Vegas Vic:
We went to the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar for dinner:
Margarita and corn chips:
Jenn’s combo dinner:
My burrito dinner:
We’re not into gambling, but felt we should pay some tax to the gods of luck while in Vegas. Though as it turned out, Jenn walked away with almost double what she put in:
Back outside:
While staying at Lake Mead, we took a couple of daytrips to Las Vegas. The first one was to the Strip.
We had actually planned to stay overnight at the Mirage, and attend “The Beatles Love” Cirque du Soleil show, but had to bail on those reservations as Jenn was sick with food poisoning for several days. But once she was better, we made do with the daytrips.
Driving to the Strip, we snagged a picture of the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign:
Driving down the Strip:
We parked, and went searching for lunch. We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe, and walked across the road while waiting for a notification of our table being ready:
Jenn:
Lunch:
Some of the decorations in the Hard Rock Cafe:
Pretty sure those buildings weren’t there the last time we were in Vegas… which admittedly was 16 years ago:
Paris is still the same, though:
The Bellagio fountains:
Definitely a sign of the times: the Museum of Selfies:
Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips:
We rode the High Roller ferris wheel:
The view:
The MSG Sphere under construction:
The monorail from above:
Bellagio fountains:
Nearing the end of the circuit:
Then we headed over to The Forum Shops:
Fountain selfie:
Curved escalator:
The Forum Shops:
We stopped by the Apple store for a couple of accessories:
The animatronic “Fall of Atlantis” show:
We had dinner at the Trevi restaurant within the Forum Shops:
Hey there Caesar:
Finally, some High Roller greenscreen photos:
Since we were staying with a view of Lake Mead, of course we had to go down to the lake edge. Plus, we visited the nearby Hoover Dam, which created and feeds from the lake.
The Lake Mead National Recreation Area is “America’s first and largest national recreation area”.
We drove to the lake:
The lake is at a record low level due to the ongoing drought, so much of the road is actually below where the water level should be:
A life jacket loaner station:
A long walk to the lake edge:
The current lake edge:
Not entirely sure what this structure is; seems to be pipes. There is a sewage treatment plant nearby, so probably related to that:
Blowing dust:
Then we drove along the road that should be just above the water level:
A glimpse of our RV in the campground:
The boat ramp, which has been extended several times as the water receded:
On the way back up, we noticed signs indicating the water line over the years. I’m including a picture of each sign, and the metadata map indicating where it is. Note that the water line indicated by the map isn’t current; it’s lower than shown. Here’s 2018:
2008:
2002:
2000, about where the water should be at capacity:
We stopped by the Lake Mead visitor center:
Visitor center store:
Lake model:
Then we continued on to Hoover Dam.
On the way to the RV park, we went over this bridge in our coach, the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. When Jenn saw it from below, she said she was very glad she hadn’t realized how high it was at the time. That Wikipedia article says it “incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere. At 890 feet (270 m) above the Colorado River, it is the second highest bridge in the United States”:
Leaning towers hold the electrical cables away from the canyon wall:
We drove over Hoover Dam:
One of two spillways, that haven’t been used in decades:
After driving across and back over the dam, we parked, had a snack in the cafe, went to the gift store, then the visitor center. Which wasn’t worth it; I’d recommend skipping it unless you’re really interested. There were few displays, and about half were out of order. And they charged $10 each to get in… plus you have to go through a security checkpoint (that made me remove my fabric belt, for some reason).
But one exhibit that was somewhat interesting was a video showing the dam being built, which I recorded and made into an animated GIF:
Another display:
The visitor center also had an observation deck with a good view of the dam:
Wide angle:
Top of the dam:
Power house:
Valve house:
Bridge:
Power houses:
Oh dam:
Dam selfie:
Bridge and river:
Then we walked over the dam:
Power houses:
Bridge and visitor center:
Dam:
Plaque:
Bridge and river:
Wide angle:
The parking garage and visitor center:
A high-and-dry spillway:
Back of the dam:
Lake Mead, and one of four intake towers:
Wide angle:
Back of the dam:
Arizona-side intake towers:
Lake Mead:
A plaque halfway across:
And the divider between Nevada and Arizona:
Windy selfie:
Nevada-side intake towers:
Lake Mead:
Exhibits building (which was closed):
Spillway house:
Back of the dam:
Wide angle:
Our coach has fold-down arms on the two cockpit chairs. When we bought it, one of the arms of the passenger chair was too low. We figured that someone had put too much weight on it and broken it:
However, I recently learned a trick: inside the small hole at the end of the armrest is an adjustment lever. One can put a finger in there and lift up the lever below the hole, and adjust the resting height of the armrest:
So now yay, it’s all better:
Mind blown! 🤯
Learn something new every day.
I noticed that the sun rose pretty much directly in front of our coach at our lake-view site in Lake Mead RV Village, so I had the idea of leaving the dashcam on overnight to record the light on the hills of the sunset, some of the air activity overnight, and the sunrise. I think the audio track really adds to the mood, too. Enjoy!
We stayed at the Lake Mead RV Village in Boulder City, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We considered staying at the Thousand Trails in Las Vegas, but the reviews weren’t very favorable. So we opted for a nicer park with a view of Lake Mead instead.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Internet:
Amenities:
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Gorgeous lake and mountain views
We had a pull-in Lake View site and it was sooooo worth it. Best view ever, even if the lake isn’t as high as it used to be. The only drawback is that while we were front-in with our motorhome, our neighbor was backed in with a 5er, which means it was basically a buddy site, so privacy was lacking. If they could keep motorhomes and trailers/5ers separate that would be even better. Utilities are available on either side of the site because of the front or back-in arrangement.
Our site was so level, our automatic levelers pretty much just went down and called it good without any fiddling. That never happens. Very convenient to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas for some sightseeing and touristy fun, but it was so nice to come back to this quiet spot when the day was done. Some basic necessities in the camp store. Groceries in Boulder City or Henderson weren’t too far away, but you might want to put a cooler in the car just in case. We camped at Lake Mead RV Village in a Motorhome.
The weather forecast for our stay:
It was quite windy, with gusts up to 64 miles per hour, though I think we were a little sheltered from the worst of that:
Here’s the campground map, which only shows the RV sites; most of the park is mobile homes:
The satellite view shows all the mobile homes; our approximate location is circled:
Zooming out, you can see the lake edge. Though these satellite images are out-of-date; the water is actually a bit further now, as the lake continues to drain due to the ongoing drought:
This last image shows the Nevada/Arizona border line, and Hoover Dam:
Our lake view site; notice that we fronted in, to have a nice view out our windscreen, while trailers back in:
The downside of this arrangement is that a trailer next to us has their door facing us, so a “buddy” situation. Not great for privacy:
Fortunately the sites are fairly wide, so we weren’t on top of each other. And they left after a few days, which was a relief, since they had their TV blaring with the door open most of the time.
Looking down the side of the coach to the utilities:
Pretty convenient location; to accommodate motorhomes and trailers, all of the utilities are available on both sides of the site:
Good water pressure:
Once we spent a night here, we were able to fill in a hole on our states map, adding Nevada:
Utah will be added soon, too.
Here’s the picturesque view out our windscreen; we didn’t put up the Magne Shade, so we could enjoy the view:
A dust storm:
Paladin relaxing:
Let’s take a walk around the campground, and look at other RVs and the mobile homes:
The entrance:
The office:
We enjoyed the blooming cacti out front:
The office also included a decent camp store, where we got some groceries:
Village hall:
I worked outside on several days (when not too hot or breezy), in the shade in front of our coach, enjoying the view:
Jenn had some meetings outside, too:
Paladin looking outside:
Paladin watching taunty quail:
An interesting plane / copter thing:
Dinner with a view:
Surprisingly, there were several empty sites for much of our stay. We had several trailers come and go on our driver side, but I would have expected the park to be more packed. Sure, it’s early Spring, but we were here around Easter weekend:
Sunrise over the lake:
The moon over our coach:
Sunset alpenglow:
A good park, with the nicest view we’ve experienced (so far). We’ll definitely stay here again.
A timelapse of driving the coach 189 miles from Williams, Arizona to Boulder City, Nevada.
We drove our coach 183 miles, 3.5 hours non-stop, from Williams, Arizona to Lake Mead, Boulder City, Nevada.
Here’s the map, going right to left (or heading west, if you prefer):
Maybe someone didn’t like their dog? Devil Dog Road:
A view heading downhill:
A truck clipped our mirror, crossing the center line. Doesn’t seemed to have done more than scrape it, but it was rather disconcerting:
Based on the their trailer, they may not be the best driver:
Paladin not looking impressed by a rough stretch of road:
I put him on my lap for a bit:
Passing a motorhome; hey fellow traveller:
This was a non-stop trip, so we had a lunch of chips and a sandwich while driving:
Interesting rocks:
Another motorhome (a Thor Aria was one model we considered when shopping for an RV; Thor isn’t the best brand, but the Aria isn’t bad):
More interesting rocks:
Steep uphill:
Travel trailer delivery:
A pickup with a camper, towing an interesting trailer; I’m guessing a contractor:
Approaching the exit from I-40:
Yet more interesting rocks:
Our exit:
A view (and yes, our windshield was getting rather dirty, from lots of bugs):
We encountered a motorcycle accident; the rider was on the ground, attended by several people. I hope they’re okay, but it didn’t look good:
Paladin peeking:
Last stop in Arizona:
Info sign:
Hey look, more interesting rocks:
Hilltop view:
Approaching Hoover Dam:
A glimpse of Hoover Dam from the center lane of the bridge next to the dam (when Jenn later saw the bridge from the dam, she said she was very glad she didn’t know how high it was when driving over it!):
Entering Nevada:
Our exit:
View of Lake Mead:
Lake Mead National Recreation Area entry station:
Jenn going to the RV park office to check in:
Following a guide to our site:
The timelapse video from this trip will be coming later today, and our review of the RV park tomorrow.
We took a day trip to three national monuments east and north of Flagstaff, Arizona: Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Wupatki National Monuments:
Starting with Walnut Canyon National Monument, with cliff dwellings:
Visitor center video:
Model:
Walnut Canyon path:
Walnut Canyon:
Then the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument:
Lava field:
Lizard:
Lastly, Wupatki National Monument, with pueblo communities:
The Wukoki house was our favorite part of all three parks:
Very windy:
Visitor center:
Wupatki pueblo:
In our travels, we encountered lots of tumbleweeds:
