Monday, June 17, 2013

Jun 12 - Jun 17th - Tucson and Lake Mead/Las Vegas

So back to the grind…LOL

We have had a wonderful break back in Canada and UK and are now on to the next stage of our adventures.

WELCOME HOME!!!!
Early morning flight to Tucson via Chicago and yes they are in the NHL finals and the city is in full excitement. Flights arrived on time and we made to the trailer storage by 12.15. Trailer and truck were shiny and waiting. Got some groceries across the road and set off to Palm Creek Resort. Pretty warm at 109F so we got both air conditioners going. Settled in nicely and got a nighttime swim in their wonderful pool.

AHHHH!!! 109 degrees don't feel so bad now
Palm Creek RV Resort- Nice




June 12 - Wednesday

Laundry unpacking and repacking day. Got in some pool time and got ready or tomorrows drive.



June 13 – Thursday

Well it was a 312 mile, 6 hour drive to Lake Mead. Some challenge with routing around Phoenix. Arrived at 3.30pm, used about $105.00 worth of diesel! Still at 109F it was pleasant drive with the truck ac working great. Managed to back into our lakeside site after only a couple of attempts. What a view.
En route to Lake Mead.. Colorado River

NEVADA ... WHOO HOOO!!

First sight of Lake Mead

First view from our campsite - 5 nights YEY!!

Inside Lake Mead RV Resort

Set up and relaxing

View we came to love

Sunset increases the colours

Beautiful Lake Mead (Hoover Dam around that corner)


June 14 – Friday

Up before 7.00, at least it was a little cooler and of course the AC ran all night. Off we went to the Hoover Dam. Took a very informative tour and heard a lot of “dam” jokes. We walked across the dam and then drove across and then got some great views from the McCarron Bridge on I 93. We then drove up the western side of Lake Mead to suss out the former town of St Thomas that was flooded as part of the Lake Mead project. En route we passed Redstone where we saw volcanic, limestone and sandstone rock formations and learned a bit about the local geology; and how we felt about almost losing Janice’s camera!

HOOVER DAM

INSIDE GENERATING PLANT

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!!!!



View of Dam from Parallel Bridge (Marron??)

Lunch at RV before next adventure



REDSTONE AREA

Left to Right... Volcanic Rock, Sandstone, Limestone.. interesting


June 15 – Saturday

Tried to sort out the mobile hotspot situation as we had exceeded the Tengonet broadband limit at the camp. On our 4th retail visit we finally found someone who had knowledge of what we wanted…and at WalMart no less. Bought a mobile hotspot from t-mobile at Wally-mart! Hoping our internet problems would be fixed with this  and we would have internet at hand if the RV park wifi’s are weak.  (turns out tmobile doesn’t have much coverage in North-western States… we learned that later to our dismay!!!)We carried on into Las Vegas and drove up the strip. Eventually parked at Caesar’s Palace and began our investigations and people watching. Had a great time absorbing all of the atmosphere and walked the length of the strip down to Mandalay Bay where we had dinner at the House of Blues. Wandered through The Luxor, loved the architecture at Excalibur, peered into MGM, passed New York New York, caught a great 40’s/50’s group at Cosmopolitan, saw the fountains at Bellagio, played a couple of slot machines in Caesar’s and got back to the truck around midnight. One more slow drive down the strip and a 45 minute ride home. What a great day. 
Inside Luxor Hotel/Casino

Disney theme Hotel

Fountains at Bellagio... amazing!!


Me big time gambler ..... NOT!!!

June 16 - Sunday
Fathers day.... HAPPY FATHERS DAY Derek .... decided to do some catch up around the condo... 
basically a day of relaxation and hanging out. Watched the US open on TV for a while.  

Monday June 17
Up early and packed up a breakfast in the cooler and headed down to the beach… Set up chairs etc ate our brekky and had a lovely swim in the lake…. Temperatures headed into the 100+ range again during the day… so it was nice to catch some sun and swim while it was down in the 80’s early in the morning. Went shopping to Macys. Janice bought a couple of new clothes (prices were amazing there) and a purse for the wedding. A huge panic when we realized her hearing aids had come off somewhere in the store. and a frantic return to the store and run around, she found them on the floor. Unfortunately one was slightly damaged by someone treading on it, but is fixable. Feeling VERY lucky to have found them. Back to camp to start packing ready for trip tomorrow.

Breakfast on the Beach 7am.... Heaven - still in the high 80's

View of RV resort from the beach

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