We are in Las Vegas now, but it is time to do some catching up. We have been doing some traveling and visiting to different sites before we came to Las Vegas so here's a quick summary...
Oatman, AZ
We had a nice afternoon walking around the streets while eating ice cream from the Oatman Hotel. A former gold mining town with shops and a couple of restaurants on Route 66 in the Black Mountains of Arizona.
The burros are descendants of the miner's burros turned loose when the mines closed down and they spend their day roaming around town looking for handouts. They are relatively tame, but there have been some incidents since signs are posted to be careful around the burros.
We watched a street show of the ol' West.....The afternoon got a little noisy at that time.
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| Old West Shoot Out Show |
Sandy had a new friend...
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| Pssst! Yo, got any apples? Carrots? |
A bunch of burros showed up after the first gun shot. The warning shot must be like a dinner bell to them. They know there will be the largest gathering of humans and food for them during the gunfight.
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If the gun doesn't convince them to give money,
I'll help by convincing them with a kick, okay? |
The stage coach showed up right after the show and stopped right next to us. The driver asked us if anyone was killed and Dan answered "only one!". Yup, great day!
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| Stage coach has arrived |
Death Valley National Park
Dan's standing in front of the Bad Water area. Buses on the main road look like ants. That's how far away we are in this photo. It is so amazing how far we can see. It just goes on for miles and miles and miles.
The following photos are of the Badwater area is five miles of salt flats with crusty ridges going every which away.. We were standing 282 feet below sea level.
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| Bad Water |
Turns out it is not as dry as it looks. We were kneeling to get better close-ups of the salt and both of us ended up with a wet knee. When the spot dried, we had a salty crusted knees.
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| Side view of the ridges |
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| Close-up of the dry salt |
Scotty's Castle
At the north end of Death Valley National Park we visited Scotty's Castle.
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| Bridge over swimming pool |
And the story....well, talk about a Wild West story perfect for a movie...go to this
link to read the story behind the castle. It is an interesting story filled with intrigue, a gunfight, an unusual friendship with a happy ending!
There are a couple of paid tours we could have taken, but we were happy to wander around outside. Just touring the outside took awhile because we explored every nook and cranny.
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| Dragon or a snake ornate lantern holder |
Their very own clock tower stood separate from the main buildings. There is a clock face on all four sides.
They started construction in 1922 and because the castle is so remote, the Johnsons used very advanced technology to power their home. They used water flow to turn a Pelton wheel which ran the generator for electricity. They even had a solar heating water system. They had a water fountain in the main hall that dripped down a rock face giving the place an evaporated cooling system. Amazing!
Next blogs from Las Vegas Nevada.
