Pahrump to St. George, Utah

On August 30th, our travels take us back through Las Vegas and north 200 miles to St. George, Utah where we will visit Zion National Park.  On the way, we were given the option to tour Valley of Fire State Park and the Lost City Museum.

Taken directly for the Parks website -- The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.

Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates. Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley.

The span of approximate occupation has been dated from 300 B.C.E. to 1150 C.E. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited the length of their stay. Fine examples of rock art left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park.

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire

Once out of the park, we followed directions to the museum.  When we arrived, we realized there was no parking for a motor home the size of ours.  We parked on the shoulder of the road across the street.  Before touring the museum, we had a bite of lunch.  Terry also needed a break from driving through the park (lots of curves and hills).  Following is the history of the museum taken from the Lost City Museum website.

Established: 1935  The Lost City Museum was built by the National Park Service to exhibit artifacts that were being excavated from Pueblo Grande de Nevada.  These Anasazi Indian sites were being threatened by the waters of Lake Mead as it backed up behind the newly built Hoover Dam.  Eventually, when the lake was filled to capacity, about five miles of sites had been inundated or undercut by the water.

The Civilian Conservation Corps assisted in the excavation of the sites and the construction of the museum building. The building was constructed of sun-dried adobe brick in a pueblo- revival style.  The museum also served as the park headquarters for the Boulder Dam State Park that was established at Lake Mead.

Death Valley

Forty eight of us loaded onto a bus at 8:00 am the morning of August 29^th headed for Death Valley.  We rode for about an hour and a half before we reached Badwater.  It is the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America.  At 282 feet below sea level, it was a desolate place.  From Badwater, we traveled to Furnace Creek.  We scoped out the Visitor Center where the temperature was 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  We ate lunch at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch.  I went out to take some pictures.  My legs were so hot, I told Terry I had to be good because I didn’t want to find out how hot hell is.

Badwater

That's Hot!!

After lunch, we loaded back in the bus for a 45 mile drive to Scotty’s Castle.  We took a guided tour of the home (more a mansion than a castle).  We learned about Walter Scott also known as “Death Valley Scotty”.  Scotty convinced everyone that he had built the castle with money from his rich secret mines in the area.  Albert Mussey Johnson actually built the house as a vacation getaway for himself and his wife Bessie.  Scotty was the mystery, the cowboy, and the entertainer, but he also became a very good friend of the Johnsons.  Albert was the brains and the money.  Two men as different as night and day, from different worlds and with different visions - who shared a dream.

Scotty's Castle

 We got back to the campground around 6:30 pm.  It was a long day.  Our compassionate Caravan Hosts prepared a hamburger feast for us.  We socialized a bit, instructed on the route we would take to our next destination and dismissed for the evening.  Boy, I slept good that night.

Las Vegas to Pahrump

NOTE:  We have been without internet access since we left Pahrump.  A lot has happened since then.  Will post as I get it together.  In the meantime, enjoy this post.

It has been pretty quiet.  Saturday was spent doing laundry.  Sunday before church we went to a buffet for breakfast.  In the afternoon, Ed drove us up and down the Las Vegas Strip.  We walked the “Fremont Street Experience”.  It’s an experience at night with various light shows.  We went during the day but we did see some of the lights last night when we drove through town.  We ate lunch at a casino with a Sunday Brunch buffet.  There was everything from soup to nuts; breakfast foods, carving station, salad, soup, various ethnic options and, of course, desserts.  It was good, but I don’t need to do two buffets in one day any time soon.

The Vegas Strip

Start of Fremont Street

Monday morning around 10:30, we said our good byes to the Candler’s and left Las Vegas for Pahrump, NV on NV State Road 160.  If you ever watch CSI Las Vegas and they investigate a death in the desert, this is the road where they most likely filmed the episode.  It is miles and miles of miles and miles.

We traveled NV State Road 160 for about 60 miles.  The uphill grades were 6% & 7%.  Terry did all he could do to get the coach to go faster than 35 mph.  And then at the crest of the hill, we started down.  Speeds reached 70 and 75 mph.  Not bad if it weren’t a winding road.

Miles & Miles of Miles & Miles

We arrived around 12:30.  Ate some lunch and set up the coach.  Boy, its hot here!  We ate supper at a local Denny’s and came back to the campground for a social time around the pool with our fellow tour folks.  We participated in a get acquainted game that broke the ice for some of us.  We met most of the folks with whom we will be traveling.

Tuesday morning we slept in, did a load of wash, and took a drive into town.  At 2:00, we all gathered in the conference room for our tour orientation.  From there, we left for the Pahrump Winery for a tour, wine tasting and dinner.  The tour was interesting.  Why a winery in the desert?; because Nevada didn’t have a winery.  Now there are a total of four wineries in Nevada.  We moved onto a room setup for dinner.  The owner of the winery, Gretchen, hosted the wine tasting.  We sampled seven different wines and had a choice between Strip Steak, Roasted Chicken or Atlantic Salmon for dinner.  I chose the salmon, Terry the steak.  The meal was delicious and the wine pairings were perfect.  After dinner, we had an opportunity to buy wine to enjoy on the road (not while driving).

Hoover Dam

What a difference a day makes.  We got a good night’s sleep.  Up at 6:00 am, we got ready for a day at the Dam.  I took care of the dogs and by 7:30 am we (the Bootles and Chandlers) were off to Pepe’s Taco Restaurant for breakfast burritos.  We ate breakfast and headed to the Hoover Dam about 30 miles east of our location.

Getting there early was recommended by the Hoover Dam website.  The Dam Tour wasn’t running but the Power Generator Tour was.  We got our tickets and followed the directions to the start of the tour.  First a brief movie of the dam concept and dam construction, then we were herded in an elevator and taken down some 600 feet to the generator room on the Nevada side.  Apparently, there is a generator room on the Arizona side as well.

Generators

We learned that the generators produce electricity for residential and commercial customers as far as Yuma, AZ and Los Angeles, CA.  The hydropower facility produces just over 4 billion kilowatt-hours a year.  Income from the sale of electricity makes the whole project self-sustaining.

I asked how many died in the construction of the dam.  My morbid sense I guess.  The dam guide told us 96 men lost their lives building the dam.  And none are buried in the concrete.  That rumor is a “dam lie”.

After the tour, we walked from the Nevada side to the Arizona side of the dam.  The size of the structure is awesome.  Lake Mead’s water is pristine.  On the way back, we stopped at the “old exhibit” for another presentation of the project.  This one focused on the reason for damming the Colorado River.  The river had a history of drought and flood periods.  This was devastating to towns downstream.  By building the dam, the Colorado River was “tamed”.  Water flow could be controlled downstream allowing irrigation for more than a million acres of some of America’s richest crop lands and nearly half a million acres in Mexico.  It also meets the water needs of 20 million people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other southwestern cities, towns and Indian communities in AZ, NV and CA.

We scoped out the gift shop.  Bought nothing and headed back to the car for a picnic lunch.  It was too hot to have a picnic so we sat in the air conditioned car and talked about what we learned and saw.  After lunch, it was time to take the walk to the Hoover Dam bypass Bridge or Colorado River Bridge.  The bridge was completed in 2010 allowing east west traffic to bypass the two lane switchback road leading to and crossing over the dam.  It’s the bridge we took yesterday over the Colorado River.  The view of the dam and Lake Mead from the bridge was spectacular.  I’m so glad we had a clear day.  Ed and I walked to the apex of the bridge and started back to meet with Peg and Terry.

Lake Mead and Hoover Dam from the Bridge

This evening we went out to celebrate Peggy’s Birthday.  We ate at Red Lobster, one of Peggy’s favorites.  After dinner, Ed drove us up and back down Las Vegas Boulevard better known as “The Strip”.  It was amazing how many people were out on a 90 degree night.  We also found the old Las Vegas Strip.  The contrast between the old and new is a telling sign of the times.

We got back to the campground around 9:45 pm, said our good nights and went to our respective coaches.