Lake Mead and Las Vegas-Quite a Contrast

Here we are at Boulder Beach Campground in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Boulder Beach, Nevada. We are about 30 miles from Las Vegas and 5 miles from the Hoover Dam. This area is so pretty. I honestly think it is one of the prettiest places we have been since leaving home. Pictures do not always do it justice, but the lakes are so blue and the mountains are muted shades of many different colors. This country has some beautiful areas, all of which are God's creations. We have found on this trip that the country out here in the west is so different than back east. I've yet to see much green in the mountains and yet they are still beautiful in their own way. Until recently, we haven't seen much grass either as the desert is mostly sand and rocks with just a little greenery here and there. Of course, that beats 3 or 4 feet of snow any day.







Below are some of the scenic views we have seen here, many of which were taken from our truck or along side the road after we pulled up. I hope you enjoy!

We decided to visit Las Vegas, so we headed there one afternoon. These pictures below are not shown in any particular order. Some were taken in daylight and some after dark. We decided to park our car in the parking garage at the Mirage. We walked though the place and believe it or not, we did not gamble. Al and I are just not into gambling. For me, it has a lot to do with my upbringing. My mom was so against gambling of any kind. Now, I have gambled a few times in my life, but I never really saw the fun in it anyway. It was dinner time, so we did decide to gamble on the buffet at the Mirage, and we lost. For the cost of $28 apiece, we would have had a better meal at the Golden Coral.

We are going to a concert here tomorrow night (Thursday). Terry Fator is a ventriloquist, impressionist, comedian, and singer. He does over 100 different impersonations and has 16 different puppets. When he sings through his ventriloquism, he sounds just like the singer he is impersonating. I have seen him perform Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Elvis, Sonny and Cher, Louie Armstrong and many more. He won the "America's Got Talent" contest a few years back and now has his own show in Vegas. I can hardly wait.

This is a little blurry, but I liked how it looks at night anyway.

I just love "The Eiffel Tower" It is a replica of the one in Paris, and is just so pretty at night.

We are having a great time here. Our main reason for visiting here was to see the Hoover Dam, and I decided I wanted to do a blog all by itself on that. It is really magnificent to see, and we have so many pictures, it will take me awhile to sort through them all. So that will be our next post.

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Public beach in Lake Havasu City.





We have spent the past few days in Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Lake Havasu City is a very popular place for tourists, as it is home of the famous London Bridge. The London Bridge in London, England that was built in 1831 was dismantled in 1967 and put up for sale. Robert P. McCullough bought it and brought it over here. He was the founder of Lake Havasu City and he developed the area as a planned retirement and vacation community. He felt that this bridge would help Lake Havasu City become a tourist attraction. Well, it worked because as a tourist attraction, it is the second most visited place in Arizona. The first is The Grand Canyon.

The palm trees are so pretty here and all over Arizona. I like it when there are a cluster of them and this park had many.

To the right, you are looking at the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City.

There are pathways along the lake on either side. Also shops and restaurants. All are designed to give a good view of the bridge from different locations.

Lots of boats were seen going under the bridge. This guy in center has his own mode of transportation.

We walked under the bridge to the other side to get a different view.

We are now driving over the bridge. Notice there are people walking on the sidewalks on either side of the bridge.

We are camping in an area just outside of town on BLM land. Boondocking has been lots of fun for us and a money saver as well. We enjoy that we are out in the country, yet we are very close to stores. In fact Walmart and Home Deport are just 2 miles away. We have been getting good TV reception as well as Internet and cell service.

Just outside our campsite, we are surrounded by mountains and some interesting rock formations. Al swears this is a face in the rocks. Can you see it?

For a few nights in a row, we enjoyed a full moon outside our site. Last night, however we were clouded over so were unable to see it until later at night when it was very high in sky. This picture was taken the night before. Still really nice I think.

Our campsite at dark. Not too dark to see us though, as the moon is full.


We enjoyed our stay here in Lake Havasu City. We are on the road again and headed for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Boulder City, Nevada. We will be very close to the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. Our time here will be short and we are hoping to see both. However, the Hoover Dam has top priority. We will then be headed in a Northern-Easterly direction, and are hoping to be home by the end of April. We have some interesting places we plan to visit on our way home, so please check back with us.

Yuma Territorial Prison

While in Yuma, we decided to take a tour of the Yuma Territorial Prison. This prison was operational from 1876 until 1909. During that period, 3,069 prisoners, which included 29 women lived there. From 1910 to 1914 the Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings. They were referred to as the Criminals by a rival football team from Phoenix, because they won the game. Thereafter they referred to themselves as the "Crims."





After the depression the prison fell into disrepair. The community rallied and fought to preserve it as a city museum. Today it is owned and maintained by the State of Arizona as a State Park. It was an amazing place to see, as I wasn't prepared to see what it was like back then to be in a prison. Local people referred to the place as a country club. It is hard for me to imagine why anyone would think so when looking at the sleeping accommodations. Even with the passage of time, you can clearly see that this was not an easy life. Many of the crimes such as, adultery, prize fighting, and selling liquor to Indians, would not even be considered a crime today.






This building holds many artifacts from the prison. Many pictures showing the administrators, prison guards as well as some of the prisoners line the walls.

This is the main guard house.

Main entrance to the prison. I saw these buildings in an old pictures and they haven't changed much in appearance.

Pictures of prison guards and superintendents of the prison.

This small cell held 6 prisoners. Notice the triple bunk on either side. Pot in the center was all they had for bathroom while in cell. No privacy here.

Another area and more bunks.

Hallway with cells on either side.

No......It's not an electric chair. It is a very tattered barber's chair.

One of the prison yards.

Al had to bend way over to go through this. We were told that a movie called "The Badlands" was filmed here in 1958. Alan Ladd starred in it and this doorway was made for that movie. It was made short in order to make him look taller than he actually was.

Not sure what this cell was about, but only 2 beds in here.

I took a lot of pictures while we were here. It was difficult to choose which ones to show. I was thinking that showing what the actual prison was like for the prisoners was the best way to go. I could make a whole other blog on the artifacts in the museum, but I don't think I will. This place really left me feeling very sad. Even though these people did break the law, life here seemed very in-humane to me. I guess I'm glad we visited here, but I don't plan to return for another visit.

Castle Dome Mine Museum

Castle Dome Mountains.

On a recommendation from friends, Dick and Jackie, we decided to take a little drive about 40 miles north of Yuma to this cute little ghost town. The name of the place was The Castle Dome Mine Museum. It was even better than we expected. The remains of Castle Dome Landing were originally located on the banks of the Colorado River. The property which was previously Castle Dome Town and Mining camp was purchased in 1994 by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong and turned into the Castle Dome Museum. There are over thirty restored and recreated buildings. Seven are original to the Town. Those that were rebuilt, were built from old materials that would match the type of materials used back in the day. At one time there were more people living in this city than in Yuma. The Castle Dome Mountains made such a pretty backdrop to the whole atmosphere. I took a lot of pictures, and it was difficult choosing which ones to put up on this blog.

The admission charge for the museum was $6.oo and for an additional $4.00 we also took a walking tour of the mining area which was located across the road. This included some old mines, a graveyard and more buildings. This is definately a "must see" when visiting Yuma.

Not too much is left of these vehicles. Al says his first car was similar to the one on the right, only it was in much better condition and drivable.

There were neat walking paths between all the buildings. Notice the mountains in the background.

There was great attention to detail in these buildings and you could go in each one. Lots of neat stuff inside.

The Cook House

Kitchen Inside the cook house

This room definitely has a women's touch.

Sheriff's office located here.

More buildings and a courtyard. No grass to mow!

Loved the different roof lines and sizes and shapes of the buildings, as well as the one in center with a stone front.

Yuma, Arizona

Our main purpose for coming to Yuma was to attend the Passport America Rally held here a couple of weeks ago. The Rally was ok, but not really our type of thing. We had a good enough time though, in spite of the fact that it lacked in organization. The food wasn't great either, but the music was excellent.

There were three different bands playing here at the Yuma County fairgrounds where the rally was held. This is a local band called "Slick Nickel." All of them were excellent and mostly Country music was played.

One night for dinner we were served Cowboy burgers (hamburgers) and giant onion rings. Now, these onion rings were pretty good!!

After the rally, we decided to check out an area we heard about where we could boondock. We are only about 10 miles out of town in an area called Yuma Lakes. It is more of a pond than a lake, but is very nice here.

On our way back and forth to town, we pass by these cute sheep.

Lots and lots of palm trees around here.

We visited the Arizona Marketplace with our friends, Carol and Al from the Montana group. This is a flea market that is opened only Thursday through Sundays. It is huge! We didn't buy much, but did find a few things at a good price.

The two Al's checking out what I call "man toys"!!!

We met up with another couple from our Montana Owner's group, Dick and Jackie. They suggested we go to Lutes Casino in Old Town Yuma. They hadn't been there, but they had heard about it from friends who live in the area. It was a crazy kinda place (a must see kinda place) with all kinds of paraphernalia hanging off the ceiling and the walls. We had a really nice time visiting with them and a really nice lunch. We walked around the town together and checked out a couple of the stores there.

This is the building, Lutes Casino. It really isn't a Casino anymore, just a fun place to go and eat and hang out.

More of Old Town Yuma.

I guess you could say that Old Town Yuma has some modern features. Nicely landscape round-about.

Al insisted on taking this picture of me. It reminded him of Martha's Ice Cream back home! They also have a giant Chicken out in front of the place.


It had been a while since I updated the blog, but we are enjoying it here in Yuma, AZ. The weather has been fantastic. The sun shines everyday and it has been in the 70's and 80's. We decided to hang out here a while longer, as we really haven't checked out the area much, plus we really like it here. Later!