Dec 26-29, Las Vegas NV

On Nov 8 we flew east to visit family. It was a stressful time—health issues abounding. We did not return until December 23, at which time I am happy to note, ailing family members were on the mend. Upon returning to Las Vegas we spent a relaxing, card-filled Christmas with J and his girlfriend Sheana. Since this blog is devoted to our RV trip, I’ll pick up the story on December 26 when we once again set up camp at Desert Eagle RV Campground on Nellis Air Force Base.

This time we had a beautiful, spacious, drive-through site near RVs with Christmas decorations.

We spent most of our time readying the RV for travel, but we did manage to visit the Las Vegas Natural History Musuem where we debated for quite a while whether the pythons were real.

I fell in love with a puffer fish. It's fairly well camouflaged in the first picture below, but just look at its face in the second picture. How could anyone resist it?

Oct 25-Nov 8 Las Vegas NV

We left Death Valley and made our way to Las Vegas NV. For 3 days we stayed at Desert Eagle RV Campground at Nellis Air Force Base.

After that we rented two different homes in Las Vegas so Brian and Holly could join J, Ray and I (and later, our friend Gloria) for a mini-reunion.


The only strip activities some of us did were shows: Jabbawockeez and Rod Stewart. Otherwise we were relaxing at our rental or visiting the natural wonders around Las Vegas.

We visited the Valley of Fire,


wandering around some interesting rock formations like the Beehive below


and seeing some petroglyphs.


We also visited Ethel M’s (chocolate factory) and their cactus garden.


On other outings we watched planes land at the airport,


fed geese at Floyd Lamb Park (once a divorce resort),



toured Spring Mountain Ranch State Park where the Mountain Man Rendezvous was being held,



and drove to Red Rock Canyon stopping to walk among the rocks and see local burros.




Lots of family fun.

Oct 22-25 Death Valley CA

The road to Death Valley inclined and curved, up and down and all around.

We stopped twice, once to cool the engine and another time to cool the brakes. Of course, both times were photo opportunities.

We camped at Stovepipe Wells, the only campground in Death Valley offering full hook-ups.


Our first excursion was to Mosaic Canyon, a wondrous spot only 4 miles from our campground.


The next day we did more touring. I was continually snapping pictures.

Harmony Borax Ruins (Do you remember Borax?)

Artists Drive -- the colors were more vibrant in person

A desert plant. The sun made it look like crystal.

This picture is taken from the salt flats at Badwater. It's the lowest spot in the US. If you click on the picture to maximize it, you'll see a small white sign just to the right of center. The sign connotes where sea level is.

Sand dunes and the mountains beyond. Note person standing on dune.

That night we watched the sunset from our campsite.


The following day we saw Uhebe Crater and experienced the fierce wind there. I was very glad that the wind was at Ray’s back.


To give you an idea of the size of the crater, here’s another perspective. Click on the picture and you can see people walking on a path.


All in all, Death Valley was wonderful in October .

Oct 20-22 Lone Pine CA

The drive north to Lone Pine, “the gateway to Death Valley” was great. Every bend had an amazing new rock formation and the mountains were big and beautiful.

Note truck in foreground

We camped at Boulder Creek Resort from which we could see Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous US.



This is the view coming out of our campground.

We took the truck onto the Mount Whitney Portal Road to get a better view and were both totally entertained by the countryside. We even saw some of the rocks the Lone Ranger and Tonto scrambled over years ago.

A closer look at Mount Whitney

TV shows were filmed here.

We then drove to Independence (how ironic) where we toured the remains of Manzanar, the relocation camp built to house Japanese Americans during WW II. It was a very sobering experience.

Oct 17-20 Bakersfield, CA

We decided to take the long way around the Sierra Nevada Mountains and drove to Bakersfield. We set up at Bakersfield River Run Campground.

We didn’t do any sight-seeing, but we did shop. Ray bought a new ATT I Phone. (Trying to transfer pictures took forever.) Our only excursions were to the local American Legion where we enjoyed chatting to the bartenders and listening to karaoke.

If we hadn't made the detour to Bakersfield we would have missed our trip's largest sighting of windmills. Impressive.

Oct 12-17 Jamestown CA

We camped at a county facility on Don Pedro Lake--Moccasin Point. Unfortunately the only site big enough for our trailer was not level so it took us quite a while to set up.

The next day we were off to Yosemite National Park. The road was extremely winding and fascinating to track in the distance.


Notice the roads cut into the hills.

We wandered around Yosemite Valley stopping at various pull-outs to enjoy the rock formations and views.





We then drove to Mariposa Grove, but missed the last tram tour to the giant sequoias. We spent the night at Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp CA and revisited the grove the next morning.

The trees are simply amazing, but I think Ray and I were both more awed by the redwoods. Perhaps it had something to do with being alone and able to touch the redwoods vs having lots of people around and fenced off trees. It is astonishing to think that these giant sequoias have stood for 2000 plus years

Ray in front of the sequoias

The Giant Grizzly from below

The Giant Grizzly from afar

We returned to our campsite via a different route, through miles and miles of dry countryside. It was a pleasure to arrive back at Don Pedro Lake.

Many of the trees looked dry and half dead

Don Pedro Lake in the distance and approaching greenery

The next few days we enjoyed hot weather so we spent time near the lake gazing at the houseboats on the opposite shore.

This was the most ornate houseboat. It was named "Unorthodocks".

We also did some animal watching. Ray caught sight of a big, dark “hump” at a dumpster, so we parked the truck about 150 feet away and waited. The animal returned--it was a black bear! We’ve gone a lot of miles through bear country and barely (pun intended) caught a glimpse of one. Here, where bears are not expected, we see one at close range. Unfortunately it moved quickly away and I wasn’t able to get a picture of it. I did however get a great picture of a squirrel (they don’t look like the squirrels back home).