Tuesday, June 1, 2010



Visited Laughlin for the first time. It was hot and windy. Doug and I had our 5th anniv., and a welcomed get away.
I booked a river view room at the River Palms.

The check in was rather slow...there was a total of two check-in people at first and then one more came-and another...but that person only made a guest appearance and then took off. We waited and waited and waited. Then we had a couple in front of us who acted like they were the only customers in the place...looked like they were haggling over something with the check-in peson who was getting more and more annoyed. And meanwhile, we waited some more. Really? On a holiday weekend, this place isn't staffed with adequate help?
Not sure what to expect after that, but we got to our room and loved the view of the turquoise water outside our window. The water was so clear. From our location, we were in Nevada, but straight away, right on the other bank of the river, was the state of Arizona. That was kind of weird, but neat.
(view from window) 

(view from window)
It was fun, but a little of a bummer at the same time, watching the people on their jet skis and boats. We considered renting, but knew it wasn't in our budget for this trip. We already planned a day's outing at the Grand Canyon Skywalk for the next day, and figured we would already be spending  gas money, plus about $30 a piece for a turn to walk out on the glass over looking the canyon. The river recreation would have to wait for another time. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the casino and walking the river walk. At the end of the river walk, we boarded the "river taxi" that brought us back to our hotel.  We did have something to look foward to, upon arriving back at the hotel!! Food, and LOTS of it. We had been given a recommendation to eat at the Harrah's buffet.  We were told that it was more pricey than some of the other  buffets, but that it would be well worth it. They were right. That buffet was superb...they had so many choices and dee-lish things like garlic mashed taters w/the skin still on, prime rib, steak, grilled onions and mushroom toppings, short ribs....on and on...and the dessert bar was awesome. I actually had two plates of dessert. After dinner, we went to the casino to play slot machines, neither of us winning anything more than $1.00, but it was fun. (water taxi)



The next day, we headed out for our rendezvous to the Skywalk-located on the Hualapi Nation Indian Reservation. On the way there, we stopped at what used to be an old mining town, Chloride, located in the boonies on an old county road. It was a nice, quiet ride, though, and we got to see many various rock formations on the way out. The town is in full operation, and is set up as a semi-tourist place. I say semi, because there really isn't any commercialized attractions there. We did find some interesting dwellers there, though, with "interesting" landscapes: the boot fence, the glass bottle tree, the pots-n-pan tree:

(above: glass bottle tree) (left: small replica of mining town-Chloride)



(pots-n-pan tree)
(boot fence)
 At Chloride, we chatted w/the little market owner, who also serves as the "info center"expert. He gave us some suggestions about the local attractions, one of them being NOT to go to the Skywalk. He informed us that it is NOT just $20 per adult (as I had seen on a website-must have been old info) or even just $30 (as Doug had seen)...rather...it was going to be $30 p/p JUST for the skywalk tickets, then an extra $45.00 p/p just to get onto the reservation itself and to top that, no camera, no water, no cell. It was extra cost we were not prepared for and thought that it wasn't worth it..for how long would we actually want to walk around on the glass? Maybe 15/20 minutes? Oh. And for another $30, since you can't take your own camera, you can get a "staged" photo with the tribe elders. It didn't take too long to change our minds about the Skywalk. It was too much of a surprise and didn't fit into our traveling budget.
We headed back to our hotel, deciding to board the "jet ship" that would take us all the way through the canyon to London Bridge, let us play for 2 hours, then bring us back to the hotel. It was half the cost. We walked down to the boarding area near our hotel only to find a sign saying the tour took off  at 10:30am-only one tour-no tour at all on Sundays. What a hoot. We were so disappointed again!
 We still wanted to see London Bridge, so we hopped in the car and drove. It was about a 45 minute ride...not bad....but it got hot! We arrived at there and could immediately tell the difference in temperature. The bridge is located at a small harbor with lots of shops and restaurants..totally commercialized. It was full of boats and loud music and wall to wall people everywhere-kind of disheartening to find so much smushed into one area! Again, we had to remember, it was a holiday weekend on top of everything else. We took photos and left asap.
(London Bridge)
In a way, we were a bit relieved we didn't spend the extra money to take the jetboat, too. True, it would have been nice to ride through the canyon, and Doug wanted to show me Topok-a place where he had gone "guy" camping and floated in kayaks, but that will be for another trip....we'll rent a boat and go on our own; that way, we won't be surrounded by tons of strangers and stuck on a tour schedule. It's all good. Even though we were disappointed at first, it turned out to be a godsend that we "missed the boat".
Then, we decide to head over to Lake Mead and check out the Davis Dam and the lake. That was beautiful. We went to the water's edge, and even though we had to be content just watching the boaters and jet skiers.....it was still a nice place to relax...
(davis dam)
We headed back to the hotel because we were hungry and looking forward to another buffet! This one would be at our own hotel. It turned out to be small in comparison to the previous night's, but it was still very good. We decided we liked the pulled pork bbq better than the short ribs at the other place. But the other place had the best mashed taters and way out did our hotel's buffet in desserts. It was all good, though. We went for a walk away from the river for a while, then headed back to one of the near-by casinos to listen to a live band who played classic rock. By this time, it was almost 10:30pm, so we went back to the room and I crashed! The next day, we decided to go to Oatman, Az, another small, old mining town, before heading home. It reminded me of Calico ghost town, but smaller and not quite as commercialized. We got old western style photos taken for our wooden western/cowboy frame, and I bought a soy candle.  There was a stand that had fresh kettle corn, so of course, I had to get some. of that, too. We also got to see the famous Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stayed for their honeymoon. Legend has it that their ghosts still roam there. The place is old and run down-not in use at all. It's just there for show. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo of it. We got a kick (don't mind the pun) out of the donkeys roaming freely in the town streets. They are well known by the locals and even have names. We were introduced to "Belle" as we purchased kettle corn. (Oatman,Az)(far end of town,Oatman)
(roaming donkeys in town)

The afternoon drolls on, the heat and wind are starting to annoy. We've purchased our old time western photos, and we're ready to go. Doug gets a cold soda and I get a cold water, and we head out for the highway. We choose a different route to get back to Hwy 95 and the Interstate 40, and into California. This route will take us on county highways, hopefully less traveled. For the most part, it works. We wind our way through endless acres of desert and old abandoned houses and buildings, and in California, we start seeing Joshua Trees and know that we're in the vicinity of Joshua Tree National Park. Around Twenty Nine Palms, we start seeing "art" along the highway: people have formed their names in decorated or natual colored rocks. Doug has seen it before, having already been through the area, but it was all new to me, and I had to take a couple photos.
(rock art)

Further down the desert highway, I keep seeing white patches on the ground. They keep getting bigger and bigger, then I start seeing acres of white instead of just patches. I finally ask Doug. He says it's natural salt .. sodium chloride. All the land around us had once been covered in water: a sea. Over the years, the sea receded, and the salt bottom remains.


We finally make it to Twenty Nine Palms, and stop for gas. We're relieved to find it as low as $2.80ish, and even though it was even cheaper in Arizona, it's still cheaper than our Riverside neighborhood. Before leaving Riverside, I had filled up with gas and thought I was getting a good deal at $2.93. Actually, that IS pretty good! But it never hurts to get it even cheaper, right?!
(murals on buildings)
As we pull out of the gas station, Doug says he wants to show me the murals painted on the buildings. We mosey our way through the streets and find a few. Even though there were several good ones, I take a photo of one of my favorites.
At last, we're on our final stretch - homeward bound. Soon, we're seeing all the familar surroundings, and we're growing anxious to get home.
Later, at home, we lug our stuff back in the house and kick off our shoes and ... chill...until Doug decides he wants to go to the grocery store. I'm hungry, so I order us pizza for dinner which should be ready by the time he gets back. I end the night falling asleep on the couch.......all in all, we had a really, really, good time!