8/11/13 - Mojave, CA

We left Lone Pine this morning and drove to Mojave, California.  On the way we stopped at Indian Wells Brewery.  We visited this brewery in 2009.  Just before we got to Mojave, we stopped at Red Rock Canyon State Park and walked along a small trail to see the rock formations.  We got an RV site for the night at Sierra Trails RV Park where we stayed in 2009 also.  After unhooking we had a grilled cheese for a late lunch.  Then we drove into the town of Mojave and past the airport.  There are a lot of obsolete planes stored here.  Gas in town was $3.99 per gallon so we decided to drive to another nearby town that was larger.  California City had gas for $3.60 per gallon.  We filled up and at the same intersection was a VFW.  We stopped in for a beer and talked to a really colorful man and his daughter.  This man used to be an extra and a stunt man in movies.  I think they also had quite a few beers before we got there and they sure did talk a lot.  He said he knew Sam Elliot, one of my favorite actors.  His father was also in the movie industry around the time of McHale’s Navy.  We went back to the Casita and I fixed us a large salad for supper.

8/12/13 - Las Vegas, NV

We left Mojave, California and drove to Las Vegas, Nevada.  We got a site and unhooked at 3 pm.  It was 104 degrees.  Hot, Hot, Hot.  We drove to the nearby Barley’s Casino and Brewery.  We had 20 ounce beers for $2.00 each.  I cooked sloppy Joe’s for dinner.



8/13/13 - Las Vegas, NV

We drove to the strip today.  We drove north on Las Vegas Blvd. and then went to Ellis Island Casino and Brewery.  We each had a beer and then went to Yayo Taco for lunch.   Yayo Taco was on Diner, Drive-ins and Dives.  They had a wide variety of really great tacos. We got back on Las Vegas Blvd. and drove to see the rest of the casinos.  We doubled back and then drove into the Aria Casino and Hotel’s parking garage.  We walked around for a few blocks and into New York, New York Casino, MGM Grand Casino and Paris Casino.  Paris had Gordon Ramsey’s Steak restaurant.  You need to book a reservation here months in advance.  We looked at the menu and it was very expensive.  While walking back to the parking garage we came upon Planet Hollywood Casino and in it was Gordon Ramsey’s BURGR.  We went in and had hamburgers and French fries.  Jim had a Hell’s Kitchen Burger with asadero cheese, roasted jalapeno peppers, avacado and oven roasted tomato and a Stone Ruination Ale.  I had a Euro Burger with truffle aioli, goat cheese, arugula and oven roasted tomato.   After eating we then drove back to the Casita.  We stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way and stocked up on wine.


8/14/13 - Las Vegas, NV

We got up at 6 am this morning and went to Valley of Fires State Park.  We went in the west entrance north of Las Vegas and drove through the whole park.  This park has strangely shaped red sandstone formations from eroded 200 million year old sand dunes.  There are also petrified logs from the age of the dinosaurs and 3,000 year old Indian petroglyphs.

We left by the east entrance and went into Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  The lake level has really dropped -- it looks like it could dry up within a few years.  We didn’t drive all the way to the Hoover Dam.  We drove over it when we were here with Martha and Amelia.  When we were here last time we drove through the Indian reservation to see the Grand Canyon.  This was before the Sky Walk over the Grand Canyon was made.  At that time we were the only ones there.  

We drove into town and went to Triple 7 Restaurant and Brewery in Main Street Station Casino.  We had a couple of beers each and some garlic fries and boneless chicken wings.  It was 109 degrees when we got back to the Casita.

We did two loads of laundry and watched TV tonight.



8/15/13 - Cedar City, UT

We left Las Vegas and drove to Cedar City, Utah.   We got an RV site at Best Western Country Inn and RV Park.  There are a few spaces here and they have full hookups.  There isn’t a restroom.  They have an indoor pool and spa and an outdoor pool.  They offer free coffee, donuts and wi-fi.  Breakfast isn’t included in the RV price but it is only $5.00 extra.  We got set up and then went to Walmart, Walgreens and got a movie at Red Box.  We rented “The Call”.  We had a couple of 3.2% beers at a bar and met a man from Abilene, Texas, who is here working on the large windmills. I gave him a Karbach Saison.  I cooked dinner and we sat outside to eat.  It is much cooler here than Las Vegas, it is about 15-18 degrees cooler.


8/16/13 - Cedar City, UT

I fixed bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for breakfast this morning.  I have been wanting some bacon.  We returned the movie to Red Box and then drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  There isn’t much to do here but stop at the overlooks.  But what beautiful scenery there is to see!  After leaving Cedar Breaks we drove to the east entrance to Zion National Park.  After stopping along the way to take pictures, we drove to the visitor’s center.  This is where you have to catch the shuttle bus to ride into the main part of the park.  Along the drive the shuttle stops and will let you off to hike trails.  We did this in April 2007 when it was much cooler weather.  Today it was 99 degrees and we just rode the bus in and out.  The round trip was 80 minutes.  Then we drove back to the Casita and sat outside to relax.  I cooked supper and Jim worked on the blog.  We saw a Casita in the campground at Zion but didn’t stop to see if we knew them.

8/17/13 - Cedar City, UT

We drove to Bryce Canyon National Park today.  We went through the Dixie National Forest to get there.  On the road through the forest is Red Canyon -- we stopped and took pictures.  At Bryce Canyon we stopped at Inspiration Point and Bryce Point.  The thunderclouds started to roll in pretty fast.  There was a lot of lightning and thunder nearby.  After stopping at Paria View and taking pictures, it started to rain.  This is the first major rain of our trip.  The temperature cooled off to 60 degrees.  We drove to Sunset Point and one of Jim’s pictures captured lightening.  Then we went to Sunrise Point.  Both Sunset ad Sunrise Points were without the sunshine.  The last stop was Fairyland Canyon and then we drove back to camp.  We went through Cedar Breaks National Monument to get back.  At camp it had barely rained.