A Few More Stops in Arizona, Then Onto Nevada

While in Verde Valley, we considered a visit to the Grand Canyon by taking the train from Williams, AZ. I realized that it would be a very long day to do that from where we were staying, so we discussed leaving a couple days early and staying in Williams for the train ride. I kept watching the weather since it had been cold and snowing at times up in that area. As we approached our last week in Verde Valley, the weather forecast looked great. Sunny and low 60s for Williams for a couple days in a row. We quickly booked a park in Williams for 2 nights.

Tim wanted to get the oil changed in the RV so we tried to get an appointment for the day we were leaving, but they could not take us that day. They could take us a day earlier so Tim took the appointment. He wanted to leave after the oil change and head to Winslow so he could “Stand on a Corner”. I found a park with sites available near Winslow and we headed north, parked the RV and headed into Winslow for the afternoon.

There isn’t much to do in Winslow except to visit the corner that pays tribute to the Eagles song. We did the typical touristy thing, got some pictures on the corner, visited the gift shop and then found a local restaurant to get a bite to eat. We had missed lunch so we were pretty hungry and the food really hit the spot. We talked to a few locals who warned us about the winds in the area and risks of driving on I 40. They had seen a tractor trailer and a fifth wheel trailer blown over on the highway in recent weeks.

Initially the forecast was good and high winds were not expected but unfortunately that changed overnight. I woke up to a warning on my phone about a new storm system heading towards northern Arizona that changed the forecast. According to the alert, that evening, 30-40 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 75 mph were expected in Williams and the next day there was a chance of snow.

We quickly canceled the stop in Williams and headed straight to Kingman for one night and then headed north to Las Vegas 3 days early. Luckily, I was able to get a few extra nights at the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Park and we were on the road early enough each day to pretty much travel before the winds were bad. It was fairly breezy for the last 30 minutes or so of the drive as we got into Las Vegas but the highway barriers and buildings helped to prevent any driving issues. One thing about this life style, you have to be flexible and be willing to change plans at the drop of a hat!

our site at las vegas Thousand trails. these are the tighest sites we have seen. we had to park our truck across the street. it is a noisy park since it is in the city and you are so close to the neighbors. luckily we went out most days so we didn’t have to here the barking dogs next door all day long!

We stayed in Las Vegas for 10 days and took in the sites and sounds of this city and surrounding area. Of course, we checked out a few casinos; they are everywhere here. There are a couple close to the RV Park on Boulder Highway and we stopped at two of them, Boulder Station and Sam’s Town. I am not a gambler although Tim enjoys it a little; i.e. when he wins! Overall, he didn’t do too bad; which means he didn’t lose too much.

i enjoyed walking around the pretty lobby in sam’s town while tim tried his luck at the slots.

the elevators to the hotel rooms at sam’s town.

We also headed to Fremont St. one day and checked out some of the older casinos as well and we enjoyed walking around that area. We visited the Downtown Container Park which is a pretty neat concept. This shopping center is built from shipping containers and it houses restaurants and shops as well as a few play areas for kids. We were there during the day so we did not see the Praying Mantis sculpture awakened and throwing fire. That happens nightly at dusk and is pretty cool.

tim tried his luck at golden nugget. i think he lost a little here!

the entrance to the fremont st experience

We made a few trips out of town to check out the surrounding area. Once you leave the city, you can experience some beautiful drives and scenery. Our first excursion was south to the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings, NV. There isn’t much in this little town, but the Pioneer Saloon is worth the trip. It is the oldest operating bar in Nevada and has been in business since 1913. It has been featured in TV shows, movies, music videos and even video games. We went on a Saturday morning, and arrived around 11 AM to beat the crowd. Well there were already people there but we were able to snag a table on the deck in front of the stage. The band started at noon so we hung out for a couple of hours and enjoyed the music after having our brunch.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is fairly close to Las Vegas. Luckily I researched the park online before going and discovered that you needed a timed entry ticket to get into the park. I was able to book for 10 AM the same day so it wasn’t hard to get a ticket. We did see people turned away at the gate if they didn’t have a timed entry ticket so make sure you have one before heading there. The park offers a nice visitor’s center and a 13 mile scenic drive. It took us about an hour to do the drive and we stopped at most of the overlooks. If you plan on hiking into the canyon, there are many trailheads to choose from with parking areas as well. It was an enjoyable and pretty drive, although most of the red rocks are near the start of the drive. There are some nice mountain views along the way and it was cool to see snow on the mountain tops.

Tim’s cousin Glenn lives here in Las Vegas so we made sure to get together with him when he had a couple of days off of work. We joined him and his friends for trivia one evening and then spent time the next day exploring Boulder City and catching some nice views of Lake Mead. After a nice lunch, we walked around the old town section where most of the businesses have “Dam” in their name. Some were pretty funny! We made a stop in Hemenway Park as we were heading out of town. This is a small city park with views of Lake Mead and is known for the bighorn sheep that come down from the mountain to graze on the grass in the park. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any sheep while we were there. It was a hot afternoon and they were probably resting somewhere on the mountain in the shade. The only thing we didn’t do that was on my wish list was to tour Hoover Dam. At least we got to see it and drove over the top of it.

mountain view. i think the bighorn sheep were hiding up in this rocky area above the park. yes, those are some big homes up there too.

That evening, we met up with Glenn again to see a Frank Sinatra tribute. This show was in a hotel lounge area and that hotel did not have a casino. I thought every place here had one so that was a nice surprise. The lounge area wasn’t very big so it was an intimate show and quite good. While the guy didn’t really look like Frank Sinatra, he did a great job on the songs and his jokes were pretty funny. It was good to spend a couple of days with Glenn and we were sorry we didn’t get to see more of him while we were in town.

don’t you love the mona lisa behind frank?

The last spot we visited was Valley of Fire State Park and it was our favorite in this area. It is about an hour drive north of Vegas and well worth the drive. This is Nevada’s largest and oldest state park and opened in 1935. From a geological perspective, the red sandstone formations developed over years from water and sand erosion. You can find petrified wood, petroglyphs, and beautiful red sandstone formations in this area. The drives through the park are beautiful during the day and I hear it is even better at sunset. We were there late morning so we missed the red glow on the rocks at sunset. I was impressed with the colors we saw though and thought it was more impressive than Red Rock Canyon.

i have so many great pics of valley of fire. it is hard to select just a few. i hope you enjoy these ones.

many years ago, visitors could stay in these cabins.

Next up will be St George, Utah. We stayed at the St George/Hurricane KOA for a week and so far this is a gorgeous area. We hope to visit a couple national parks here so look for that in the next post.

Blog

A Few More Stops in Arizona, Then Onto Nevada

Exploring Tomorrows

Welcome!