We've also added 45 more pics to our photo album.
Leaving Phoenix, rather than go back up through Oak Creek Canyon (even though it would normally be worth the drive), we headed north west through Wickensburg to Kingman. The drive through a Joshua Tree Forest is just another one of those spectacular desert scenery trips.
Kingman is a key spot on the historic Route 66. They have a fantastic little musuem telling the story of how Route 66 was built and the hardships that folks faced in this amazing task. The work crews didn't have the huge rock crushing, clearing equipment there is today. There are also displays showing various early crossings of Route 66. A couple of guys even roller skated it before it was all paved! Those crazy kids! We had a late afternoon lunch at Mr. D's, an historic Route 66 50's diner. They had a sign that said "You must try our milkshakes", so we did. Shake was good, hamburger... ho hum but that's ok, it was a cool place to stop for munchies. Waitresses dressed in 50's style. Pretty cute. Some other folks came in and were taking pictures all over the place. We asked our waitress how many times a day she had her picture taken. She said lots, and she said it was interesting to see the weird pictures people would take. She said that one day she was walking across their parking lot when a tourist was taking a picture of a very ordinary modern day fire hydrant. Those crazy kids! A number of old Route 66 motels still linger in Kingman.
We had planned to go north of Kingman to the Grand Canyon Skywalk then over the Hoover Dam to Las Vegas, but two things changed our mind. We were told that the drive out to the Skywalk included 9 miles of gravel road which was reported to be pretty bad washboard type driving. Definitely not recommended to take a trailer out there. The second was the potential for long delays going over the Hoover Dam. They have been working on a new bridge bypassing the dam for over 4 years. It was supposed to be finished a couple of years ago but various delays meant... not quite yet. So construction delays as well as security checks for every vehicle crossing the dam meant it could be an extra long day.
Since we have already had the pleasure of driving across the Hoover Dam, on a previous trip, along with the likelihood that both the Grand Canyon and the Skywalk would be around for a while yet, we decided to give both a miss. It seems a mystery that something like the Skywalk would be built without decent highways to get there. It almost seems like they are trying to force people into taking expensive "tours" just to get there.
Anyway, we headed west to Laughlin then north to Las Vegas as this was a new route for us. West of Kingman you drive over a mountain range into Laughlin. The climb up one side and down the other is over 12 miles each. The scenery once again eye popping.
In Las Vegas we stayed at the Oasis RV Park south of the airport just off I-15. An oasis indeed. Nice pools (2), clubhouse with bar, lots of activities, etc etc. Also very convenient to get to "the strip". We had tried to stay at another RV park, the "Las Vegas Motor Coach Resort" but were told that our wee trailer was not up to snuff for their park... "only class A motor homes allowed here"...in other words piss off... but to be fair, they were nice enough to recommend us to the Oasis RV Park along with a promotional code for 20% off our stay there, so they can't be all that bad.
The gambling in Vegas was pretty neutral, about broke even on that front. Morning coffee at Palio's in the Bellagio is always a nice way to start the day. As usual, the atrium, just off the registration area, at the Bellagio was full of flowers, displays and fabulous colours.
The rest of Las Vegas was mostly shopping, pooling and generally relaxing for a few days. We were, however, once again visited by our old nemesis "the Jackalope"... driving north onto the Las Vegas strip we drove past an old motel which has apparently closed...what's that movie?... "No country for old Jackalopes".
The MLB schedule is starting to affect our schedule. After Vegas we had planned to head to San Diego but the way the schedule was working for the Angels in Anaheim forced us to go there first instead directly from Las Vegas. The alternative would be to sit around LA and wait for the Angels to return from a road trip. Not what we wanted to do. So off to the coast it was.
A major point to remember is that this was Friday of the Memorial Day weekend. WOW... the freeway from LA to Vegas (ie going the other way from where we were going) was pretty well bumper to bumper the entire way. At one point, the traffic going towards Vegas was stopped and we passed closed to 20 miles of cars basically at a standstill. Don't get caught up in that mess!
We actually stayed in Pomona, east of LA, for a couple of nights and went to see the Angels take on the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. It was a close game with Seattle leading 1-0 into the bottom of the 8th when, to the great delight of the crowd, Bobby Abreu hit a solo home run to tie it. The game went into the 10th where the Angels put it away with a Kendry Morales walk off Grand Slam home run to win 5-1. The Angels celebration at home plate was a bit short lived when the exuberance resulted in an injury to one of their own players. The old adage... its all fun and games until someone gets hurt... came into play. We don't know exactly what happened but one of the players ended up being carted off on a gurney.
Sunday we headed to San Diego to catch a game there before the Padres went on a road trip. A relatively uneventful short drive with lots of traffic and not a lot to see on the inland freeway. We stayed at the KOA in Chula Vista just south of San Diego. Again not something to do on a Memorial Day weekend. The place was absolutely packed (good thing we had a reservation) and pandamonium reigned. Honestly, it was like driving through a packed playground with zero supervision for the children. At one point while backing up our car, checked mirrors etc, started to back up when a kid on a little pedal cart whizzed around the corner across behind our car. Our trailer hitch could not have been any more than a couple of inches from that kid's head. He was just lucky we had not started moving as there was no place for him to go to veer away from the car. After complaining about the lack of supervision or responsibility being taken by these kids parents, or the KOA, we were told that the KOA just rented the carts out, they didn't tell the kids how to drive them. No safety equipment, nothing and these carts were no more than a couple of feet off the ground at best and very fast moving... other than a very small piece of flag stuck up the back they are virtually invisible below the vision line of our vehicle let alone most of the big RV's moving through the park. Perhaps the KOA was doing their part to aid in the draining of the shallow end of the gene pool. On Sunday afternoon, this place was like a serious accident waiting to happen. It seemed that none of these kids were in danger of being abducted since no one would want to take them.
We decided to drive into downtown San Diego and take in their waterfront. FORGET IT on a holiday weekend Sunday, huge crowds and small parking lots. Like every place else on the planet the best course of action on a holiday weekend is to hunker down and wait it out. We went back to the KOA, tried not to drive over some kid, cooked up some burgers and watched a few episodes of Babylon 5... almost finished Season 5.
| Back to Week 7 | On to Week 9 |
Loving the blog...keep it going - sounds like you're having a great time!
ReplyDelete