Back to Las Vegas

Oct 16      Kingman, AZ - Las Vegas, NV     105 miles     1 hour  45 minutes

We're back in Las Vegas a few days earlier than expected. The weather in New Mexico was getting cold so it messed with our plans. But when you rv, you need to be flexible and go with the flow.

We're staying for a few days at Main Street Station RV Park. The rates went up at this park, now $31 per night. We hardly spend time in downtown, Las Vegas so we thought we'd spend some time here. There's some kind of class reunion for Waialua Class of '77 so there's a lot of familiar faces hanging around downtown.

Whenever we stay in this area Joe needs to eat a pastrami sandwich at Binions. Of course that was our first stop. We spent the week gambling, eating, and just hanging out. Met up with my good friend Leslyn, so had a nice time catching up. Also met up with other family and friends ... good times.

Joe broke down and treated himself to a new Garmin watch. We're trying to eat better and exercise so he needed something to keep track of steps, heart rate, etc. This is a fancy watch, he's still trying to figure out how to work all the different features. I use a fitbit, that's all I can handle!

We took a drive out to Lee Canyon. We wanted to check out the area because we're thinking of doing a family ski trip next March. This whole area is beautiful, especially this time of year. We were planning on bringing the RV here and camp a couple of days when my friend Jan comes into town. There's 2 campgrounds that we checked out. Fletcher View is beautiful. Our rig can only fit in a couple of spots but the other campground McWilliams looks pretty good. When we checked the weather report for the next few days, we found that the low was going to drop to mid 20's...too cold for us. So we need to come up with another plan.

Oct 21     Main Street Station - Las Vegas RV Resort 

Dinner with the Holts

We moved over to Las Vegas RV Resort just a few miles down the road off of Boulder Hwy. We like it here, its an adults only park so no kids splashing and making noise at the pool. 3 nights $118.65

We went out to dinner with our friends Vicky & Randy who now lives in Vegas. This time we went to Texas Roadhouse on Craig road. Always good food there and always nice to get together with them.









Oct 24   A few days with Jan

Dinner at Olive Garden

We picked up our friend Jan from the airport this morning. She has a conference that she needs to go to next week, so the timing was good...she came in a few days early to hang out with us. Jan and her husband Joel joined us on a short trip 2 years ago. She loves RVing! We're trying to convince her and Joel to get one....soon.






Oct 25     Las Vegas RV Resort - Government Wash, Lake Mead    102 miles

We drove out to Valley of Fire this morning. The plan was to camp a couple of nights but when we got out there, the campground was full. This happens sometimes when you RV so just need to be flexible.

We parked the RV at the visitors center, jumped in the Kia and went exploring. There was a whole bunch of big horn sheep near the visitors center. Always awesome to see wildlife. Ended up doing a couple of hikes.

Tarantula

After our hikes, we drove by the campground again just to see if any sites opened up. No such luck. So we hooked the Kia up and drove down the road to a boondocking site called Government Wash.

It's located in the Lake Mead Recreation Area. Beautiful views of Lake Mead, but a little dusty. While hanging out cooking our dinner, Jan spotted a tarantula. We had to hush it away from the RV and car, we don't want to be traveling with that thing on board!

View from our boondocking site 

Sunset dinner out in the boonies

Oct 26

This morning we drove to the Historic Railway Trail. It's an easy hike along a former railroad grade. It provides panoramic views of Lake Mead, overlooking the boulder basin area. Along the trail we go through 5 tunnels that are approximately 300 feet in length and 25 feet in diameter. We hiked over 6 miles.

Overlooking Lake Mead

When we got home we all took a nap, we were exhausted.

Oct 27     Government Wash - Las Vegas RV Resort     24 miles   45 minutes

Sunrise

The wind kicked up this morning so we left early to drive back to Las Vegas RV Resort. We're winding down on our vacation, we'll be here for 3 nights.

Jan and I went shopping at Premium Outlet. I was very surprised that they charge $7 for parking now. Doesn't matter how long you stay, it's a flat rate. We were there for a short time so I feel like I got ripped off. At least I know now...I'll just avoid that mall. Lots of other places to shop.

After dinner tonight, we dropped Jan off at Bally's. So nice to spend a few days with her.

Dinner at Palazzo's Grand Lux, one of my favorite places to eat. I tried the shrimp scampi this time, excellent! Can't wait to go back for the same thing.



Oct 30     Las Vegas RV Resort - Warm Springs Storage, Henderson     6 miles

We've spent the last couple of days doing laundry, cleaning, and trying to get the RV ready for storage. At the storage facility we changed sites. We used to park the RV in one area, then the Kia in a closed storage. Two sites opened up one in front of the other, so more convenient to have the 2 vehicles in one place.

We're staying 1 night at Sunset Station, then 2 nights at Gold Coast before flying home on Friday, November 1st.

Nov 1   Last Day

Before putting the Kia back in storage, we took a ride out to the strip. We parked at Palazzo because that's one of the only places with no parking fees. We decided to get some exercise and walk a few miles before getting on the long flight back to Honolulu.

We had fun playing tourist, we haven't done that in a while.

Bellagio Conservatory always so beautiful

We've had another wonderful trip. We've been gone for 7 1/2 weeks and miss the family, especially our grandbabies.

We put another 1,846 miles on the RV. Can't wait to start planning our next vacation.

Arizona

Oct 8      Albuquerque - Flagstaff     281 miles     5 hours

We're making our way to Camp Verde but made a stop in Flagstaff to spend the night. After 5 hours of driving we stopped at Twin Arrows Casino right outside of Flagstaff. Very nice, free parking lot to camp in. They have the semis parked in one area away from the RV's. This is big because those semis run their generators all night.

We did some gambling but ended up losing some money. So free camping but not so free.

Oct 9     Flagstaff - Camp Verde     75 miles     1 hour  30 minutes

We drove to Camp Verde this morning to Distant Drums RV Resort. We stayed here before and enjoyed our stay. They have a Good Sam rate so for 4 nights we paid $183.

We'll sure make use of the pool and hot tub.

Oct 10  Phoenix

Super C

We drove to La Mesa RV in Phoenix today. It was a long drive, over 1 1/2 hours. They have a Super C that we were interested in taking a look at. Well, we found it and liked it. We're thinking maybe we wait till next fall to buy.

But then we met with a salesman and we started looking at other coaches. We really like the Winnebago Forenza 36G. Price was good too. We really need to think about all these coaches that we look at.

Hopefully by next fall, we'll make a decision.




Oct 11     Watson Lake

Watson Lake is located in Prescott, about an hour from our campground. We've been here before and it's so awesome, we had to come back. This time we decided to hike around the whole lake, about 5 miles. It starts off with a level path for about 2 miles and then the trail takes us through rocks, lots of rocks. We had to climb up and down and scramble....talk about a work out! The whole hike took us over 2 1/2 hours. We got a good work out and enjoyed amazing views.

Spent the evening in the hot tub to soak our aching bodies.

Life is good!







Oct 12     Sedona

I wanted to go to Sedona today and do a hike. We got a late start so when we got to the airport loop trail the parking lot was full. I found another hike, drove there, and again the parking lot was full. I got kind of discouraged so we parked in town and did some shopping. On the way out of Sedona we made a couple more stops at trailheads and still, no parking.

We took a drive and checked out 2 other RV parks. The first one was Verde River RV Resort. Pretty nice with a big pool. Seems like a quiet park. Then we went to a brand new park in the same area. Verde Ranch RV Resort is very nice. New park so no shade yet but plenty of young trees. Pool and fitness rooms are very nice. We have options for the next time we're in the area.

Oct 13     Camp Verde - Grand Canyon     140 miles    3 hours

We drove to the Grand Canyon south rim where we have reservations for 2 nights. Kind of expensive here, full hookups for $65 per night.

After we got settled at our campsite we took a walk to the village and walked the rim trail a bit. Lots of people all over. We went to the Angels Lodge and ate the bread bowl. Joe had stew and I had chili. We had this before and was looking forward to eating this but we both agreed it wasn't that good this time.

Oct 14     Grand Canyon

Was cold this morning around 37 degrees. We hiked a lot today. We walked from our campground to the rim trail all the way to The Abyss. Took us over 3 hours to go over 6 miles. We made a lot of stops to enjoy the scenery and take pictures. Part of the trail was scary, along the edge of the rim. One wrong step and its all over.

We ended up with a lot of steps today, over 18,000. This was a good day, we were both exhausted.

Oct 15     Grand Canyon - Kingman     171 miles     3 hours

As we were getting ready to leave Grand Canyon this morning, a mama elk came into the campground and turned on one of the water spigots at a campsite. She prodded the faucet with her foot and her nose until the water started gushing out. She drank for a very long time. There was another elk with her and they kept drinking. Several minutes later 2 more elk came running over to drink. The funniest thing was when they were done, they turned the water off!

We're making our way back to Las Vegas but decided to make a stop in Kingman, Arizona. We always drive through Kingman but never stop. We're staying one night at Fort Beale RV Park, price is $42 and they don't give any discounts. Nothing fancy to this place. We had lunch at an italian restaurant called Garibaldi's. Was pretty good but the service could've been better. We drove around the historic part of town which is part of route 66.

Our trip is winding down....next stop Vegas.

Fast stop in Albuquerque

Oct 6      Taos - Albuquerque        161 miles       3 hours  30 minutes

Approaching Albuquerque

When we left Taos this morning, it was very cold.....31 degrees! We wanted to time our arrival in Albuquerque because the International Balloon Fiesta is going on. This is a big event, hundreds of balloons and thousands of people come each year. It goes on for 9 days.


Today is day 2 and today is Mass Ascension, a launch of all the participating balloons has been a feature of Balloon Fiesta since its earliest days and is the most spectacular display of sound and color.


We attended the Balloon Fiesta a few years ago and the experience to be on the field when all of this is happening should be on everyone's bucket list. 

We didn't plan on being in Albuquerque during this time but

we had to adjust our plans because of the cold weather, so here we are, in the middle of everything.

We left Taos later than we wanted so when we got to Albuquerque it was kind of late and the balloons were kind of low already. But that's okay....there's always tomorrow.

We're staying at Route 66 RV Park again.




Oct 7

We got up early and decided to find a place to park and watch the balloons. I found a park online in Albuquerque that supposed to be pretty good to view the balloons. As we got closer, we changed our plans and followed where most of the balloons were. We came upon an open field and just parked on the side of the road and watched. What an awesome sight!

One of the balloons actually landed in the field right next to us.

So exciting to hear and see the balloon land. I'm so glad we found this awesome location to witness this.

Taos

Sept 30     Cochiti Lake - Orilla Verde Recreation Area     88 miles       2 hours

We drove north to Orilla Verde Recreation Area. This is located just south of Taos. There's a few campgrounds in this area but only 2 offer water/electric. All sites are first come, first serve so we were lucky to grab a site with water/electric in Pilar Campground. It's $15 per night and looks kind of dumpy but it's actually in a good location to do some hiking along the Rio Grande Gorge.

Beautiful sunsets

The campground is very dark at night and the sky is full of stars.

Oct 2   Orilla Verde Recreation Area - Taos       15 miles     30 minutes

We did a hike this morning on the Verde Vista Trail. This is an awesome hike in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. The trail runs through a plain high above the Rio Grande River and the canyon walls tower several hundred feet above us on either side.

This is the only hike we did in this area because Joe had a gout attack that lasted a couple of days. He's finally feeling better so we could do this hike before moving on.













After the hike we packed up and moved a few miles north to Taos Valley RV Park. We'll be here for 2 nights, $50.05 per night. Nothing fancy but good location.

We took a ride to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Amazing! There's a rest stop there so we parked and walked around.

At 650 feet above the Rio Grande, it is the fifth highest bridge in the U.S.

Can walk on the bridge but I'm such a chicken, only went about 1/3 way.

Oct 3

We had a lot of plans to take the RV and spend some time driving the Enchanted Circle. A spectacular drive 85 miles to complete. It's the most popular drive in the area. This was the highlight of our trip. We were suppose to leave tomorrow but found that there's a lot of rain coming. Then after the rain passes the temperature in that area will drop to 25 degrees. This is too cold for us. So we decided to stay here for 2 more nights to wait out the rain. Then hopefully, Saturday we can drive the Enchanted Circle with the Kia and just do a day trip. Such a bummer....I guess we need to come back.

Oct 5    Enchanted Circle

We got to drive the Enchanted Circle today. The most popular drive in the area, this National Forest Byway circles Wheeler Peak, the highest in New Mexico at 13,161 feet.

One of the best drives ever. We really enjoyed this 85 mile on the Enchanted Circle. The fall foliage with the brilliant yellow of the aspens was truly spectacular.

We drove up through Questa and continued to Cerro and entered the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument on the north side. We did the south side a few days ago. The north side is just as amazing. You drive along the gorge with breath taking views.

La Junta Overlook

We made a stop at La Junta Point Overlook.

La Junta, which means "meeting or joining" in Spanish, two rivers converge. To the left is the Red River, beginning in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak, 13,161 feet. To the right is the Rio Grande, beginning in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and running for 1885 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. La Junta marks the widest and deepest part of the Rio Grande Gorge, at three-quarters of a mile wide and a steep 800 feet deep.

We continued on to Columbine Canyon Campground and started a hike into the canyon. It was pretty chilly when we started the hike, about 50 degrees. This hike can go for about 9 miles one way. We did 2 miles and then turned around. This is one of best hikes we've been on. Great trail with lots of scenery. The fall colors were stunning! I didn't know where to look, everything was so pretty.

Crossing the stream

Colorful leaves

We loved hearing the creek for most of the hike. The trail crosses over the creek several times on beautifully designed foot bridges which were really cute. This hike is through a canyon so seeing the cliffs high above on both sides of us was pretty awesome.

Pretty leaves

Xmas trees all over

Next stop was at Red River. Cute little ski town. We had lunch at Yesterday's Diner. Was really, really good. After lunch we walked a little ways and stopped to have a chocolate malt at The Dairy Bar.  It was kind of chilly walking around but we had to...sooo good!


We continued our drive around the Enchanted Cirle and drove through Eagle Nest. The Eagle Nest Lake is the big attraction here. Looks like plenty of water activities.

We made a stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire. Displays on the grounds and in the Visitor Center pay tribute to the Vietnam veterans. The Blue Star Garden and Medal of Honor and Veteran bricks that line the walkways are constant reminders of the service to our country.

Then we drove through Angel Fire. Another cute ski town. At this point, we were getting tired so we just drove around then headed back to Taos.

Amazing scenery