Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Trip 2013 Las Vegas, Valley of Fire, Lake Meade,NV Williams and Grand Canyon,AZ

Well a week of HOT days, in the 100+ and some rain, down pour, and more heat. We arrived at Nellis AFB, Desert Eagle RV Park in the sweltering heat, after getting settled down we ran a few errands to complete the day.  The next day we drove about 50 miles in the heat to the Valley of Fire, which is a Nevada State Park.  While there we saw many beautiful sites to include the Beehives, Arch Rock, Rainbow Vista and the Elephant rock. After departing the visitors center Bruce spotted two big horn sheep, pictures to follow. Here is a little snip it of the Valley of Fire State Park is the oldest state park in Nevada, USA and was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1968.  It covers an area of almost 42,000 acres and was dedicated in 1935. It derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs. These features, which are the centerpiece of the park's attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays.  Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape. The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain brilliant formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 million years old. Other important rock formations include limestonesshales, and conglomerates.  Valley of Fire is located 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Las Vegas, at an elevation between 2,000–2,600 feet (610–790 m). It abuts the Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence. It lies in a 4 by 6 mi (6.4 by 9.7 km) basin.  Here is some info on Las Vegas /lɑːs ˈvɡəs/ is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County.[5] Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and nightlife and is the leading financial and cultural center for Southern Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its consolidated casinohotels and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, Las Vegas is the 31st-most populous city in the United States, with a population at the 2010 census of 583,756. The 2010 population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area was 1,951,269. Today, Las Vegas is one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
Established in 1905, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in that century (a distinction held by Chicago in the 19th century). The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. There are numerous outdoor lighting displays on Fremont Street, as well as elsewhere in the city.  One of the places that we saw but did not go into was  the Heart Attack Grill, where if you were over 350 lbs or over and a doctors statement then your meal is free, one of the other things that happen at the Heart Attack Grill is that if you do not finish your burger than you get paddled the other thing that is part of the fun is that you have to put on hospital gown before getting seated.  In the early 1990s, the Stratosphere was conceived by Bob Stupak as an addition to his Vegas World casino. At the conception of the project, one of the planned rides was to be a giant ape that would carry riders up and down on one of the tower's columns. The original plans envisioned the Stratosphere exceeding the height of the CN Tower (1,815 ft (553 m)) to become the tallest freestanding structure in the world at that time. However, due to the FAA's concerns about possible interference with nearby McCarran International Airport, and any possible flights that come through Las Vegas, the Tower's proposed height shrank multiple times, bringing it to its current height of 1,149 ft (350 m).
On August 29, 1993, the Tower caught fire while still under construction. No one was injured, but the fire forced repairs and rebuilding that led to numerous delays in the construction of the Tower.
In 1995, Grand Casinos was brought on as an equity partner for the still privately funded project under construction. While construction was still progressing, the Stratosphere Corporation was formed as a public company with shares being offered to the public.
The Stratosphere opened on April 30, 1996. Shortly after opening, the Stratosphere Corporation was forced to file bankruptcy. This caused construction on the second tower to stop, with only a few stories partially built, and it allowed Carl Icahn to gain control through one of his companies by buying a majority of the outstanding bonds.
A major addition was completed in June 2001 for $1 billion that included finishing the 1000-room second hotel tower.
In the early 2000s, the company attempted to get approval for a roller coaster that would run from several hundred feet up the tower and, in the last proposal, across Las Vegas Boulevard. Part of that last proposal included an entry monument on the ride over Las Vegas Boulevard welcoming people to the City of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas City Council did not approve the project due to objections from the neighbors over possible noise from the enclosed cars on the proposed ride.  Stratosphere Las Vegas is a towerhotel, and casino located on Las Vegas Boulevard just north of the Las Vegas Strip in Las VegasNevadaUnited States. Its tower is also the tallest observation tower, and the 9th-tallest freestanding structure in the United States, as well as being the tallest structure in Las Vegas.   Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States in maximum water capacity. It is located on the Colorado River about 24 mi (39 km) from the Strip southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the states of Nevada and Arizona. Formed by the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead is 112 miles (180 km) long when the lake is full, has 550 miles (890 km) of shoreline, is around 1,221.4 feet (372.3 meters) at greatest depth, has 247 square miles (640 km) of surface, and when filled to capacity, 28 million acre-feet (35 km) of water. However, the lake has not reached this capacity since 1983 due to increasing droughts.  The lake was named after Elwood Mead (January 16, 1858 – January 26, 1936), who was the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 to 1936 during the planning and construction of the Boulder Canyon Project that created the dam and lake. Lake Mead was established as the Boulder Dam Recreation Area in 1936, administrated by the National Park Service. It was then changed to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1964, this time including Lake Mohave and the Shivwits Plateau under its jurisdiction. Both lakes and the surrounding area offer year-round recreation options. The accumulated water from Hoover Dam forced the evacuation of several communities, most notably St. Thomas, Nevada, whose last resident left the town in 1938. The ruins of St. Thomas are sometimes visible when the water level in Lake Mead drops below normal.
At lower water levels, a high-water mark or "bathtub ring" is visible in photos that show the shoreline of Lake Mead. The bathtub ring is white because of the deposition of minerals on previously submerged surfaces.  There are nine main access points to the lake. On the west are three roads from the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Access from the northwest from Interstate 15 is through Valley of Fire State Park and the Moapa River Indian Reservation to the Overton arm of the lake.
The lake is divided into several bodies. The large body closest to the Hoover Dam is Boulder Basin. The narrow channel, which was once known as Boulder Canyon and is now known as The Narrows, connects Boulder Basin to Virgin Basin to the east. The Virgin River and Muddy River empty into the Overton Arm, which is connected to the northern part of the Virgin Basin. The next basin to the east is Temple Basin, and following that is Gregg Basin, which is connected to the Temple Basin by the Virgin Canyon. When the lake levels are high enough, a section of the lake farther upstream from the Gregg Basin is flooded, which includes Grand Wash Bay and the Pearce Ferry Bay and launch ramp. In addition, there are two tiny basins, the Muddy River Inlet and the Virgin River Basin, that are flooded when the lake is high enough where these two rivers flow into the lake. As of now, however, these basins remain dry.
Jagged mountain ranges surround the lake, offering somewhat of a startling but beautiful backdrop, especially at sunset. There are two mountain ranges within view of the Boulder Basin, the River Mountains, oriented north-west to south-east and the Muddy Mountains, oriented west to north-east. From the Virgin Basin, you can view the majestic Bonelli Peak towards the east.  After leaving Nellis and Las Vegas we headed to Williams AZ and here is some info Williams (HavasupaiWii Gvʼul[1]) is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, west of Flagstaff. Its population was 3,023 at the 2010 census.  It lies on the route of Historic Route 66Interstate 40, and the Southwest Chief Amtrak train route. It is also the southern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway, which takes visitors to Grand Canyon Village. There are numerous inns, motels, restaurants and gas stations that cater to the large influx of tourists rather than local residents, especially during the summer and holiday seasons.  Williams was the last town to have its section of Route 66 bypassed, due to lawsuits that kept the last section of Interstate 40 in Arizona from being built around the town. After settlements called for the state to build three Williams exits, the suits were dropped and I-40 was completed.  On October 13, 1984, Interstate 40 was opened around the town and newspapers the next day reported the essential end of US 66.   The following year, Route 66 was decommissioned. On the next day we took the train to the Grand Canyon more information Grand Canyon National Park is the United States' 15th oldest national park. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the park is located in Arizona. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The park covers 1,217,262 acres (1,902 sq mi; 4,926 km2) of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties.  Grand Canyon National Park was named as an official national park in 1919, but the landmark had been well known to Americans for over thirty years prior. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said: "The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison—beyond description; absolutely unparalleled throughout the wide world... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see."
Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and his strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated a national park. The first bill to create Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have made Grand Canyon National Park the nation's second, after Yellowstone National Park. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886; after his election to the presidency, he established the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation in 1906 and Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908. Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park.


The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. (Later, the Glen Canyon Dam would be built upriver.) In 1975, the former Marble Canyon National Monument, which followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lee's Ferry, was made part of Grand Canyon National Park. In 1979,UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site

 Here are some pictures of the places that we visited.
a long road

the Preditor



a very hot prison and below is a correctional activity








the Beehives




a crow 


Big Horn sheep with child









the road through the valley












Lake Meade







flowers at the Bellago









wind damage at the campground








cute couple


misting


dancer

traffic jam





Fremont Street 

dancing to the music


OOPS they fell out

this shrimp cocktail used to be $ .99

the DJ





Even Santa made it to Fremont street


they have to wear these gowns to eat


a Birthday Dessert





you can free fall 108 floors




getting ready


our traveling friends





the Village People



Gyros for sale





when you loose a magnetic tail light, just let it drag






the PIE






I've been shot!



getting on the train







another picture of the cute couple

the travelers



El Tovar Lodge


the hopi house














the hoop dance











there all tuckered out





train robbers

the LAW

great smile



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