Las Vegas 2005

After injuring his ankle in the Savannah River/Augusta Canal Adventure Race, Zach was upset that he would be wearing a “boot” on his left foot our entire time in the Vegas area; since it would greatly limit his hiking and climbing. Our primary reason for going to Vegas was to visit grandson Michael but we also wanted to see some of the sights we had not previously visited. Zach’s sister Julie and her husband Doug were as usual our adventure partners and were glad to hear of the ”boot”, since, for once, Zach would not be dragging them about the countryside from before dawn to past dusk. We all arrived late on a Tuesday night at the Fairfield Desert Resort.

The four of us enjoy playing disc golf and we always bring our discs on trips and try to play on courses in the areas we visit. Vegas has two public courses, so we started Wednesday we a trip to the one at Sunset Park near the airport. It was a nice course with plenty of well placed trees to add a degree of difficulty to most holes. It was an enjoyable round; even the “boot” didn’t prevent Zach from playing. Perhaps the most memorable part of the course was the many trees that had been planted in memory of people killed in DUI accidents. After disc golf we spent some time by the pool adjusting to the time zone change, aka, taking a nap. We spent the rest of the day on the strip visiting some of the casinos we had not wandered through on our previous trips, like New York, New York, Tropicana, and Paris. The casinos are so big that once inside it became a challenge to find our way out since all the casinos conveniently provide no directions for getting out.

The next day we picked-up Michael and played disc golf at the course in North Las Vegas, then made a bee line for the Valley of Fire State Park about an hour east of Vegas. The sights there are spectacular and all of the have descriptive names like Arch Rock, the Beehives, Rainbow Vista, Fire Canyon, White Domes, and the Seven Sisters. We also visited Atlati Rock with its extensive petroglyphs (ancient Indian rock art). We decided to return to Vegas via North Shore Drive. We though it would be a pretty ride along the north shore of Lake Mead but we only saw the lake for a couple of moments when we first started driving on the road.

 

Friday was our Death Valley National Park day. It’s only a two hour ride from Vegas and we had heard that since there was extensive rain in that area this year Death Valley was having a spectacular 100 year bloom. The rains that brought the100 year bloom also washed out several roads which were not repaired and prevented us form visiting some of the sights. We left at 6am to ensure we would maximize our time in the park. Driving in from Beatty we caught our first sight of the valley from Daylight Pass at 4316 feet in elevation. It didn’t take long to drive down to sea level. As we drove into the valley we were amazed at all the fields of yellow, white and purple flowers which we would see throughout the day in many different places. Our first stop was at the Sand Dunes where all of us including the “boot” walked out to the top of some of the dunes for some spectacular picture taking. After that we had a picnic lunch of tuna sandwiches and beer at Stovepipe Wells. From there we went to the spectacular (yes, we’re overusing the word but all these places were spectacular) Mosaic Canyon with its polished marble walls, odd mosaic patterns of breccia, and was so narrow in places we had to walk through in single file. There were more than a few places in the Canyon where it was difficult for the “boot” to travel, but with a frequent helping hand from Doug, Zach was able to hike the mile in and out. From there we went to the Furnace Creek area. Our first stop was the two-mile hike in Golden Canyon with many great climbing places, but not for the “boot’. After that it was yet another short hike in a canyon to view the Natural Bridge. Our last stop in the Park was at Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level. It was quite impressive to see the sea level sign on the cliff above. We exited the Park at dusk via Shoshone and saw the most beautiful fields of flowers on this road out

 

 

Saturday we hit the pool in the morning and spent the afternoon with Michael. Saturday night we had tickets for Josh Groban at Mandalay Bay. We drove over to save time and tried to find a restaurant in the Casino that didn’t have an hour wait since it was almost 730pm and the concert started at 8pm. We did find a Chinese Restaurant that was a quick in and out thanks to our waiter, Jackie. The concert was excellent. Josh Groban has a wonderful voice. He didn’t stop singing until after 11pm.












Sunday Julie and Doug returned home to Charlotte and we moved to the Hilton for our two-day preview. Monday morning we had to listen to the pitch on their vacation club which was a rather painless hour. For that, besides the two days in the resort, we also received $40 in gambling money and a dinner at the Hilton. In the afternoon we stopped by to see Michael and took a drive out to Red Rock Canyon, a hiking and climbing Mecca on the edge of Vegas. All the “boot” could do was look and wish for another day. When we returned we had our free dinner at the Hilton and blew our $40 on penny slot machines. It takes a long time to loose $40 on penny slot machines but we had fun doing it. The next morning we flew home.