The Signs of Summer

Red Rock Canyon from Oak Creek Canyon Road

Happy Summer Solstice!  Pretty much it is full on summer in Las Vegas.  The temperature soared last week and it will probably stay that way for a while.  Yesterday the temperature reached 110 in our backyard.  

Listening to the weather reporters or reading the reports is always good for a laugh.  "High pressure will shift ... bringing back the blow-dryer effect ...  High temperatures will settle slightly on Monday but they won't be what you'd call "cool" - just "less hot" ..."

Last week my baby sister turned 50! Woot woot! Linda and Art came over for a swim one afternoon before we went out for dinner at the Prime Rib Loft. Yum.

On Sunday we took them on a road trip to Laughlin. On our way south the Clark County Coroner's vehicle cruised by us. We were pretty sure he was on an official call.  Turns out three guys were doing a little late night or early morning partying.  One of them decided he wanted to dive off a cliff into the Colorado River.  Too bad he missed the water.  :-(

After we tailed the coroner for a while we stopped off at the Big Bend of the Colorado state park. Our plan was to do a bit of swimming but the water was cold and the air temp was in the 90s.  Next stop the Aquarius Casino for brunch.  Once brunch was done we headed to Arizona to show them Chloride.

To get out of Bullhead City (across the Colorado from Laughlin) you have to climb this massive mountain.  Keep in mind  that the temperature is over 100 most summer days.  The kind-hearted or perhaps resourceful people of the area place gallon jugs of water at half mile intervals all the way up the mountain.

We saw a few used bottles on the way up. I just figured out we climbed 3000 feet in elevation getting to the top of that hill. 

There was another photo op on the way up the hill.  Hummm ... Mother nature making a statement! LOL.

Notice the dust devil in the distance in Golden Valley.  Let me just tell you when you drive through one you feel it. When we got to the location of the dust devil it appeared to be gone ... until it slammed into the side of our car.  Good thing Dan had both hands on the wheel.

Finally we arrived in Chloride. We get a kick out of the signage on this building which seems to be growing out onto the road. "Stop here, stop here!"

Typical Chloride cottage

Howdy Pardner

Chloride Jail

One thing we wanted to see in Chloride were some murals created in the 1960's by Roy Purcell. (In 1966, Roy Purcell took a break from pursuing a Master's degree in Fine Arts at Utah State University to labor as a miner in the Cerbat Mountains near Chloride, Arizona. While he was there, and with the support of local residents, he painted "The Journey," a 2000-square-foot set of murals on some boulders about a mile and a half outside of town. His work, executed in the abstract Modernism tradition, led to early world-wide recognition for Purcell and helped launch him on a professional career that continues today. - See more at: http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/chloride.htm#sthash.7TMNP7iX.dpuf)

We headed up a sketchy dirt track into the hills.

 Along the way were signposts to direct our travels.

But the further we went the worse the track got.  It was 95 degrees, no cell service, storm clouds on the horizon and we didn't really know where were going.  I made Dan turn around.  I was pretty sure I could find images of the murals on the internet but I wasn't positive we would get back to civilization that afternoon!  We might try again some nice fall day but for now the internet provided a photo of the elusive mural.

A bit more adventure as we headed back into Vegas ... storm clouds and rain!  The weather reports say that monsoon season is about to begin.  We had just a little taste today.  The roads get slick when it rains so it wasn't long before we saw a big multi passenger van facing the wrong way on the 215! We didn't see any injuries so that was good!

This was a day I'm sure my sister won't soon forget!

Now for a few other recent photos. Our neighbor, Diamond, has a mourning dove nest in the tree in his front yard.

We could hardly believe our eyes when we passed this Jaguar on the I15.

 Dan and I hadn't been down to the Strip in a while so we decided to explore a couple of casinos on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard. We took a walk through Mandalay Bay and the Luxor.

The was a beautiful sunset.

Mandalay Bay

The Luxor

The inside of the Luxor.

There are hotel rooms on each of those levels!

A shot for scale!

I finally had a chance to volunteer feeding the tortoises up at the Red Rock Canyon visitor center. They are so cute.  A new twist on Eat More Kale!

Kale! I'd rather eat kale than my tort chow.

Dessert kale!

Sharing kale!

Yum. This is Mojave Max, the mascot of Red Rock Canyon.

I was there at 8 in the morning and it was already 90.  But that does not disturb some of the natives! There were bikers, runners and hikers enjoying everything the canyon had to offer.

Why not run through the desert for an early morning challenge!

I had an MRI on Tuesday.  Yup torn meniscus.  I will be getting set up with an orthopedic surgeon this week.  It was a little bit funny as my next door neighbor, Marie had an MRI the day after me and she has a meniscus injury as well. 

Our next adventure will be on Friday night.  We scored tickets to see a taping of American Ninja Warrior.  If you watch that show you might be interested to know a lot of the competition happens in the middle of the night!!! It should be lots of fun.  

It's all about the journey!

Have a great week. Nancy and Dan