Day 10 South Point and Mystere

So Sunday started out slowly, we slept in, washed some clothes from our trip and basically just relaxed from the last three days of driving. We decided to go and check out the casino just south of us called South Point, turns out that this is a very nice place. It seems to attract an older crowd because it is so far off the strip but they have a very nice buffet with lots of choice and fresh omelets for breakfast. The Casino itself is nicely spread out with lots of walking room between the slots and the tables. They also have a 12 screen cinema, convention area and a rodeo arena.

After breakfast we decided to come back and just relax. I managed to get the pictures downloaded from the Grand Canyon and start to update the blog. I also went down to the front desk to see if we could get tickets to a show for the evening. The lady at the concierge desk recommended the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. It is the first show that was developed specifically for a Casino. Treasure Island built a theatre for this show. One of the drums is so big that it had to be brought in as it was being built and they can’t get it out now because none of the doors are big enough.

The show starts as people are coming in to find their seats, there is an older fellow with wild hair dressed in a tux who shows people to their seats, except they actually aren’t their seats, he ate peoples popcorn, actually pour popcorn on a number of people. He is basically Cirque’s version of a clown. He appears throughout the show causing havoc. There is another clown who is an extremely large man dressed as a baby and the MC is quite funny as well.

The acts consisted of a fellow with a large metal cube which he hoisted it mainly with his feet while he spun around inside of it. There were trapeze artists, trampolines, ribbon aerialists, bungee jumpers, Chinese poles and hand to hand balance strong men. There was also Taiko drummers throughout the performance. It was nonstop action from beginning to end.

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who wants to experience a Cirque du Soleil show at a reasonable price. Basically this show cost both of us what it costs to go to Ka, O or the new Michal Jackson show.

Day 9 Route 66, Oatman, Lake Havasu and Laughlin

So Saturday we got up early, had breakfast at the Denny’s in Kingman and then headed out on to Historic Route 66 to Oatman, AZ. Out first stop on was Cool Springs

This was an old gas station, rest area and restaurant that was built in the mid-1920s and has been connected with Route 66 from the very start. For early motorists, Cool Springs represented a life-saving stop, to check for oil, water, gas up and maybe grab a bite to eat. In 1966 it fell into disrepair and eventually burned to the ground. In 2001 it was rebuilt into a museum and gift shop.

There is also a fun geocache find here in an antique gas pump.

We traveled along the route doing more caches along the way until we arrived in Oatman.  

This is a former mining town in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, it began as a tent camp soon after two prospectors struck a $10 million gold find in 1915. We had visited Oatman the first time we came to Vegas and took a tour through the local gold mine, they were only doing tours back then but because the price of gold had gone up they are back up and running. They are even taking the old tailings and reprocessing them.

We parked at the beginning of Main Street, went to the first store and purchased some alfalfa pellets to feed the wild burros that roam the main streets. Back in the mining days burros were used to pull the carts in the mines. When the mines shut down the burros were let go into the wild to fend for themselves. According to a local there are 11 burros that roam the main streets and most of the stores have small bags of feed for a $1, he said that they don’t like people feeding them carrots because if everybody did that the burros would get too fat.

Oatman was also on Route 66 so all the stores pretty much are souvenir shops or restaurants. 

Also found a couple of geocaches here as well. After Oatman we decided to go and see the London Bridge that was relocated to Lake Havasu is a large reservoir behind Parker Dam on the Colorado River, The city was founded by Robert Paxton McCulloch who was American entrepreneur most notable for McCulloch Chainsaws and  for purchasing the old London Bridge and moving it to Lake Havasu.

By the end of the 18th century, it was apparent that the old London Bridge needed to be replaced. It was narrow and decrepit, and blocked river traffic. By 1924, the east side of the bridge was some three to four inches (102 mm) lower than the west side. The bridge had not been designed to withstand 20th century automotive traffic.

In 1967, the City of London began to look for potential buyers for the London Bridge. Lake Havasu City founder and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch placed the winning bid of $2,460,000 on April 18, 1968. Each block was meticulously numbered before the bridge was disassembled. The blocks were then shipped overseas through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to Arizona. Where it was reassembled in Lake Havasu City, it is the center of their waterfront area.

From Lake Havasu we headed north to Laughlin where we walked along the riverfront checking out all the casinos. We decided to walk instead of taking the water taxi that goes back and forth between all the casinos on the river. Dinner at the Aquarius Casino buffet was very good and then a uneventful drive back to Vegas.

Day 8 Grand Canyon Again

So Friday we went to the Dessert View side of the Canyon. It is 20 miles from the main visitor centre towards Cameron AZ and the North Rim. This time of year you can’t get to the North Rim because of Snow. When looking at the dryness of the area it is a little hard to believe that they have snow. We did see a little bit of snow on some of the cliff sides but we did find out that this year they have had about as much snow as we have had in Creston. A couple of small dumps and then it disappears. We did notice that it was quite windy and a little chilly but we only needed a light coat.

The main stop on the Dessert view is the watch tower. This is a building that was designed by Mary Colter. She was one of the few Female architects of her day. She is known for creating the 1922 Phantom Ranch buildings at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and five structures on the south rim of the Grand Canyon: the Hopi House (1905), Hermit's Rest (1914), the observatory Lookout Studio (1914), the 70-foot Desert View Watchtower (1932) with its hidden steel structure, and the Bright Angel Lodge All her buildings in the Grand Canyon are considered National Landmarks.

The watch tower and Hermit’s Rest buildings both have gift stores in them, they have local native art, jewelry and your basic gift store items.

After the Dessert View we headed back to the south rim to visit all the points of view that we missed the first day. I also managed to do a few virtual caches along the way. As I said yesterday if you get a chance everyone should visit here, it is worth the trip.

We finally headed back on the road again by 3pm and headed towards Kingman for the night. I used my Wyndham Rewards APP again, I discovered that all MacDonalds have free WiFi . So we found a Knight’s Inn for $39 with a King sized bed. It was definitely an older hotel but it was clean and at that price you can’t complain.

Day 7 Grand Canyon Visit

So Thursday morning we got up early and headed to Arizona.  We arrived in Tusayan, AZ, the gateway to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The first place we visited was the National Geographic Visitor Centre and watched the IMAX Movie Hidden Secrets of the Grand Canyon. After the movie we decided to book a hotel room before we headed to the canyon, good thing we did because even though the parking lot was empty, there were only 10 rooms left and when we did finally get back it looked like the entire town was sold out.

So room booked and we head up to the canyon, we parked and walked out to Mather Point. It is unbelievable, it is very hard to describe in words and even the pictures don’t do it justice. When you see the Colorado river way down at the bottom it is hard to  imagine that little river carved out this immense canyon.

We took so many pictures trying to stop at all the vista points.  There were a lot of people there but not so many that you couldn’t find a parking spot along the way. 

They have shuttle buses that go all along the rim and I think in the summer time, they must close the road off to traffic and you can only use the busses, otherwise it would be bumper to bumper traffic everywhere. We headed all the way to the end of the rim so that we could see the sunset, which is supposed to be amazing, unfortunately it was a little cloudy and we didn’t get much of a sunset.

We also visited a place called Hermit’s Rest; this was a rest area at a trail that led down to the Colorado River. It was name for a Canadian Prospector Louis Boucher staked claims below present-day Hermits Rest. With help, Boucher carved the aforementioned trail into the canyon, for years lived alone at nearby Dripping Springs. 

After the failed sunset we headed back into Tusayan for dinner. We ate at the Big E steakhouse. Both of us tried the prime rib which for the price we paid it really wasn’t as flavourful as other prime ribs we have had. It was okay but not the best.

We enjoyed a good night’s sleep at the Holiday Inn Express; they have really nice beds, pillow toppers and all.

Day 6 Clark County Museum and Quad Car Collection

So Wednesday we were up early and headed to the Clark County Museum in Henderson. This museum is run by Mark Hall-Patton. He can be seen on Pawn Stars as a regular history expert. We had been to this museum before; it is actually very well done.  

They have a row of houses each representing a place in time of Clark Counties history.

 The fifties house had the tricycle that was restored on American Restoration

This was from the 40’s house, very cool refrigerator 
and cook stove.

See if you can figure out what this door was used for built into the wall

 between the dining room and the living room.

It was used to store card tables in, for your weekly bridge games

 or other card games. Good use of the wide walls.

This side table was made entirely of used dice from a local casino.

This is the original Candlelight Wedding Chapel that used to be on Las Vegas Blvd. It holds the record for having 425 Weddings in one day.  1 in every 8 weddings that take place in the USA, happen in Vegas.

This is the air raid siren that was also restored on American Restoration.

This is the Senate Chair of Pat McCarren who was a senator in Nevada and who McCarren Airport is named after. This was purchased by the Pawn Shop and loaned to the Museum.

After the museum we headed down to the strip to go for supper and see the car collection at the Quad. There are lots of cars to see, I found the most interesting was a Rolls Royce that was built for a Maharaja in India to specifically hunt Bengal Tigers. You can see the guns mounted in the back. Talk about being ostentatious, can’t use a jeep like regular people, you have to have a Rolls Royce. 

The other was an original Shelby.  The price tag on this one was for over a million dollars.

After the Quad we wandered down the strip to the new casinos at the Aria, the Mandarin and Crystals. None of these were finished the last time we were here.  The Crystals has a exhibition of Liberace memorabilia. It seems quite unbelievable that he could actually wear these items never mind perform in them.

This one is lined is sable and weighs around 80 pounds. The suit is made of gabardine but completely covered in sequins, rhinestones and crystals. 

These are crystals that are hung all the way up a couple of floors and enclose a bar in the middle of the casino. It is just ropes and ropes of crystals. I guess it is supposed to look like a giant chandelier 

Day Five Reality Show Roundup

So on Tuesday we first had to go to an owner’s update on our timeshare. They had a workshop that helped me learn about our waiting list and how to book into places that look impossible to get into like Hawaii. I also learned how to book through RCI, which is a partner of our timeshare and sometimes they are difficult to get into. So even though they tried to sell us more shares, which we didn’t want it was helpful for future bookings.

So after we finished we decided to go and check out all the reality show places that we watch on the History Channel.

The first place we visited was Rick Restoration. This place is where American Restoration takes place. The outside looks just like it does on TV. They were filming back in the bone yard. We had found out from the Fellow it the Ely museum that they would be filming something from the museum. We didn’t see him but did see the camera guys doing close up of what looked like a cash register.

They have set the shop up with a big display room in the center and they hey have windows into each area of the shop. We saw Kyle and Cowboy breaking down something, Tyler was welding an item, and there was also a sandblasting area and a couple more work areas. You are not allowed to take pictures in this area because they are working on items or there are completed items in the display area that are going to be on upcoming episodes. 


On the outside you can see Rick’s truck, the golf cart that they did for the Old Man on Pawn stars.

We also saw the bone yard and Heineka the horse from the old shop. We also saw some of the items that they have restored from the show that were for sale, prices were very high. The woman doing the tour said that they don’t just go out and pick items to restore and sell; they wait until they have a customer with an item, it is paid for and then they restore it. So I am not sure about the parts of the store where Ron goes out and picks things that they bring back to restore.

The next stop was the Pawn Shop. There was a line up outside because they can only let so many people into the shop at one time. It really isn’t that big, but they do have stuff to pawn, lots of coins, jewelry, watches and some art. The Jimi Hendrix posters that they bought on an episode were there. Nobody from the show was there; supposedly Rick was in the back because his car was in the parking lot. Looks like they do more business from t-shirts and stuff than actually pawning, but that is reality of television stardom. The mural below was on the outside of the building in the back alley.

  

 A takeoff on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. 

After the pawn shop we found Kounts Kustoms, it is in this out of the way area in the commercial district. You can go into the showroom and see a collection of cars, helmets and motorbikes, but all the work areas are off limits. It is quite unassuming as you can see from the front of the building. It does seem to take up four separate buildings. 

These are helmets that Horny has created, with his own signature

Day 4 Hoover Dam and Bridge

So we were up bright and early to 70 degree sunshine. Len had to dig through the back to find his shorts; it was too warm to wear blue jeans. We decided that because we couldn't check into the Condo until 4 pm we would head out to the Hoover Dam and check out the new bridge. 

This is the bridge that they build over top of the dam to alleviate the traffic jams that used to occur going over the dam.  Every since 9/11 they have set up a check point so everyone that drove across the dam had to be checked out. The first time we came to the dam the line of cars heading to Arizona was backed up at least 4 miles back to Boulder City.

So the first stop on the dam tour is the new bridge, they have a walk way up to the side of the bridge, then you can walk all the way across, as you can see from the pictures you get a really neat perspective of the dam and Lake Mead from the top.

After walking all the way across we headed down to the dam itself, we decided not to take a tour this time because we had been before as well, with it being Presidents day the tours were pretty much booked up. So we parked up above the dam in Arizona and just walked around the area. 

It is neat that the dam is equally divided between Nevada and Arizona.  So in the middle not only can you stand in two states at the same time, you can be in two different times at once.   It is interesting to note that Arizona is like Creston and does not observe daylight savings time either.  So half the year they are on Mountain time and the other half on Pacific just like us.

After touring the dam we went and got some groceries and were able to check into our condo. Len cooked a great steak for dinner, we had a hot tub and they early to bed.

 This is looking from the Arizona side, the two towers on each line is where the water come into the dam from Lake Mead and then is put through the turbines inside the dam to create power. The white marks on the rock are where the high water marks are. As you can see the water line should be up near the top of the towers. The Dam is equally divided on both sides between Nevada and Arizona. On the lake Mead side as well as on the bridge side. 

This is a picture of the Marina on Lake Mead by Boulder City. The high water park is supposed to be way up past the left. 

Day Three Vegas Vacation Northern Nevada Railway Museum, Ely NV

Well today we spent the morning at the Northern Nevada Railway Museum.  It wasn't actually open because they were having a photo session. Every year people from all over the world come to Ely to shoot photos of the steam engines.  

They stage the trains so amateurs and professional photographers can take pictures.  We got to tag along while they were at the station, after about an hour and a half they headed up the track to the hills, to take pictures amongst the scenery and mountains.

We did get to meet Mark Bassett the executive director of the museum, I recognized him from his many appearances on American Restoration. 

This is a show on the history channel that is based at Rick Dales Restoration Shop in Vegas. We also saw the speeder, Wig Wag, strong box and cement guns that had been restored on the show.

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Just outside of Ely were these beehive charcoal ovens.  Each over holds 36 cords of wood which were burned inside the over over 10 days to make charcoal which was used to smelt the copper from the local mine.

After Ely we headed down another long and boring highway at high speeds and we got into Vegas a day early. It was Presidents day weekend so believe it or not hotel rooms were a bit hard to find.  We tried a couple of the less popular casinos but it was still going to be over $150 for one night, so I discovered a new app for Wyndham Rewards and found a Howards Johnsons that was reasonable. It was located just North of the Stratosphere. Not the best area of town, in fact when we went for a walk for dinner we saw old police tape out in front of the hotel. Not sure when it was from but the rooms were clean and it was pretty much full, so we didn’t worry too much about it.