March 18, 2015. Enjoying Lake Mead.

CAMPGROUND:  Boulder Beach inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  As with most national parks, the scenery is terrific, and the amenities are few.  No hook-ups. Dump station. No showers. Great sites with concrete pads.  Nice picnic tables and fire grills.  4 stars.  $5/night

LOCATION: Southeastern Nevada. Park is near Boulder City, Nevada.

WEATHER:  Beautiful. Highs around 80

We drove about 80 miles north from Laughlin to to Lake Mead.  The campground is pretty full, but we snatched a great site overlooking the lake.  We read that this is America's largest reservoir, but we aren't sure if that is tyre anymore, as the water level is way down.  

After setting up, we drove into nearby Boulder City.  It is called the "town created by the Hoover Dam". It is darling.  Old homes have been restored from the era when the dam was built.  Most are quite small and cute.  We strolled around the downtown with lots of shops and outdoor restaurants.  We had lunch at their brewpub.

We visited the town's museum and learned some of the history about the building of the dam.

Back at the campground, we made a fire.  I cooked part of dinner on the outdoor grill in order to keep the camper col inside.

DINNER:  I prepared a box of quinoa.  I jazzed it up with sautéed onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and spinach.  I had made chicken broth from the chicken thighs we bought last week, so cooked the quinoa in the broth that had bits of chicken in it.  All quite tasty!

March 17, 2015. Lounging in Laughlin

CAMPGROUND:  2nd night at Tropicana Hotel/Casino

LOCATION: Laughlin, Nevada in southern part of state

WEATHER:  Hot and sunny. Highs in. 80s

We spent the morning working on our income tax forms.  Great fun!  Not!  This is the view from our hotel window as we toiled over he task.

For lunch, we split a corned beef sandwich next to the swimming pool in honor of St. Patricks Day.  We are disappointed about St. Patricks Day celebrations here.  The main reason we stopped here is that we heard there were lots of events along the riverfront to celebrate.  Sadly, we found out that they celebrated over the weekend, and nothing was happening today.   Oh well.  It was fun to watch people walk around in silly green decor.

We lounged around the pool, reading and napping (George).

We walked along the Riverwalk and viewed a classic car  exhibit.  

DINNER:  We brought a pizza back to the room, so that we could pair it with one of the craft beers we brought.  Our hotel looks like a movie set from the 1960s.  It even has one if those old-fashioned beer bottle openers.

March 16, 2015. Only non-gamblers in Laughlin?

CAMPGROUND:  Tropicana Casino.  3 stars.  Ok, but run down. $39/night

LOCATION:  Laughlin, Nevada, in southern Nevada

WEATHER:  Still sunny and hot. Highs in 90s

We drove about 2 hours to Laughlin.  It is a casino town created by a man from Minnesota in the 1960s, as a small Las Vegas.  It consists of a strip of highway with tall casinos/hotels on either side.  Our plan is to stay here 2 nights to use wifi for income tax preparation and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  

After checking in, we strolled around several hotels' casinos.  Surprisingly, they are all packed!  Almost every machine is bring used.  Unlike the commercials with glamorous people laughing and playing the slots, there were mostly old people, looking glum and puffing on their cigarettes.  

In the evening, we went to a theatre and saw "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".  I loved it!  Great British actors.  The scenes are mostly in Jaipur, where we visited last December, so it was cool seeing familiar sites.

I imagined myself as Judi Dench, and George as Richard Gere, dancing Bollywood style at the wedding!

We walked along the strip at night and found a microbrewery for dinner.  Not too great.  

I watched public TV in bed....a nice change of pace!

March 15, 2015. Trying to keep cool at Lake Havasu

CAMPGROUND: 4th night at River Island State Park

LOCATION: Near Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Across the river from California

WEATHER:  Sunny and hot. 95

We took a hike around our campground, on cliffs hanging over the river.  The view from the cliffs was beautiful.  Lots if boats and jet skis out.  Then, we drove to another state park nearby and hiked a bit there.  I had to stop as it was getting too hot. We saw a desert tortoise there.

Back at the campground, we cooled off by wading in the river.  It is shockingly cold, compared to the outside temperature.  

We watched a huge 3-foot lizard  running around on the rocks near our campsite.

In the afternoon, we drove to the Desert Bar that we had heard about.  A man bought some desolate desert land a few years ago and built this bar.  There is no sign directing you to it; it is just word of mouth.  We drove about 10 miles back on a "primitive" road.  It was just a rocky path through the desert.  Our top speed was 5 miles per hour.  It is only open on weekends and closes at sunset, as it is totally run on solar.  We were surprised at the number of people there.

There was a live band. Unfortunately, they only served Bud and Coors.  That did not make George happy!  We added tomato juice and hot sauce to it to make it palatable.

We couldn't return to the campground, as it was still too hot, so on our way home, we stopped at a floating bar on the river.  It was "hopping". Boaters pulled up, docked, drank and danced.

There were several spring breaker girls practically giving some old geezers heart attacks!

Like this one....

Back at the campground, George made a fire.  It is too hot to cook inside.  I assembled everything, and we cooked it on the grill.

DINNER:  Boned chicken pieces, sautéed with bell peppers, green onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic, and spinach.  I added some of the leftover blue cheese sauce.  Served it over a baked potato. 

March 14, 2015. Continued ...at Lake Havasu City

We were supposed to see wildlife like bobcats and big-horned sheep, but all we saw was this wild burro....he is there, but hard to see...

We saw plenty of HUMAN wild-life behavior, though...

Back at the campground, we made a fire and talked with neighbors.  Across the river is a resort with a Saturday night karaoke bar.  The off-key singing drifted over to us.  The sunset on the mountains is beautiful..

DINNER:  We grilled fish we had bought and frozen in Mexico.  I dusted the fillets with flour and panko, and sautéed the fish in the iron skillet over the campfire with a little sesame seed oil.  Side dish was stir-fried green onions, broccoli, ginger and shiitake mushrooms, and rice.  Paired with cold Japanese sake, left over from Japanese sushi restaurant last week.  

March 14, 2015. Fun on the Colorado River

CAMPGROUND: 3rd night at Island River State Park

LOCATION: Near Havasu City, in west central Arizona

WEATHER:  Sunny and hot. Highs 95

It didn't cool off last night, so we had to run the air conditioner  most of the night.  I've heard that it is about 15 degrees warmer than usual here for this time of year.

We drove into Lake Havasu  City.  What a parade of people!  Mostly college kids strolling down the beach walk, in their bikinis carrying coolers.  We took a 4- hour boat ride up to a gorge on the river.

The captain told us about the history of the river.

It was very pretty, with big rock formations on either side.

We had a picnic and beer on the boat.

See next post for more pictures.

March 13, 2015. London or Lake Havasu City?

CAMPGROUND: 2nd night  at Island River State Park

LOCATION:  Lake Havasu City, in west central Arizona

WEATHER: hot and sunny. Highs about 90

We drove into town, following the Colorado River.  There are RV resorts all along the way.  There were lots of tourists in town.  

We walked along the waterfront, under the London Bridge.

In the late 1960s, someone bought the London Bridge in London, dismantled it, and rebuilt it here.   

We took a ferry ride across the lake to a casino on the California side.

It was a cheap way to get a boat ride.  Lots of people like to gamble, but we didn't. We walked around the area, then returned to Lake Havasu.

 

We had lunch at Mudshark Brewery, then headed back. 

At the campsite, we talked with our neighbors, a Native Indian couple.  They gave us some Indian bread she made on the campfire....a combination of a tortilla and pita bread.

DINNER:  I tried a new recipe that is delicious.  George grilled up chicken thighs.  (He bought the family size package as it was cheaper.  I don't know how we will eat all of it!). My recipe was a cheese mix  to spread on the chicken.  It was yogurt, blue cheese, cream cheese, lemon pepper, and diced green onions.  We just spread it on as the chicken came off the grill.  We also charred some bell peppers on the grill.  Side dish was steamed broccoli and the Indian bread.   Yum!