The Trip to Laughlin, Nevada.

Monday.

Quartzsite to Laughlin.

We left Quartzsite around 11:30 and headed north on SR95. At Parker we stopped for  bite of lunch then we crossed the river and got on highway 62 heading west to Vidal Junction. At Vidal we headed north on US95.

There is some nice scenery on 95.

At Needles we got on I-40 heading west. At River Road we exited I-40 and headed north to Laughlin, Nevada. We arrived around 2:30 and checked into the Aquarius.

Shortly after we got to our room we got a call from Sue saying that they had arrived. We made arrangements to meet them at the Outback Steak House for diner around 4:30.

Diner at the Outback.

As always, our dinner at the Outback was great. Patti ordered the Filet Mignon and I ordered a half-rack of Baby Back Ribs. Every thing was just right.

After Diner.

After diner Sue and Denis took a walk along the river-walk.
We made arraignments to meet them at the Subway sandwich shop at 9:30am for our jeep ride.
Patti found a blackjack table and lost $25 in about 10 minutes. She decided to try her luck at the machines and I went up to the room for a nap.
Patti returned to the room around 8:30 with a little less cash than she started with.

Tuesday.

The Jeep Ride.

At 9:30 we met Sue and Denis at Subway. We got in the jeeps and headed to Bullhead City. In Bullhead we took Silver Creek Road going east. Sliver Creek Road is paved until you get to the top of the hill at Bullhead Parkway; from there it is a wide graded dirt road.

Nice scenery along the road.

We stopped at the intersection of Silver Creek rd. and old Route 66.
Here we took a trail going into a canyon on the north side of the road.

We were looking for a trail called The Candy Ass Trail.
From one spot we could see the town of Oatman to the east of us.

The trail we were on dropped into this rugged valley.

We took several side trails looking for the one they call Candy Ass.

Most of them were pretty rough.

They all ended in spots where we didn’t want to or couldn’t proceed.
Who knows, one of them might have been the Candy Ass Trail but we were never sure where it was.

Lots of Mine Shafts.

We continued poking around the trails and checking out some old mines.

This one was a deep one and was covered with a steel grating.

Here is another scary one also covered.

We left the mines and continued along the trail.

More nice views.

We stopped at where the trail intersects Silver Creek trail to have lunch.

Route 66.

After lunch we drove a little ways on Silver Creek and turned north on Route 66.

After less than a mile we pulled off to air up the tires. When we pulled into this spot there were two Burro’s there browsing on the bushes. They payed us little attention while we made lots of noise pumping up the tires. These Burro’s must be some of the ones that go to Oatman daily for hand outs from the tourists as they have no fear of us.

After airing up we continued on 66.

We passed the Colorado mine.

Cemetery Point.

We stopped at this turnout where there are bunches of crosses and monuments to dead people. There were even some cremation Urns.

There is a nice view from here.

Old Gas Station.

We went over a pass who’s name I can’t pronounce.

A couple miles on the other side of the pass we stopped at an old Gas station.

This place has been here since 1926. It has burned down once and was rebuilt in its present form. It no longer sells gas but is now a tourist trap.

This is the inside of the building.

We hung around here for a few minutes then turned around and headed back toward Laughlin, Nevada.

We made it back to the hotel by about 4:30. We decided to go to supper at Guy Fieri’s El Burro Boracho restaurant in Harrah’s at 6:00.
We met Sue and Denis and drove to Harrah’s.
When we arrived at the restaurant we found out that the restaurant  was closed. In fact it is closed until the 21st.
Bummer. We decided that as long as we were there we would eat at the restaurant next door, The Blue Beach Café. There were only about 5 other patrons in the café. At this time of year every place on the strip is almost empty. I guess every one is waiting for the New Year to come here.

We said goodbye to Denis and Sue at Harrah’s and went back to our room. Patti stopped to finish paying her Nevada taxes at the casino and was back in our room by 8:00.

We are leaving soon. It was a fun couple of days and now we are going home.

Wednesday.

Stop in Lake Havasu.

Our plan was to stop in Lake Havasu City to see a movie and visit Nancy and Rick on the way home.

At the Movies.

Patti wanted to see the new Mary Poppins movie. I wanted to see the new Peter Jackson movie Mortal Engines. As it happened both movies were playing at the Star Cinema in Lake Havasu City. The times were about 20 minutes apart so Patti got her ticket for MP and I got a ticket for ME.
Patti’s movie ended about 15 minutes before mine so when I got out we met in the hallway.
Patti said that she enjoyed the movie but it wasn’t as good as the original.
I really liked Mortal Engines. It was a kind of quirky but that isn’t unusual for a Peter Jackson film.

Visiting Nancy and Rick.

After the movies we drove over to Nancy and Rick’s and visited for a hour or so.
We left about 5:00 just enough time to get home so Patti could watch the finale of Survivor.

Okay, that was our trip to Laughlin, Nevada. We had a great time.

One Bad Thing.

The one bad thing on the trip was that I got a speeding ticket as we were coming into Quartzsite, 65 in a 55. The trooper was nice enough to only give me a ticket for (Waste of Finite Resources). Not a moving violation and about $200.00 cheaper than an actual speeding ticket.