Saturday: (07/18) We headed down the mountain from our campsite at Alpine Summit on Highway 92 to Highway 189. We had to avoid contact with the many bicyclists on the road. Seems like a popular route. Actually a bicycle passing the RV on a 12 foot wide road is easier than a car.
There were some nice flowers along the road.
We were lucky to have very nice weather and the views were great.
We continued West stopping at Bridal Veil Falls just before meeting Highway 89 in Provo. We headed South on Highway 89 all day. B
We detoured off Highway 89 a bit to Bryce Canyon NP. We parked at Ruby;s Inn and rode the shuttle into the park to all the photo view points. We hiked between Inspiration Point and Sunset Lookout for the best views of the hoodoos. We made it out on the last shuttle then returned to Highwy 89 stopping oor some pictures in Red Canyon. Bryce Canyon looked good even though half the park was closed and in flames. The weather was perfect. We seemed to have avoided the hot spell for another day.
There were, of course, some nice flowers in Bryce.
On our way back to Highway 89 we stopped in Red Canyon State Park.
We had very nice dinners in Hatch a few miles further down Highway 89 at the Cafe Adobe. I had a Chile Relleno and a beef enchilada, both home made and excellent. Ernie had a beef enchilada and a tostada. He didn't complain either.
We exited Highway 89 taking Highway 14 toward Cedar Breaks NP. We stopped for the night in an ATV parking area off the road. We're going to call this dispersed camping.
Sunday: (07/19) Breakfast of egg, bacon and cheese Don McBuns. We then headed on up to Cedar Breaks NP. We arrived early and the small Visitor Center lot was all but empty. We examined the amphitheater (the eroded rocks) on the cliffs. There were lots of very nice flowers including one we haven't seen before, the blue columbine, which seemed to be white to us. We hiked the trail toward the campground which was an excellent flower path.
We haven't seen this flower before but they were in abundance here at Cedar Breaks NP. They are supposedly blue columbines but almost all we saw were white. I did finaly capture a blue flowers plant.
This is suposedly called an elkhead flower. Its quite impressive and popular with the bees. Its flower is a very faint purple though it looks white.
There were, of course, lots of flowers.
We then drove on up looking through the campground and stopping at all the view points. the campground was very nice and we'll probably return for a longer visit probably off season at another time. The park is small so seeing it ll didn't take too long. We started to bead out of the park to the North but changed our minds when we saw the 13% grade sign, just after it started downhill with no place to turn around a big rig. Fortunately about a 1/4 mile down the hill there was a wide spot to turn around, which we utilized. The way out the other direction that we came in isn't all that much better, it's 8% grades. The park is up in the clouds at 10,400 feet so there is a long way to come down.
We stopped in Cedar City to restock drinking water and a few other items at Walmarts and to get gas. We then had hamburgers and left over corn muffins for lunch. We headed West on Highway 56 which turned into Nevada 319. We then headed North on Highway 93 a short distance to the Cathedral Gorge SP and Visitor Center. We picked up some information about the nearby state parks then went out to the Cathedral Gorge and looked around the "caves" or eroded slots in the cliff. We also checked out the campground but decided to move on.
Our first stop in Nevada was the Cathedral Gorge State Park.
We headed North to Pioche then East on Highway 322 to the end of the road and our campground at Spring Valley SP. It had rained on the road shortly before we arrived and was heavily overcast with thunder sounding. We picked our spot and settled in for the night. There is a lake here as well. We're far enough from it to not have a lot of pesky bugs. We're at 5838 feet elevation so it's a bit cooler and the clouds help as well.
Dinner was ground turkey patties with Lima beans, cottage cheese, and apple sauce.
Monday: (07/20) Ernie cooked some biscuits in a frying pan and we had biscuits and gravy.
After breakfast we hiked across the dam to the top of the jagged rocks beyond. Great views of the area from there.
On the way, we found some ornate yellow flowers that we hadn't seen before. Ernie wasn't even showing his age. He made it to the top. We're dangerous on hikes together.
The lake is full and quite nice. We're staying in the Horse Thief Gulch CG in the distance beyond the marina. We finally made it back to camp safely, we drove around the lake and looked at the other campground. It was not as nice as ours. We also looked at the Stone cabin, an old settlers rock house that's been restored. Unfortunately, it wasn't open.
Lunch was cheese, celery sticks and carrot sticks. We were on the road South just before the 2pm checkout time. We checked out a couple of other parks on the way. Echo Lake SP a few miles from our camp was kind of barren and hot as was Kershaw-Ryan SP down by Caliente. We luckily had decided on Spring Valley when we decided to settle in last night.
We arrived in Las Vegas and checked in to the Sam's Town RV Park about 7pm. We had dinner in the Firelight Buffet. We managed to actually do it right and only have one plate each. That makes for a good and cheap dinner. We were treated to a nice rain storm with lightening. While we get rain at home. Lightening is much more rare. Ernie went over to the Wild Wild West for a visit. He came home as the roads were a bit flooded.
Tuesday: (07/21) We started the day doing a bit of laundry in the RV park laundry room. A pleasant place wash $1, dry $,75, much less than half normal. We then returned to the buffet to have breakfast and managed to control ourselves again. Eating out may become the norm for the rest of the trip home. The refrigerator isn't working. the freezer is OK but the fridge is 60 degrees. Darn, we'll just have to eat out here in Las Vegas, In Bakersfield and at Pismo Beach, all places with great dining. When I get back home I really have to get the generator and now the refrigerator fixed, first thing. The generator has been on the fritz since last December when I had it serviced and still isn't running right. I tend to put off repairing the RV until just before we depart and now I've had two extra rush trips in it with out getting the generator fixed. No more.
Here in the RV park with the air conditioner running, It's quite comfy even though it was likely in the 90's when we got up before 7am. Ernie took the car and visited his storage space to make deposits and withdrawals. I went over to the AArdvark Clay store and picked up some doll slip for Lou to use making more dolls.
We left Las Vegas just after noon stopping for lunch at the McDonald's in the Wisky Pete's Casino in Primm about 30 miles West of Las Vegas. Ernie had a fish fillet sandwich and a fruit salad (a pretty healthy choice for a McDonald's). I had a snack wrap and an ice cream sandwich.
When we got to Bakersfield we stopped at Aunt Helen's place and went out to dinner a our friend Debbie's house for a short visit. About 10:30 we hit the road again toward the ocean. We stopped for the night at about MM34 (35.09619, -120.124) just East of Highway 101. The stars were amazingly vivid tonight.
Wednesday: (07/22) We headed on to Arroyo Grande for breakfast at Francesco's Restaurant. We both had their excellent homemaade corned beef hash breakfasts. We then stopped at the Pismo Beach SP and walked to the beach. Ernie's on a photo mission. We then stopped at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden on Highway 1 about 20 miles North. It's at El Churro Park. The flowers were in great bloom but my camera wasn't charged so I couldn't take any pictures. The Environmental Center building is finished but not open. It looks like they intend to develop it and the gardens into something like the solar living center in Hopelkand, Ca.
The next stop was in Morro Bay to get a picture of Morro Rock, but that was not to be. The fog seems to be along the coast everywhere. It was hanging on to the top of the mountains as we dropped down to the coast on highway 166 and seems top be staying around. We could see any part of the rock when we arrived. We looked around some, had fish and chips for lunch at the Harbor Hut. We then were hanging around one of the piers looking at boats especially one that was kind of specially equipped. There were big bundles of kelp on the pier nearby. As we were ready to leave a big truck arrived. It had a sign on the door that said The Abalone Farm. So we watched as it loaded the 1000lb bundles of kelp. We learned from the driver that they take the boat out every morning and cut kelp to feed the abalone. This was the third trip the driver made so 18,000lbs of kelp were on the menu today, and every day for the abalone. The farm is just north of Morro Bay in Cayucos. Always something new to learn.
We headed North on Highway 1 along the coast toward Monerey. Ernie got a few pictures of the Hearst Castle from the road and we stopped several times for more photos of Elephant Seals, interesting bridges, and coastal views.
Unfortunately, we passed through Monerey during evening commute so the trafic was stop and go all the way to Watsonville. We stopped for dinner in Capitola at a Chili's Restaurant. We had the special $20 appetizer, two dinners and desert. We had Texas cheese fries, Ernie had Country fried steak and I had ribs. That`was topped with chocolate cake ala mode. A good deal for a good meal. We arrived home a little after 9pm.
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