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Celebrating my 60th Birthday in Las Vegas!
My best friend Dia and her boyfriend Scott rode with me and Maddie in my RV to Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed together for four days at the Circus Circus Hotel RV Park. It’s basically a giant parking lot with hookups but it’s the only RV park on the Strip.
The ride there together was so much fun! It was great to have music going, good conversation, and sharing the anticipation of the trip. For the most part the trip was uneventful. One hiccup was when we were about 30 miles from Flagstaff. The gas tank was getting so empty the warning light came on. We had some anxious moments limping into Flagstaff for gas. What made it even more anxious was trying to find a gas station that actually sold diesel. Thankfully we were able to fill up before we completely ran out of gas. From now on I’m filling up whenever my tank gets to 1/2 a tank. Live and Learn!
We had lots of fun walking the strip and seeing the sights. The weather was perfect – mid to high 70s! A real treat after being in cold Albuquerque! We explored the hotels around Circus Circus and none of us had seen the newer hotels in the area. One of my favorite spots was actually “Slots o Fun” at Circus Circus. It’s an area where you play the old slot machines with real quarters and handles to pull. They even had $3 blackjack tables!
Maddie had a crash course in her service dog training while in Vegas. It was a lot for a 4 1/2-month-old to take in. The sights, sounds, and smells had to be overwhelming. But she was a trooper and did great!
But it definitely tired her out! Scott suggested we go to Bagelmania for breakfast. Maddie was so tired that she fell asleep while we were waiting in line. Poor thing…..
Maddie also got her very first Starbucks Pup Cup! She loved it!!! They gave her a good sized cup and she wanted all of it. You can see while we had someone take our photo, Maddie has her eyes and nose on that half empty pup cup!
We had so much fun walking around Vegas. We went to several hotels I’ve never been to as well as some of the more well-known hotels. The weather was awesome while we were there. The perfect temperature for walking around after dark.
Of course, Dia just had to get that giant drink to carry around.
For my birthday, Dia got me a tiara that said Happy Birthday. I felt pretty special all night because all evening strangers gave me birthday wishes! And she gave me a pretty necklace too! She also got me a few other nice gifts. Even a “grow a boyfriend” kit!
They also took me to Madame Tussauds wax museum. That was so much fun to see replicas of famous people that were life sized.
Isn’t she just adorable? What a good girl!
After taking several photos, we found a way to scramble up over this obstacle. It was worth the effort to keep going. The views were amazing. And I found a unique cove that was loaded with hoodoos. They were difficult to photograph because they blended in with the background and were close to the background as well.
The trail ended in a very short, low slot canyon.
After that long hike, the day had really warmed up. So I pulled into a picnic area and Maddie and I took a nice long nap. After waking I took the time to feed both of us before heading out on another trail.
The last hike we went on was the Elephant Rock and Natural Arch loop trail. We hiked this as the sun was setting. I couldn’t believe the sun was setting at 4:30!!!! The Pacific time zone is crazy!!!
This was my favorite hike I took in the park. No one was on the trail which was great. And the terrain was really interesting with little hidden small arches.
Elephant Rock
Since no one was on the trail, I got to let Maddie off leash to run around and relieve some of that puppy energy. We both enjoyed the hike very much.
My beautiful girl Maddie
Since I couldn’t stay at the campground another night, I found a location just 15 minutes away that was popular with boondocking vehicles. It was called Poverty Flats (aptly named!). There were quite a few RV and Vans camping there but it was such a big place that everyone was quite a ways apart from each other. I liked it there so much I stayed a couple of nights.
Poverty Flats
My next stop was Virgin, Utah. The drive there was really pretty. I went from the flat Nevada desert to the beautiful canyons of the Virgin River and Zion. The drop to the bottom of the canyon along the Virgin River was so steep!
I stayed at the Zion River Resort. This is the best voted RV park in Utah and the very best park I’ve stayed at yet. The hot tub was divine! And I met some wonderful people while sharing the hot tub.
Fall was in full swing along the Virgin River while I was there.
I met up with my photographer friend Seth Hamel of Enlighten Photography (https://zion-photography.com). I have taken several photography tours with Seth and he’s an amazing photographer guide. If you visit the Zion area and want to see and photograph out-of-the-way places of Zion and southern Utah, then I highly recommend you take one of his workshops or book a private tour. If you are inexperienced with photography, no worries! He is an excellent and patient teacher.
So Seth picked me up and took me to several locations to shoot the sunset of West Zion. The afternoon was beautiful with just the right amount of clouds. Seth brought along his one-year-old Australian Shepherd dog named Potter. Maddie and Potter were about the same size, and they played together so well! They both played keep away with a stick, and it was fun to watch them chase each other.
Maddie and Potter ran and ran so fast I could hardly get them in a photo! Maddie went right to sleep once we got back home!
It was a real treat to have a large flock of Pinion Jays fly by!
After photographing the views from the plains, Seth drove us up to the top of a mesa that overlooks a very unique canyon with expansive views of West Zion. The conditions were just superb for sunset photography.
I love the pop of fall color from the deciduous trees along the mesa.
What a spectacular view!!!!!
While at this location, Seth helped me fly my drone for the very first time. I was so nervous we would lose it down into that canyon! But thankfully we had no mishaps, and I was able to fly my drone for a short time. The settings need to be adjusted, so what video and photos I did manage to get were not very good quality. I will definitely get things set up before I take it out again. But what a thrill to fly my drone!
My one decent image from my drone.
I’ve had such a wonderful time traveling in my new RV. It’s all I hoped it would be. But it won’t always be great, as my next post will show…….
Stay tuned!!!
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