It was time to initiate the new Prius to road travel. We booked a timeshare exchange into the CasaBlanca Resort and Casino in Mesquite, Nevada. The took us through Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona (briefly) and finally into Nevada. Along the way we visited a few National Park Service sites. We do love our Senior Park Pass!
We made a quick stop at the Hagerman Fossil Beds national monument. A very informative movie was shown explaining the Pliocene fossils that were unearthed in the 1930's by Smithsonian archaeologists. In 1988 the Hagerman horse became Idaho's state fossil. You can see that it was a beautiful day to be on the road!
We passed a very interesting site - Thousand Springs - where underground water trapped in the porous lava beds gushed out. Amazing!
 |
| That is water flowing out of the hillside |
The City of Rocks, National Reserve in Idaho was next on our list of places to visit. Wagon wheel ruts and signatures written in axle grease on "Camp Rock" were evidence of the settlers who passed through this area in the late 1800's.
After spending a night in Ogden, Utah, we were off again to visit the Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Again, the park service movie explained the history of the site. We skipped the cave tour to make sure to had time to visit the Kolob Canyon side of Zion National Park. The red rocks with matching red road made the drive quite spectacular.
 |
| Vivid color setting brings out the red and green of Kolob Canyon |
Our CasaBlanca Resort & Casino villa was a nice one bed/one bath unit with full kitchen. The casino wasn't the real draw and since this one still allows smoking, we didn't spend any time gaming. An Elvis tribute contest was the weekend entertainment. Friday evenings was the 50's competition and Saturday night's was the finals showcasing the winners of the 50's. 60's and 70's. It was good entertainment at a reasonable price ($17 for Fri and $21 for Sat).
 |
The winner was the tall thin Elvis on the right
A day out on the road took us into the Lake Mead Recreation area. The desert went from scrub to black rock to red rock before we arrived at Lake Mead.We were thankful for some clouds to keep the temperature down.
|
We went as far as Callville Bay on Lake Mead. It looked like it would be fun to explore the lake in a boat, it was too hot for our Pacific Northwest blood.
Valley of Fire State Park offered a drive through scenery that rivals Zion or Bryce. Imagine the time it took wind and rain to create this arch.
Just so you won't be left with the impression that all the rocks were red, here is a photo of a nice gray uplift. What forces must have been in play to push up layers of the earth like this?
When we weren't out looking at rocks we were relaxing beside the pool at the Casa Blanca. Not a bad way to spend the day! Alas the forecast is for temps up to 110-115 degs. Anacortes, where clouds, rain, and temps in the 70's are common is calling us home.