Lake Mead - Boats, trains and automobiles

As per usual, we're not here now, we're in the very beautiful granite basin lake campground, but that's for later. If you're wondering about the title, the trains will come in a later blog!!

Here we are at Echo Beach (does anyone feel a song coming on?) 'motor boating' about lake Mead. Lake mead is one of the largest man made lakes in the world, courtesy of the Hoover Dam (next blog!!)






You know you're in safe hands when 'Captain Pugwash' is at the wheel (well - engine stick thing). Top speed about 15 knots with the wind behind ye.
I stand for no subordination on my vessel, eye eye captain. Elvis said 'Cast the sails to the wind and flog the engine - how much can you get'. But enough of the pirate talk!!
Get the kettle on and start brewing up, but only if you can tell me why in the above picture (and all the lake pictures) there's a white band goes all around the shore just above the water line?


While stopping off in one of the little bays, one couldn't help but feel one was being watched. It's those crazy horses again. Actually 'Burros', but don't say anything to Ginny about them or she'll bleat on about not being first to recognise them!!







Some more 'cove spotting' in the HMS Black Pig








Here's the clue, got wings but prefers to run - very fast. Prefers roads to get top speed. The giveaway is always wily e coyote in hot pursuit.

You should see these things go!!!






Moving further down lake mead, this is Boulder Beach, well the mountain range, not the beach!









View of the lake from Calville bay








Looking over the lake from the cute city of Boulder.









Me, fulfilling my duty of 'beer inspector'. Just making sure that the Americans are keeping true to the English tried and tested formulae.









Optical illusion confusion!! A heat mirage makes this road look like it goes straight into the lake.








The lake from Calville bay









A desert scene - all those plane trails lead to and from Vegas.







And finally - OH MY GOD - it's true, the natural arch at the Valley of Fire state park that we visited last week (see previous blog picture) has collapsed!! Nothing to do with us Governor!! I even had Elvis posing underneath it - imagine the trouble I would have had putting an insurance claim in for that .
Cup of tea mayhem. Ok Ginny - you were first with the fig roll, it's just that I preferred fig 'Rerle' from Rust, but I will take the tea from him (he doesn't like fig rerles anyway). As for the Burro, I think you will find recognition for your answer in a previous blog- apologies accepted.
The Outsourcer shocked me by answering Bon Jowers 'bear' question correctly (bloody git big ones, but there's nee way that came off the net, do you remember being had with the shark question three years ago?)and googling that the picture was a sunrise, but I'm going to give the tea to our Poll for that one because she was close when she said sunset. I told you all the car question wasn't as hard as it looked (good Lord Schmenny - that was some answer), Bon Jower didn't mince his words - let that be a lesson to ye all, its a Nissan and it was made in Washington (Sunderland - my home town, not DC for the benefit of the Americans). Finally - Rusty, the Aunties want a word!

Valley of Fire State Park

Heading east out of Las Vegas, the Valley of Fire is a little stones throw to the north east. Having an unhealthy interest in fire, we weren't going to let this one slip by!

What do you reckon, sunrise or sunset?

Did y'all know that before the first European settlers came to these shores, there was somebody already living here? If you look closely you can see drawings on the rocks made by the natives (if you were in Ford Estate the wall painting would say 'Sharon is a slag'!) The symbols are called petroglyphs and nobody is quite sure what they mean, but they do feature quite a lot of hunting scenes - it would seem even back then, filling your kite was something to celebrate.

Not quite Everest but still a canny little climb!

You don't want a science lesson I know - BUT .. These rocks are made from an ancient sea bed that existed millions of years ago, then, tectonic plates clashed and drove ancient rock through to the surface just so people on holiday can climb all over them and take pictures.

So here are the different rock formations, the red sand stone in the foreground and the so called 'muddy mountains' in the background.

How about this for a unique campsite? The RV's are a little more exposed, but if you're just camping, you get to camp right into the rocks themselves. They give great protection from the wind, which is quite strong around here - or at least it was while we were there (and I'm not talking about wind generated in the tent by Elvis!)

A few more pics from a day out amongst the rocks.

Ooooh Natural Arch!

I'm not going to ask you to name this little chap! You could easy guess by looking at the headgear! It's the Big Horn sheep - once the staple diet of the natives, but now allowed to graze without fear of being spit-roasted!

Notice the different colour strands in the rock - gorgeous. But if you want some free tea then tell us why sandstone is red?

This is one of the reasons why we like to drive through America so much - where else do you get scenery like this? (That is not a COT question!)

For a cup of tea - name the make of our car and where it was built - not as difficult as you may think (ps I wouldn't bother googling)!!

Cups of tea shenanigans - Rusty was spot on with the fig 'rerles', interestingly, I haven't found any custard nanas here, perhaps they're called custard einsteins in the states.
Une Big - yes I had a meat pudding in mind. Like our Poll says though, it was unfair on Ginny cos she didn't touch the offal. As for Wee Willy McGreggor the 'number of madgets in a tent' our Poll was kind of right with that - I mean I wouldn't allow them within 50 yards of me tent, never mind in it. Outsourcer, have you noticed the questions are becoming less of a 'googling' exercise?

Las Vegas - Revisited - Revisted!!

Las Vegas again! Is this deja vu?
Yup, this is the place for a spot of "R & R", the hot tub at The Golden Nugget! We enjoyed a couple of days here just chilling and relaxing and... mega indulging in breakfast buffets and food and drink happy hours!!
While we were here we also went to see the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay. Hakuma Matata.








This is Elvis doing what she does best and spotting all the yummy desserts on offer. Let me tell you 'elasticated waists' were the order of the day although I'm proud to say we gave the Americans a run for their money in the scoffing stakes - nothing new there of course!!


Eeh the last blog caused some interest!! Here are some COT answers:
The crazy horse is in fact a Burro, left over from the mining days. I thought it looked like a Blackpool donkey, but perhaps not as fed up!!
The bear, despite it's lovely brown coat, according to the ranger, is a Californian black bear. A brown bear (also according to the ranger CS!) is a nickname for a grizzly bear. And why was the little bear prints not on the path, well because the little ones are left at home obviously, it's only in Ford Estate (again) where the mother sends the son round to the fish shop for every ones tea (and doesn't even give him enough money!)

For a bonus cup of tea, what did my mother cook in her 'Walter washpot' having first derived a nice stock from boiling Bomber's thrappers?
PS - Well done Ma Pledge and Bomber for accessing the blog - an amazing leap in technological ability as just before I left they couldn't turn the radio on without me writing the instructions first!!

Sequioa and Kings Canyon Natioal Parks

Monday May 24th - long time no blog! We left Sequoia and Kings Canyon long ago, but we've been no where near a library. We have some catching up to do. If you're like me there's nothing like a nice cup of tea and a fig NEWTON?

No, that's not right, what's the real (English) name of this little fruity beauty (the biscuit not me)!!


Perched in the Sierra Nevada, Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP are beautiful parks. Being a few thousand feet above sea level it's still cold enough to have snow, but strangely warm enough to walk around without wrapping up. Perfect for getting out and about.




















Sequoia is the home of the largest tree in the world - note largest, not the tallest. It's the largest by volume because the trunk of these trees are massive and they tend not to thin out as they grow, so they are really thick right to the top.

It's difficult to show how big a tree is with a picture, especially when all the trees around are big - this tree is about eight feet in diameter.

Remember the 'how many madgets' can you fit in our tent question? I was just about to 'get mooned' at here - quick get Gordon the bucket!

Her is the worlds largest tree - the General Sherman. We've also seen the worlds tallest tree, can anyone remember where that was?

How exciting is this, probably one of the most amazing sights I think we have ever seen in the wild. We were out hiking when we noticed this print in the snow - look carefully (the snow has come out blue for some reason in the photograph!)

Look again, it can only be one thing right? This was very early in the morning so we were both a little nervous because this track is fresh, and going the same way as us!! However, look at the next picture, it absolutely made our entire week!

We were luckily a safe distance otherwise this could have been very dangerous, because as you'll see in the next picture, behind the bear were two cubs. For another cup of tea, what kind of bear is this.

Here are the two cubs, which were about 20 yards behind the mother who was foraging for food - these two where just playing about, pretend fighting and unusually climbing trees!

Walking in a few feet of snow - the air crisp and clear and beautiful trees all around - it doesn't get much better than this!

That's me 'inside' one of the Sequoia's just to give you an idea of scale. The area is periodically set on fire as this is an important part of the trees life cycle - without fire the seeds from the sequoias can't reach the forest floor. The tree itself is burned, but then grows around the burnt part, which sometimes makes the tree look hollow inside, like this one. The tree will eventually grow right around the scar.

A view over the Sierra Nevada

This is a massive granite rock called 'Morro Rock', we climbed up there one morning.

Higher mountains of the Sierra Nevada - hence the snow caps.

On our way to Kings Canyon. Kings is much higher up than Sequoia and hasn't opened its camp sites yet as you would basically have to camp on snow and ice - nee good if you're a pair of 'cold-arses' like us!! This was a day visit only.

A hollowed out sequoia tree.

Views of San Joaquin Valley

A little stroll to a place called 'Paradise Creek' - beautiful flora and forna don't you think?

The stairs up to the massive Morro Rock.

The top of Morro Rock!

Morro rock is so high up the clouds pass BELOW you!!

Winter wonderland!

You all know about Gordon the bucket. Introducing a new addition to the family, this is Walter the washpot. Stick this little beauty over your fire and before you know it you have boiling water to make a cup of tea (obviously), bathe your feet, wash your duds and socks and wash the dishes. Obviously getting the order right is CRUCIAL!!

Like a lot of the animals in national parks, they have lost their fear of humans, so you can go right up to a wild deer and take his picture. Anywhere else and he would have his heed blarn off!!!

This was a beautiful little walk around the big trees forest- it looks a bit like a Christmas card!






Eeeh our Ginny, setting me cup of tea questions!!

Yes, Elvis wrote the previous blog (very perceptive of you, although I did have to A-OK it!) Yes the animal question was for a cup of tea - and by the way it's NOT called a mule around these parts. Tell the outsourcer I want the local name! I remember the road runner cartoons very well! I haven't seen a road runner yet, but there's supposed to be lots of them around. And finally - I don't know what happens if someone is already in the shack - there are other shacks but they were in a serious state! I guess people would have to 'shack up' together, but I wouldn't of recommened staying in a hut with us - we were properly minging after that hike!