MiningTown - Blogabond

Grand Circle Tour
Day One

My husband, Chuck and I landed in Las Vegas, NV to begin our Grand Circle Tour. If you have never done this, I encourage you to read all of my blog and do it! You will love every minute of it and appreciate the wonders that you will see.

Nellis AFB

We had a late flight so we went straight to our hotel room. We are active duty army so we went to the Nellis AFB outside of Las Vegas. For all of you retirees and active duty military, take advantage of this! We got a suite at the base lodge for $48.50 a night! Nellis AFB is a beautiful base! Everyone is friendly and you will enjoy the quiet (even with the jets) that being on a military base provides.

Day Two
We woke up early because we were still on east coast time. We went to a little diner outside of base for breakfast. The Blueberry Restaurant is a quaint little family restaurant that provides great food and good service at a small price. While it doesn’t offer the glitz of Las Vegas, it is perfect for those who want to hurry up and get on the road to see the sights.

After a nice breakfast, we headed into town and on to Hoover Dam. I recommend you visit my maps for directions. We decided to see the sights of the local area before heading east into Utah for our Grand Circle tour. There is much to see all around Vegas. The casinos and shows are just small parts of what you can do there. Most people miss out on all the other sights available. But nature lovers such as my husband and I, seize the opportunity!

We had every intention to see Hoover Dam, but there was a major accident that blocked traffic for over 2 hours so we decided to turn around. We headed southwest toward Needles on Highway 95. This proved to be a great decision for the day.

Our first experience was to see several dust "devils". These are cool dust tornados that move over the desert and even across the road. It was pretty cool to see.

We went to a little town called Searchlight (be careful, there is a speed trap there) and went to the Lake Mohave recreation area.

Lake Mohave Beach

The water was so blue and the area was beautiful, although desert was all around. It was a perfect oasis in the desert. I believe this is one of the benefits of Hoover Dam. There is the beach, an area to launch a boat, a restaurant, and camping grounds. We enjoyed spending time walking around and enjoying the desert beauty.

We then headed back up north on 95 to Nelson and went to a canyon that is worth the look. We saw an old mining town and a fighter plane graveyard.

Old Mining Town

Not all Pilots can be a Thunderbird!

Nelson Canyon

The road ends at the canyon overlooking the river. Again the water was so blue and peaceful. We took a short hike to the lake before going back to the car.

Finally, we headed back up to the Air Force Base for dinner and an early night. Our plan is to head to Utah early and get to Zion National park before lunch.
It was a good day!

Stay tuned for tomorrow. We have a lot planned!

written by

syhowell76 on June 1, 2009 from Las Vegas, United States

from the travel blog: Grand Circle Tour

tagged MiningTown, Nelson, CrashedPlane, LakeMohave, Nellis and DirtDevil

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Pass by Jiu Fen 九份

Jiu Fen - former gold mining town now artsy 九份, Taiwan

Day One and Two

Las Vegas, United States

Heading South?