Quartzite Rock Alignment

A little north of Quartzite is this rock alignment. It is a Q and an arrow that you can kind of see from the ground but it was meant to be seen from the air. It was made when General Pattons troops were out here in the desert training. It pointed the way to Quartzite so the pilots wouldn't get lost during training. We stayed at this Rv Park and the building that the park office and cafe were in was actually General Pattons headquarters.

We had a really good time while staying at Blackrock and everyone we met there was very nice. As it gets closer to November more and more people are coming back to their winter home. There are signs everywhere welcoming the snow birds back. Its finally starting to cool off to the low 80's during the day and mid 50's at night. When we first got here it was in the 100's during the day and the low 80's at night.

Oatman, Az

We visited Oatman while staying in Kingman, It was a beautiful drive but coming from Kingman the road is very narrow and winding. The town of Oatman is considered a ghost town. It only has a few residents and a few businesses line the main street. The town only has the one road "main street". Oatman is famous for two things -- its on the old Route 66 and wild burros come in to town to beg for food. The burros have gotten used to being fed by the tourists so be advised to bring carrrots. This little town actually has someone who scoops up burro "piles" to try and keep the street clean and smell free.

We had a late breakfast at a the saloon. The food wasn't too bad and the saloon still had the original bar -- as a decoration. It was too dark inside or I would have taken a picture. If you ever visit Lake Havasu or Laughlin you should take a little side trip to Oatman. The road coming from that direction is better.

We are still enjoying 90 degree weather here in Brenda, Az. Its nice to have pool to cool off in but we are giving it up at the end of the week. Our next stop will be Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.

Hoover Dam

We are using a Wifi service at the campground we are at that slows down to a crawl when you download too much. Jim was watching UTube videos of model planes all afternoon Sunday so I've had to wait until we had a fast connection to do the blog. There are several guys here in camp that fly model planes and Jim has been enjoying watching them.

After we left Williams, Az we went to Kingman and spent a few days. We went up to the Hoover Dam on a day trip. We had driven over the new bridge this spring and couldn't see the dam from the bridge so we wanted to go back and see it.

I also have a picture of the bridge and Lake Mead but no luck downloading all of them. I guess I will have to take the time to learn how to do small photo albums on the blog.

We are going to be heading to our volunteer position on the 28th so we are enjoying our last days of being lazy -- and still trying our luck at some gold panning.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon

We tramped all along the trails that follow the rim of the canyon. We did not attempt to go down into the canyon. That is for the truly adventurous. We drove to the east along the rim. The east end is called Desert View and this tower (the Desert View Watchtower) is there.

We stayed in Williams, Az in order to visit the Grand Canyon. This is an expensive area (obviously they survive on tourism). We did find a good restaurant in Williams called the Country Pine Restaurant. It has great food ( even the cooked veggies were very good) but they are more well known for their pie. Of course we had to try some pie ----mmmmm good.

We went on to Kingman from Williams and are now in Brenda, Az down by Quartzite. We've started exploring and rockhounding the area along highway 60 between hwy 93 and where intersects with I-10. There are lots of old mines and great places to walk in the desert.

Lake Powell

We left Kanab, Utah we went on to Page, Arizona. It's another beautiful drive and goes along the Vermillion Cliffs. We stayed at a campground right on Lake Powell. Its in the Glen Canyon National Recreation area. Lake Powell is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam which dams up the Colorado River before it enters the Grand Canyon area. The lake is huge with lots of slot canyons you can duck into and explore. We would have liked to stay and play there but the campground was expensive and very busy. We could only stay two nights so we didn't get a chance to launch the boat and explore the waters.

You can take a nice raft trip from the bottom of the dam to Lee's Ferry which is mile 0 of the famous Grand Canyon raft trips. This raft trip is on slower, calmer waters so you don't get wet or have to worry about rapids. The picture of the water that I took was from close to where we were camped.

We went to Williams, Arizona next which is on the famous Route 66. We spent time there and went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and from there we spent time in Kingman, Az and now are in Brenda, Arizona which is a little east of Quartzite. It's hot! in the 100's during the day and 80's at night but they say it has cooled down a lot and will be getting a little cooler everyday.