Bullhead City, AZ

Made it to Bullhead City on Saturday, October 24th.  The weather is in the high 80's and low 90's just the kind of weather we like.  We are staying at the Ridgeview RV Park, just across the river from Laughlin NV where there are a bunch of casinos.  

We met up with our friends Doug and Lynn Pederson from Moses Lake who are also staying at the Ridgeview RV Park, and took several day trips.  First we went to the local Museum where John and Doug got put in Jail, John came out of the saloon, and we found out a lot about the Laughlin, how it was formed, and learned how Old man Laughlin (who is still alive) started the casino town and has grown it to what it is today.  He actually paid for the bridge between Laughlin and Bullhead City and the airport that is on the Bullhead side, and then gave them to the Nevada and Arizona.  It was good for his business.  The money in the picture below was in the museum, it is Confederate Money and I thought the kids would enjoy seeing it.

 

We also went to Oatman with Doug and Lynn.  This is the town where the burros' have the run of the street.  The story is they used the burros in their mining business and when they quit mining, they just let the burros go and they stuck around town.  They go up into the hills at night but during the day they walk right down the street.  We had fun walking around this dusty old town.  It feels like it got left back in the 1940's or so.

 

The stores had some pretty old antique stuff in them as well you can imagine! And at high noon they had a shoot out in the middle of town.  And there was an old mine we visited.

 

While at Bullhead City, we took a drive out to Christmas Tree Pass where we saw lots of Indian petroglyths.   It was fun to see so many Indian writings on the rocks makes you wonder how they got up to the rocks to write on them!  The Petroglyphs are all along the rocks on both sides of this canyon to the left and to the right.

  

We are off to Lake Havasu City next for a week then on to Casa Grande, AZ.  We are enjoying the sunshine and spending time with our friends Doug and Lynn Pederson.

Denver to Bullhead City AZ!

After leaving Albuquerque we drove up to see John's mother, Edith.  We took a couple of days and got to her by October 11th.  We had a good time visiting with her, John's sister, Jessica, and his other sister and her family Beth Turner, husband Kevin and two kids, Paul and Maddy!  It was good to catch up with family.  Oh, and the day we got there, we set up quickly and then made it to Hope's (John's cousin's daughter) volleyball game.   It was fun getting to connect with family.  

 

Edith took us to the Buckhorn Exchange for lunch one day, we had Buffalo form lunch and it was quite good.  This little restaurant is over 100 years old and has the first (#1) liquor license in Denver!  It was really fun, they had tons of dead animals on the walls, lots of pictures of celebrities that had been to the restaurant and lots of memorabilia from the wild west!  If you make it to Denver someday, you should go here of lunch.  They do have dinner also, but pretty spend!  We sat at tables that were the original tables that they played cards at.  They still have the cup holders down below the table for our drinks! (or your gun they say!)

   

 

We also visited Red Rock Amphetheatre while we were there.  It is very close to where Edith lives in Morrison, CO.  It was built into the side of the hill and has great acoustics.  Many big name entertainers have played there, and it continues to be a very popular destination for concerts.

It seems to be a popular destination for extreme training as well!

 We also visited a couple little towns, Old Town Morrison, cute little town with shops and a creek running through it (which floods when it rains too much), and then we drive up to Evergreen where we stopped and had a picnic lunch with John's sister, Jessica.  This was the creek/river that run through town, and the Lake at Evergreen where we had a picnic.

 

A few more family pictures at a barbecue that we had for the family at our motorhome.  We were parked at Dakota Ridge RV Park.  I would recommend the state parks if you come here, about 1/2 the price and larger spots, but none were available when we made our reservation.  Hard to believe the parks are still full in the middle of October!  I guess there are more full-timers out there than we know! 

John, Edith, Jessica and Elizabeth

Kevin, Elizabeth and kids Maddy and Paul

 

One day we took a motorcycle ride up to Estes Park.  It was a beautiful ride, we did what is called "Peak to Peak" (see the map below).  We stopped in Nederlands where there was a mining museum which was very interesting, and they had some pretty old equipment there that was run by steam.  Estes Park was a fun little town, reminds me of Bend Oregon, just smaller.  I bet it is beautiful in winter.  And, we saw a herd of Elk in the city park, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture!  (bummer!)  We took our time getting there, and were running out of time to get back to our dinner appointment.

Steam Shovel

Saw this cool little church built on the rock, what a picture perfect setting!

  

On October 21st we headed West.  Thought we better get out of Colorado before the snow came, besides, it was getting cold when we woke up in the morning!  Looking at the weather forecast, we were glad to see Bullhead City was in the 90's!   We did run into a little snow going over the rockies, but nothing on the road to worry about.  I guess the next day there was a lot more and we were glad we missed that and got to warmer country.

A few pictures of Breckenridge and Vail.  We didn't take time to stop and see the towns,

But I  am sure that would have been fun!  Maybe someday we will get back here in the middle of Winter to do a little skiing, looks like a great place to do a little winter activities.

Bullhead City, here we come!