STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22477: Quartzsite Quickie

January 25, 2009 on 1:59 pm | In Family, Travelblogue, Homefront |

Saturday, the 24^th :  Today, I woke up with a PrePlan on my QualCom. That is good news, bad news, good news. The good news is that I received a PrePlan at all. The bad news is that it doesn’t pick up until 0400 on Monday. The other good news is that it offers the opportunity to take a “day trip“  to Quartzsite to visit brother Donald and family.
On a ‘picture perfect’ day, I left Las Vegas at 1030 after checking with Donald to ensure that they would be there when I arrived. As I was approaching the US-93/95 split near Boulder City, I realized that I was driving my car, so I could actually drive over Hoover Dam, so I altered my planned route and took US-93. It has been restricted for trucks since 9/11. My first stop was at the Lake Mead Overlook, just before you drive over the Dam. I took these pictures there.

The Marina (above left) has been moved three times is as many years due to the decreasing water level in the lake. The Chipmunk (above right) is waiting for his ‘treat’. A man was feeding peanuts to all (furry critters) who showed up. The Chipmunks would grab their ‘goodie’, scamper off to bury it, then return for another. I was using two different cameras today taking duplicate pictures. The pictures of Lake Mead above were taken with my Nikon D-40 with a Tamron XR DiII 18-200mm zoom lens. The Chipmunk picture was taken with my little Kodak Easy Share Z712IS. It just happened to be the better picture, in my opinion. The Chipmunk picture taken with the D-40 was a little “fuzzy”. With the D-40 with the Tamron lens, you have to be VERY CAREFUL with the focus.
Anyway, I’m rambling. After I left the Overlook, I drove across the Dam and stopped in the first pull-out I encountered. I took these pictures there.

The new by-pass bridge (above left) is progressing nicely. The picture in the middle is Hoover Dam. On the right are the origins of Lake Mead. All of the pictures in the sequence above were taken with my Kodak.
About half a mile farther along, I came across the “real, official” Boulder Dam Overlook, so I stopped there as well. Had I known of its existence, I wouldn’t have bothered with my previous stop. In fact, if you look at the left or center picture below, you can see the parking area (middle right in either picture) from where I took the sequence of pictures above.

This is a good opportunity to illustrate why I often use two cameras. The picture on the left in the sequence above, is a ‘wide-angle’ shot of Hoover Dam taken with my Nikon. The picture in the center is the same ‘wide-angle’ shot taken from basically the same place with my Kodak. Notice that the “Nikon” picture encompasses a much wider periphery, due to the 18mm lens than the “Kodak” picture with it’s 24mm lens. The picture on the right is just a telephoto of the rocks around the Dam taken with my Nikon.
After this photographic extravaganza, I left Hoover Dam. About 15 miles farther down the highway, I stopped at a “View Area” overlooking the Willow Springs Campground on the Colorado River.

Despite signs forbidding it, a Native American woman was selling her wares in the View Area. I took these pictures with the Kodak.
After spending a few minutes at the View Area, I drove on to Lake Havasu City, AZ, home of the London Bridge. The Chamber of Commerce here must be brain dead. There is not one sign directing travelers to the London Bridge. I spent the better part of an hour before I finally found it. I almost gave up in disgust, but persevered until, at long last, I happened to stumble upon it. It became my own personal quest for the “Holy Grail”.

I took the Panorama picture above with the Nikon. Be sure to click on it for the full effect.
Upon arrival at the bridge, I parked in a lot and walked across. I took these pictures with the Kodak along the way.


While I was walking across the bridge, I spotted the location from where I took the pictures below. In fact, I took them from the little beach area in the picture above, lower right.


The first two pictures in the top row above again illustrate the difference between the lenses on the two cameras. The picture top left was taken using the Nikon; top center with the Kodak. The pictures in the bottom row, above, show some ducks enjoying the nice, sunny day.
After wasting way too much time in Lake Havasu City, I drove directly to Quartzsite. I was going to stop and visit Parker Dam as well, but time was getting tight. Blame the Lake Havasu City Chamber of Commerce for my not having enough time to stop at Parker Dam. I arrived in Quartzsite right at sunset, a little after 1700. I met Donald and family at their campground. After a quick walk for the MMM, we went to dinner, or at least we intended to. Dinner turned out to be a genuine, Grade-A, industrial strength, fiasco.Their first choice of restaurant was the Mountain Quail Cafe. Business was booming there and we arrived too late. They were no longer seating anyone. Their next choice was Sweet Darlene’s. The restaurant wasn’t all that busy, but it took the waitress a half hour to get around to taking our order. In fact, she left in the middle of taking our order to go take some food to another table. We waited another hour after the waitress took our order, and we still not only didn’t have dinner, we didn’t even have our salads. We decided to leave and eat at the RV. Lou made some corned beef sandwiches with horseradish cheese (really tasty), potato chips, and some Ranch Style beans. For desert, we had an apple pie which I had purchased at Sweet Darlene’s (before we found out having dinner there would be a career). We had a nice visit during dinner. I left at about 2130 to go back to Vegas.
I routed myself back to Vegas via Bullhead City, NV and Laughlin, NV. I stopped at the Riverside Casio parking lot, which is on the Bullhead City side of the Colorado River (they have a boat which shuttles people across the river to the Casino).
Be sure to click on the panorama above for the full effect.


It took a little hiking along the river in the dark, but I think the pictures came out well. The pictures will be self explanatory once you click on the small image. The picture lower right is of the (above mentioned) shuttle boat. All were taken with the Nikon, which excels at low light photography. The ones taken with the Kodak were not Blogworthy.
When I finished in Laughlin, I drove back to Vegas and the WWW finally arriving about 0200. A long day, but it was worth it. The MMM and I had fun.