LAST MONTH IN PAHRUMP, NEVADA ON TO UTAH

I spent the last month (April) in Pahrump at my membership park called Preferred RV.  For my membership I pay only $3.50 a day for electric and have full hook ups.  I have 35 days a year at that cost, after that I pay $12.50 which is a very good price for a 4 star resorts. It has a beautiful pool and big hot tub.  The gardens are beautiful with a running stream with coy so big they look like trout.  The community centre holds breakfasts, lunches and pot lucks all year long.  Mary the activity person makes the best bread, cookies and cinnamon rolls to die for.  I will miss them. Picture below is at Terribles Lakeside Casino seafood buffet.

I had three visits to my Fibromyalgia clinic in Vegas and did do some shopping at the big malls.  I will be doing some hiking in the canyons of Utah so picked up a good pair of hiking boots, along with some sandals.  As I have said before my single friends love to eat out so did a few breakfasts, seafood buffets and lunches.

There is a tiny town just south of Pahrump call Amaragosa originally Death Valley Junction.  This was a booming town in the Borax days when the workers stayed at the motel there.  It is still open and very run down, but filled almost every night.  They have a small cafe type restaurant that has very good food and most under $10.00.  My friend Roy Kannada and I went there a couple of times for dinner and we split some home made Banana Cream  and Coconut Cream pies.  I haven't had those in years.  They were yummy.

The Opera House is a building you don't want to miss. Why would anyone want to perform in this run down place.  Well the movie on Friday night was all about a woman called Marta Beckett.  This woman was a ballet dancer in New York City and moved to Amargosa.  In 1968 Marta started painting the walls and ceiling of the Opera house.  She painted an entire audience on the walls. Characters from the past.  Nuns, court jesters, ladies of the night, gypsies and royal children of the court.  She has angels on the ceiling and on the stage.  It took four years to complete.  In 1983 Marta bought the Opera House.  In April of 1984 she paid the mortgage off of $26,500.  She has exposed thousands of people to live dance, pantomine and comedy.  Although she broke her hip last year she still appears on stage at the age of 85.  She has a girl named Sandy Scheller who is now doing the acting.  She is a mime and when we were there she played all the characters on the wall in mime.  A two hour show which was amazing.  It is a must see if you are in the area.

It was nice because Roy liked to do the same things so if I wanted to do something I would call him.  He would also drive which I love.  I will see him somewhere on the coast or next year at Death Vally.  A great guy.

Every Sunday we all went to Brunch after everyone went to church.  No I am not a church goer.

I did some geocaching in the desert with another friend.  Geocaching is hunting for treasurers that people have hidden all over the world. You go to their site (geocaching.com) and look up the geos in the area you are at.  Use your GPS and go hunting.  It is addictive, but I don't go out on my own unless it is in a town.  I will be doing some caching when I am back home.

I did go to the Tecopa hot springs on my own and enjoyed the relaxing waters.  Next year will definitely go back more often. Not many people there.  You can camp there and use the springs for free, or you can pay $7.00 for all day.

I left Pahrump on Sunday May 2, I was going to go to the Valley of Fire, but Fibro acted up for two days so did nothing.  I was trying to miss the wind but that didn't happen and Vegas on Sunday morning was really busy.  After I got out of the city it was smooth sailing traffic wise. It took me about 4 hours to get to my next destination.  What a fantastic drive, road was flat for miles then all of a sudden it looked like it ended, couldn't figure out where the road went.  Well I found out it was a long pass that was built through the mountains long hills up and long hills down, don't like the down hard on brakes.  The valleys were amazing you couldn't see the bottom and when you went around a curve there were beautiful huge pink rocks that were sitting on little rocks. They looked like if the wind blew they would topple over.  I find it amazing that they sit there for years.  The canyons were carved out by the water raging down from the mountains into the Virgin River.  Along with the water huge trees, boulders and all kinds of other things are dragged along.  This was how the canyons are formed over thousands of years.

I stayed at a Passport America campground for three night they give half price off the camping fee.  I wanted to go to Bryce National Park and there were a few things around the area that I checked out.

Cedar City was just north of where I was staying and had all the stores.  I stopped at a wonderful bakery for a oatmeal raisin cookie, big one, and they were giving out a slice of fresh baked bread with butter for free.  It was yummy. I was going to do a loup on some back roads but one of the roads was closed due to lots of snow.  Cedar Breaks another beautiful area opened a week after I left, so I enjoyed the scenery for a few miles stopping to take lots of pictures. There was still snow on the hills, the highway was right beside the mountain.  There were signs saying watch out for rocks, I think they would hit you before you saw them.

I went to the Kolob Canyon, it is the north side of Zion. It was just down the highway. I have found out that early morning pictures do not work here.  There is a white haze as the sun comes up and goes down. So I came back later on in the afternoon. This girl was in the middle of no where painting, she said she comes up to the area for a couple of weeks every so often.  I chatted with her for awhile her name was Linda Christian and goes under the name of Curly.  Its amazing who you find on your travels and so friendly.

Next I went to the Petroglyphs just north of Cedar City in Parowan Gap.  I had to ask someone for directions it was down a road that was hard to find.  It took about 5 miles to get to it, but was worth it.  It boggles the mind that people passed by here, They probably stayed in the warm season and headed south for the winter where it was warm.  I would love to know what these marking say.

Next up Hurricane, UT where I stayed at a park that offered 4 nights camping.  A Western Horizon membership park, all I had to do was take the "talk".  I have gotten used to them and just nod my head.  I didn't buy they only have most of the resorts in the west and I don't think I will be back.

Next blog will have a lot of  pictures only to let you see just how beautiful Utah is.

I am now in Durango, Co with a blown transmission waiting in the lot where they fix them.  It happened on Saturday so have to wait till Monday to see how long it will take and I don't want to think of the cost.

Will fill you in on one of my blogs.  Hope everyone has enjoyed your long weekend.  U.S. long weekend is next weekend.

THE BEAUTIFUL DESERT

 These are  Desert Five Spot I think.

I have spent a month in the Pahrump area and I am sure you are wondering what there is to do here.  Well the days seem to go by very fast.

There are a few single SOLOs here in town so breakfast, lunch and dinner out once in a while is nice.  A great way to find out what everyone is doing.  This is a come and go town you come here on the way to your final destination.  

I had company for a week and through the Yahoo chat we found another couple that was in town.  I have forgotten what it is like to do things with a couple.  She is a good cook so cookies and brownies were among the great meals Pat cooked.   They have a convertible, but it was too windy and cold to put it down.  We went to the mineral hot springs just south of town and soaked for an hour.  I went back last week by myself and enjoyed them.  It was actually too hot to lay in the sun.  They have one hot tub outside and one on the inside. 

We took a drive after through Death Valley and enjoyed some of the spring flowers.  This was a Beaver Tail Cactus there were so many buds on it would bloom for a couple of weeks.  The area of Badwater was so white.  What happens is it rains creates little pools all over the desert floor and then the sun dries up the water and leaves salt.  Its like a beach without the water. 

This is called scented Cryptantha

This bush was covered in a brilliant orange called Toothed Dooder is a parasitic flowering plant it covers host shrubs. I touched it and it is just like rubber.  Would be interesting to see what happens after it dies, probably kills the plant.You could see them dotted all over the desert floor in Death Valley.

This beautiful cactus (Prichacereus) was in the garden where I am staying at Preferred RV in Pahrump.  It is still flowering after a month.  Love to take pictures as you can see. The rest of the pictures are from out on the desert.

The white looking like daisys are Desert Chicory.  The yellow ones are Desert Dandelion.  The ones that look like buttercups are Desert Gold Poppy.  The one to the left is the Josuha Tree, interesting flowers. This green one with no flower is called Desert Trumpet.

The desert is covered with miles and miles of purple, oranges and greens right up into the mountains.  Every time you go into the desert there are new once out.  The catapillars were hugh eating all the flowers. The red flowers above are Desert Paintbrush.

Enjoy I sure have.  To get a better look click on the pictures they look so much better when they are larger.