Sunday, October 5, 2014

Red Rock Canyon

September 30, 2014

Gold and Silver Pawn--smaller than it looks on TV
Steve and I got an early start this morning hoping to beat the crowds to Gold and Silver Pawn (Pawn Stars) as I had brought several items that I hoped to sell to them.   We were fortunate to get in to  see an agent in a short time, and while we were having our items evaluated both Rick and the Old Man wandered by.    Unfortunately, we were in a "no photos please" area!  Dave, our agent looked at several things we had brought from Steve's mom:  a letter signed by J. Edgar Hoover, a 48 star flag, and framed 5 cent Philippine stamps signed by the ambassador in 1957.  He was not interested in any of them.   However, my framed 1881 letter and photo of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for which I was asking $400 sold for $300.   I was very pleased since the last time I was here he only offered me $125.  It was a fun and profitable experience.  

Desert turtles. 
Our previous visits to Vegas have centered around The Strip, Fremont Street, and Hoover Dam, so we wanted to do something different this time.   After lunch we set out with Bonnie and Larry for Red Rock Canyon where we were awed by the rock formations of many colors.   Southern Nevada was once at the bottom of an ocean basin that emerged from the sea about 250 million years ago--the Mesozoic Era of geological time, the Triassic Age of Reptiles, and the Jurassic Age of Dinosaurs, and this area is a virtual museum of those times.    There is an excellent visitor center that provided wonderful outdoor exhibits and fabulous views.   The sandstone escarpment, the desert tortoise at the visitor center, and the thickets of Joshua trees make this national conservation area a must see here in the southern Mojave Desert.

SMART folks.  Larry feeling tall!






In hopes of spotting some wild horses or burros (we didn't see any), we traveled a bit further down the highway through the canyon and came upon Bonnie Springs.   We decided to investigate our Bonnie's namesake, which turned out to be a touristy area with an old western town (closed the day we were there), a petting zoo (also closed), a pond with lots of ducks and turtles,  peacocks roaming around, and a restaurant and bar (open).   Since it was happy hour, Bonnie and I enjoyed a glass of wine in the bar which had signed dollar bills hanging everywhere.
Bonnie Springs



Back on the road, we returned to the Red Rock Casino for dinner in the food court (Steve had a Fatburger--delicious) and a bit of gambling.   This time we left with less money than we came in with, but Bonnie and Larry both came out winners.

1 comment:

  1. The Red Rocks look so cool! :-) And I know Poppa had fun with the Pawn Stars lol that's awesome. Miss y'all!

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