Elaine and I just returned home from a special way to celebrate a special occasion. March 30 was our 10th wedding anniversary and we had wanted to do something out of the ordinary for that event.
When we were married 10 years ago, we took a 19 day honeymoon in Southeast Asia, which included Hong Kong, China; Singapore, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and the last eight days at Bali, Indonesia.
Most interesting, we took my new mother-in-law, Mary Bottoms, with us!
I bet that very few of you took your mother-in-law on your honeymoon!
This year, in planning for our 10th anniversary, we looked at all kinds of places to celebrate that occasion, including Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, southern states, southwestern states, different California cities, etc.
However, airline costs associated with some eye-popping hotel charges at many of those locations were too high for us to want to go there.
Then we got an idea: Why not drive our Toyota Four Runner to Las Vegas, sightsee on The Strip, take in several floor shows, and then from there, return back to Carson City via Death Valley, California?
Neither one of us had been to Vegas since way back in 2001, plus I had never been to Death Valley.
We did some checking on the internet and ended up with this schedule:
Day No. 01: Drive from Carson City to Beatty via Dayton, Silver Springs, Yerington, Schurz, Hawthorne, Goldfield, Luning and Mina.
Day No. 02: Drive from Beatty to Las Vegas, check into the Golden Nugget Hotel and then have fun that evening at the “Murder Mystery” dinner show at the nearby Fitzgerald Hotel.
Day No. 03: Sightsee downtown, have lunch with a longtime Las Vegas friend of Elaine’s, play the slots (we lost!) and go to the Gordie Brown floor show (he is one of our all-time favorites) at the Golden Nugget.
Day No. 04: Switch to the Rio Hotel, sightsee on “The Strip,” and take in “The Platters” floor show (also a personal all-time favorite).
Day No. 05: Drive from Las Vegas to Bishop, California via Pahrump, Death Valley and Lone Pine.
Day No. 06: Drive from Bishop to Carson City.
If you ever take such a trip, here are some the things we experienced:
Tuesday:
There was a Nevada Highway Patrol car driving on U.S. 95 just south of Hawthorne and it had only one headlight. Geez, I could get a ticket for that!
Fresh snow at both Tonopah and Goldfield.
In Beatty, staying at the Death Valley Inn, eating dinner at The Eatery and having breakfast the next morning at Mel’s Diner. Yep, Mel’s Diner!
Wednesday:
Taking a side trip on the paved road to the Armagosa Valley farm areas and driving on lonely Nevada S.R. 373 (all double yellow lines) back to U.S. 95.
Taking a side trip to the Mt. Charleston area to take photos of the Mt. Charleston Lodge and the surrounding countryside.
Arriving in Las Vegas, going to Arizona Charlie’s for lunch and playing the slots (the only time we won while in Las Vegas). We saw some lucky lady win $1,000 with four aces on her slot.
Checking into the Golden Nugget, where our room was on the 21st floor with an awesome view of The Strip.
Going to the Murder Mystery dinner show at the Fitzgerald where members of the cast were secretly scattered in the dinner crowd and you had to guess as to who was the murderer. Sigh, I flunked. I guessed it was an Indiana Jones looking guy and he turned out to be just a customer, just like us.
Oh well, I guess that I was never meant to be a detective.
Thursday:
We drove to Henderson to have lunch with a friend of Elaine’s, who is a State Farm Insurance agent in that area.
This trip was only about 12 miles long, but it took almost one hour because of the insane bumper to bumper traffic on the Las Vegas streets. There is no way that I would ever want to live in Vegas and put up with that kind of traffic, each and every day. It was unreal!
After lunch we returned to the hotel, and went sightseeing on Fremont Street for what is known as the Fremont Experience (the street has a canopy cover and is closed to vehicles). While slowly ambling down Fremont, we were constantly hit on by pan handlers (a number of them were in wheelchairs) and all kinds of people trying to sell you all kinds of things. Geez, it was just like being back in Rome, Italy.
We returned to the hotel, ate dinner and then went to the Gordie Brown Show, which was absolutely sensational and is a “Do Not Miss” event. He is a comedian, impersonator and singer with an awesome voice.
During the show, he impersonated and sounded just like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Kenny Rogers, Nat “King” Cole, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Obama, Henry Fonda and even Katherine Hepburn.
Friday:
We had a leisurely breakfast, checked out of the Golden Nugget and drove to the Rio Hotel where our room was on the 28th floor, also with an awesome view of the entire Strip.
We watched a window washer wash our 28th floor windows!
That evening, we went to see The Platters, The Coasters and The Marvelettes combination floor show. Our table was at the very edge of the stage where I had great eye contact with the lead singer of The Platters during their performance. The only sour note of the entire evening was that while enjoying the shows, we were charged $11 per cocktail. Geez, talk about a rip-off!
Saturday:
We left Las Vegas to drive to Bishop for our return trip home.
While driving on the Blue Diamond Highway, between Las Vegas and Pahrump, we stopped to take photos of a small group of wild burros standing at the edge of the highway. One of them even charged our vehicle.
Pahrump dazzled us with how much it has grown since we were last there.
It is a huge city in the middle of the barren and arid desert!
From Pahrump we went for my first-ever visit to Death Valley. While in the valley, we were dazzled by the increase in the temperature (it
was 97 degrees that day!), the sign at Furnace Creek that showed we were 190 feet below sea level, the mind-boggling price of gasoline ($5.97 per gallon of unleaded gas at Stovepipe Wells – we did not buy any!), the many motorcycles and bicycles on the highway, and the total lack of flowers in bloom, which we had been expecting to see for that time of the year.
On leaving Death Valley, we encountered high winds and a fierce dust storm before arriving in Lone Pine, California, where we ate lunch and gassed up.
From there we drove to Bishop to spend the night at the Vagabond Motel.
Sunday:
We were up early, had a quick cup of coffee and took off for Carson City.
In the area between Mammoth Mountain and the June Lake Loop turn-off, we were driving on an icy highway, in a snowstorm and the temperature was a bone-chilling 21 degrees. Quite a change from Death Valley.
Then, we arrived back in Carson City at about noon, safe and sound.
Finally:
If you are looking for a different way to celebrate your wedding anniversary, you might want to duplicate our trip. It was a ton of fun.
Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you how many miles we drove while on that six day trip.
If he grins and says, “They drove a total of 996 miles,” you lose this bet.
Photo No. 01:
An interesting mix of desert cactus plants and a fire danger sign on the Mt. Charleston Highway.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 02:
A window washer at the 28th floor of the Rio Hotel Casino.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 03
Some tourists, high over head, enjoying the Zip Line as part of the Fremont Experience in downtown Las Vegas.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 04:
One of a small group of wild burros on the highway between Las Vegas and Pahrump.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 05:
Looking down the main street at Pahrump.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 06:
One of many, lonely sections of the highway between Pahrump and Death Valley, California.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 07:
An “elegant looking” opera house in the middle of nowhere.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 08:
The highway sign at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, indicating an elevation of 190 feet below sea level.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 09:
The gas station at Furnace Creek.
Photo by Elaine Quilici
Photo No. 10:
The High Sierra Mountains, west of Bishop, California.
Photo by Elaine Quilici