A Family Visit (02-27-15)

With an unceasing bombardment of snow, ice, and sub freezing temperatures in Boston, I guess it’s not a surprise that my brother Ray and his wife Dawn elected to fly out and visit us here in sunny Arizona.

The weather here wasn’t very cooperative either, but still, high 60s beats –10 any day, I guess.

 

After a day or so to unwind we started venturing out a bit. Shopping is always on the agenda so we visited the Shoppes at London Bridge.  We were highly entertained by the salesman in the hat shop, who insisted that we would buy the hat that he was demonstrating.  He said he didn’t know when we would buy, but eventually we would.  Well, he was right- my brother was sold on it and two days later he went back to buy it.






Soon enough we were all ready for a field trip.  We headed up historic Rte 66 to the old mining town of Oatman, Arizona. Oatman has been restored to feel like an old west town, right down to the wild burros roaming the streets. 

The wooden sidewalks were lined with restaurants, stores and the occasional musical cowboy.

Twice a day the streets erupt in gunfire as a (pretty cheesy) bank robbery takes place.  Afterwards, a donation hat is passed and the proceeds go to the Shriner’s, so that made it worth watching.















   

Lunch was at the Oatman Hotel.  The walls are lined with money, the food is just ok, and the live music was actually pretty good.

After lunch it was time to head down a gorgeous stretch of Rte 66 to the town of Kingman.

There are several small museums in Kingman.  The museum of Mohave history has an interesting display of Fulgurite.  Fulgurite is created when lightning, at a temperature above 3100*, strikes sand, fusing the grains of sand together.  The end result is a hollow glass tube.

The weather got better as the week went on so we looked for a way to spend some time on the water.  We still haven’t put the boat together, so we decided to take the ferry across the lake to the casino.

We weren't interested in gambling so we headed to the restaurant for a pretty decent lunch.  And what a view from the window!

It was definitely a gorgeous afternoon for a ride.  It costs $2 for a round trip ferry ride to the casino, and the ride is about 15 minutes each way. Just long enough to enjoy without getting bored.

Way too soon it was time to make the trek back up to Las Vegas to drop them off for their flight home.