After out visit in 2007 i dreamed to come back. And we made it happen. Haunting place in Death Valley.

It’s sad that Desert Flower was destroyed by a strong wind last year. RIP, the strange flower, you’ll be missed!

Two years later we came to Death Valley again, eager to see the green truck among other things – fortunately it was still there. Wish i could take it home with me.
Now:

and then:

On our third day (against all grim meteorologic forecasts) we were rewarded by the most gorgeous weather for a scenic mountain riding: clear blue skies providing a perfect backdrop for all shades of red and brown that color the rocks in Valley of Fire.

the flickr link is here:  Through Valley of Fire on Motorcycle

So we rented a nice Goldwing and off we rode into Nevada desert escaping the shopping madness of black friday. The weather was unusually harsh – cold, sunny with ghastly winds. We didn’t mind though – it made our long ride more fun. And it set a proper stage for the appreciation of monumental sculptures at the Goldwell open air museum, located at the entrance of the Death Valley and near by the ghost town of Rhyolite.

The rest of the pix are here: Riding to Rhyolite.

Yet another Thanksgiving in Vegas – and we were on the road even more than last year. The turkey day was spent in Zion Park. The place is magical – the severe beauty of mountains softened by water and trees.

The rest of the pix are here: Zion National Park in Autumn.

We arrived on Thanksgiving and had a day to kill before we could get our bike… I’ve never been to Vegas before so we set up to explore the Strip (after a wonderful dim sum for brunch at Ping Pang Pong).

Walked from Gold Coast Casino (Ping Pang Pong’s location) to the Strip and started with Bellagio… Marveled at autumnal installment in Conservatory:

and then at Chihuly’s ceiling of the foyer:

then lingered outside waiting for fountains to dance: they did All That Jazz – a hilarious and i dare say alluring performance…

we had a drink at Paris, and headed to Caesars Palace: those recliners around the beautiful marbled outdoor pool looked inviting enough for an impromptu siesta… Mirage was a next stop: we made like zillions of pictures trying to make a good shot of dolphin at Dolphin Habitat and Hidden Garden:

and those alpacas looked quite photogenic too

of course we had a quality time with white tiger and other grand cats too… Venetian Palace was next but at this point i already had an information overload, so we missed a volcano eruption heading back to hotel… Dinner at Burger Bar at Mandalay Place (this is where we stayed) and like we had not enough of a wild life in its unnatural habitat we finished the day at Shark Reef …

it was truly a magical trip: H. decided in favor of staying in the same hotel (it was strategically located at the end of the Strip Mandalay Bay) and making day trips from it. So we had both of the worlds: rough of the road during the day and luxury of jacuzzi and upscale restaurants at night.

Day One; Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Valley of Fire:

Hoover Dam was magnificent, although there were way too many people (Thanksgiving weekend to blame)

We decided against of bringing GPS with us and this was probably a mistake – most signs in the area don’t mention road numbers using the street names instead, and of course we missed the exit and made a detour on our way to Valley of Fire arriving there close to dusk so we didn’t have time to stop at every observation point… Well, we still had a chance to marvel at Seven Sisters:

now for couple more pix from day one and onto days two and three:

Valley of Fire: more shots:

Day Two: Oatman, Laughlin:

damn i should have blogged on the road as it seems that memory fails me in details of that day. One thing for sure it was a mini iron butt cruise – route 95 from Boulder City NV to route 163 (towards Laughlin) was a straight line with a speed limit of 75, and no distractions except for occasional joshua trees that warmed my heart (we toured Joshua Tree Park and Palm Springs desert just last spring). Now route 163 was something different altogether – curvy with a lot of elevations and drops – a dream motorcycle road – i wish there were spots to take pictures, one view was more spectacular than the other… The was no particular reason to come to Laughlin except for H. knew of it as a local bikers hang out: well we haven’t found any bikers but at we had a chance to see Colorado River

or that scene:

but i’m getting ahead of myself – we actually went to Oatman before we got to Laughlin and were lucky to see a bit of historic route 66 (oh couple of months ago we stayed at hotel in Flagstaff that was on route 66 but this merits its own post)

i had no clue about Oatman, H. decided it’s worth to visit – i was thinking it would be some scenic point or something but i was definitely not prepared to see this:

or this:

and so many burros (aka donkeys):

the whole idea of Oatman seemed grotesque, and surreal: i was glad we left the place quickly…

Day Three: Red Rocks Canyon:

that was one of the most beautiful rides:

Excellent dim sum at Ping Pang Pong and luckily we came quite early: around 11am the restaurant was almost full and carts started to reach us half empty. Memorable dishes were cheung fun, shrimp pearl balls and steamed thin skinned dumplings filled with vegetables and something like lotus seeds (or maybe those were just peanuts?)

Brunch at Lindo Michoacan was mighty good – guacamole made tableside, chiles toreados con queso  - deep fried jalapenos with melted cheese (it was a mild mexican cheese and not quite usual but overwhelming jack so the dish was perfectly balanced),  and taquitos dorados – corn tortillas filled with minced beef, rolled and though deep fried not greasy at all

Dinner at Burger Bar, Hubert Keller’s built your own burger place, with a very impressive draft beer list. I had an american kobe burger; SO got black jack burger (black angus). Very good sweet potato skinny fries.

Dinner at Michael Mina’s Stripsteak. Wow that was a real fun: stunning modern décor and excellent food.

Amuse of trio of spiced fries with matching sauces – romesco, truffle aioli and homemade ketchup.

For appetizers we shared roasted butternut squash soup with lobster, crab cakes with tabasco vinaigrette, and roasted beets with burrata and arugula.

Mains were slow poached colorado lamb with tapenade for me, and american kobe burger with fennel slaw and watercress for SO – we shared a side of shallot potato cakes with scallion crème fraiche.

A bottle of nice rioja – Sierra Cantabria Privada;

We even got a dessert – jasmine pearl tea although i’m completely blanking on what we had it with … 

I’m getting Mina’s book asap.

Dinner at rm was yet another successful dinner at Mandalay Bay. SO declared his lobster bisque to be just perfect, and i liked my turbot very much.

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