April 13 and 14, 2010

Tuesday 13~~~~~Today is another beautiful day here in the desert. We went over to the Riverside casino for our free buffet breakfast we received for staying in the campground here. Breakfast was very good, we both had the omelets the chef makes to order for you as you watch. We finished up with doughnuts and ice cream, I wonder why I don't lose any weight anymore!!!! I would never think of eating ice cream for breakfast at home, what has happened to me??? This afternoon I went to the salon where I got a haircut in February when we were here, the stylist who cut my hair was gone and she is cutting hair in a tattoo parlor. That shouldn't have surprised me because her body was covered with tattoos when she cut my hair. She did a good haircut, but she about sheared me, so I thought I would try her again and tell her not to cut so much off. Now I had to again try someone new which I really don't like to do because I don't think a tattoo parlor is my idea of a place for me to go for a haircut. LOL I told these stylist's I was a retired hair stylist and I was going to be very fussy about my haircut because everyone cuts it too short if I don't watch their every snip of hair. One stylist (Angela) was brave enough after my speech to still want to cut my hair because she said "I know how to measure"!!!! She gave me a great haircut and she even taught me a new way to dry and style my hair so it has the messy look with less work. I hope she stays there as I will be going back to her! We also had fun talking shop and talk about hair and how much I miss doing it. Kent really liked my cut and he was really happy to know he wasn't going to have to listen to me belly ache about how short my hair is for 3 weeks. Wednesday 14~~~~After lunch today we went for a drive to the Grapevine Canyon just a few miles from Laughlin, NV located off State Hwy. 63, six miles west of Davis Dam at mile marker 13. A fresh water spring flows in the canyon in non-drought years and it was running when we were there. We parked the truck and walked ( 1/4 mile in) stopping to take pictures on the huge boulders at the entrance to the canyon. (pictures) There is evidence of the Prehistoric Indians who lived there etched on the boulders, they are believed to have been created by these early people. Archaeological research of the rock shelters indicates that the ancestors of the modern day Mohave peoples and the Southern Paiute people camped here periodically in the shelters of the rocks for a few days while using the area. The shelters were used as early as 1100AD and continued into historic times. The petroglyph pictures can be seen on the boulders and the cliff faces on both sides of the canyon. Some researchers speculate the the petroglyphs formed a part of a ritual or ceremonial observance, perhaps what happened in the area centuries ago. There are a lot of carved symbols of big horn sheep who might have been there. Determining the exact age of the petroglyphs is difficult, evidence from recent research indicates that the age of the etchings spans a time period from as recent as 150-200 years ago to more than 800 years ago.
It was very interesting climbing all over and seeing the etchings, the beautiful desert flowers in bloom and the massive boulders. These boulders are so huge and the flowers are all over, iwish I could have dug up some to take home. If you are ever in the area, take the time to go see this, it is so close to Laughlin where so many people go year round.