Saturday, March 8, 2014

Boulder City, Nevada ROCKS!

What a pleasant, delightful surprise we have found the state of Nevada to be, and even more so, the small, quaint, historical, friendly all-American town of Boulder City, which lies 25 miles SE of Las Vegas, off  US93.       TravelNevada.com                 bouldercitychamber.com


This little gem of an oasis in the desert is where we are spending our winter months.  Does that make us 'snowbirds'?  Why and How did we ever end up here?  When our Oregon BLM summer workamping job would end September 30th, we KNEW we didn't want to spend the winter in cold, wet Oregon, (especially Chris, the Floridian), so we found another workamping gig for the winter in the Las Vegas, Nevada area.  It seemed like the Mojave Desert would be a nice warm place to stay and a new area for us to explore, so we meandered, boondocked and explored our way from NW Oregon to southern Nevada, and 3 National Parks and 4 weeks later on November 1st we arrived for our new workamping job.  We stumbled upon Boulder City, aka "the city that built Hoover Dam", while visiting 2 RV parks in town as part of our workamping job.


We found BC, (Boulder City), to be extremely charming, friendly and FUN!   So we moved here.   (Luckily we can easily do this since our house is on wheels.)   Everything you want, need and more is in BC.  To name just a few; the distinctive, historic Boulder Dam Hotel with the Hoover Dam Museum and The Fine Arts Gallery on the premises. 

2 municipal golf courses, 19 parks, Bootleg Canyon for premier biking/hiking trails and zipline, a beautiful new library, a swimming pool, Boulder Bowling Alley, Nevada State Railroad Museum, an airport, Veterans' Home and cemetery, churches of all faiths, a very active Senior Center, numerous restaurants and a Boulder Dam Brewery with some dam delicious craft beers on tap.


                                                         Chris is one happy camper

The Dam Theater, public tennis, racquetball, shuffleboard and basketball courts,.  You can stroll the historic district and visit the many antique shops and restaurants and businesses while enjoying the various public art sculptures on display.



BC has something for everyone, history,culture, recreation and more.


                                          IT:  " Pick a card, any card ."
                                         ME: "Okay, if you take me to your leader."   



                                 

We especially love beautiful sapphire blue Lake Mead as it glistens in the perpetual desert sun, and we can't wait to kayak on it.  Lake Mead NRA, (National Recreation Area), only a short 5 miles from town, comprises 1.5 million acres, and offers  endless and varied choices for hiking, and so many other aspects of recreation.   A newly remodeled, free Visitor Center is a fun way to get an overview of the NRA, and all it has to offer.      www.nps.gov/lake




The magnificent and monumental Hoover Dam is just 8 miles away, waiting to be discovered.



We thoroughly enjoy volunteering for the NPS, ( National Park Service), in their 'Trail Watch' Program.  What a great way to learn the area and about new hiking trails and meet new people, and give a little back.  It is a genuine pleasure delivering Meals On Wheels to home bound Seniors one afternoon a week for the Senior Center, and again meet some extraordinary people and learn more about the local area.  The  upcoming 2nd annual BeerFest on March 29th, at one of the 19 local parks, will have 20+ craft beer tents, a brewing demonstration, food trucks and live music by 3 local bands.   We enjoy hummingbirds galore, gambel's quail scurrying around and bighorn sheep, (the state animal), in abundance around town and the foothills.




It is such a sharp contrast here, compared to Oregon or Florida, so it's new and exciting to us and we are 'falling in love' with the unique, diverse desert.  It will be somewhat sad to leave here come mid April when we will head north to Oregon again for another fun summer at Mt. Hood BLM.  It truly was such a blast last summer, that we signed up again, plus the added bonus of being near family.  But who knows.............we just might end up right back here next winter?!
So, as you can see, we are completely enamored with this super friendly, small and interesting town and area.  Actually, what's not to like?  This place ROCKS!




                                        



Please feel free to give us a shout if you are ever in the area.
Cheers!


                                               

4 comments:

  1. Hi Chris and Leslie! It's nice to meet you. I just ordered my RV and starting to sell everything and find the SUV to tow it with. I will be traveling cross country with my 4 greyhounds. We will be visiting different Greyhound Rescue fundraising events and I will be blogging about them. If you would like to follow along, my website/blog is www.HappyTailsRoadShow.com. I'm single and I've never camped so I'm really jumping off a cliff here. If you want to follow along on my new adventure, that website/blog is www.GreytRVadventure.com. Maybe we'll run into each other one day as I will be traveling out west.

    I am interested in doing some workcamping. Where do you find out about oppotunities? What kinds of things do you do when you're workcamping?

    Safe travels,

    Terri Malloy
    www.HappyTails.com
    www.GreytRVadventure

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Terri! Nice to meet you too, and hopefully we can in person someday! Congrats on your 'leap of faith', it sounds like it's going to be a blast!
      So far, our Workamping jobs have been Camp Hosts for an Oregon BLM. We found this 'job' through WorkampingNews.com, but had to subscibe. Workers on Wheels is another sight with workamping jobs and is Free.
      www.work-for-rvers-and -campers.com
      It's amazing the many, diverse jobs available out there. Just about anything and everything you can imagine and more is available. A couple books we found helpful were, 'Road Work 2' by Arline Chandler and 'Support Your RV Lifestyle!' by Jaimie Hall. Let us know if you have any more questions we can try and help with and we look forward to following your blogs and adventure.
      Cheers and Safe Journeys! Chris&Leslie

      Delete
  2. It's so funny how we've taken such a similar path. Two years ago today we left Central Florida for our first work camping job in Oregon then to Nevada for the winter. We loved Oregon and now love Boulder City! But we also loved Colorado! It's all so different from our home state. Look forward to meeting you guys soon. Joan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, quite the similarities, and how ironic to travel all the way across our huge country and meet people who are also from central Florida. We too, look very forward to meeting you both soon. Enjoy Zion N.P.

      Delete