Summer Vacation Trip - Day 15

I was awake very early (0600) and ate breakfast without Mollie.  In the hotel restaurant, I met a retired airline pilot (and rental car return driver) and had a great conversation.  After eating, I got gas in St. George (0745).  Meanwhile, Mollie slept late (0900) and almost missed breakfast.  After she returned from the restaurant, she told me she didn't want to rush.  We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until 1020.  We drove west on I-15 until we reached Arizona (cool canyon views) and then made it to Nevada.  Mollie called her mother to talk (Nicky ended up quizzing her on how we could possibly have gone to so many parks, saying "did you even get out of the car?").  I hadn’t planned on a route for the day but when I saw a sign for Lake Mead, Mollie said she wanted to head in that direction.  We ended up using the “scenic route” and found ourselves on the north end of the National Recreation area.  During that phase, Mollie told me about an experience she had that morning when she went to breakfast alone ("I ended up being trapped, talking to a woman who hated Mormons").  NV-169 took us to North Shore Drive to officially enter the park (no one was working at the entrance gate; it was SO HOT.  After driving through non-descript terrain for over an hour (after passing Echo Bay), Mollie spotted a herd of Bighorn sheep in the rocks on the side of the road.  I got out the binoculars and she spent over 20 minutes looking at the animals.  We were going to leave but then we saw a herd crossing the road and another herd joining them on the other side.  Mollie was very excited to have this wildlife encounter (“it is the cherry on top of the trip!”.  We drove a little farther and stopped at the Visitor Center in Boulder City.  Mollie got some more NPS Passport stamps and reported her Bighorn sighting.  We learned about other parks in the Las Vegas area and Mollie finished buying souvenirs for her mother, sisters and Steve's kids (1230).  Before deciding what to do next, we ate lunch (snacks) in the car.  We had a choice to visit a cool looking resort on the east edge of Henderson but Mollie wanted to drive towards the Hoover Dam.  The place had changed tremendously since our last family visit (2006) and we had to go through a big security line.  Once through, we found even more traffic.  I was ready to turn around but made sure Mollie got to see a view of the dam and bridge before we did that.  After escaping the crowds, we got on I-11 and headed northwest.  Following instructions from the Lake Mead park staff, we found the Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs (north side of Las Vegas) and discovered that they gave veterans free entry.  The park was really just a small historical site but it bordered on a huge National Monument full of fossil beds.  Initially, we walked around in the grassy park (to figure out if there was anything interesting to do).  It was almost 110 degrees outside but we discovered that it felt much better in the shade.  The biggest treat (Mollie was very excited) was that the park had lots of pheasants and geese.  We enjoyed hanging out with the birds and then drove a short distance to locate the fossil bed on NM property.  Mollie ending up staying in the car but I walked around the open field until I couldn’t stand the heat.  Mollie directed us to a post office in North Las Vegas and we sent off some post cards to Mollie’s friends.  It was only a little farther drive (to the east) before we arrived at Nellis Air Force Base.  We checked into the Air Force Inn (1545) and discovered that we had a very long walk to our room (following directions from the hotel staff).  As a result, we had to move the car and use a back entrance to make carrying the bags easier.  The added benefit was that Mollie saw some of the cool fighter jets that were flying nearby.  In the room, we consolidated bags for our trip home.  At around 1630, we tagged up with my friend, Bob, and then drove back to Las Vegas to meet him and his mom at the Venetian Resort.  I had trouble finding the parking garage but, after several mistakes, we ended up parking in the same exact area of the building as Bob (it made for a funny reunion).  We walked inside the hotel and located St. Mark’s square.  Once again, I noticed that things had changed a lot since my last visit.  We sat down for dinner at Canaletto (an Italian restaurant) just after 1700.  It was fun to visit with Bob and his mom.  We told stories of our trip (and Bob told us about his travels since he moved away from Alexandria).  Mollie exchanged Pokémon info with Bob.  We were done eating by about 1815 and then walked around in the hotel, watching gondoliers and looking inside the casino and several fancy stores.  Mollie bought souvenirs for Erin at Walgreens in Las Vegas (1825).  We were both feeling tired, so we drove back to the Air Force Inn and did some more packing in the room.  Mollie tried to make Independence Day plans with Sabrina (unsuccessful) and we watched some TV.  We both went to bed early 2200.