New Year's Weekend at Dinosaur Valley State Park

For the new year this year I didn't feel like going out but I didn't feel like being an old lady and staying home either.  Lucky for me I remembered my bucket list and decided to cross off a couple of things.  That's right, this New Year I crossed off two bucket list items:  Seeing Dinosaur Valley State Park's dinosaur tracks and doing a polar plunge!  This post is about the dinosaur tracks and I will write a few more about the entire weekend.

I headed out on my first solo roadtrip and camping experience to Dinosaur Valley State Park (DVSP).  I knew I wanted to do a bucket list item but which one?  I started searching online and somehow came across a first day hike posting for a majority of hte Texas State Parks.  Two of my bucket list parks (within a weekend driving distance) were having a first day hike:  Dino Valley and Colorado Bend State Park.  I almost chose Colorado Bend State Park so I can see Gorman Falls, but I figured they would be better in the spring time plus DVSP was having a dino dive (polar plunge)!

All of DVSP's campsites were sold out so I needed to find alternate accommodations.  I thought about staying at a B&B but it was just me and $150 a night was not in my last minute budget.  Camping it is!  I found an RV site that allowed for tent camping at $20/night with electricity and a bathroom.  Score!  I set up my (newly purchased) tent and only needed three random people to help me put it together.

I spy flamingos!

That night was New Year's Eve and I thought there might be some fun things to do in town, like a bar or something.  NOPE! Apparently (according to my friend Savannah), pasture parties (it is just like it sounds) are the rage in town but everyone else stays home with the bars/restaurants closing early.  In one of the building on the property they were having a Bluegrass concert/event that sounded fun.  And when I said sounded fun, I meant that there wasn't anything else to do except look at my shoes so I went so I would not be bored.

I thought it would have tons of people but it was a bunch of older people sitting in a circle playing instruments and singing.  No dancing, hardly any chit chat.  I decided to make friends though and a lady even taught me how to play spoons! It turned out to be a fun night.  The group travels all over the country in their RV's and meet up a few times a month in various places.  Pretty cool

I didn't catch her name but this lady was so nice to teach me to play!

The First Day Hike
First day hikes are a nationwide event where everyone meets at a designated spot on the campgrounds to do a group hike.  The purpose is to get out and move on the first of the year and (hopefully) continue to be outdoors doing lots of activities the rest of the year.

Everyone met at fossil site #3 at 10 AM and we split off in a short hike and a long hike.  I wanted to do the long hike but Clarissa was due to be there soon so I went with what I thought was the short one, but it turned out to be the long hike.  I was talking and wasn't paying attention. :/  Oops!

We had to wade in the river (shoes off) to get to the hike and I got to see my first set of dinosaur tracks!  The big holes are dinosaur tracks of a huge oval shaped foot and you can also see a three toed foot too.  (more pictures here-PW is flamingo)

We passed by the area where the short hike was going and then I turned around.  There was another girl in my group that came back with me and hung out with me until her friend was done hiking.


We waited for about 15 minutes before Clarissa got there!  See part two tomorrow!!

Las Vegas Day 3

So, if you read yesterday’s post you will remember that we were late picking up Amber from the airport.  Our friend Hector had kept asking a ton of questions and I wasn’t sure why.  It turns out that he came to Vegas!  He had thought we were staying at the Flamingo (since I love flamingos) but we weren’t there.  Then he thought we were going to O but he missed us after the show so he was like “just come pick me up, I’m tired of walking”.  After years of traffic, we finally found him and who else did we see?????  Our other friend Brett!  They both ended up surprising us.  Hector decided he was coming at 6:30 pm and at 8:30 pm they were on a flight to Vegas!  How fun.  I love spontaneous stuff like that. :)

That night everyone went out to the clubs in town.  I didn’t go.  I am not a club person.  I can go to a bar all night, but clubs are not my scene.  I am not a dancing, strobe light kind of person.  They weren’t home at 3 am so I went looking for them. I figured that I could take an hour of dancing but that was it.  I  left the hotel and was almost to the end of the block when I saw Hector wondering the streets with a CVS bag full of Doritos and other snacks that he was munching on.  He was lost and now it was my turn to babysit him.  The girls had lost him and Brett at the club.  I will omit what happened between now and then but I found Brett wondering the streets lost too.  #whathappensinVegas

Me and my two babysitting charges.  Look how awesome my eye shadow looks!!!

The next morning afternoon was fueled by lots of coffee.  Clarissa went shopping for a new outfit and the rest of us went on the most intense hike ever!  I had heard of the Gold Strike Canyon Hot Springs Hike (6 mile hike) by a local blogger and I knew that I wanted to do it.  However, I did not know how hard it would be.  They said you would have to use ropes to get down some parts, but wow, it was hard.  At first the guys didn’t want to go but after I said “hot springs at the bottom” for the gazillionith time they wanted to go.  Thank goodness they went because we would have not been able to get to the bottom or come back up without them.  Both Amber and I have some short legs and no upper body strength so unless you do, make sure to take a couple of (cute) guys with you. :)

The trail head is about a 30-45 minute drive outside of town, right by the Hoover Dam (it's the same exit).  The first part of the hike was easy with a few obstacles, the 2^nd part was more challenging.  About 30 minutes into the hike you come to a water stop where people have put excess water for anyone who didn’t bring any with them.  We all brought some (because I told them to) but apparently there was someone who didn’t take water with them and they died.  There isn’t a guarantee that water will be there, so be smart and bring your own water!  It was a nice, breezy day when we went but there are signs warning people not to hike July through September.  After the water station the hike got harder.  I was able to do it but it would have helped with hiking boots (instead of tennis shoes) and hiking grip-like gloves.  There is not cell signal so you are pretty much screwed if you don’t come prepared.

There are spray painted arrows that show you the easiest routes to take and there are about 5 or 6 ropes that you can use to make you way up or down.  At one boulder obstacle, we were like “umm…let’s not do this since it’s impossible” but then we saw the arrow pointing to an “easier” path.  At one rope ladder area I freaked out and I am so glad the guys were there to help me.  On the way back Amber and I definitely had to have the guys help us by doing some hoisting and pulling.  I think it was the first obstacle going back up when I thought I was stuck and would have to live like a cave woman and wear mountain lion fur because I couldn’t get back to civilization. 

About halfway down you start seeing trickles of water and small pools.  At ¾ of the way down you will find pools deep enough for 2-4 people to get in, and the bottom is where you will find the largest pool plus the Colorado River.  The river was running really swiftly so I wouldn’t recommend getting in the actual river but Brett did get in the largest hot spring and enjoyed it.  I put my feet in and it was HOT.  It was so amazing after a long hike.

We weren’t sure how long it would take us to get back so we only stayed about 30 minutes at the bottom.  It gets dark around 5:30 pm so and we didn’t want to have to climb boulders in the dark.  We were at a really dangerous looking area on the hike back to the top and we thought we saw a way to go back through the cracks but I was afraid to go in first so I made Hector go in first. LOL.  “Hector, you go first and tell us if there’s snakes.”  He wasn’t too happy. :)

We finally made it to the end and were so tired, not to mention filthy!  As soon as we got back to the hotel the guys crashed but Amber and I had to get dressed for Britney!  Clarissa just looked at us like we were all crazy for hiking on vacation!  I wish we had had time to take a nap but we needed to get dressed.

Tomorrow you will hear all about Britney Spears!!!