Day 79, Having a Bang Up Time

Years ago when we were in Las Vegas, we found the most wonderful croissants at a bakery in a hotel. After much research, we thought we might have identified the bakery, ARIA Patisserie in the ARIA hotel. The issues with us going were it was on The Strip and in a hotel. Denis did another deep drive and came up with another place, Rosallie French Cafe. Never mind that it was at least 25 minutes away. We left before 7. The croissants were amazing and we were happy we made the trip and bought more pastries for tomorrow😋



How many of you figured that if we were staying at a gun complex we might be tempted to take a class? I had never held a gun much less fired one. Denis had done a session as part of a team building event when he was working. Alex hunts and Colleen has gone out a few times. It seemed the perfect opportunity to end our trip with a bang.



After watching a safety video and a waiver or two, we were each handed a 20 gauge shotgun and a box of ammo. Our instructor, James, was very patient and in the end, we each hit one clay pigeon out of 20. 
Our trip took us through the Mohave Desert area. We imagined the Joshua trees were much prettier in bloom.

We passed a sign for date shakes. I've only had one twice before and I imagined the slight detour would be worth it. It was.

We've been fascinated by the wind and solar farms we've seen on our journey. These power poles in Las Vegas

contrasted with this sight in the desert. 

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System consists of three solar thermal power plants on 3,500 acres of near the California–Nevada border. It generates steam to power steam turbines. The facility sells about two-thirds of the power it generates to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), and the rest to Southern California Edison (SCE). Another fact I found interesting is that Google contributed $168 million to the project.

Tonight, we are in Boron. Yes, the same as the element, which is mined here. There is a funky local museum, The Twenty Mule Team Museum. It was staffed by a volunteer who was happy to show us around and explain some of the history of the mine. While they are still extracting boron, there's lithium in the mountains as well, which is soon to be mined. The highlight of the visit is this animated 20 mule team exhibit. 

The campground,  Arabian Oasis RV, is another chosen simply because it was the right amount of driving for the day. 

One more night after this one in a place equally exciting.

Location: 12401 Boron Ave, Boron, CA 93516, USA

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