Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge and Amargosa, NV

Day after tomorrow we'll leave Pahrump FOREVER.  AH HA HA HA HA!!!  I'm so glad to be getting out of this town!

Entrance to Devil's Hole, Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge

Pahrump is a place with little to do, few options for dining, and rampant poverty leading to drug and crime problems.  We met lots of nice people in Pahrump, but most we encountered were clannish an antisocial. 

Everything is inconvenient here.  You can't get your nails or hair done without an appointment.  No vet will take your emergency unless you're already a customer.  They just expect your pet to suffer while you wait for your appointment.

Pahrump is a place where you can't tell which businesses have gone out of business and which are still open.  You go to a restaurant and find it abandoned when it looked like a normal operational restaurant from the road.  Every plaza in this town is littered with places that look like they should be open.  People don't take down signs or board anything up.  They're just like me...they see what a mess this town is and leave.  They don't even bother to close shop, they just lock the door and leave.

Everyone here seems to hate Pahrump.  You ask someone who works at the school, "Are the schools good here?"  They sneer and say, "No."  Someone brags and says they were born and raised here.  You ask them, "Do you like it?"  They sneer and say, "No." 

Pahrump and Las Vegas are chapters of my life I'm ready to have over with.

There is a wildlife refuge 20 miles outside of Pahrump.  I'd passed it many times, but finally decided to visit.  One of the attractions in the refuge is the 'devil's hole' which had to be fenced up because of fools trying to swim in it and drowning. 

So as you can see it's a very deep hole with water in it that goes underground.  Apparently some rare fish is found only in the hole.

There were some nice reservoirs in the refuge also.  It was amazing to see things go from desert to swamp.  Who knew there were large bodies of water so close to us?  It was a peaceful beautiful place.

I wanted to see if there was boondocking in the refuge but got turned around and ended up heading out of there.  So we continued down the road to Amargosa.  There's a casino there that I really like, not for the gambling, but other stuff.

Here's the Longstreet Casino.  It has lots of antiquey looking stuff outside of it, and a giant cow beside it for some reason.

The reason I like to go there is because of these two sweet donkeys you can feed outside there.  They have a gumball machine with feed for them, but I bring my own treats.

There's also an obnoxious goat that will hurt you to get the food if you give him a chance.  I don't put up with his crap.

If donkeys weren't nice enough there's also an artificial lake in the back.  It's so beautiful!!!  After I'm out of nuggets for the donkeys I come back here with bird seed for the ducks.

You can see the giant cow in the background

Holy crap!  A turtle!

Sometimes I sit in that gazebo, but usually I sit on the bank next to a carpenter bee nest.

Behind the lake is an RV park!  You get water with duckies and GORGEOUS mountain views.  I would take our RV there sometime, except it's convenient to no where.  You have to drive in to Pahrump for groceries.  Bleh!

Purple mountains all around.

 

Of course there's an actual casino in there too.  My mom will play slots while I feed the ducks.  Then we eat a the little restaurant.

You can see my mom in the pink pants sitting with her cane beside her.

We take Bell Vista road to get to Amargosa from Pahrump.  On the way down, near the feed store, is this awesome house built into the side of a cliff with loads of solar panels.  Looks like a preppers paradise.