6 - SNOW? INTAGLIOS AND THE DESERT BAR

 We left Needles, California, heading for Quartzsite, Arizona...well, guess what? SNOW!!

And MORE snow....

...but by the time we reached Arizona the snow was gone but the temperatures were pretty chilly with a freeze warning at night. Oh, well, a lot of the country is having cold temps right now. It's just that we came south to get warm... and we are still waiting.

After seeing the Mystic Maze in Needles, we found that there are Intaglios near Blythe, California, just across the state line from Quartzsite, Arizona. So today we went over to check them out. 

Intaglios are geoglyphs, made in the same manner as the ones in Needles, except these are giant figures of humans and animals.

Note the pictures that were on the sign, one of a human, another of a mountain lion. These figures are so huge that they are hard to see when you walk up to them. According to the sign, they were discovered in 1931 by an airplane pilot looking down on them.

There are three Intaglios in this location. Two are human and one a mountain lion. This figure is obviously a male and is the only one that shows male genitalia. 

All of the figures have exaggerated limbs. This figures measures 102 feet from head to toe and it's arm span is 64.9 feet. The angled lines around these are the chain-link fence that protects them from more human caused damage.

You can see the shadow of the chain link fence encircles each of the Intaglios.  They were made by dragging the rocky surface away and exposing the lighter soil underneath. There is no way to know how old these are, but definitely hundreds of years old.

This is the mountain lion with a spiral (snake) below it. There is very little of the spiral left and I couldn't get a picture of it.

This is what the mountain lion looks like when you are standing right next to it. The tail and legs are closest to the camera. I think it's pretty easy to see why these were not discovered until seen from the air.

After checking out the Intaglios, we headed a few miles up to Parker, Arizona to have lunch at The Desert Bar. We were here last year if you followed our blog then. 

The Desert Bar is only five mile off the highway but it takes 35 minutes to drive the five miles. A sign at the beginning of the road says it is a "Primitive Road." 

That means it is very rocky, bumpy, hilly, winding, dusty and most of the way, you can barely pass an oncoming car. That makes it interesting because there is a significant amount of traffic on this road at least around lunch time.

This desert drive has lots of pretty scenery.

Eventually we see the only buildings in the area as everything out here is definitely "off the grid."

This place is powered by lots and lots of solar panels on the roof.

There is a TINY church where occasionally they hold weddings...

...and lots of old rusty cars and trucks just sitting here and there among the rocks and solar panels.

Forget the bar part, we go there for the ambiance and the food! The food is very good and there is tons of it! The servings are huge! We split everything we order and there is still more than enough. 

A gal at the next table ordered nachos which caused quite a stir among those of us nearby. It was enough food to feed a third world nation! Fortunately she had about three friends to share it with.

We headed back before the music started. I was told the band was good. Reviews said they were LOUD. I believed the reviews. 

We are always surprised at the traffic we meet coming up the road as we are going out.

Cars, trucks and ATV's. This is a popular place!

The Rock and Gem show is going on here in Quartzsite and so I visited a number of booths for a couple hours this afternoon.  Don would rather watch paint dry. Actually he spent the time buffing scratches out of the side of the coach that we got at Red Rock Canyon State Park ...We always get scratches there!

Tomorrow, more exploring around the area.