Temple Bar Marina - Lake Mead

Tonight, Temple Bar Marina kicks off its 79th Birthday Weekend.

There's a live DJ, an outdoor movie under the desert sky, a water slide, and food and drink specials running all evening. This is the kind of Friday night where you show up and stay longer than you planned.

Tomorrow is the main event: the Temple Bar Birthday Carnival starts at 4 PM with marina-themed games, live entertainment, themed food booths, family activities, prize raffles, and a grand prize Temple Bar Getaway giveaway.

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The bass don't care what time it is in Las Vegas.

Temple Bar Marina rents fishing boats by the hour or the day. Launch at first light when the water is still and the canyon walls are orange and you are the only person out there.

If you know, you know. If you don't, now you do.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is one of the largest in the country, and Temple Bar Marina sits right at the edge of it on the Arizona side, 75 miles from Las Vegas, surrounded by canyon walls that have been here a lot longer than 250 years.

In honor of America's 250th, we're making it easier to get out here. Book your stay and save 25 percent, plus take home exclusive America 250 souvenir swag. Small boat rentals are 25 percent off too with code AMERICA250.

This is your country's backyard. Come spend some time in it.

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There's no side of the lake you have to stay near.

At Temple Bar Marina, you rent the boat and the whole stretch of Lake Mead is yours. Quiet coves with no other boats in them. Canyon walls dropping straight into the water. Open space going as far as you want to go.

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Some moments on the water only make sense to the people who were there.

The canyon wall that turned the whole lake orange right when everyone stopped talking. The striped bass that cleared the surface so close to the boat you felt it before you saw it. The cove you rounded into and realized nobody else had found that day.

You filmed it because you had to. Now it's your entry.

Upload your video through Hovr, share the story behind it, and you're in. Grand prize is a 2-night stay at any Adventures Unbound property plus a $150 gas card.

Your camera roll is already full. We're ready when you are.

Comment GIVEAWAY for the link to enter!

The wild burros along the road to Temple Bar have been here longer than the marina, longer than the lake, longer than most of the stories anyone tells about this part of Arizona.

They show up at their own schedule, at the road, near the water, sometimes close enough that you stop the car and just sit there. Most people have never seen anything like it.

At Temple Bar, the wildlife is part of the experience. No zoos. No fences. Just the Mojave doing what it has always done.

Temple Bar Marina is turning 79 this month, and we are celebrating the way a birthday at the lake deserves.

Join us Saturday, August 22 for a carnival themed weekend of fun at Temple Bar. Carnival games, cotton candy, shaved ice, hot dogs, prize raffles, and family activities for all ages.

Whether you're out here for the weekend or just making the drive for the day, this is the one to be at.

Comment BDAY for the link to reserve!

Through August 31, Temple Bar Marina motel rooms are 15 percent off every Sunday through Wednesday.

That's the night you stay after the weekend crowd clears. The morning you wake up and the lake is still and the canyon is yours and there's no reason to check out before you're ready.

Motel lodging on the water at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 75 miles from Las Vegas.

And if you're thinking ahead, a 20 percent off fall deal runs September 7 through November, when the temperatures drop and the lake gets even quieter.

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Tuesday, August 25 is the 110th birthday of the National Park Service, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area is celebrating the way a national park should: no entrance fee.

That means the canyon, the water, and everything Temple Bar Marina has to offer are yours for the price of the drive. Boat rentals, the restaurant open for dinner at 5, lodging on the lake if you want to make a night of it.

Fee-free days apply to entrance fees only. Everything else is ready and waiting.

July didn't hold back.

Free entrance weekend. Milky Way nights. Wild burros with nowhere to be. Bass in the coves before sunrise. Sunsets that had no business being that good.

If you made it out this month, we're glad you came. If you didn't, August is right there.

The lake is open all year. So is the invitation.