2013 Winter Trip - Stop 5

February 14 thru March 5, 2013

Las Vegas - what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That is my blog for the two plus weeks we were in Las Vegas!

Well not really. This time will be one that we will look back on and cry and laugh and remember for a long time. One of our nieces and her family, Mandy, Mike, and girls, live in this town. We spend a lot of fun times with them over the past 3 weeks.

We started by meeting at Starbucks, one of our favorite hang-outs. We were tired, but wanted to get together. We ate pizza and talked.

Looks like fun
I will not get everything in order, but I will try to hit the highlights of our time together. One of our first important things was to get a flat fixed on the trailer. Yes, Alan ran over a nail. We have special tire with nitro in them, so I found a place down the street to get it fixed. First, put the spare on, then took it down to get fixed then put it back on. I'm getting good at changing tires on the trailers. We also had a couple of warranty items that needed to be taken care of. Nothing big, but wanted fixed before we left.

We met Mike, Mandy, and girls at their favorite breakfast place, and met their favorite waitress. Lumberjack! Great place for breakfast, even went there more than once. Girls are really good. Across. From there is a thrift shop. We shopped until I dropped, but the rest of them, including Abree, was hard at shopping.

We headed for the ranges out by their home. Both Mike & Allie were practicing for a bow match. They have nice equipment and do really good. A lot different from the bow that I used to shoot. It was a busy day on the range.

The Archers
Night out with the family!
Vonna & Mandy were off to "get their nails" done. I dropped them downtown, at a fancy mall. They spend a lot of time there, but never got their nails done. We all met downtown at one of the casinos, then walked a long way to the water & light show. It was a perfect night to be out, weather was great and company better. We stopped to eat at Outback. Great completion to a great day.
Worker at Dam

Mike was also off the next day, so we took a trip to Hoover Dam. That place is gigantic. We drove over it, and read all about it. Off to the store there, looking at everything. It was a great trip.

More Dam Workers
We stopped at Boulder City, looking at the antique shops. One was so large that even I really enjoyed looking in it. The motorcycles were in town! We stopped in a little diner, Mel's, and they were getting ready to close. He said he could sit us within an hour, unless we wanted to sit outside. We did, he said maybe 45 minutes to get food. So we had desert. From the ice cream store. Mike said you sometimes had to have desert before lunch.

We just finished our ice cream, and food was ready. The meal was great and we hoped to go back, but time didn't let us.

Good Mexican Food - LOL - inside joke.
Grandma's Birthday
Our days went on, the. Wind came up one day, so we decided to go to the Bass Pro Shop. Yes, I know we have one close to home, but who has time to go? I had never been before. It was Mike's Grandma's birthday and we were going for Mexican food, but it was closed so we had hamburgers at Johnny Rocket. We watched the fish, looked at bows, rifles, boats, and everything else. I even looked at fishing poles in case I wanted to fish.

Please don't turn them loose!!!
There is a place that Las Vegas started call the Springs. It is a preserve that tells all about the Indians in the area, early settlers, the water out of the ground, and a lot of other things. They had a bird show with flying birds that few within inches of our heads. We had lunch there, walked around to see the animals, and sat and talked to people. One enjoyable day!!

Allie at Science Fair
We watched Kylie dance at her class, Allie doing her class science experiment, and Aubree being Aubree. We were there when Mandy & Mike got the news that Allie was asked to go to a meeting for exceptional students to Washington DC. That was exciting, and they took her to a Japanese Restaurant for dinner. We were invited and tagged along. The food was the best we have had, and the company was better.
The Dancer!

Mandy had us over for tacos. What a spread. Of course, since the Mexican Restaurant was closed we had to find another one. Mandy's friend told her about one and Mike was going in later one day, so we meet there. Great food and company.

There was a casino down from us, Sam's, and we met there for breakfast and lunch. Different days! They have a water show also and some shops that Vonna liked. I think we invested $10.00 in the slot machines. They are making a lot of money on us.

Mike and I spend a day around the house after breakfast with the girls. They played and rode bikes. Mike and I talked, and worked on his stationary bike. It was a great day to spend with family.

Allie playing game
We went to church with them. A great church out on the desert. It is not a small church, they sit about 3000 and have 4 services, but a great church. We will catch up with them on the Internet.

Kylie playing games at trailer
Allie playing games
Act of Kindness
Peace
Allie and Kylie each spend a night at the trailer. We played games, laughed ate ice cream, and played more. It was great to have some girls around again. It is hard to know that our only granddaughter will no longer laugh here on this earth and I really miss the giggles, teasing, and hugs. It brought back great memories, being with girls that love you. They also were close to Mikaylah, and understand the tears.

Last Night at Buffet. :(
Enough about this. This was a fun time. The last night all of us went to dinner again. We laughed some more, and ate until we couldn't eat more, and it came time to say goodbye. It was a great visit, a great stop on this trip. We will plan to be back, but we never know where our travels will take us. Thanks Mike, Mandy, Allie, Kylie, Aubree, and grandma for making this a highlight of this trip! We Love You All. See you in Yuma.
The 5 M&Ms

Drivers Start you engines


OH, Almost forgot one of the most important places.  Me & Vonna stopped by the M&M World.  It is quite the M&M place to be.  A little of everything!









See you on the road!





2013 Winter Trip, Stop 2, 3, & 4

February 1-14, 2013

I know that we are behind on the Blog, but time flies when you are having fun.  As I told you in the last blog, we were feeling much better, and ready to leave Pismo beach.  We got to see Tom, Carol, and Alan one last time before we left, and away we went, but not before thanking God for showing us a few things.

We found out that we could find a doctor, that our medical would work, and how we would deal with it all while on the road if an emergency arose. so when i got sick,we did fine, with lots of support and prayers from our friends and relatives on line.  If it wasn't for the blood test, phones, and FaceBook I don't know what Vonna and I would have done.
Eating Breakfast
Over all, the trip to Pismo was great.  Only one or two days of rain, and all the rest of the time was warm and clear.  We found out that the trailer didn't leak, which was a load off our minds.  I think because of all the leaks we had in the other trailer we were uncomfortable until we found out that this one wouldn't leak too.  But everything is fine!!!!

As we left Pismo on our way to Solvang (our 2nd stop) we were glad for a clear day, and good traveling.  We enjoyed the day, making good time to our next stop.

One of Vonna's favorite
Shoes!
Shops in town
Solvang is a great little Danish Town, with a lot of shopping, and a few coffee shops.  You can guess which one of us stopped in which one.  Since my grandfather was full Danish, a lot of things there remind me of him.  It was very nice.  We ate lunch in town, breakfast at Ellen's Pancake House (they have very good Danish Pancakes.  We call them big thin pancakes, but they are about the same as Grandma used to make).  And a dinner at Split Pea Anderson's.

The trailer park is nice there.  We stayed in a place that my mom and dad used to stay.  Very clean and not crowded that time of the year.  We had a great time.

Our our window at
Soledad Canyon
We only stayed there for a couple of days, then on to Stop 3, Soledad Canyon in Acton, CA.  This is close to Edwards AFB where our grandson, Daniel, and his family are stationed.  The campground is nice, but in the desert.  A lot different than the ocean. 
Daniel, Jessica, and Drake
Drake!!
Grandma Looking for new
HAT!
Jessica Looking for
new BOOTS!
Dan & Drake

The highlight of our trip here was meeting with Dan, Jessica, and Drake.  We had a great meal, and time to shop.   Drake reminds us so much of Dan when he was young, including the chipmunk cheeks.  He is very well behaved and sat there as the rest of us caught up on what has been happening in our lives.  As we were shopping we bought Drake a couple of outfits.  It would have been great to spend more time with them, but work comes first.

On Sunday the Super Bowl was on.  Guess what station we couldn't get there?  You guessed it, the Super Bowl station.  So I thought we would try the Internet, and I could get it fine, until the game started.  So I finally got to see the second half, which was the best.  Anyway, we had a great time. 

We stayed around the camp most of the time, but we did make a trip to Santa Clarita to do a little shopping.  We found COSTCO and bought coffee.  Then we found a mall and Vonna found some clothing.  She was really happy, and I found a coffee shop.  I was really happy.

We FaceTime with Tammy about once a week to look at the mail, and just talk.  It is very nice to have this feature on our iPad and iPhones. 

Our trailer at the Given Ranch
On to Stop 4, Michele and Gary’s Ranch, or as it is called, The Given Ranch.  They have plenty of room for our rig, and always love to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law.  Michele had soup for us for dinner and we played cards into the evening, at least until 9 o’clock when all of us had to call it a night.

We spend about a week in Joshua Tree, traveling to Palm Springs for a Farmers Market and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  We watched some old movies that I worked on before we left home, we laughed and talked about times past.  We had a great time together.

Boy, is that Cheesecake GOOD!
Michele has a couple of classes that she gives on Mondays, and I tried her water class.  It was very good, and she is a great instructor.

We spend time talking about their trip that they are taking this summer to Alaska.  A 6 month trip – we would love to go, but won’t be able to get away when they are leaving.   Maybe we will be able to catch up with them on the return trip.

On way to Outlet Mall
We spend an afternoon at the Outlet Mall, looking for shoes and other things.  Gary found a pair of hiking boots for Alaska Trip.

Steven came over to
make sure Michele
was making Pancakes
right.  She was.
Michele made one of my favorites, Freckadella (Danish Meatballs) the way mom used to make them.  They were great.  She also made enchiladas, and they were also great.  I’m eating to good and will have to stop soon, or I will have to buy new clothes.

The wind woke us up one night, it was blowing big time.  Another morning we woke up and everything was white.  It was either frost or snow, but it was frozen and I had to scrape the window on the truck before I could leave.  You never know what is going to happen in the desert.
Vonna, Josie, and Dale

Alan & Dale
During out trip we were able to see Vonna’s Aunt Josie and one of her cousins Dale & even got to visit with patsy for a few minutes at her work.  We run into old friends and relatives everywhere we go.  It is nice to get to see old friends, relatives that we haven’t seen in years, and make new friends. 

Speaking of new friends, Michele invited one of their friends over for dinner and games.  It was nice to meet them, and we had a great time.

Vonna went to a bible study with Michele.  She went last year and looked forward to going again this year.  She really enjoyed it again this year.  She would love to go more often I’m sure.

We did a lot more, and spent a lot of time just visiting and talking.  It has been a great week with Michele and Gary.

We will see you on the road.
 
Looking at new shoes.