Archive for the ‘Nevada’ Category

Found Warmth

Thursday, January 13th, 2022

We set off on January 9, 2022 with the only idea was we were heading south to find some sunshine and warmth.  Even the coast was cold so we headed to the only place that consistently is warm in the winter, The Desert!

Why the desert is beautiful. Our first desert sunset

First stop is Las Vegas to enjoy the sunshine during the day and the lights at night – not really but we did see some lights when we went to Sams Town for dinner.  Angry Butcher.  It was very nice, not many people and the special was a TBone Steak with all the fixings for only $49.  Paul ordered it to my surprise.  I wanted the chocolate Martini for dessert so I only ordered a bowl of Lobster Stew and a short rib appetizer!  I never got the Martini because we had way too much food.  Next time.

While in Vegas Paul doesn’t just work we took in a couple tourist sites.  We rode the boat on Lake Mead to see Hoover Dam from the water side.

A very nice ride with a very generous Bloody Mary complete with olives, celery and bacon! Yumm.

After the boat we stopped in Boulder for lunch at Dillinger – An interesting find off the main strip.  The food was awesome and the staff was very kind.

Our last day in Vegas we took a suggestion from Pauls sister to see Meow Wolf.  Very different and because I can’t walk much Paul actually went with me.  We found the place which is inside Area 15.   Area 15 is a megaplex of entertainment mostly bars, lounges, they even have an axe throwing area that serves cocktails ( really??). Paul found where you pay, His comment was “$50 each, are you sure you want to do this?”  Well no, I have no idea what it is other than I know it’s not your usual museum or whatever they want to call it.  We paid and went inside what appears to be a small market.

                                         Deli Counter?

        Hmm, idea for my next party?

                                 A cheese board? easy!!!

We were not sure what we were suppose to do, read all the labels? Fill a basket with items to purchase?  Leave?  And then suddenly we saw someone enter the soda case….  And then you are in this whole new world.

 

We were not sure what we were suppose to do, read all the labels? Fill a basket with items to purchase?  Leave?  And then suddenly we saw someone enter the soda case….  And then you are in this whole new world.

Lights, slides, music, people wandering. There was way too much to look at!

I think you would need to visit this many times to really appreciate everything that is going on.  I’m not sure about it as something I really liked.  Paul loved it and I think he would go again.

        Paul really enjoyed the art

Outside Area 15 was a small sculpture garden.  And that is Las Vegas and Neveda, tomorrow we will be back in California enjoying a different kind of recreation – Palm Desert here we come.

Everywhere we are going masks are required and actually worn!

On our way!

Sunday, June 5th, 2016

We left San Jose about 1:30 pm and arrived at Jackson Rancheria Casino RV Park in the early evening.  The park is very well kept and we will spend 3 days here just to re-adjust to traveling again!  I had a little problem with all the noises you hear inside the RV going down the road.  Hwy 680 is awful! While in Jackson we will visit our friends, Pat & Kip.  It was great seeing them and of course even better because they fed us for 2 days!

Sunday morning we packed up the RV and headed east on 88 into Nevada.

Hwy88Kirkwood1

Hwy88KirkwoodThis was a beautiful rest stop near Kirkwood Resort area.  I am pretty sure they made the rest stop so large so as people would not just pull over on the road.  It was spectacular and we could not pass it up!  There was snow on most of the mountain peaks and along the road near the summit.  We made it to Camp N Town in Carson City Nevada and will spend a couple days here while Paul visits a couple more dealers!  Yeah,  he gets to work and I get to relax without thinking about doctors for awhile!

The RV slide seems to be working, the weather is perfect and my new camera is challenging!  Life is pretty good.

Can you believe it???

Thursday, January 9th, 2014

I keep checking my calendar and reviewing my dates because it just doesn’t seem possible that 5 years ago we walked away from “normal” and into this world of roaming about the country.   Is it what I expected in 2009?  What is my favorite place?  What do you do all day?  How long are you going to do this?  are some of the questions that I get asked often and mostly I can’t answer them.

Where are we today?

Pretty nice place to call ‘home” for a few days!

Is it what I expected?  I don’t know because I am not sure what I expected.  We were at an interesting part of our lives, I love to travel, our kids were off in college, Paul worked 80 miles from home and the economy was going to Hell!  I do know it was the right decision and I have no regrets.

What is my favorite place?  This one is the hardest because “home”  was/is a pretty amazing place.  It is a big city with lots of congestion, people from all walks of life and political problems but the weather is spectacular and that is where my kids have chosen to make their lives!  So, home will always be San Jose but being able to visit all these other amazing places is an experience I cherish.  I love the south for the amazing food,  I love the northeast for the beautiful nature, New York City is an amazing place to just hang out,   the northwest is very peaceful.   The southwest can’t be beat January- March.  The beauty of this lifestyle is that I don’t have to choose because my home has wheels and Paul will drive me anywhere I want to go.

What do you do all day?  Hmmm….  walk, read,  sit in the sun,  watch the birds, play fetch with Duke,  laugh, write this blog, take pictures, sew, crochet, play games on the computer, watch tv, clean house, make dinner – mostly what everyone else does except I don’t go to a job.  We have done some jobs on the road but mostly I enjoy life without being especially productive.  Of course we do some amazing thing but there is so much more to do.

How long are you going to do this?  The original commitment was 5 years but within the first year we both knew that was not going to be enough.  There is just so much to see – we have been across the USA twice and will be working on our third trip this spring, we have traveled to the northwest twice and into Canada,   we have spent several winters in the warmth of Arizona, seen many NP’s, swam in the Great Lakes, climbed tall mountains, driven on some beautiful roads,  but we haven’t seen every state or everything in most states so we are now thinking we will stop when we are tired of seeing and doing new things – maybe never but who knows!

So after 5 years the questions are still unanswered but there are some things I do know:  I love being able to discover new places; take a walk at 11 am, sleep until 10 every day or wake up at 6 (that doesn’t happen often other than to pee!); decide to move to a new area whenever I want;  I need to see my girls often and as soon as I leave I miss them even more;  my friends will always be there for me and seem to enjoy seeing me as much as I do;  life is simple, the stuff in it makes it hard; I don’t have to be busy; two people can live in 350 sq. ft and not kill each other – it does help that we like each other!;  and I don’t have time to clean this house anymore than I did a big 22oo sq. ft one!

This year is the first year that we left San Jose and don’t know exactly where we are going.  We have a sketch but only a couple commitments so I am thinking we will see and try lots of new things this year.  Currently we are in Parker, AZ – actually across the river from Parker in California!  The weather is beautiful and my view is amazing.

When things start thawing out in the rest of the country we will head east where we have tickets to Charlotte Motor Speedway for Allstar week and then we head north to cooler temps for the summer where the girls will join us for a week in Old Forge and then it is to Maine for the fall.  After that we think we may try Florida for the winter!  See, it is a very busy lifestyle!

It is a different way to live and once you start it is hard to even think about going back to “normal” so for now this is my normal and  I look forward to another 5 years.

 

 

It’s very popular

Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

Sunshine and warm temperature makes for a very nice day to take a hike.  This one turned out to be more of a walk than a hike and was very popular. The Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail is a beautiful walking trail along Lake Mead towards Hoover Dam and is about 3.7 miles one way.

1 of 5 tunnels along the trail

1 of 5 tunnels along the trail

 

Some have been reinforced

Some have been reinforced

railroad trail2

Over 25 ft wide and 300 ft long

And the views of Lake Mead are spectacular

lakemeadWe walked 2.6 miles to the first stopping point, making it a nice 4.5 mile walk on a beautiful afternoon.  The next day, our last in Las Vegas we headed downtown to check out Fremont Street.  A vibrant mix of Las Vegas Glitz and San Francisco craziness!  We saw characters from disney shows, a guy preaching to us, a woman with huge breasts dressed as a pirate and lots of people walking, enjoying the sites!  They have music stages with one that is dedicated to dance with one lonely girl on stage dancing it up for the audience.  The audience was definitely dancing and some of the moves!!!

Paris?  Might be as close as I will get!

Paris? Might be as close as I will get!

Las Vegas has something for everyone.  We spent the week here and never lost a dime in a machine!  We did pay $2.00 for parking when we didn’t need to – that was our donation to the local economy.

Not much of a hike

Friday, January 3rd, 2014

Red Rock Canyon is west of the Strip and an amazing place to enjoy some fresh air away from the craziness of this city!  We don’t gamble so looking for interesting things to do outside of a casino is our goal this week.  There is a 13 mile scenic loop through this area with lots of opportunities to get out and explore the desert.  We saw lots of rock climbers and chatted with a nice couple that explained how it all works!  While it looks amazing, I don’t think I have ever thought about climbing the face of a rock.

I did think we would get out and do some walking although most trails are pretty busy this week and not well marked so you can just walk in the desert which we try not to do as Duke seems to get stickers every time.  We did find one trail that was part of a creek bed of sorts and walked a short distance up it.

Redrock

The Red Rocks are very cool.  In this picture in the far distance we could watch the rock climbers through our binoculars.  It seems very tedious but I am sure for a participant it is an amazing experience once you have completed a climb!

Redrock2

 

The color change of the mountain is beautiful to see.

DeniseDukeRedrock

 

Another great opportunity to make Duke pose when all he wants to do is pee on the rocks!

 

I don’t think everyone celebrated!

Thursday, January 2nd, 2014

New Years Day I would expect everyone is either heading back home/work or sleeping off all the festivities, but when we decided to see an National Landmark I realized more people are with me than not!  MO, WA, OR, NB, IL, FL, UT, ME, NY, CO MI, NM, AK, WY, Manitoba, Alberta, BC Canada, Mexico and of course, NV, AZ & CA were represented in the line of traffic going in and out of the dam area!   This is our second time at  Hoover Dam so we were not planning to take a tour, only to see it again and see the new bypass bridge that has been built to divert traffic away from the dam on the way between Nevada and Arizona.

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

What an amazing structure

What an amazing structure

The dam is amazing to see and now this new bridge adds to the reasons to visit.  There were so many people here that parking was a nightmare so we made a couple quick stops and decided to let those that have not been take our place.  We drove over both spans and headed back to town!

Very specific!

Very specific!

Right above the dam, in Arizona is this explanation!  Just to be clear – slow down!

Lake Mead, just above the dam

Lake Mead, just above the dam

In Boulder City, Paul had read about a park where a herd of long horn sheep frequent so we decided to take a look.

BigHornSheep2014

BigHorn2014

    This is my photo of the week!

While in this park, which was a very nice neighborhood park just above Lake Mead we decided to have another look at a new past time we enjoy occasionally – Geo Caching.  Paul found one in the park and used his handy Iphone compass to help us find this small gem lying in the desert!  This is our 16th cache.

At the tip of my head?

At the tip of my head?

That is our New Years Day,  Here is to a very happy 2014 to you!

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year

Wednesday, January 1st, 2014

We missed ringing in the New Year.  We had great intentions but sometimes habit just overtakes the sense of adventure!  We are in Las Vegas and what a great place to celebrate if you are interested in mingling with 350 thousand new friends.  We did head downtown thinking Fremont street would be less crazy than the strip but then found out you had to buy a pass just to get into the street on New Years Eve to hear several different bands, non of which I have heard of and the music overflowed into the streets.  It was very loud and not much to see from the outside.

We found an amazing place called Oscars Steakhouse in one of the casinos that had no available seating unless you had reservations however in the bar you could order dinner.  They had a couple of guys playing some Jazz and the bar was not too crowded.  Our service was amazing and the food was even more spectacular!  A homerun and we didn’t even know what or where we were dining.

After dinner we ventured into the streets of downtown and wandered through a couple of the casinos, finding one with an amazing outdoor pool area in the courtyard of all the shops and gaming tables, with an aquarium right in the middle of the pool.  And then it was time to decide should we buy the ticket to Fremont Street – probably not, or try to head to the strip – probably not, or go home and watch the festivities on TV – Yep!  We were home by 9 pm, just in time to say Happy New Year New York style!   I was able to watch the festivities on TV until sleep over took me about 11, next thing I know it is 7 am, 2014!

From our family to yours- Here's to 2014!

From our family to yours- Here’s to 2014!

Happy New Years to everyone!

We are off!

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

70 degrees  the sun is blazing and it is time to put away the Uggs and winter coat and get the Rainbows and short sleeves out!   Now I need a pedicure!

We left California yesterday after a wonderful Christmas and visits to all the family and now we are in Las Vegas Nevada to bring in the New Year.  Our plans are to venture out to Fremont Street in downtown and enjoy some of the festivities – Hopefully Paul makes it to midnight!  Heres to a wonderful end to 2013 and a great beginning of 2014 to everyone.

Hang onto your wallet

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

We made it out of the Bay Area after 4 months of loving home.  First stop was LasVegas where we only dropped $65.00!  Gamblers we are not but a great buffet and we are there – at least Paul is!  I don’t care for buffets simply because I have no self control and think I need to try everything!  We filled ourselves on fresh (Frozen!) shrimp and crab and then all the desserts.

Las Vegas

The good news is Las Vegas is a great place to walk and people watch.  We walked up and down the strip and then we found the car and escaped.  The next afternoon we were on our way to the desert and hopefully some warmth and sunshine.

Thanksgiving

Monday, November 29th, 2010

A beautiful, cold day in Reno.  Amy, Stephanie and Nick arrived safely in Reno on Wednesday afternoon.  We had an awesome day on Thursday with Turkey and way too much food.  Albert, Paul’s brother-in-law  was our host for the day along with Sarah and Erick, Paul’s niece and nephew.  Paul’s nephew, Justin from North Carolina is stationed in Fallon, NV for the month with the navy so we picked him up to join us for the weekend. 

Over the RV Park, Thanksgiving am

Stephanie & Paul before the feast

Duke enjoyed the turkey also

Amy & Nick

Happy Thanksgiving

It was so cold in Nevada and Snow was threatened for Saturday so we all decided it was time to head back to California on Friday.  We arrived in Placerville about 5 pm and were about to get settled in for a week with my girlfriend and her family when Paul pulled into the field on the approach to the RV pad and…….

Here sits my home for 2 days

Trying to free our home

That was on Friday evening!  The RV was stuck, it was so muddy, and it was dark so we opted to spend the night in the house where it was level and dry.  Saturday brought more rain so we left the RV in the pasture after Paul raised the wheels up out of the mud and leveled it so we could get the bedroom slide out to get to our clothing –  we stayed in the house another night and on Sunday it was dry enough that Paul was able to bring it back out onto the pavement.  We are staying in the driveway with an extension cord for power,  but the house is very close and convenient.

It is so much warmer here and we are enjoying life.