Vegas......oh my!

We drove into Nevada and through the middle of No-where-ville, over a big hill and then there it was. In the middle of the desert. Our first stop was Ethel M Chocolates. The tour was a let down since they weren't making any chocolates at the time. Then the gift shop. The kids and I drooled over the display cases trying to make some decision. Greg told me to get what I wanted (which was dangerous!) and reminded me that he like those big chocolate covered strawberries. So, we walked out with a box of 12 assorted chocolates that we picked, 3 chocolate covered gummy worms, the strawberry, and chocolate covered marshmallows. Thank you Lord for chocolate and an indulgent husband!

Next, we drove into Vegas and found the KOA, in a parking lot at Circus, Circus. Walking was next on the list. The idea was to walk during the day down the strip, take pictures of hotels, eat, and walk back up the strip. We walked for hours and hours. We ate lunch/dinner at Margaritaville. I decided it was only appropriate to eat a "Cheeseburger in Paradise", and it was yummy. Then we saw the dancing fountains at the Bellagio, which was wonderful.

I don't know what I expected here but I was shocked. There were men everywhere trying to stuff pictures of "not nice girls" into your hands. Trucks driving up and down the road bearing pictures of those same girls. And evidentally, its ok to come to Vegas and "forget" to wear proper clothing or undergarments. Since when did a man's dress shirt become a dress? And the people throwing away money in the casino's. We walked through 2 of them. The atmosphere is one of "check your morals and good upbringing at the door and forget everything your mama taught you" and just do what you please. 1 day is enough here. Its interesting but I have no desire to see more, can't imagine that it would get any better.

We are headed to Hoover Dam tomorrow.

I've got pictures but downloading them would involve getting up and my legs are tired! And my pictures are G-rated, family friendly!

Sleep!

Sleep is becoming a precious commodity on this trip. Last night was the 2nd great nights sleep that I've had, so today will be a good day. We are protected from the winds in this campground, so the RV wasn't rockin' and swayin' all night. Its hard to sleep when the awning is slapping against the RV because the wind is ferocious! We've had alot of fun watching the road runners dash back and forth, the one in the bush beside us is building her nest. The kids got a picture of her with straw in her little beak.

Last night Greg made stir fry for dinner. It was steak and lots of vegies served over brown rice. We've not eated all of our normal vegies for dinners and last night the kids were picking the brocolli out of the stir fry to eat. I got all the carrots that everyone else left. Tonight will be either "Dirty Rice" or chicken strips & cheddar broccoli rice & vegies. We will decide later on today. Then we will need to get to a grocery store. Our food supply has lasted a week but the dinner "foodstuffs" is getting low.

Today we are headed to the real Las Vegas (not to be confused with the one in New Mexico). The KOA campground is in the parking lot of the Circus, Circus hotel. This will be interesting! We've got our chocolate factory all picked out and at this one you can do a "self guided tour".

More later!

WOW- Canyon

The Grand Canyon was wonderful. Pictures you see in magazines don't do it justice. The pictures I took, just aren't as great as the real thing. (And I only have one on here because blogger is being soooooo slow and then deciding not to load)

The trip to the Canyon took all day. Travel was horrific. 40 mph winds with gusts up to 70 mph, a big dust/sand storm, and closing Interstate 40. When we were able to get on the expressway, we inched along at 20-25mph for miles and miles. This is the storm that is going to hit Miss. this weekend. We got off the freeway to make our way up to the Grand Canyon and finally got there about 5 (made one stop on the way). We kept hearing that it was going to snow at the Canyon Wed. night. We couldn't camp there because out RV is too long for their campsites.


After we left, we drove to the KOA RV park in Williams, Arizona and spent the night there. Greg looked up the weather forecast and the wind was supposed to die down by 10pm...they lied! It stopped blowing at 3am. I didn't get alot of sleep last night!

This morning was cold and still windy, but nothing like yesterday. We decided to go out to eat breakfast. We found a really good cafe in town on Old Route 66. The breakfast was amazing. Katie got a cinnamon roll that was about 2 inches tall and the size of a dinner plate. Amy and I split an Omelet meal and we had plenty of yummy food to eat. Greg & Will got their own meals and made a good sized dent in them.

Then we strolled up a block and over a block to mail Mothers Day cards at the Post Office. On the way, Greg spied a studio that did Old Timey pictures. So after we mailed the cards, we went and did pictures. It was lots of fun. Greg bought the copyright from the guy so we can make all the copies we want! They still have to get downloaded onto the computer, but we all like them. As we were about to leave, Amy spotted snowflakes. We drove in and out of several squalls, it was so pretty.

Afterwards, we went in search of a Ghost Town. We found it after a perilous climb up the side of a mountain on what must have been a donkey trail. The signs kept saying it was Historic Route 66, but they sure didn't believe in guard rails. And of course, it was on my side of the RV. So, I ended up holding my breath and staring at the other side of the RV...I don't do steep places, no matter how "cool" they look! OH, and the ghost town was no more...it looked like Gatlinburg with cowboys and donkeys. We couldn't even park the RV anywhere.

Now, we are at a campground in Needles, California. Another state to mark on our RV map that we have visited...even if we are only 1 mile inside the border.

We have been looking for a roadrunner for days. I spotted one jumping up branches in the bushes beside our RV. Greg got some pictures of it in its nest and the kids took the cameras outside and got more pictures and found a second bird and nest. They also got pictures of it standing on the ground but no running pictures.

Don't know what tomorrow holds...hopefully we will get a full nights sleep tonight!

Great American Road Trip part 3 (I think)

There are very few words to describe what I saw today. The best one I can come up with is MAJESTIC! The Lord painted some beautiful scenery that we were privileged to see today! The pictures are great, but they aren't like the real thing! "Be Still, and know that I am God,; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth." Psalms 46:10








How can anyone say there isn't a Creator. Scenery like this doesn't just happen! What a fantastic Creation!

Daybook

Outside my window... Sunny & beautiful

I am thinking...That the Lord is such an awesome Creator, his creation is beautiful!

I am thankful for... time with family and a Loving Husband

I am wearing... black shorts & a flowered t-shirt

I am remembering... that my kids are growing up and I can't solve all their problems

I am going... to the Painted Desert & Petrified Forest today

I am currently reading... Proverbs & "The Second Mayflower" by Kevin Swanson

I am hoping... for beautiful weather the rest of our trip

On my mind...traveling

Noticing that...there is NO humidity in New Mexico, my nose misses it!

From the kitchen...Katie and Amy cooked pancakes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a cook out and s'mores for dinner

Around the house... how 'bout around the RV. Its tidy and we are ready to roll into Arizona.

One of my favorite things...truth in advertising. Don't advertise something thats not there!

The Great American Road Trip part 2

Well, I hate to admit it but the Chocolate shop we found was a total bust. They were "wise in their own eyes". It was all dark chocolate (which I like ok) and not what was advertised. So, no money was blown there. We did walk around Santa Fe for a while. If you like Indian blankets and turquoise, you would have loved it. We just looked. We did like all the architecture in the town. Almost every building is made of adobe, so its very classy and understated. We even did some shopping at an Adobe Walmart (this one still had a fabric dept.). The kids got their spray paint, so we are ready for the return trip to Cadillac Ranch.

Then we hopped in the RV and headed west on I-40 for Gallup, NM. Whats there? Well, a town and more importantly, a KOA kampground.

Now, I did learn a few things today. Who knew that New Mexico had volcano's? Not me! We saw them and their lava flows. The first one was 17 miles long. The second we saw was longer than that. Now, since we were told they last erupted 150,000 years ago, there was nothing to worry about! But the red, tan rocks everywhere were replaced by black rocks in the landscape. I also figure NM must have given land way and maybe houses too. Why else would people be living under or right at these huge cliffs when there is a constant danger of falling rocks? Looks like a really stupid place to put houses to me, I am sure the insurance is unbelievable if even available (thats the daughter of a former State Farm agent speaking). Now here is some more house observations...people either live on huge ranches or small-medium size houses with postage stamp yards or 15 trailers on 1 lot. There isn't a lot of in between. Also, do they really need windsocks on the expressway and signs stating there are gusty winds? You can feel the gusts! But here is the kicker of them all....cattle guards at the entrance and exit ramps to the expressway! Now this tells me there has been a problem in the past. But whats to keep the cow from walking on the dirt beside the road and accomplishing his objective anyway? Just some thoughts from this GA/Miss girl!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. Also, going to find some cliff dwellings to take pictures of!

We are here...where is here? We have wondered that same thing more than once in the last couple of days. We left our house at 1:45 on Friday afternoon. Our intent was to beat the awful storms that were headed our way. It kind of worked...till 1 am Sat. morning. Then the bottom of the sky dropped out and landed on our RV complete with lots of thunder and lightning. Several waves of the storm came through and at 5:30, Greg and I gave up sleeping and got dressed. We drove the 20 or so miles into Dallas, TX. There we found the X that marked the spot where Kennedy's limo was when he was assassinated, walked around the book depository building and the grassy knoll. The 6th floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald was supposed to be standing is behind and catty corner where the limo was facing. Someone would have had very clear shot from the grassy knoll. Greg's investigation indicated that Oswald was not working alone. But, they didn't ask Greg to help investigate, since he was only 10 months old at the time.

Then we decided to head to Amarillo. They are not close to each other at all. The one thing I know that is bigger in Texas is the land...its massive. It took so long to get to Amarillo. The wind blew 40-45 mph the entire day. Greg had to fight the wind to get us there safely. When we finally arrived in Amarillo, we were so tired and ready to eat dinner and relax. We went into a Welcome Station and found a lady there who was a fountain of information. We asked about RV camping and she told us about a couple of local campgrounds and then told us about a state campground that was 30 miles south. It was Palo Duro Canyon. This is the 2nd largest canyon in the country. So off we drove. We got there just in time...2nd to the last campsight. We drove down a steep incline into the canyon. It was gorgeous. Such a good choice! We had a nice, peaceful dinner, everyone got showers in our "spacious" bathroom (its slightly larger than an airplane bathroom) and then we played a game for a couple of hours. My sister in law gave us the game "Apples to Apples" for Christmas and we played it for the first time, and second-sixth time. Fun game...thanks Bri.

Then bedtime. That was the best nights sleep I have ever had in our RV. One big plus to this night was we put our Tempur Pedic mattress on the bed. My arthrity hip has been happy on its own mattress! A huge thanks to Greg and James for moving it for me.

We spent the morning driving around the canyon and taking lots and lots of pictures. I know that in Genesis it says after the Lord created everything it was good. But Good is such a benign word for what we saw. I like magnificent, awesome, & incredible not just good! What a beautiful thing to witness and experience on the Lord's Day. Got pictures of Texas Longhorns also, Then we hit "Amarillo by morning". We wanted to find a Walmart or HomeDepot to buy spray paint and then go to Cadillac Ranch. But we found the cadillacs before the paint, so thats a stop for the return trip. (If you haven't heard about Cadillac Ranch, there are 7 cadillacs, buried about 1/2 way into the dirt, and you are permitted to paint). Our info lady encouraged the kids to get the paint and have fun, so grafitti is in our future. Then we drove on Historic Route 66 and found the Midway Cafe (saw this diner on tv), Sunday lunch in the diner! However, the grafitti opportunity was not completely lost, I did sign the bumper of an old pickup that was parked in front of the diner. Traveling with a sharpie marker is a "good thing".

Next was onto New Mexico. Our ultimate destination was Santa Fe. The lady at the welcome station was somewhat informative and showed Greg a way to get to Las Vegas, NM and then over to Amarillo. I say somewhat because she didn't tell us that when we left the freeway, we would be driving through desolate ranchland and over a huge mountain then more ranchland to get to LV. And it was a dud. Not worth the trip, it was interesting, we did it but wouldn't repeat the same trip. (However, Brenda is you want to construct another rock garden, or rock wall, rock pack, rock home & rock church, then I know where you can get all the large, huge boulders for your project...just have to climb over an electric fence, up the side of a steep hill, roll them down, back over the fence, and load them up...watch for rattlesnakes) Oh, and we are at some unbelievable 1000's of feet above sea level.

So, that brings us to tonight. We are at a KOA campground in Santa Fe. Its in Comanche Valley, so we are hoping the natives don't get restless tonight. Tomorrow, we are exploring Santa Fe. Amy and I found out they have a "Chocolate Trail" so we decided it was a good fieldtrip opportunity. Then I don't know what is next. This is really the first trip we have ever been on with no schedules or restrictions. Since we left, we have eaten out 2 meals, the first was a quickie, cheap dinner at Wendy's when we were driving on Friday and the 2nd was the diner today. We've "cooked" sloppy joes and tacos for our 2 dinners. Breakfasts were cereal, fruit, grits, bacon, and muffins. Lunch yesterday was turkey and ham sandwiches.

Tomorrow, we find the chocolate!

Blogger is being pokey and won't download my pictures...so I'll have to bore you later!

Oh Jennifer, I read your comment, I want to do the Yellowstone Trip sometime. Thats sounds like a blast!