Vegas Baby!

So it's been a few days since my last blog post.  That's because we spent the last three nights in Las Vegas and needless to say, I was a tad busy!

We arrived in Las Vegas Wednesday after driving about 420 miles over 8 hours.  Needless to say, we were glad to get off the road after having driven 2 days in a row.  We stayed at the Oasis RV Park, just off Las Vegas Blvd. about 5 miles south of the strip.  Beautiful park that has lush, tropical landscaping, tons of cable channels and a strong WI-FI signal, although you have to pay separately for the WI-FI.

On Wednesday night, I called a cab and went to the Mandalay Bay (where I made a donation) and then took the tram over to the Luxor (where I made a smaller donation).  Doug and the dogs napped after a long day on the road.

On Thursday morning, Enterprise picked me up and we rented a car.  We did a grocery stop and then drove to IBEW Local 357's hall where Doug picked up a shirt.  I then drove to the Mirage to pick up our tickets for Love.  That's the Cirque du Soleil performance set to Beatles' music.  I played a bit at the Mirage (where I made a small donation...do you see a pattern here?).

We left early for the show so that we could play a bit and get a bite to eat.  Doug and I each made a donation.  We see the Carnagie Deli and decide that's perfect...all we want is a sandwich and it's a deli, so it will be reasonably priced right?  NO...not reasonably priced.  I had a pastrami sandwich, Doug had a burger (no cheese), we shared an order of french fries, I had a coffee (naturally) and Doug had a Coke.  With tip, the bill was $54.00.  Remember when the food was cheap in Vegas?  Those days are long gone, my friends.

The show was great!  I enjoyed it as much as the first time I saw it and even though Doug couldn't really hear the music, he did catch a couple of tunes and of course the show is so visual.  He enjoyed it as well.

We headed back to the RV park to re-group, let the dogs out and give them a treat for being good.

We then headed down to Fremont Street.  As usual, it was a great place for people watching.  We met a few interesting characters.

We had a lot of fun down there (but made a donation...see I told you there was a pattern here) and saw the light show.

On Friday morning, we headed out to Hoover Dam, one of Doug's favorite places out west.  We took the dogs with us.  The new bridge for the 93 By-Pass is done and it was amazing to look at.  

Doug climbed to the observation area where you actually walk along the bridge.  He got some great shots of the dam that way.

We got back and I drove to the Rio (yes, once again, made a small donation).  Back to the RV park for a snack ind then drove over to the Silverton which is just across I-15 from the park.  This time, finally, I took some of their money home with me.  I ordered take-out food for us and headed home.

We had a special time in Vegas and would definitely stay at the Oasis again.  However, I have the feeling that the next time I'm there will be with my sisters or a friend and we'll be staying in a hotel, not an RV park.

We left Vegas this morning and headed to Laughlin, only about 130 miles from Vegas where we are at Don Laughlin's Riverside RV Park.

It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.  I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts.  I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smack-a-cino with cinnamon sprinkles.  ~Dave Barry

The Golden Spike

We left Yellowstone this morning and headed west on U.S. 20 until we picked up I-15.  We drove about 290 miles over 7 hours ending up at Ogden, UT.  We scheduled an oil change for the morning.

As we headed down the road, we saw a sign for the National Historic Site of the Golden Spike.  Doug remembered that another time when we were out here, we were going to go see it, but it was 80 miles (each way) out of the way.  This time it was only 26 each way and we had plenty of time.

On May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory , finally linking our country from east to west.  During the ceremony, 4 special spikes were presented one of which was the famous Golden Spike.

There are replicas of the two locomotives, the Jupiter and the 119.

They are beautiful and full of many details.  The location is out in the sticks and on our way there, we wondered if there would be anyone else there.  To our surprise, when we pulled into the parking lot, there were about 8 cars, 3 motorcycles and a MH.  The National Park Ranger told us that they get about 50,000 visitors a year.

The exit where we will take the MH for the oil change had a coin-op RV wash so we were able to get the Montana grasshopper remains off of us.  Man, they sure have a lot of grasshoppers in Montana.  There is also an RV park at the same exit, only about 4 blocks from the diesel shop.  At first, we thought "oh no, what are we getting ourselves into?" but it turns out it is a very nice, clean park with free cable and WI-FI.  What more could we ask for?  It's called Century RV Park and it's a great place to stop for one night.

"Decaf?  No, it's dangerous to dilute my caffeine stream."  ~Author Unknown.  Now for that cup of full strength coffee.

Yellowstone

Instead of fishing yesterday, we just sat here.  Watched the 9/11 ceremonies, finished one book, half way through another, watched a couple of movies and walked the dogs several times.

This morning, we rented a car and went into Yellowstone.  Yellowstone is the world's oldest national park, established in 1872.   We drove 181 miles over 7 hours.  The park was more crowded than the other two times we were here.  Traffic stopped on the road everywhere to look at wildlife.  We did see a lot of buffalo.  This first shot Doug took right out of the window.  He was on the road and you could have reached out and touched him.  Look at his eye looking at Doug.  The others were in various places in the park.

This is a shot of the Madison River when you first come in the West Entrance to the Park.

These are at one of the many geysers in the park.  When you look the geysers it's easy to see that there are active volcanoes in this park.  Right after this photo, we realized Doug needed to buy a new shirt.  I have no idea what I did to it when I washed it back at Glacier, but I sure hope no other pieces of clothing got whatever this is on them.

We got to Old Faithful about 10 minutes before it went off.  We were lucky because the eruptions are about 90 minutes apart.  We sat away from the crowds and next to a man who was a Korean War Vet.  He's in Wyoming for a family reunion.

Here we are inside the Old Faithful Lodge.  I have a photo of us in the same spot from 2007 that I use as my wallpaper at work.  I'm glad to have a new one to use.

This is the Yellowstone River with mountains and buffalo in the background.

These are some of the beautiful waterfalls in the park.

This is a photo of a couple who were walking down to the falls as we were coming back up.  Doug says they reminded him of his Aunt Tress and Uncle Glenn.  They did not bike in on that bicycle.

We had a great day in the park.  We're headed south tomorrow morning, bright and early.  Through Utah and towards Las Vegas.  We'll take our time and it will take us 2 days or so to get there.

"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water."  ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674.  What the heck did they know anyways?

Driving Montana

We left Glacier this morning and drove about 430 miles to West Yellowstone.  It's a town in Montana just a few miles outside the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

I talked to Mom today and when she asked how long we had been in Montana, I was amazed to count the days and realize that we had already spent 5 nights in 3 different places in Montana.  We will be here 2 nights or maybe 3.  That will make a total of 7 or 8 nights.  Dang.  I didn't see that coming.  But Montana is one of our favorite states out West.  It is Doug's absolute favorite.  He would move here in a heart beat.  Not me.  I know they have very hard winters and besides, my job is in Michigan and I'm not ready to retire yet.

We drove some U.S. Highways that were very scenic.  We also drove about 200 miles on I-90.  The first part of the drive on U.S. 93, we found the following and dedicate this find to our good friend, Erol.

After leaving I-90, we traveled south on U.S. 191.  It's one of the most scenic drives we have taken.  All along the road are different rivers and creeks.  Here are a couple of photos of some places we stopped.

We are settled in at the KOA West Yellowstone.  Free cable and free, fast WI-FI.  This is the third time we have stayed here but it has never been this crowded before.  We're hoping that a bunch of them clear out tomorrow.  Our tentative plan is take the MH a bit north of here and try some fishing tomorrow, come back to the KOA, rent a car and do the park on Monday.  We will see.

Dinner duties call, but before I go, "Coffee and tobacco are complete repose" - Turkish proverb.

Glacier National Park

On Thursday we left Cut Bank to head to the Glacier National Park area.  Before we even left that RV Park, the bottom hinge on the refrigerator door broke and we thought we had lost our 2nd set of MH keys.  The keys were in the driver's side door pocket (I wonder who put them there?  Jesse must have done that because according to Doug "There's no way I put those keys there").  As for the refrigerator door hinge, you can't just replace the hinge.  It's molded into the door, so we need a new door.  2-3 weeks for delivery, so we will make do until we return home.  At least it closes and stays closed going down the road.

We are staying at the KOA at West Glacier, MT.  It is one of the nicest KOA's we have stayed at.  Nice wide sites and free WI-FI.  No cable, can't even pick up a station off of our antenna.  (We really got to get signed up for satellite TV.  We have a dish, just need a receiver and a service.)  We were here a few years back, but they sure have expanded and improved the park.  There's a whole new area in the back.  Here's our site.  What a view!

Last night's pork chop dinner on Texaco plates.

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a campfire and a game of corn hole.  If you don't know what that is, Google it.  Big time Cincinnati, OH game that we came to know and love from my sister Gloria and brother-in-law Ralph.

I'm grateful for my husband and grateful for our anniversary.  In 2009 when Doug got diagnosed with cancer, we weren't sure we would see that year's anniversary, but we got to celebrate in 2009, 2010 and now 2011.  Thank you Lord!

This morning we rented a car for our trip through Glacier National Park. Vehicles over 21 feet are only allowed to travel a short way, so a car is the only way to do the park.  Even though it was a week day after Labor Day, the park was very busy.  Much more so than the first time we visited here.  But last time, it was a bit later in the month and the weather was cooler.  It was only around 40 when we got up this morning, but it warmed up into the high 80's.  I guess the good weather has got people out here still.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the park today.

We got back around 4:00, I returned the rental car, came back and did some laundry.  Gotta still do all the necessaries even on vacation.  We sat outside with a campfire for about an hour and then Doug decided he was heading to bed.  The dogs went with him and it is so still and quiet in here right now.  It's made writing the blog tonight a snap.

We take off in the morning to head towards Yellowstone.  We're not sure if we will just drive all day and get there (doable, but it would mean a 9 hour day on the road) or just go about half way and let Doug have another chance to catch a Montana fish.  Dang those fish anyways.  Why are we skunked so far?

Like my friend, Dave Letterman says "Way too much coffee.  But if it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever."

A Day to Relax

On Wednesday, we sat still...well, not exactly sat still, but we didn't head down the road.  Doug slept in and got some much needed rest, I bought a wireless antenna booster from the RV Park (strengthened the signal and like quadrupled the speed), I almost finished my Ivy Malone book, I brushed out the dogs, Doug fished for nearly 3 hours (sad to say, skunked again) and I drank lots of coffee.  I also chatted with a man here from MN in a 21 ft travel trailer who is headed to Kalispell, MT to spend the winter!  I told him he must be a hardy soul.  He's probably early 60's and he said his kids think he nuts.  I told him we only live once and he should enjoy his adventure.

Here's a shot of a cross and statue of Jesus that is at the park.  This view is from the trail that goes down to the river.

And here are some shots at sunset Wednesday night.  

I've really enjoyed our stay here.  I hope we continue to find parks as nice as this one.

They say that petroleum and coffee had no value a few centuries ago.  They're both worth their weight in gold now.  Guess I'll pour me a cup of java and finish my book.

Cut Bank, MT

Yesterday we decided to head a bit further north and drove 130 miles to Cut Bank, MT.  We are staying at the Riverview RV Park.  It's a first-rate park, free Wi-Fi, cable with over 60 channels, freshly painted picnic tables, access to the Cut Bank River and blue ribbon views.  The park is very well maintained place owned by a man named Mike who is originally from Traverse City, MI.

On our way here, we stopped at a rest area where once again we were reminded that we are in the wild, wild, west.

The next time you use the expression "whoop it up" you'll know where it came from!

The view at the RV park is amazing!

Around 6:30 we decided to try fly fishing again.  To get down to the Cut Bank Creek, you take a path that was once old U.S. 2.  Very easy going down and not too hard going back up.

We got skunked once again, but we sure had fun trying.  And besides, the view is so beautiful.

When we got back to the RV, someone had pulled in beside us.  They are towing a car and did not take it off so we hope that they are not staying.  It was nice having an empty space between us and the people next to us.  We had a great view then and hope to have it back after these folks leave.

This will be the first time this trip that we have stayed more than one night in a place.  We have so many things on our list to see while we are out here, the miles are many between places and there's always that pressure to move on.  But today, we will sit, enjoy the scenery, the warm sunshine, read a bit and of course enjoy the ever present cup of coffee.