A Really Happy Halloween

Dave & I and Chad & Robin had so much fun today! We started with the breakfast buffet at Boulder Station and then we all did a little gambling…being high rollers we played the penny machines. Dave & I both put $20.00 in the slot machine and left with around $16.00 each. Around noon we all went to a pumpkin drawing at Boulder Station. Basically it is a drawing that everyone gets a little ceramic pumpkin and some are worth cash… I won $10.00!

Later we took a cab over to the strip where we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s (including a surprise anniversary desert) and saw the show Ka . Great dinner and fabulous show…more about them tomorrow. I’m too tired to type much more! But here are some photos of people in the Halloween spirit on the Las Vegas strip.

Fun Ahead

Another quiet typical day today. Dug out some of our dressier clothes and did some laundry. Since our friends are coming to town we decided it would be best to board Cheye. I’m not sure who this is harder on, Cheye or us. The place we took her too was clean and looked nice, we set up “play time” for her, took her bed, food she is used to and a few treats. I felt like I was packing for my child to go to camp! She won’t like it but it’s the best idea since we have lots of plans for the weekend.

The kennel was over on the other side of town. (Didn’t look that far on the map when I picked it!) One thing about this trip is we are seeing a lot of Vegas we haven’t seen before. For the most part it is just a typical city, but then again the billboards and casinos located all over town are constant reminders you’re in Vegas.

Our friends fly in tonight. They are going to call us when they get in and we'll go over to see them. This should be a really fun weekend!!

Photos:
Top: another view of the pool here at Thousand Trails Las Vegas
Right: some of the cactus here in the park
Below, in order: MGM Grand, New York New York, Luxor, Mandalay Bay

Pool Side

I decided to spend a little time by the pool today so I headed over there about 10:30. I did some laps and then found a lounge chair. There were a few others there and we talked about some of the Thousand Trails parks, where we were from, etc. A little while later a lady showed up with her tape player and a water aerobics tape. She asked if any of us wanted to join in, so there were 5 of us in the pool hopping and jogging around… it was fun! I got back to the trailer about noon, Dave & I had lunch and then we both got on our computers. I played with my animation program again…so sorry, you’re getting another little animation tonight! I just have fun creating these.

Chad & Robin will be down here tomorrow evening! It will be fun to have them here. We have tickets for a show and reservations for a couple dinners…it will be a great time!

Photo: Boulder Station Casino is about ¼ mile from the park
Video: Another very short animation

RV Parks

Today was a typical day in the life… I spent the majority of the day playing with my new animation program. Actually I bought it awhile back, let’s see….ummmmmm….where were we….oh, when we were staying at Ponderosa and we went into town to do laundry. I have to admit, it’s getting hard to remember when we were where. :o) Anyway, I’ll post one of my little animations tonight. I don’t expect Pixar will be calling anytime soon, but I had fun creating it!

I wanted to mention that there are a couple other RV parks just down from us. In case you are not Thousand Trail members and want to RV to Vegas this area is a pretty good location. There is the Roadrunner RV park and Arizona Charlie’s Casino & RV park. They both look pretty nice. I took a couple photos as we drove by today.

Photos:
Top: Normally the Thousand Trails signs are just painted wood…not in Vegas!
Below: Top 2 are Arizona Charlies, the next two are Roadrunner RV
Video: My little animation.

Gone to the Birds

A pretty quiet day today. I did another load of laundry in the morning and took Cheye for a walk. We had mail to pick up today so we headed out to the Henderson Post Office which is the one the park recommends to use. The rest of the afternoon was typical walks, computers and such. Tonight we are watching Monday Night Football.

One of the things we got in the mail today was a new brush for Cheye. If you have ever had a Golden Retriever, or any dog with a thick undercoat, you know how badly they shed. With Cheye living in a 30 foot trailer it can get a bit hairy sometimes! :o) The brush I got is called a FURminator and wow, it does a fine job of getting that undercoat out. I used it today and had enough fur to make another Cheyenne! Well, enough commercial…. While I was out brushing Cheye I kept hearing these squawks, looked over and our neighbors have a Cockatoo! Her name is Priscilla and she is 7 years old. Cockatoos live to 80 - 100 years, so Priscilla will be handed down to her owner’s grandchildren. Anyway, I took a little video and a photo of Priscilla…she didn’t want to fluff her feathers up for me but she looks similar to the one pictured on the right, but her top feathers are white not yellow. She does have yellow under her wings, very pretty bird.

Blizzard in Vegas

This morning we drove over to Costco in Henderson and then to Walmart. Since we are so close to stores here we aren’t stocking up so much on everything. Of course that means more trips to the market, but it’s not like we have anything pressing to do! :o) Our afternoon was taken up with NASCAR (good race), naps and computing. Later we walked over to Boulder Station for dinner again, this time we went to the Mexican restaurant. After dinner we wandered around the casino a little and found a Dairy Queen, so we both got a Blizzard for dessert and headed back to the trailer.

I think Cheye is really starting to like this park. There is a lady that doesn’t have any dogs (she has a couple cats) but she keeps dog crackers handy and when we walked by she had to give Cheye a handful. Then the workers here often stop the carts they drive around in and give her Milk Bones. Yep, she doesn’t mind this place at all!

Photo: my Halloween whirly-gig that blew away in the wind and we finally found

Homebodies Today

Today we were homebodies. Well, we did drive over to the Horseman and Dog Fancier’s Park here in Vegas. It is only about 2 miles away and we thought Cheye might enjoy some romping time. I had it pictured much differently, more like a large park with trees and shrubs. For the dogs it’s basically 4 large fenced in areas a couple trees and a picnic table or two. There is also an area to ride horses, more like an arena than a park. But Cheye seemed to enjoy it.

All of our neighbors have left so we have space on both sides of us now. It was funny, after one Class A neighbor left we went outside and behold - my Halloween whirly-gig! It blew off our shepherds hook the other day when there were some strong winds and we couldn’t find it. We both looked under that RV but didn’t see it. I have now wired it to the hook!

Photos:
Top: Cheye at the dog park
Bottom: Fountain outside Caesars
Video: Slides from the Strip

Viva Las Vegas

The morning was pretty quiet. It was a beautiful day again, on one of Cheye’s walks Dave took her over to a grassy area and gave her a rawhide. She loved it, rolled in the grass and gobbled down her rawhide. I did some cleaning and laundry. Nice to have a laundry room here! And only $1.25 per wash load and $1.00 for the dryer…not bad.

One of the things we really love about this area are the warm desert evenings. It’s the perfect time to get out and walk, so this evening we headed over to the strip and did some walking. We parked behind Treasure Island, walked up to Caesar’s Palace and had dinner at Planet Hollywood. From there it was to Bellagio’s to watch the dancing fountains, they are always fun to watch. We got home about 8:00 and my feet are complaining!

I’ll leave you with a short video of the Bellagio fountains…

Photos:
Top: Paris Casino
Bottom: Bellagios

Another Trip to the Mall

Today I went to the Fashion Show Mall by myself to get my hair done. I had seen a salon there yesterday and made an appointment for this morning. So after I was coiffured and colored (nice cut, not so nice color) I made it back to the trailer. It is about 5 miles to the strip from the park but in Vegas traffic it seems much farther, at least to me it does. Crazy drivers and when I’m not exactly sure how to get somewhere it makes it worse. We have a GPS but it can still be wild.

The rest of the day was pretty typical. Computers, TV, walks. We did get some bad news today, a friend of Dave’s has cancer that has spread to his brain stem and he doesn’t have long to live. News like that is so awful, but it does make a person think and be grateful for the time we have together with those we love.

Photos:
Top: Ceiling inside the Venetian
Bottom: Outside the Venetian
Video: Slides from our trip yesterday to the Vegas strip

Over to the Las Vegas Strip

The morning was pretty quiet, took Cheye on some walks, did a little cleaning and surfed the net. About 2:00 we decided to go to the Fashion Show Mall over on the strip and then visit a couple of the casino/resorts nearby. We spent about 45 minutes at the mall and then walked over to the Wynn. This is a new place for us…very nicely done. Of course I didn’t expect it to be shabby! From there we walked to the Venetian. We had seen it once before but it is impressive. You can go on a gondola ride for $16.00 per person….hey… Chad, Robin, what do you think? Wanna go on a Gondola ride when you come down?

The weather was perfect this afternoon. We had some rather nasty wind overnight, Dave had to go out at 1:00 a.m. to put up the awning as it was flapping and thumping in the wind. We heard our neighbors out about the same time putting up their awning too.

It was a fun day. Definitely something different than what we have been doing since we became full-timers. Dave & I used to come down to Vegas about once a year for quite a while. We aren’t gamblers but enjoy the shows, the restaurants, watching people and looking at the amazing hotel/casinos they have built. It’s fun to be back.

Photos:
Top: Treasure Island
Bottom: Lori inside the Wynn
Video: From today's trip to the Vegas strip

Quiet Day in Vegas

Today was pretty quiet, we did go to Walmart this morning. Funny, we ran into a couple we were parked next to in Tonopah! It sure can be a small world sometimes. Besides that it was a day for relaxing, cleaning and even worked in a nap.

The weather was a little warmer today and windy. As a matter of fact my Halloween whirly-gig blew off the shepherd’s hook and disappeared! I’ll have to check at the Ranger Station tomorrow and see if someone turned it in.

Photo: play area at the Las Vegas Preserve
Video: Scenes from around the Las Vegas Preserve

Vegas

Well we made it! If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog you wouldn’t know - we were having a bit of trouble with the pickup, but the new fuel filter did the trick. Pickup ran great the entire trip. As Dave’s brother reminded us today…we need to get that changed every 2-3 oil changes since ours is a diesel pickup. I will make sure that happens from now on!

We are at the Thousand Trails Las Vegas preserve and really like it! It’s not a huge place, the RV’s are side by side, but it’s fine. There is a nice amount of greenery, nice store, lodge room and great pool. As a matter of fact we took a dip in the pool today followed by a soak in the hot tub. Later we walked to Boulder Station Casino and ate at the Italian restaurant and it was terrific! Tonight is football and probably early to sleep, just kinda tired after the long drive.

Photos: Taken on our trip today.
Video: Slides from the trip and of the Thousand Trails Las Vegas park

Tonopah, NV

We made it to Tonopah today…barely. Well, it wasn’t that bad but Dave & I were on pins and needles for a while. Remember when I mentioned we were going to take the truck in for a check-up last week…well we decided not to after all. Oops. The truck had been running kind of rough, especially when idling but only when we were hauling the trailer. Well on the way here the pickup did a lot of shaking and started loosing power…fuel filter came to mind. Amazingly we found a shop open today just a few blocks from where we are parked and the guy was nice enough to fit us in and install the new filter. Hopefully that will take care of it. Dave drove it after the fix and says it feels much stronger.

We are staying at the Tonopah Station RV Park. Basically it is about a dozen hookups in the back parking lot of the Ramada Inn here in Tonopah. Not a place I’d want to winter but fine for a overnight stop. We have full hook-up and are right next to the casino, restaurant and have wi-fi (sometimes). When we got here there was only 2 other RV’s but it has filled up some.

Since wi-fi isn’t the best here I’ll just share a few pics with you. The mountain pictures were taken about 40 miles north of Tonopah and the others are of and around the RV Park. I put some captions on the park pics...the two that say "behind the park" are just looking different directions...

Hawthorne, NV

We took off from Thousand Trails Ponderosa this morning about 8:30 on our trek to Las Vegas, NV. The drive took us through some beautiful country of pine forests and granite boulders. We stopped at Donner Pass, we decided we really didn’t want to eat there so we traveled on. Our thought was to go as far as Fallon, NV today but decided to go a bit further and ended up in Hawthorne. I was surprised to see a light dusting of snow up in the hills around Lake Walker.

We got in to Hawthorne about 2:00 and the clerk at the Whiskey Flats RV park mentioned that a local casino, El Capitan, has a prime rib special tonight starting at 4:00...so we decided to just have a snack and go in for a early dinner. After the trailer was set up we had our snack, took Cheye out for a couple walks and sat outside enjoying the day.

As we went in for dinner there was a person out by the RV park starting up a motorized para-sail (not sure if that is the correct name). We watched for a while but he never went up in the air, maybe he was just practicing.

Photos:
Both taken today at Donner Pass
Video: Slides taken at Donner Pass and Whiskey Flats RV Park in Hawthorne, NV

Oh no, my Flip Video!

Today had a few frustrations…my wonderful little Flip Video Ultra quit. :o( It turns on but won’t record, so I emailed support at Flip. Within a half hour I had instructions on something to try. That didn’t fix it so I replied and again, in about 45 minutes they were asking for my address and other info so they could send me a return authorization to send it in to the shop. Excellent customer service, I was really pleased. Unfortunately they wanted to know purchase date so I had to dig up my receipt, which was in a plastic shoe box, with all the other receipts, paid bills and important mail we have collected since we left our old home in May….I think I better come up with a different system.

So today we computed, walked and had a pretty typical day. The park really filled up tonight. We were really amazed how quickly it happened. We went in for dinner, came outside to enjoy a beautiful evening and it was like a different park! It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend so people are out to enjoy it.

We head out tomorrow on our way to Vegas. We have giving ourselves a couple days to travel the 500 or so miles. Looking forward to seeing Vegas again, I’m sure we will find it very different from last time we were there.

Photos:
Top: pretty fall colors
Bottom: Cheye starting to shake
Video: More photos from around the park

Back into Town

Well, another laundry day so back into town . This time we went toward Roseville, CA because we wanted to stop at Camping World and Best Buy. Once we got to the laundromat we found it was right next to an Office Depot, which ended saving us a trip to Best Buy to buy a mapping program for me (Dave has one). After our laundry was done we made our way to Camping World and wandered around there a bit. Dave picked up a few parts and I got a cookbook and that was about it.

The afternoon was spent in the trailer figuring out the new mapping program and getting it set up. Street Atlas by DeLorme has more of a learning curve than Microsoft Streets and Trips (the program Dave has). We have the basics figured out, still need to play with it some more to see how the “bells and whistles” work.

Tonight should be quiet. Some TV and playing with the new program. Tomorrow is our last day at the Ponderosa campground. We will have to take Cheye for a long swim!

Photos & slide show from photos taken around Ponderosa campground

Another Relaxing Day

Gosh…did I say yesterday was total relaxation….what is one step beyond that? Well whatever it is, that was today! I had big plans of reorganizing and charging my ipod, cleaning up my hard drive, working on some video editing and maybe starting back up on my cross stitching. Well…I did get the ipod taken care of.

It was warm today, got up to 86 degrees. With a light breeze it was perfect. Even with the perfect weather the park is very quiet now. Some of the hook-up posts have been bagged off keeping people to certain sections. They have drained the pool and there are a lot more empty spaces than full. I’m interested in seeing how full the parks will be in Arizona and Southern California this winter.

Photo: A decorative antique in the park
Video: A slide show of Thousand Trails Ponderosa

Another Relaxing Day

Total Relaxation

Well we’ve been on the road for 5 months now…and happy to report we are still lovin’ it!

It was a beautiful day here at the Thousand Trails Ponderosa park. Our day was one of total relaxation. It consisted of computing, walks around the park, sitting outside reading and enjoying the day. We just finished a fabulous all grilled dinner; steak, potato wedges and pineapple…yum!

On one of our walks we stopped along the way and took a few pictures...somehow Cheyenne ended up in a number of them… go figure! :o)