Thursday, August 29, 2013

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA  AUG. 24, 2013

Well, we are here in Las Vegas, at the same park (Las Vegas Rv Resort) that we were at 3 months ago.  This time we are here to visit my relatives and to have a checkup from a urologist.  We are lucky, we come in on Saturday and find out that my cousin marvin and his wife geri are having a brunch on Sunday morning and I will get to see my cousins that I haven't seen for about 40 years.

We go for brunch on sunday and halleleuja we have lox and bagels and fruit and noodle kugel, Joel and I are in heaven and everyone is asking about our life on the road.  My cousin Phyliss is having a birthday and we have a cake for her and I see my cousin ronny and his wife Karen too.  We stay till about 4 pm and then go to my brother Joel and his wife Roberta's house and his son Scott and his fiancĂ©e Heather, they also all came to the brunch.  My niece Faith and her three daughters come over and we all have Chinese food together.  We have a wonderful time, even though it is pouring rain, a respite from the 105 degree sun.  Las Vegas is either hot or cold.  Not much grass to speak of, only on the gold courses.  The park we are in is all rock but very nicely done and lots of palm trees. 

Aside from going to Walmart and restaurants, there is not much to do here unless you are a gambler.  Today we went to the dr. arranged tests which will keep us here for another week, got new tires for the vette, and bushings and shock absorbers tomorrow.  Then we will go to Faith for dinner this weekend, kasha and varnishkas, brisket, we can hardly wait.  She lives about an hour away in Sun City, it will be good to get away from here for a while.  All the campgrounds here are about 5 miles from the strip and there are loads of homeless people and poverty here.  The poor get poorer and the rich get poorer as well.  You have to get at least an hour away to find the nice developments and the mountains are beautiful. 

Friday, August 23, 2013

FRI. AUGUST 23 - CEDAR CITY UTAH

We are at the cedar city koa which is very nice, grass, long level gravel sites, and lots to do in town.  The koa is right in town, but not noisy at all.  It is right off I15 so lots of rv folks use it as a stopover.  We have been here since tues. and have seen Zion National Park, Red Rock Canyon, and Bryce National Park.  All of them are at least an hour away so it makes for a nice day trip.  Luckily we went to them early in the day because in the afternoon we have rain showers.  Daylight and sun makes for nice photos.  Of course there is a new walmart in town so we stock up on groceries and such and eat at a really nice steakhouse.  Everyplace else we ate is near to the parks and nothing to write home about.  I know all these photos show the mountains, but wherever we go the mountains are a little bit different.  Our first trip was to Zion, it reminded us of Disneyworld with trams and loads of people.  We decided to take our car and just drive through the park and had a wonderful time, stopping off at scenic overlooks and taking our pics.  Look at these gorgeous mountains.

 
 
 
This photo is at the beginning of the red rock canyon, a lovely scenic drive before you get to Bryce.
 
These photos are of Bryce Canyon, I could take hundreds of pics here, everything is so beautiful
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
O. K. this is our first hike, the weather started out cool, it is a mile hike, but as we traveled on the sun got very hot and the trail got steep, we are at 9,000 feet and difficult to breathe, but we made it back to the parking lot, whew.

Monday, August 19, 2013

MON. AUGUST 19  GREEN RIVER, UTAH, KOA

We came in last Saturday after 6 pm, Joel drove about 10 hrs and we were both tired and hungry.  This Koa has a restaurant right across the parking lot so that is the first thing we did after hooking up.  We will be here for 3 nights and sightsee.  Yesterday we went to Goblin Valley State Park.  This is a fun place and all the mountains and things look like little mushrooms and a place that gnomes would live.  We wandered around and took lots of pics but the temps were in the high 90's and that was really tiring.  Enjoy the photos, the movie Galaxy Quest with Tim Allen was filmed here. 



 
 
 
 
 
I told you these things were adorable.  Well today we went to Arches National Park, boy does that senior pass come in handy, we get in for free in all the National Parks.  We saw arches and mountain formations to die for, just look at what we saw.
 

 
 
 
 
 
These are some photos I had left to show you, the hummingbirds, sheep, and horses.  Make sure you click on the hummingbird pic to see it close up, they were all over, such a treat to see.
 
 
 
 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

WED. AUG. 7th  WAGON GAP, CO

We are near Creede, Co at the "Cottonwood Ranch".  It took about a 4 hour drive through many small towns but upon arrival,  the scenery will take your breath away.  Unfortunately it also takes your cell phone signal and your wifi away too.  We will be here for ten days.  We are at 8,000 ft and we pull in and it is raining and a little muddy.  It is very cold at night and the heat runs constantly and 3 days of rain.  They have a great restaurant, but alas it is closed.  Because of major forest fires in June most of the workampers were sent home so no restaurant.  The campground is all open between the mountains and the rio grande river.  In order to get cell phone service and internet we have to go into town which is about 21 miles away.  This campground is the best deal, $29 a night and solitude. 

We go into Creede and travel way up the mountain to an old silver mining camp.  We take the vette and did not know till be went so high that there would be dirt and gravel roads with numerous potholes, but car came through it ok.  We were a little knocked around and alas I forgot my camera.  But the views were fantastic.  Another day we went into Alamosa, about 50 miles away to the nearest Walmart and we had lunch out.  While there we went to the "Great Sandunes National Park" (photos beautiful) a  beach in the middle of the mountains but the creek had gone underground this time of the year.  We saw an elk on the road (photo).  Next day we took a ride to "Pagosa Springs), about 42 miles, way up the mountain.  It is a wonderful little town known for its mineral hot springs.  This is the first day that the weather is beautiful.  We eat at a wonderful Mexican restaurant called "tequilas) overlooking the San Juan River.  People are all walking and tubing the river.  This is the Healing Waters Resort, check out all the hot mineral pools and spas, just gorgeous.  Our food was great, baby shrimp and real crab chimichangas, very colorful restaurant.  Wen then went into South Fork visitor center for a wifi signal and phone service.  When we get back to campground I am thrilled to see the meadow filled with Dahl horned sheep, they come down from the mountain from time to time, just look at the great photos.  Now the horses are galloping into the meadow, they spend the night there across from our rigs.  The last couple of days are real cold and we look forward to leaving here and going to Utah to see the National Parks.  Check out the hummingbird at the feeder, there are so many here, also magpies, marmots, and a big black bear came down from the mountain at night and ripped open some stuff from our neighbor.