Family Time In The Tri-Cities

Family time! We had a wonderful time with Rete, Fred , Mike, Chris, Dotty, Jack, Jeanne and the newest member of our family SEYUM.
What a cutie!!!! Seyum is Jeanne's adopted Son from Ethiopia and such a delight. He was not thrilled to get on the back of Jeanne's bike and screamed his head off and then once they got going he thought it was neat and fell asleep. When it was time to get back off he screamed again because he did not want to get off! LOL
I loved that his favorite word is "MINE"

We had such a great time visiting with family. Played lots of games of Domino's on the weekends and heading to the Buffet for lunch on Saturdays. Everyone has different tastes so it was easier to go to the Country Buffet so we all got the things we liked and noone had to do the dishes or worry what to cook. During the week we cooked our own meals.
Dan took advantage of all the long bike trails and I even did 5 miles myself...Aaaaagh. Why is it the older I get the smaller the seat on bike is lol

Rete and I took off to Toppenish to the Yakama Nation Casino a couple times, silly me put one of my tickets in my pocket of my jacket instead of in my fanny pack and walked out not realizing I still had $13.00!! By the time I found it is was voided...dang!
The 2nd time I came back $62 more than when I went in. I never spend more than $40 and thanks to some tips from Rete I can stay in there for hours playing on that $40!! We only play the Penny machines and Rete always comes out with more money than me!!!

Took Rete out to lunch or brunch there, had a great time. I think Yakama Nation is our favorite casino

Found a nice dessert wine thanks to a couple camped next to us. Benton City has a great wine from the Kiowa Winery called Late Harvest White Reisling. Mom and I love it!!! I loved it so much I bought 2 cases to take back to Yuma.

Dan and I brought our Wii that we had bought in Feb, we had a blast bowling with Aunt Rete, Uncle Fred, Mike, Dan, Dad( Jack) and Mom( Dotty) .
Mike and Fred loved it so much they bought their own Wii set up!!!

Ok guys you are on your own, any sports injurys is YOUR fault not mine lol!
Dan has lost alot of weight from the Wii Fit program. He is in the best shape of his life since college!! Way to go Dan!!!

We're Here!

We are back in Washington to the Sandy Heights RV Resort in Pasco and discovered it is now a KOA park.
We always tease that KOA stands for KEEP ON ADDING. We got the last monthly site available, $275.00. We are right up next to the Freeway...groan, not too bad in the wee hours of the morning though, it's quieter then. If you want a site in the back it is $325.00 a month. There is alot of work out at the Hanford Nuclear site in Richland so all the campgrounds are packed with the Hanford workers this Summer. We had hoped to go to the Franklin County RV Park"TRAC" but they were full. Trac is much quieter than Sandy Heights being away from the Freeway and closer to shopping areas.

We are here in the Tri-Cities ( Pasco/Kennewick/Richland) from May 13th to June 13th and be back on the West side in time for my Mom's 76th Birthday on June 16th and Son's 36th birthday on June 28th.

We're having a great time with Uncle Fred, Mike, Aunt Rete and Sister Chris while we are here.
Got free Wi-Fi so did not have to set up the satellite dish. Haven't tried out the pool yet. Need to check when the Art fair is going to be down at the park in Richland, I always like doing that.
Wind is picking back up but the heat is down and should only be in the 70's today instead of the 90's the last few days. Richland has a tug at my heart because I used to stay with Aunt Rete all the time in the Summer as a kid and ride her bike all around town.
There are lots of bike trails here so Dan loves that and will take off for hours.
Everyone wants us to buy property here but we do not want to worry about a house in the Winter time here. Yuma is our home now. We tease and tell people to buy big enough property so we can just park our motorhome there.

Wild Horse Casino

We arrived to the WildHorse Casino in Pendleton Oregon for the night. We had passed through a town called "Bliss" Idaho along the way. Idaho had lots and lots of farm land but scenic. Passed along Hwy 30 where fossil beds are. Hit a giant tumbleweed going down the road and it poked a small hole in the motorhome bra. Pulled over and could not find the tumbleweed underneth. Pretty drive but began to get REALLY windy!!! Was a challenge for Dan driving.
At one point during the day we saw a guy out in the middle of nowhere riding a bike and towing a canoe behind him!!! Now that is something we don't see often.

As we came into Oregon we hit snow, was not sticking to the ground but it was gathering up on our windshield....been a long time since we have seen snow!!!

Arrived to the Wild Horse Casino, faced the motorhome away from the wind and easier to pull out the next morning. Kept the slides in because the winds were horrible. Alot of RV's lined up and the shuttle would take them into the casino. I didn't this time because I knew I would go to the casino with my Aunt Rete so I saved my money this night and just played on the computer that has slot machine games.

Cactus Pete's at Jackpot Nevada

Boondocked for the night at Cactus Pete's Casino in Jackpot Nevada. We are right on the Nevada -Idaho border. Because we were only staying one night we pulled off far enough off the parking area as to not disturb the truckers from swinging their rigs in and lining up. Most of the RV's went to the RV park next to it for $17.00 a night with hookups.
We traveled through miles and miles of flat land and Sage brush. Ruby Mountains looked pretty with snow on top in the distance. Played the slots and it was tight, lost $9 did not get anything back....a friend said one gives and the other takes from ya ha-ha. Crossed over the street to the Casino 93 and had the dinner special, both came to $12 total. We only ate half of the Chicken dinner and had "Reruns" for the next night.

Mother's Day in Ely Nevada

We dry camped behind the Hotel Nevada & Gambling Hall in Ely Nevada in a RV/ Truck area . Ely is a old Silver & Copper mining town and the railroad would go through it. Dan treated me to a very nice Mother's Day dinner at the Hotel Nevada and the food was great and gave you a large portion and cheap.

Since it was Mother's Day I got lots of phone calls , E-cards to wish me a Happy Mother's Day and I had sent my Mom some flowers and a E-card to wish her a Happy Mother's Day.
Hotel Nevada has been in operation since 1929, they have their " Walk of Fame" in front of the casino on the sidewalk.

Had fun playing the slot machines, put in $2.50 in one machine and got back $25.76 so I was Happy!! I just loved the old decor of this casino!! Had alot of fun here!

Walked around the town, saw our first Dandelions and Tulips. The park had a duck pond and it was funny seeing the round duck house. Liked all the murals on the sides of the buildings.

Had breakfast at the Hotel before leaving, had the $5.00 Special and lordy it was alot of food for only $5!! Food was great, Coffee was great too!! AAA rated and made a point in the log book to come back here again some day!!

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Party time in Vegas!

We had a great time with our friends Barb & Jim Sweeney in Las Vegas. Last year we went with them too but Dan came down with a Pinched Sciatic Nerve and in alot of pain so he did not get to enjoy Vegas. So we decided to do it all over again with Barb & Jim and this time we had ALOT of fun!

Barb & Jim are some of our Thousand Trails friends and we also see them in the winter time where we both winter in Yuma AZ.
We loved checking out all the different casino's and I don't think I cooked the whole week....Yea!

Weather was HOT! Almost every day was over 100 degrees.

We also saw friends Gary & Nancy Asplund, Carl & Joey Christensen, went out to lunch and started planning stuff for next Fall when we all come back to Yuma for the Winter.

Our friends Willie & Marie Clark who we adore were in the same park, I always love having Willie sing to me with his Brother Johnny.

We pretty much stayed away from the slot machines...actually watched Jim on them instead, I swear he is so lucky! We took in alot of the free attractions. I enjoyed watching the people more!

My good Sony camera that I bought in 2006 accidentally dropped last year has bit the dust for good . Panic!!! My wonderful hubby bought me a Canon PowerShot A1000IS in Vegas...I love it! Small but takes great photo's and Video and boy it's got a zoom on it! I've used Canon's before and liked them. So I'm a happy Camper again and shooting away galore!!

My feet were still sore but as long as I took my Aleve I was ok. I have Neuroma in my feet and mostly in my left foot. Left foot had to have 5 injections to calm down the nerves from the ball of my foot going into my toes. Right foot took 3 injections. The nerves have enlarged causing me alot of pain and hard to walk, ride my bike or do anything that should make my foot pound on the ground. OUCH!!!
To explain what I am feeling ..My feet burn , especially the left foot and feels like someone has dropped a bowling ball on top of the foot and feels like I have badly bruised the bottom of the foot. I also cramp up and cannot point my toes down or the foot goes into a spasm. I thought I had broke something in my left foot so I finally went to the Podiatrist ( Foot Doc) to figure out what is causing me so much pain.
I just pray I do not have to have foot surgery like my Friend Frank. Frank Gruelle had the same problem with his feet.

I'm a positive person so will not let this damper my exploring and really enjoying this country we live in.

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in our lives and a loving family that understands our lifestyle. Keeps me going!

Hoover Dam

Dan and I took off to go see the Hoover Dam, we have gone over it but never stopped for the tour. Loved going down deep into one of the old water tunnels. It was so cool down there and at least 100 degrees above on the Dam.

Hoover Dam was built by a series of stacked interlocking blocks.

Each block measures approximately 50 ft X 60 ft X 5 ft deep

contains 1,100 tons of concrete. At the height of construction the aerial cableway delivered 16 tons of concrete every 90 seconds.

When finished

Height: 726 ft

length: 1,244 ft

thickness at top 45 ft

thickness at base 650 ft

concrete used: 3.25 million cubic yards

weight 6.6 million tons

People wonder if anyone was buried in the Dam, no noone was buried in the Dam but 96 people did die during construction from Falls, drowning,crushed by rocks or concrete or perished in other ways. There is a memorial to those who died working on the Dam.

We were delighted to see the construction of the new bridge to avoid all the bottlenecking on the top of the Dam. Those workers have nerves of steel working up so high! SCARY!!!!

Had a great time and recommend the tour and go through their museum, very interesting!!

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Laughlin Nevada

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On The Road Again

May 1st we got the last minute things done in and around the casita . We said our goodbye's to our wonderful neighbors and hated to leave our peaceful home but is starting to get too hot so we had to lock it all up and off we went on another new adventure. We headed to Bullhead City Arizona to the Ridgeview RV Resort that overlooks Laughlin Nevada. Spent two nights there and had alot of fun with our friends Jim & Barb Sweeney. Lost $20 on the slots and I think Jim got it and more....he's really lucky! Had a great dinner at the Tropicana Express casino Friday night and then Saturday night we were suppose to go eat and then go to a comedy show afterwards but sold out so did not get to go. Sat morning we went to Oatman to see the Burro's and that was fun!

Oatman Arizona

While staying at the Ridgeview RV Resort in Bullhead City we had the chance to go over to Oatman with our friends Jim & Barb Sweeney. We had a great day and just loved this quaint little town with all the burro's. The Burro's came to town when there were the miners digging gold and they were used to pack out stuff from the mines. After the mines closed the burros were let loose to wander off.
You can purchase carrots in town to feed them but be careful they get aggressive when they see that bag of carrots! The younger burros have a sticker on their forehead that says "No Carrots" The little ones gulp them down and can choke because they are not chewing them so they ask people to not feed the little ones carrots. One of the shop keepers buys lots of Alfalfa and when the burros come into town she is ready to feed them all and has a name for each one.

We had lunch at one Restaurant that had Navajo Taco's and they were so good!! Mostly window shopped , alot of T-shirt stores and stores catering to Bikers. I guess there is a event and the whole town is wall to wall Harley Davidson's. We were really glad we went to see this unique town and thanks Jim for driving.
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