Las Vegas

Thur - Feb. 24th thru Wed - March 10th

Probably not the ideal family place, but one daughter was already here for her job and it wasn't far for us to drive or John's sister from California, so the rest agreed to fly in and meet us.

It's Vegas, so much to see. Can you guys please try and keep up!

Look Dad, they really don't melt in my hands.

Most of the hotel/casino lobbies were decorated for the Chinese New Year. It is the year of the Tiger. This is in the Bellagio.

We are standing outside the Bellagio here, waiting to watch the fountain show, which we really liked and watched several times while we were there.

This is a restaurant inside the new City Center complex.

My "Great" Aunt Kathy (John's sister) took us to Red Rock Canyon and Casino for sightseeing and buffet lunch. She's the best!

Red Rock Canyon.

A well-fed and happy family after lunch.

We saw two Fremont Experience shows downtown in Vegas. George Thoroughgood's "Bad to the Bone" and "Space Aliens". We didn't know which way to look. It's everywhere and pretty cool. In between shows, we had to walk into the Golden Nugget and see the world's largest gold nugget (supposedly) on display. You know John. He's a regular Clark Griswold. If there's a big ball of twine anywhere, we have to see it.

Too much fun in Vegas. Waiting and carrying the diaper bag. What else are Grandpa's for anyway?

That "Great" Aunt Kathy comes through again and takes Carter to the Lion King Production at the Mandalay Bay for his 11th birthday. I heard it was totally cool. I wish I'd gone too.

Grandma took us to see the fish and mermaid in the aquarium at the Silverton Casino. It was really cool. There was also a big Bass Pro store there with lots of animals and birds and fish. I liked it all.

Meanwhile, back at the camper, Great-Grandma needed her hair fixed. Lucky for us, we had a beautician on board.

Time to turn in. Nothing better than having Great- Grandma and our grandkids camping with us!

Desert Gardens at the Ethel "M" Chocolate Factory in nearby Henderson. In December it is all lit up for Christmas. We went here after Julie arrived to visit for a few days. Who can pass up a chance for chocolate?

John dropped us off at the Stratosphere to do some sightseeing. You know us, we were gabbing and promptly took the wrong street. We didn't notice till about eight blocks later that we weren't seeing any casinos. So we had to back track a little and get reoriented. But the good thing is, we were obviously having a good time. We saw several good shows at Circus Circus with the kids, acrobats, clowns and trapeze artists.

This is a picture of the siren ship in front of Treasure Island that sinks the pirate ship every hour and a half. It's a pretty good show, but there are mobs of people blocking the sidewalk continuously waiting for the next show. We also saw part of the volcano eruption in front of the Mirage from across the street.


Bellagio fountain and music show. They have 30 different computer generated shows. It's very cool!

Julie checking out the pool at our the Oasis RV resort where we were staying.

Julie with Nancy Bock and her sister Kathy in front of a Joshua Tree at Red Rock Canyon. Nancy and Kathy spent the whole day with us touring us around and took us out for lunch and supper. It was a great day!

Here's Julie trying to take a picture of the blossom on the Joshua Tree.

Here's the blossom. Pretty cool!

We went to June Markuson's house on Saturday for drinks. She and her husband, Gary, took us out to lunch and June went with Julie and I to see Jersey Boys. It's a musical production that tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was excellent! Unfortunately, we were having so much fun, we forgot to take any pictures of June, but she looks terrific!

Julie's last night here we went to "Menopause the Musical". It was hysterical! If you are ever here, be sure to see it, men and women. You will love it. After the show, we stopped at Margaritaville for a drink and a burger. Both were very good. They put on a show every hour. There is a pirate, a cowgirl and a yacht captain on stilts and the waitress that they sacrifice into the volcano. She comes back out and slides down the lava into a huge blender, where they fish her out with a huge fish hook.

We enjoyed our family's and Julie's visits very much and can't wait to see everyone when we get back north, after the snow is all gone, of course.

I will have another blog in a day or two, now that our company is all gone and we are back on the road again.

Tarra