Nevada, Idaho, Colfax Washington

April 13

Today we travel north through the state of Nevada.  We start our trip on the loneliest highway in the US, highway 50.  It is definitely desolate along the roads in Nevada.  We stop for lunch in Wells and before we left town it starts to snow.  The wind in blowing hard and the snow is going sideways.  We decided to try and get further today so we are spending the night in Jackpot NV, right on the border of Idaho.  Our RV park in right next to the casino.  We go to the casino for dinner and finally put some money into the slots.  We both put in $5 and both lost $5 pretty fast. That night it snowed again hard and the ground was white. 

April  14

This morning the sky is blue but it is cold outside. The road is dry and there is still snow on the grass.  We head north into Idaho and stop in the town or Hagerman at the visitors center for the Hagerman Fossil Beds Nat. Monument.  The fossil site out of town is closed because of a fire.  We saw a movie about the area and there were lots of fossils on display.  There is a life size model of the Hagerman Horse.  Ate lunch at a restaurant before moving on.  Got to my sisters house in the afternoon.  We had stopped here on the start of our trip durning Labor Day weekend.



Hagerman Horse





Hagerman Horse skull



April 15

Going shopping with my sister today.   Dick is helping my brother-in-law, Dick around the winery today while we shop.  We had fun shopping and got some good bargains.   

April 16

Shirley and I go shopping again today.  It is Dicks birthday today and he is helping around the winery again today.  The boys are putting the foil and labeling the wine from this last harvest.  Shirley and I hit some good sales and get good bargains again today.  Shirley cooks Dick a delicious steak dinner with birthday cake for desert for his birthday. 

April 17

Stayed around the house today.  In the afternoon  a group of people came for a wine taste and Dick and I help.  We are coming back to Parma Ridge May 1st to help out with their open house at the winery.

April 18

Rain this morning as we are leaving for home.  This will be our last day of travel for this trip.  The weather clears for awhile but we get into clouds with rain and snow most of the way home.  We get into Colfax around 2:30 and as soon as we enter town it starts to snow.  Could hardly see the road because it was snowing with big flakes and coming down really hard.  We finally get parked and go home to wait for a city worker to come and turn on our water.  We even get our TV cable hooked up again today.  It is good to be home and the house survived the terrible winter they had here in Colfax.




Coming home to a snow storm


We had a wonderful trip and totally enjoyed all the places we visited.  People ask us what place was our favorite but that is a hard question.  Each place is unique and we have many favorites and would like to return to revisit some of them in the future.  On the road for 229 days and traveled 14,643 miles in the motor home.  Don't have the exact mileage for the Jeep but it is somewhere around 9,000 miles.  We were in 38 states and 5 Canadian Provinces.  We have now been in every state except Hawaii and we are planing on going there in 2012.  We learned on thing, this country is large, too large to see everything in only one trip or even in a lifetime.  We met some wonderful people along the way and collected lots of name cards so we can keep in touch.  We will continue to travel in the winters, away from the cold and snow, for as long as we can.  We have the travel bug and want to see more of this country.  This is the last blog for now and will start a new blog when we take off the the fall. Definitely Happy Travels, Barb

Nevada

Mar. 29 & 30

Sunny and nice today.  Do a little shopping and sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.  On Wed we go to the lunch buffet at Boulder Station Casino just down the street.

Mar. 31

Sunny again today and we drive to Hoover Dam.  We stop at the new bridge and walk across it.  It is an amazing bridge that they built above the dam.  The road use to wind down the canyon and over the top of the dam.  We drove down to the dam and drove across it.  I got some great pictures of the new bridge.  We drove to Boulder City and had good hamburgers at the Coffee Cup Cafe.  There were some interesting shops along the street so we did a little shopping.

New bridge

Hoover Dam

April 1

It is hot today so we spent all afternoon at the pool.  The water was great and we enjoyed the relaxing afternoon.  We drive into town and have dinner at one of the casinos and then go to Fremont Street Experience.  Tonight there are free concerts along the street featuring country music entertainers.  The Academy of Country Music is holding their award show on Sunday in Las Vegas so all the country stars are in Vegas.  Fremont Street is a 5 block entertainment zone which features the world's largest video screen 90 feet above the pedestrian mall.  It was quite the sight with the lights from the video screen, music and a large crowd of people.  We listened to a couple of performers but didn't stay long because it was still 86 degrees out and the crowd was very large.

Fremont Street Experience

April 2

Still sunny and hot today.  We stay around the motor home most of the day.  My niece and her husband, Terri and Steve pick us up for dinner.  We had a great seafood meal and enjoyed our evening with them.

April 3. 4, 5

The weather is a little cooler and I fell like I'm coming down with a cold so we stay in the campground for a few days. 

April 6

Sunny and a little cooler today.  After lunch we drive to the Strip area of downtown.  There are lots of people walking and traffic is bumper to bumper.  We decide it is too busy there so just drive up and back down the strip and look at the many hotels and casinos.  We have dinner at Memphis BBQ and order fried dill pickles to try. 

The Strip

April 7

After breakfast we drive north to the town of Overton and meet some friends, Jack and Rosie, we met at Central Ferry Campground three years ago.  We are meeting half way between when we both are camping.  We have lunch with them and have a good visit.  They are spending the summer working in Yellowstone. 

April 8

After lunch we do some shopping and Dick bought a shirt and shorts.  My sister and brother-in-law flew into Las Vegas so we met them for drinks at a casino.  Dick and I ate dinner at the Mexican Restaurant.

April 9

Today is a busy day.  After lunch we go to visit my two great nephews.  We met James, Teresa and Desmond who is 6 mo old and Brian, Rachel and Ethan who is almost 4.  My sister and husband and another niece, Debbie are there visiting also.  Tonight we are going to a surprise birthday party for my niece's husband, Steve. 

April 10

Sunny and warmer today.  We stay around the campground today and in the afternoon enjoy talking to our neighbors.  For dinner we go to Grimald's Pizzeria. 

April 11

It's sunny and nice as we leave Las Vegas.  We enjoyed our stay and will probably come back to Vegas next winter.  The drive up through Nevada is pretty boring.  The mountains are pretty but the scenery is pretty much the same for the 300 miles.  Our campground in located right on the border of Nevada and Utah.  The motel and gas station are in Utah and the casino and campground are in Nevada.  After dinner we drive into the little town of Baker which is at the edge of Great Basin National Park.  On the way to town we saw 5 bull Elk along the road about 30 yards from us.  That is the closest I have ever been to an Elk and have never seen that many at one time.

Elk

View from our campground

April 12

Today it is cloudy but not too cold.  After breakfast we drive to the Great Basin Nat. Park and go to Lehman Cave Visitors Center.  We get tickets for the 1:00 cave tour and watch two movies on the cave and the park.  Not much of the park roads are open because of snow so we can only drive a little ways into the park.  We eat a picnic lunch before our tour which last for 90 minutes.  This cave has great decorations and formations like stalactitetes, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstone, soda straws and rarities like shields.  We have seen 5 caves on this trip and this is the wettest one.  We all got dripped on on the tour and there was standing water on the floor in places.  The melting snow is entering the cave and it is especially bad this time of year. 

Lehman Caves

Tomorrow we travel north and probably spend the night in Wells NV.  Our next stop will be my sister's house in Parma ID where we will spend a few days.  I need a shopping fix with my sister.  We should be home sometime next week.  Definitely Happy Travels, Barb