Camping Fun (NOT!)

This is where we like to camp in the spring because it's close to home and the fishing is pretty good. We left Friday after work even though I wasn't feeling very well. Thursday I had the chills and an upset stomach but I didn't feel any worse Friday so I thought it was a 24 hour bug and I would feel better by Saturday morning. I was so wrong! All I'm going to say about it is that camping is the last thing you want to be doing when you have what I did. Whatever I had (have) has knocked me on my butt. This is the 5th day of this crud, but I am finally starting to feel better.


This was our second trip to Black's Pond this year, the first was the weekend before when we left in a torrential rainstorm. By the time we got there it was just sprinkling so we set up camp and settled in for the night when the generator conked out on us. Ken couldn't get it started but said not to worry we have the battery, well....we had a dead battery. So that night was spent without lights, heat or water. We did have a nice quilt covered bed, so we settled in for the night, but it rained most of the weekend so that camping trip was rather dismal too.

We're going to wait a few weeks before we try camping again.

More Vegas and Elton John

This was inside the Wynn, a very ritzy hotel and casino.

What visit to Vegas would be complete without an Elvis sighting.


Outside the Venetian. They offered gondola rides inside or outside.

This was inside the Wynn Hotel also. We took so many pictures of ceilings I may do a posting on just ceilings.

Outside the Wynn Hotel.

The Conservatory inside the Bellagio. They change the decor according to the seasons and holidays. This spring planting represented European gardens.

The Conservatory.

We saw four different water shows at the Bellagio. We watched three nightime shows and this daytime show. On weekend nights there is a show every 15 minutes so by the time you watch one and walk around the lake there is another one starting. There was different music for each show we watched.

Seeing Elton John in concert wasn't the reason we took the trip to Vegas, but when we heard he was performing at Caesars Palace it was a huge bonus. All three of us are big fans and the chance to hear him live was beyond our wildest dreams. The tickets were expensive and we ended up sitting near the top of the coliseum but it didn't matter as there really wasn't a bad seat in the entire place. We had a good view of him playing the piano, which he did on every song.

We loved the show, even though some of the videos and stage props were a little bizzare. The show is somewhat risque, but we were in Vegas and expected that. Listening to him sing and play some of his greatest hits was worth every penny we paid. His voice sounded as strong as it did thirty years ago. Our only complaint with the show was that it ended too soon.

Next vacation together----New York City! Start saving your bucks girls.

Viva Las Vegas

Last weekend I flew to Vegas with my sisters, Brenda and Jennie. We had talked about this trip for over a year and tuthfully, I didn't think we would ever do it. Six weeks ago I called them and said we are doing it, I got us booked and we found out we could spend three days, 24/7, together and get along (even with my snoring). Jennie probably realized that her two older sisters really are a lot older than she is. After walking up and down the strip all day Friday, Brenda had 3 or 4 blisters and I did something to my foot and was hobbling around like the old lady I am quickly becoming, but Jennie was like the energizer bunny, she just kept going and going.

My pictures are in random order because I have a miserable cold and I just don't feel like taking the time to organize them.

The Venetian Hotel and Casino was our favorite. It was absolutely beautiful and of course, we took the gondola ride through the canals of Venice. This was all inside the building, a lot of the casinos have the sky painted to make you seem like you're outside, but this one was the most realistic.

The picture above is the world's largest chocolate fountain. There are 2,100 pounds of melted dark, milk and white chocolate pouring through at a rate of 120 quarts per minute. The whole shop was full of beautiful chocolate creations and it smelled yummy. The shop was inside the Bellagio Hotel.

If you ever watch Oprah (or the movie of the same name) you will know about frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. This Vegas shop just opened last month and we couldn't resist trying one. It was good, but I have heard that people stand in line for hours at the NYC store to get one, I wouldn't ever do that.

We ate at the most expensive buffet in Vegas--Bellagio's-- it was good, but I wouldn't pay that much for a buffet ever again. I mean really... can you eat $45 dollars worth of food at a buffet? This is my desert plate so you can see I tried to get my money's worth there.
While we were waiting in the line to get in I looked up and Jason Alexander (George Costanza, for all you Seinfeld fans) walked right by me. That was our only star sighting.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. We had planned to go to the top but never made it.

This is the pool area at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I would love to stay there sometime. It has an Asian tropical theme and is really beautiful.

This Jacuzzi tub became my favorite thing in Vegas. Sitting in a tub of hot, bubbling water relaxed my muscles enough that I could go hard the next day. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and received a room upgrade when we checked in so we had a much more luxurious room than what we paid for. Thank you Caesar's Palace!

It was so nice to see green bushes, trees and blooming flowers. After our long hard winter I am sick of everything looking brown and dead.

In preparation for the highlight of our trip, Elton John's Red Piano Concert, Brenda and Jennie went shopping for some Elton glasses.

You'll have to wait for part 2 of our Vegas adventure tomorrow, right now my head is pounding, my nose is stuffy and it's time for a nap.

Big Horn Mountains

When I was a kid growing up in Cowley, we spent a lot of time camping in the Big Horns. I always had fun once I got there, but getting there was always painful for me. I used to get really car sick and the switchback roads would get to me every time. Dad got so tired of me getting sick that he stuck me in the back of the pickup and I would just hang my head over the side and puke all the way up the mountain. Now that you have that lovely visual in your head, I'll get to the point of this post.

We spent the Labor Day weekend camping on the Big Horns with Ken's family. I really enjoy camping now that we have our own trailer. With a warm place to sleep, a flush toilet and a shower, camping is fun to me again. Those aren't camping luxuries to me, but necessities. It was a beautiful weekend until it starting raining Sunday night. It rained all night and by the time we left at noon on Monday, it was 32 degrees and starting to snow. Enjoy the few pictures I took, the battery was fully charged and I had the camera in my pocket most of the time, just forgot to use it.