THE STRIP !!

      Well, boys and girls.......we put on our big girl/boy clothes and ventured into unknown realms (at least for us).    Took the kayaks off the Jeep roof so we could enter parking garages downtown.   

      Our first stop was the Fremont Street Experience.   It's at the north end of the Vegas Strip and is a covered mall.   Several casinos such as the 'Golden Nugget and Binions' take up much of the area but little shops for cigars, fake perfumes, cowboy clothes and of course Booze are found here.   As we walked up one side and down the other we were buzzed overhead by some zip-liners.   Must be part of a night-time act.  Being here in the day-time, it looks like the bad part of downtown Seattle but maybe at night it gets comes to life and is impressive.   We'll have to check.   There are people all over outside the casinos who try to give you "free" tickets for stuff ....must be a gimmick in there somewhere.   We must have TOURIST written all over us !  Just cause we look like deer in headlights !    OK. so enough of this fun let's head down the really good stuff. 

      We head south a couple of blocks and we're now on the "Strip".   The first major obstacle is parking.   Some places have metered parking for $1.50-$3.00 an hour but being the frugile people we are a free parking is what we'd like.    Oh yea, free parking at the Miracle Mile Shopping mall !   Floor 5C, and we're on foot again.   The escalators take us to a mezzanine but we don't know where the exit to the strip is.  A nice concierge guy says that way just stay to the right.   We walked forever until we saw daylight !   This mall is literally a mile around !  Incredible !   I might mention the fire alarm is blaring in our ears and that nice guy said if it was REALLY important he would have been notified.  Right....all we can think about is should we go get the Jeep outta there or is everything OK ?

      Finally, out on the street and the Bellagio Hotel is in front of us.    Everybody says "Go to the Bellagio. it's fabulous!"  Things must be different cause it isn't the grandeur we expected.   Yes, the ceiling is beautifully covered with huge blown glass Flowers done by Dave Chihully but they all are casino's and from our perspective they all look the same inside.   The conservatory was closed for a change in decor (Christmas), ... bummer... so we opted to splurge and have lunch at their buffet.  YUMMY......it was delicious but spending $50.00 + for lunch ??????  It's all quite ........I don't even know what the right word is but this is not us..... ...I'm glad to experience all of it but we are both exhausted.    Guess we are more at home with simpler things !

LAS VEGAS !!

      We are in Las Vegas until Wednesday.   It's totally a different place than we are used to or even comfortable with.  After spending an hour at AT&T, (Norm's new smart phone is not being very smart) we opted to stop across the street for a burger at Carl's Jr.  Norm had his famous star burger with side salad and I had a teriyaki burger...YUMM !   I had to go to the restroom to wash off the teriyaki sauce that was all over my hands when the gentleman sitting behind me said "Don't think you want to go in there right now".  Ok, I thought he was pulling my chain so I went anyway...you guessed it !   There was a drunk (man) sitting on the throne in the Women's room !    The gentleman laughed and then went to tell the clerks behind he counter.  They weren't even going to check til the gentleman went first.   Crazy ! He finally did leave, some minutes later.    Whew !!   Well....so much for that......just then two younger boys got up from their table, meandered to another table that a guy just left to go get salsa for his burger, paused, reached into the bag and out the door they went with the guys burger !  OMG.... I think we're in the wrong place !   This sure doesn't help us feel all warm anf fuzzy !

      Thought we'd drive out to Hoover Dam and get out of town for awhile.   It is HUGE !  Our first stop was going to be the Visitor's Center (it was actually the Men's Room, but that's a different story) only to find out they charge and admission fee...for the Visitor's Center ?   There was a fee for everything (except the Men's Room) so we walked the perimeter of the dam and took lot's of pic's.   The constuction began in 1931 and took 4 years to complete.  Over a million tons of concrete was poured by the end of completion.  The eerie thing is several workers lost their lives during construction and a few (didn't hear the exact number ) are still entombed here.   Standing over the very top and looking down the face of the dam gives an almost nauseous feeling......it is a  L O N G  way down.  Lake Mead is the result of the Colorado River being dammed and the border between Nevada and Arizona runs down the middle of the dam.  Our Jeep was parked in Arizona (which is an hour ahead in mountain time ) and we were in Nevada.  Cool !  

      Tomorrow , we venture out again to find the paint store that mixes the formula for our Coach. ( I guess it takes a couple of days to mix. )  Then, I think we'll find the Apple store to see if they can help with the 'dumb phone'.   Norm's making me crazy over that thing.  Many more adventures to come !  ( I can't help but be a little nervous as to what they are !!)  :)

     

ON THE ROAD AGAIN !!

      I am finally back online.   We have spent the last month going to Doctor's and Dentist appt's, visiting Norm's Mom and cleaning out un-necessary 'stuff ' from the coach.  Lots to do but the weather was getting worse so we left 4 days ago.

      The first night out we spent the night in Eugene, OR.  It was quite cold (about 39*) .  The next morning was just as bad and we heard they were expecting several big rain storms for the rest of the week.  Norm's goal was to just get over the Siskiyous before they got really bad.  As it turned out there was a bit of snow but none on the roads. ( Interesting, the sand they use is red.)  California has inspection stations near the border.  We were expecting they would be concerned about plant materials so we had none.  Who would have thought it was fruit of any kind that is not allowed.  Now, I know many of you are saying to yourself ...didn't they know that ?  Let me exlain.....NO we didn't !   Our travels, though extensive, are really limited to the Pacific NW.  This trip has placed us in areas we have not been in before.  So, if some of this sounds naive it's because it's all new to us.

      Willow, CA was our next overnight destination but it was under construction.   Darkness now comes earlier and since we don't know the area Norm decided to press on.   60 miles later we stopped in Woodland,CA which is a bit N. of Sacramento. 

      Day three, we are seeing palm trees pretty regularly and groves of trees lined the freeway as far as we could see, until we turned  E. to Bakersfield.  Truck drivers are even more dangerous here than in Seattle.   They pass, then cut over right in front of our coach kicking up anything on the road.  Norm says, if we get to Lk Havasu with our windshield intact it's gonna be a miracle !

      So now we are officially in southern CA.  We're both a little nervous, Norm thinks it's cause everything is 'unknown' .  Even the trees are weird....I think they're Yucca's but not sure.  I feel like a fish out of water, as it were, nothing is familiar to us...so very cool...but scary! It even smells different !   We arrived in Las Vegas yesterday afternoon and OMG !!!    I've never been here before and I couldn't believe all these huge hotels in the middle of nothing but desert!  I'm quite anxious to get out & explore "the Vegas Strip".   We got the coach settled in for a few days & temps are in the high 60's.  We hear birds singing away....again.... don't know what kind... but it's nice.

      Today is Thanksgiving !  We woke to blue skies and about 75*.  Norm's Mom told him it's still raining and cold in Bothell......we are grateful to have sun and warmth.   Dressed, fed and in the Jeep to go see town.   Talk about overwhelming !!   We can't even find a grocery store...don't they fix meals at home ?  By the middle of the afternoon we're exhausted...all I do is check the map and Norm's I Phone map app and all Norm does is make U-turns cause I got him on the wrong road!!   Sheeesh !!   Think we'll go back to the coach and fix tuna sandwiches for dinner !

      HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE !!