It's Birthday Week!!

We are still in Las Vegas and will be for the month of Oct, too.  I need to change from a travel blog to just a weekly news blog.

There were some important Birthdays in our family this past week.

Our oldest Grand child, Haley, turned 16.  She is a gorgeous girl and lives in California.  We don't get to see her as much as we would like.

Haley Collins

Her Birthday was on the 24th of Sept.  My older brother, Bob, graduated with Craig from High School in 1965.  His Birthday was on the 25th.  We got to spend some time with him and his wife, Pam in their home state of Minnesota this past summer.

Bob Hoshaw
My younger brother, Dave, drove up from Phoenix and spent the week here working at a Classic Car Auction.  It was a long, hard week for him. He was tired and hungry and ready to start the 4 1/2 hour drive back home.


We visited for awhile and mom revealed a surprise she had made for Dave and I.  Dave's Birthday was in July and mine is rolling up soon.  She makes these wonderful home-made Angel Food Cakes.  Thanks, mom!!


It was good!!!!

We have been trying to lose a few of the pounds (I wish I could say that it was ALL of them) that we have put on since Craig retired.  We walk and run in the mornings and then later in the days we try to get to the pool to swim and sit in the hot tub.

Tomorrow, we take mom to her Ear Doctor.  We hope to find something that works better for her without being a drastic change over what she has been used to.

I know many folks who are going through struggles and I think we need to pray for one another and agree to be thankful for the good things in our lives.  We all have many blessings!!!

The Whale is at rest.

Enjoy your last day of September tomorrow.

It's Fall Already?

I haven't posted in several days.  We have been planted here in Duck Creek RV Park now for ten days.  We have used the pool and hot tub and have walked each morning around the roadway and we feel pretty comfortable here.

Dad's vision continues to improve since his cataract surgery last week.  He isn't in the best of moods, but he can at least see TV again and that helps to pass the days.

My younger brother, Dave, drove up from Phoenix and will be spending most of the week with dad and mom.  He is working a classic car auction and will keep pretty busy with that, but the folks are glad to get to see him.

Each day seems to fill up with things to keep us busy.  We have a few projects around their house to take care of and we just do a few things at a time.

Here are some events from today:  We took mom to her hearing appointment this morning.  She has worn aids for 4 1/2 years and today she got a new "digital" pair to try out.  It's pretty hard to make changes like that, but she is determined to get the most out of them.  We came back to the house and had some lunch and then took dad to his one week eye check up.  It's healing and they set Oct 23 for removing the cataract in his right eye.  They want to wait past the first month mark on his left eye.  We got dad back to their house and resting in bed and mom and I headed to Von's to pick up a prescription and let her get her flu shot.

Craig and I decided to go to a $3 movie at Sam's Town.  We found that Tuesdays are senior day.  We took some time to find out if there were any other deals. The movie was ok and we got two for one buffet coupons, so we enjoyed those.  They have a beautiful atrium there.

(I have a nice photo, but it won't upload for some reason.)

We have had a few "freeze" up problems with our RV air conditioner during some pretty hot days here.  We are learning how to make sure it has time to cycle and have a couple of guys in the Park who have been willing to share their ideas of what we need to be doing.  It has cooled down here after some pretty windy days and we are able to turn off the air at night.  That's all good since our monthly rate here at the RV park does not include electricity.  We will have to pay that separately, so we appreciate when we can turn it off.

Duck Creek RV Park in Las Vegas, NV

Good Morning!

If you only read these in your email and aren't on Facebook, I need to tell you that the cataract surgery on dad's left eye was a success.  He now has 20/60 vision in that eye.  We aren't sure if they are going to do the other eye, but his mood seems much better.  He even posed for this shot yesterday.

This morning, Craig went out for his run and I for my walk.  There is a huge sport complex next to the RV Park.  There was a nice gentleman who held the gate open for me to enter the park and the Park is huge.

I walked my mile and decided that I always look for a way to look skinny and tall...... I found it.  The legs are still a bit on the stout side, though.

I got back to the gate and realized that it had a locked and I didn't have a key.  Oh bad.  I saw a man working in the garden area and pleaded my stupid blondness as an excuse and after thoroughly quizzing me about whether or not we were staying in the park... he let me in.  It would have been a long walk to places I have never been if he had not.

We decided to go for a swim and hot tub.  They do have a very nice facility here.

Aaaahhhhhhh.

It's not a "fancy" park, but it has everything we need and everyone here has been very nice to us.... especially the two guys that let me in and out of the gate.  Well, maybe not the first guy because he probably realized he was locking me in.  I'll be looking for him tomorrow.

There are four long roads with RV's.

We have an end, corner lot and our car fits there, too.  It even has a bit of shade which is pretty unusual in Vegas.  Yesterday was 102, but they say it will be the last day of triple digits for the year.  I like that!!

It really is a pretty nice place and the price is the best in the area.

Today, mom gets her new frig/freezer.  I believe I told you about her old one not freezer her food solid.  We moved most of the freezer stuff to a friends frig (they are still in WI) and we have an 11:30 to 1:30 window for delivery today.  We found just what she needed at Best Buy and they had free delivery and haul away.  Hopefully, this one will be just what she wanted.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and kind words to dad as he went through his surgery.  He is so happy to be able to see TV and everything once again.  We are prayerful that seeing will also greatly improve his mood.

Blessings!!

We arrived in Las Vegas on Sat the 14th.  We are parked on Boulder Hwy at Duck Creek RV Park.  They have a great first week rate and we may move the the month rate.  It's still over 100 during the days, but this is supposed to be the last 3 digit day of the year.  That would be good timing.

Craig, Mom and I took Dad to his cataract surgery yesterday morning.  Because of the steroids he takes, they aren't sure how much it will help, but they decided he was nearly blind and that it couldn't hurt to try.  He is weak and mom was pretty stressed about him going through the procedure, but he did fine and soon we will be taking him to his follow up doctor visit to see how well the surgery worked.

We got back to the Whale last night and took our 5 gallon water jug over to the water machine to fill it up.  The park water doesn't have the best taste.  We met another couple from Loveland, CO and while visiting with them, Craig backed up into this:

We had to get out the tweezers and pluck the cactus out of his side.  That was interesting.  I think we got them all with the help of a magnifier.  This reminded me of a time when Tana was 5 and Jeff was 7 and they were flying a kite in Texas in a pasture while we were on a ranch.  Tana backed into a Prickly Pear cactus.  She quickly dropped her drawers and yelled at Jeff to, "Pull them out".  He helped her out without the aid of tweezers.

We spent this morning doing laundry, defrosting the frig and cleaning up the RV since it had been awhile since we had done any of those things.  Our new furniture and arrangement seem to be working out, but it is pretty hot in here during the heat of the day.

Time to get on the road to get Dad to his appointment. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Keep calm.

The Whale Arrived in the Desert

We arrived in Las Vegas early yesterday afternoon.  Here's our photos from the final leg from Cedar City, UT to Las Vegas, NV.

We drove through the area where Bryce Canyon, Zion and Lake Powell exits are.

Virgin River Gorge

As you come down from the mountains you get this first view of the City that Never Sleeps.

Mom and Dad are doing OK.  They are having an issue with their freezer, so we are going frig/freezer shopping today.  Tomorrow, dad has his cataract surgery at 10:45.  They are hopeful it will help his vision, but they made no promises.

Leaning on Jesus!!!

Good-bye Colorado

We continue to think and pray for all of the people in Colorado who are so struggling with the rain.

We drove out of Fruita, CO this morning and have been driving across Utah today and have turned off I 70 and headed south on

 I 15.  We thought of all of our family in Price today and wished we had time to visit again... maybe another day... not in winter.

Leaving Colorado

Entering Utah

 Utah is a lot like Colorado in that there are so many beautiful sights to see and never enough time to pause and take them all in. We took a few photos along the way.

We fell in behind a small caravan of RV's and we felt that the Whale was a part of a Pod for many miles.  We were delighted when we decided to pull over at the Ghost Mountain Rest Stop and they pulled in ahead of us.  We had a chance to talk and found they were from Washington State and had been to Moab and were on their way to Bryce and Zion Parks.

We are about 140 miles out from my parents home in Las Vegas.  We will get up and make the final lap in the morning.

We found a nice Walmart parking lot, made a nice dinner (Chicken Pillows, mashed potatoes, gravy and asparagus) and now we are just relaxing and trying to stay awake until time to sleep.

Praying that you are all staying high and dry.  It has rained off and on since we stopped today.

The Whale Swims Out of Aurora

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who are going through flooding in Boulder and surrounding areas. We had a short break in the rain this morning and decided it was time to get out of Aurora, while we still could.  I70 west had been closed due to a rock slide, but had just reopened.  Craig got soaked getting everything ready and packed up to leave Cherry Creek State Park.  This is the view that was so gorgeous our first morning there....today, not so much.

Good-bye Cherry Creek.  We will very much miss all of our family there!!!

Fog and Rain in the Rockies

Dillon near Breckenridge

Starting to clear up as we come close to Vail Pass

Aspen beginning to change color

Colorful Colorado

Glenwood Springs

The river was full of mud and everything else that had washed down the mountain after all of the rain.

The Whale and Tail and Usens getting a little rest and food at a Glenwood Springs Rest Stop.

We decided to make a short day of it and found this treasure in Fruita. Colorado River State Park.  It's well kept with a couple of lakes, too.

I took some pictures at sunset.  I think these are called, "Book Cliffs"

Verga (rain that doesn't hit the ground)

I had a nice chat with a couple after I took these photos.  They rented out their home in Grand Junction and they are going to RV for awhile.  We will watch a little TV and get a good nights sleep.  We won't have to be in too big of a hurry to hit the road tomorrow.  It's camping courtesy not to make too much noise between 11pm and 8am.  We can accommodate.

Sweet Dreams