A few things-May 31, 2014

First an update on little Zoey. She has been moved out of NICU and into a unit called the Wellness Center. She is still on oxygen and has a feeding tube but is not on a ventilator. Today she has jaundice which is typical in 99.9% of all babies born in this altitude. We think she has turned one corner but still has a way to go. Thank you for your prayers. They have helped and are deeply appreciated.

Zoey at 3 days of age. They turned her over so the

milk indigestion would go away. It did. Do not ask me

how they know this. Zoey certainly did not tell them.

We got a day off today and almost feel lost without Hannah. But yesterday was long and exhausting.
Hannah arrived very early in the morning.

There's nothing better that a bowl of Cheerios and Kai-Lan on

television to start the day. Actually we all prefer Bubble Guppies

but it was too early for their show.

 

We had another thunderstorm yesterday. We opened all the shades and talked to Hannah about it. We told her when the rain and thunder and lightning were over we could watch the birds take a bath and eat worms.

We kept our word. Here she is, in the front window,

supported by "Daddy" (she has two and doesn't mind at all).

She's pointing to the birds who did indeed take baths and eat worms.

It was just another treasured time for us.

 

Until Zoey comes home our lives will be centered completely around Hannah and her needs. We are more than willing to help. But that means this travel blog isn't going anywhere. I'm sorry and happy about that at the same time. We'll get back to sightseeing as soon as all is well here.

 

 

 

 

A new family member-May 29, 2014

Hannah has a new sister. Zoey Hoffman was born on May 27th. She had a really rough beginning and is still in intensive care. We were allowed in to see her yesterday. It was tough to see but we know she is getting top notch care.

Zoey was born in Loveland but 6 hours after birth she was transferred by an ambulance from Children's Hospital in Denver to a hospital in Fort Collins. Her lungs were filled with fluid and she stopped breathing 5 minutes after she was born. Oxygen would not make her lungs work properly so she was moved so she could be put on a ventilator. She probably has another 2 weeks or so in the hospital.

This is the only picture we have of Zoey when she was less than

one day old. It could break my heart but we all know she will not

remember any of this. Her face is badly bruised so her color is odd.

But the rest of her is now nice baby pink.

 

She can only be held every six hours. Any more than that overstimulates her. If I told you all that these parents have been told you would not believe me. We find it to be complete horse feathers, if you get my drift. However, the doctors are in charge and we have to obey. But when we get that critter home we will wear her out by holding her so much. Hannah will not be ignored, but then you know that. So, our family has grown by one more little girl. If she provides the joy Hannah has provided, we will certainly have double the joy. Zoey is not out of the woods, so prayers would be appreciated. By the way, Zoey means "life" in Greek. That has to mean we are going to win this battle.

Pictures to share-May 29, 2014

I'm so far behind on posting pictures I am going to post them in no particular order. Yes, most will be of Hannah.

Since we are in the 80s this may be one of the last shots of pretty snow

in the mountains. There is something about a mountain snow picture at this

time of the year that seems very peaceful.

 

While looking at this sunset over the mountains in the west,

there was a very strong electrical storm going on in the north.

Lots of cloud to cloud lightning.  

 

 

This is our favorite topic.

Little Miss Hannah's first taste of KFC's chicken tenders.

Actually it was our first taste also. They were quite good.

As you can see this little girl loves the sweet and sour dipping sauce, too.

 

One of the first funny things little girls do is put

on their mother's shoes and try to walk in them. These

 are my indoor Crocs. I never told her to do this. Hannah

just pulled the shoes off my feet and put them on her feet

and giggled while she tried to walk. We giggled, too.

I have committed two sins in this picture. No one

is allowed to wear shoes in Derrick's house, so to put my shoes

on Hannah's feet indoors was just really bad. Who could resist?

 

Hannah negotiating with Granddaddy on where they will go

for their walk this morning. She won. Because I know the love

behind this picture, this one means a lot to me.

 

This is probably enough for you to have to look at today. I apologize I simply cannot resist taking pictures of this little creature. We are quickly learning how to communicate with each other and her vocabulary is increasing by the day. We are having such a great time with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking in-May 28, 2014

I wanted to let you know I am still kicking. We have had Hurricane Hannah around the clock and that leaves little time for anything else. As soon as I get time I have pictures to post and will probably take more today. I have some news to share, too.

More later...................

Not much happening-May 25, 2014

Every day the severe storms are in a different area. We could see a few clouds east of us as we were getting ready to go to Derrick's for a cookout. It was dark that way, but when we got to the car to load up, we were shocked at what we saw.

This massive storm was traveling along the front range and going

north. We were shocked at the size of this mass of clouds. At the same

time, it was beautiful. We have not heard yet who received the storm.

That building is not part of this property. It is on the acreage behind us.

 

We enjoyed a nice meal together with Hannah and her parents. She is starting to repeat back to us the things we have said. So, while we were all looking for a remote she misplaced, she shrugged her shoulders and said "Oh dear" exactly the way I say it. We all just about rolled on the floor with laughter. And she giggled. What a character.



 

Happy Memorial Day!

And thank you for your service to all veterans, past and present.

Safe-May 22, 2014

We are safe and only received rain and wind and thunder while the rest of the state was bombarded with huge hail stones and tornadoes. What a mess these storms have been. They are supposedly going to hang around at least through tomorrow. The good part is that it is cool and we can leave all of our windows open.

 

 Now for the story behind the sign. Severance, Colorado is a little town very close to us. It is world famous for Bruce's Bar which serves more Rocky Mountain oysters than any place else in the world. If you do not know what Rocky Mountain oysters are, google it. Or take my word for it, oysters are what distinguish a steer from a bull. This restaurant batters and fries them and serves tons of them. Jerry likes them and mentioned today he wants to eat there soon. I have not brought myself to the point I can taste them yet. I will just order something else.

 

Severance is also known in this part of the country for their excellent goose hunting. I don't do that either. But this hopefully explains the statement on the sign, where the geese fly and the bulls cry. Severance is really a neat little town. If we drive west we drive through Severance every time.

 



Bubbles and more-May 20, 2014

Google was down in this area last night so I could not post this blog. I suppose you didn't miss much but I have done this for so long now that I almost have withdrawal symptoms if I don't post something.

We took the day off yesterday to go grocery shopping which we have not done since we arrived. We were so very disappointed at what we found in the stores. Virtually no fresh produce anywhere we went and the prices were so shocking it drowned our interest in food. Las Vegas has some great stores and one that is excellent, Glaziers, so we found we really miss those stores. And the prices are so much more reasonable than here. I guess the market dictates the prices. And to think the prices are even cheaper in Arizona than Las Vegas. No wonder so many people winter there.

Today we were back in the routine. We got to play with Hannah this morning. We decided we would play bubbles. We bought two different kinds and she wanted to do both at the same time. It was so much fun.

Hannah loved playing with the bubbles. The wind was a little strong,

but it was warm so we could stay out longer.

 

We will pick her up in the morning and get her back home before the storms start tomorrow afternoon. It is sounding very bad, but we remain positive. We have plans if the hail does materialize.

Endless energy-May 17, 2014

We babysat Hannah for over 10 hours yesterday and we were zombies by the time we got in bed. We were so tired it reminded us of the day we waxed the coach by ourselves in Las Vegas. Muscles hurt we didn't know we had.

Can you guess what we did a great portion of yesterday?

 

I got a break so I could take pictures. Lucky me.

 

Today was a little different.

 

 

                          

                                      Waiting on her parents to get ready to go out to eat.

 

We went to the Rio in downtown Greeley. Fabulous food!

This little girl can eat salsa so hot we can't touch it. And she

knows how to dip her chips all by herself. Here she's already

on dessert, a plate of three sopapillas. She ate them all.

 

Tomorrow is going to be a day of rest for us. We need to rejuvenate our bodies in preparation for whatever next week may hold. Perhaps I can give you a break from pictures of Hannah!

 

 

Have a wonderfully peaceful and restful Sunday.





 

 

 

 

 

 

Where we are-May 15, 2014

Today was also not a good day, but we took Hannah outside anyway. She went absolutely bonkers and we could barely keep up with her. The building on this property is a 7280 sq ft Butler building. That's a pretty big building. Hannah ran around it two times. So, did we! She walked through all the trees. And she kicked a large ball, soccer style, for over an hour. She actually got so tired she stopped in her tracks and Jerry grabbed her before she fell on the ground. No problem this afternoon getting her to nap.

Here is a view of the property we are calling our own personal and private RV park.

Standing near the street looking toward the big building. The building

does not sit straight on the property so we are parked on the west side

with a fabulous view of the mountains.

 

Just outside our door is all this grass for Hannah to play on. The

sprinkler has not been turned on yet so the grass is not green.

But it is plenty thick enough to prevent injuries if she falls while

running like she does.

 

The other side has all these fantastic trees forming a perfect

windbreak. Hannah ran in and out of every row many times.

And so did we!

 

After we took her home so she could nap we came back and cleaned up the mess left behind by Hurricane Hannah. Jerry decided to find out why our television squeaks when we drive on bumpy roads. How glad we are he made that decision because there were only 2 screws holding the set in place with all the others laying on a ledge under the television. Oh my goodness. So he worked very hard with me lending a hand briefly and now that thing is in there so tight he says it will stay for a while, hopefully. Now we are resting while it rains.

 

 

More wind-May 14, 2014

The sun was bright today but the wind kicked up so we could only take Hannah out for about half an hour.

Stepping on shadows.

 

Back inside we decided we'd teach her to drive this bus and

then we can sit back and enjoy the journey. She is willing!

(I'm not sure what that mess of hair on the top of her head is called,

but we laugh constantly at the static electricity that builds up in it).

 

It goes without saying we are having more fun than the law allows. I have said before and I will repeat it, Hannah is the pot of gold at the end of our rainbow.

 

The weather is better-May 13, 2014

This is what we woke up to this morning. The snow around us melted which

 made the alfalfa happy. Great view. We are enjoying it.

 

The north wind is still crisp so we kept Hannah indoors. Maybe tomorrow will be different though tonight will be below freezing again. I think I heard it is supposed to rain next week. I think we have been dragging the bad weather around with us for the past year. Maybe we will stay put for a while and see if our jinx goes away. We need for the weather to clear up. We have so many places we want to take Hannah.

 

 

Catching up-May 12, 2014

In the duress of the trip from Albuquerque I forgot I had taken some pictures. I would like to share a few now. It was a pretty drive but the stress overtook my thoughts.

You know me and clouds. These cirrus clouds were seen in northern New Mexico.

 

Us old folks still call this Mile High Stadium. It is now

referred to as Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Stupid name.

 

The round brown building in the center is the Pepsi Center aka "The Can".

Elitch Gardens. That is a wooden roller coaster and yes, it really

moves when you ride the cars. It is a little frightening.

 

The Denver skyline, or most of what I could take a picture of

while we were fighting rush hour traffic.

 

And last but not least:

This is what we woke up to this morning. A beautiful sight, but it

is very cold and very windy on top of it.

 

As soon as I get some good pictures of Hannah I will post those. After all, she is the reason we are here!

 

 

 

 

 

We made it!-May 10, 2014

It is very hard to tell you about our journey to here in Greeley from Albuquerque. There are just not enough accurate words. It was a dreadful trip that we are trying to put behind us. We always stay in Colorado City after leaving Albuquerque. We found out too late to stop that they had no room this time. Every park between there and here was completely booked. We know now that the parks are full because of oil workers who are living there permanently. We've encountered that before in other states. Anyway, the wind was absolutely horrible and for most of the day it was a cross wind. Jerry was battling with all his might to hold the coach the road. At one point he was holding onto the steering wheel and he was partially out of the seat saying "Hold on, hold on, hold on". I am not sure who he was talking to, but I kept quiet and held my breath and prayed. Because all the parks were full we were forced to drive 540 miles in one day, over 9 hours of non stop driving. It was horrible. However, we are very blessed we made it without severe incident or injury, just tired aching bodies.

We arrived here at dark. Due to a miscommunication we had no power, so we drove to Derrick's. We arrived there to find his yard completely saturated and muddy. We would have sunk into the ground, so we pulled far enough in to his driveway to connect to power. Then this morning we were able to drive to our personal RV park. This is a nice place to stay. Great view. And we are covered which will be great if tomorrow's predicted snow storm materializes. We are about 5 miles from Derrick. That's about a 7 or 8 minute drive.

Our little coach is on the left. The man who owns this property

owns the 45 ft Prevost. It was well over $1 million new. I offered

to swap with him even, but he declined. He's no fun! He parks it

inside when not in use. We are just happy to have a nice cover over

our heads especially in light of the impending storm. There are places for

3 large coaches to park here, plus a 2000 sq ft house inside the building, all on this

property. He also put in a garage for his toys. It is gigantic. The entire property

is on the market for a mere $699,000. He suggested today that we buy it. We declined.  

 

The view from the entire passenger side of our coach. It is wonderful.

 

We hope by tomorrow afternoon we will start to feel human. It was such a difficult drive to get here, but we hope the amount of fun we have here will help us to forget about that.

 

To all my lady friends who set such wonderful examples of motherhood for me, I thank you for being in my life. And I wish you a wonderful Mother's Day! And to my own mother, I also say Happy Mother's Day and thanks for being such a special and loving mother! You are appreciated and loved.

 

 

 

Albuquerque, NM-May 8, 2014

I almost do not need to tell you it was windy today. We were sprinkled on a couple of times but not enough to amount to anything. But that wind. To quote the lady in the office here, "This winter just won't let go". That's very true.

The drive from Williams never grows tiring. The area just east of that city is all pine trees. No deciduous trees at all. And because there are so many pine trees there's no underbrush in the forest. It's just fascinating and inviting. I told Jerry I would love to walk through there one day.

Then eventually the area transforms to flat land with not much vegetation at all. Then the unique mountains appear near Winslow. Then you pass into lava land around Grants. Finally back into the higher elevations, up and down passes and into Albuquerque.

Those indentions that look like caves may or may not be that.

I wonder if that's where the roaring water gouged out the banks

when the earth was being formed. That's merely a thought that

wanders through my mind when I look at this. It's actually quite beautiful.

 

The most interesting part of the drive to me is the area that's completely

covered in lava from a volcanic eruption eons of time ago. There's so much

of the lava rock on the ground it is absolutely astonishing.

 

The only lava that appears to have been moved is what it took

to build the interstate. Tons of the rock is right up next to the road.

This is a fascinating area that I never grow tired of seeing.

 

We have two more days of hard driving to get to Colorado before it snows there on Sunday and Monday. We hope that the weather will turn nice once we get there so we can play outdoors with Hannah.

 

 

 

 

 

Williams, AZ-May 7, 2014

With a touch of reluctance we left Las Vegas on time this morning. It was already quite warm. We stopped about 1/2 mile from the park to fill up the coach. And in true Las Vegas fashion, Elvis filled up his red Chevy truck right next to us. His license plate was "Elvis04" so I know it was him! That was the perfect ending to a wonderful stay.

This is the fullest we have ever seen Lake Mead.

 

The Colorado River had a lot of water in it, too.

 

I've always loved this picture. A hotel built in the middle of

mountains of volcanic lava rock above Lake Mead.

 

We arrived safely at the Grand Canyon Railroad RV park. It was a mere 47° with a rain/sleet/snow mixture falling. What a shock! We had to drag out heavy jackets. We can't complain because at Derrick's house they had tornado warnings. We'll take this over that if given a choice.

 

This park was jam packed and we were lucky to get a spot. We are not sure why people would want to spend the winter here with all the snow, but they have. Many license plates are from Florida.

 

Up early tomorrow and onward.

 

 

Delayed-May 6, 2014

The wind was as bad today as predicted so we hunkered down. It is calming down now and we will be ready to go tomorrow. Jerry said he just could not drive over that high-in-the-sky bridge by Hoover Dam with a high profile vehicle warning in place. We'll be ready to go for sure in the morning.

We have had such a wonderful time here. As much as Las Vegas has going against it, it has more going for it. When you see the lights of the city at night it makes you feel that all is right with the world. It is as unique an experience as is Rapid City, SD. Both cities are nothing alike but they make one feel like there's no greater place in the country to be. Las Vegas is alive, constantly changing and never gets complacent. If it were not for the weather, this could easily be home. The thought of trying to exist in 115° temps is not bearable.

So, with happy thoughts, we will head for Colorado tomorrow. Should arrive toward the end of the week.

Getting ready-May 5, 2014

We worked very hard today to get things packed away, everything cleaned and serviced and thought we had accomplished a lot. Then tonight the wind really picked up, much more than before. After checking the weather reports here and all along the three routes available to us, none look promising. So, at this point we are not sure what we will be doing tomorrow.

We will not take foolish chances.

I will keep you informed.

Casa D'Amore-May 3, 2014

We celebrated Jerry's birthday tonight at a very highly rated Italian restaurant, Casa D'Amore. I'm not Italian but I think that means house of love or something like that. It lived up to its billing and all the reviews posted online. It is billed as "Vegas the way it used to be". And it is. Charming atmosphere with pictures all over the walls of the way the casinos looked when Las Vegas was a baby. Pictures of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr, Tony Bennett and many more that were before our time. And for our time there were pictures of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. The restaurant was so clean and everybody was so nice that we had a great time. The food was out of this world. Nothing thrown in a microwave. I think Gordon Ramsey would definitely approve of this place. It was a fun way to celebrate Jerry turning another year older!

I really liked that the candle was inside the wine bottle

and the cork was firmly placed on top. Very interesting.

 

This Rolls Royce convertible was parked out front. I'd love to

tell you we traded our "toad" but good grief, we could not afford

a windshield wiper for this thing. It was really pretty and oozed money.

For the record, Cute Red Vehicle was parked in back.

 

We will always remember this meal because it was really special. Tomorrow brings us another very hot day and Monday we pack to leave.

 

I hope Sunday brings you a day of blessings and rest.

 

 

Fremont Street-May 2, 2014

We knew today was going to be really hot, so we headed to the Fremont Street Experience. It is covered so we knew we would be in the shade. It was our last chance to go there this visit which is sort of sad. However, the unique things we saw today will stay burned in our memories for a long time to come. There are always interesting characters on the street. They charge $10 to pose with you or a friend for a picture. Some we saw today I did not want to even be seen taking a picture much less be in one.

A human statue of Stevie Wonder. This guy could hold a pose

for a very long time. He wanted tips just for standing there. I

don't think so. He had signs that said he has won numerous

awards for his posing. Who can dispute him?

 

Look toward the top and see the brave person riding the zip line

across the entire Fremont Street Experience. No, it's not me. And

it definitely is not Jerry. I would love to ride it but Jerry is not

excited for me to do that. Maybe next trip.

 

Only $10 to pose with this nice fire fighter. He

was kind on the eye. I hid behind Jerry to keep

from paying this guy for posing. Is that cheating?

 

 

In this picture there are two men who were posing for money. At

one time they had quite a crowd around them. I will let you pick

out the two men. I have no further comment.

 

We are having to put deep thought into tomorrow's plans. It will be close to 100°. We are not really too fond of temps like that.

 

 

The Strip-May 1, 2014

Today was our last trip to the Strip for this visit. Sad. There is no way we could cover the entire Strip in one day, so we chose the area around MGM and New York. First we checked in at the MGM Lion's Share machine.

It is up only $4100 in a little over 3 weeks. That's

not very much at all. Apparently the machine is vacant

much of the time. However, there were 4 people in line

to play when I took this picture.

 

The Tropicana is a long walk across the street. It has been beautifully renovated but it was so hot we barely walked in the door and turned around and walked out. Then we went across to the three in one group. Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay are all connected by tram. For a reason I don't know we found parts of the Luxor we have never seen before. It was just beautiful. We walked from Mandalay Bay to the Luxor which brought us in on the second floor where normally we are on the ground floor. So, for the first time we saw the hotel rooms from the inside.

 

From Mandalay Bay this is the first view of the interior of the

Luxor. Obviously the buildings are just for decoration. But, the

gray part that's on an angle with lights in between are the rooms

in the hotel. We've never seen this and we just stopped and stared

like normal tourists would do. This is so massive it would never

show up in a picture.

 

Perhaps this shows the hotel rooms a little more clearly.

 

This humongous statue is in the lobby of the hotel. In fact

there are 3 of these in the lobby.

 

Also inside the Luxor lobby.

 

This obelisk is outside the Luxor. For another odd quirk

we have not been in front of this obelisk like this before today.

 

The Excalibur

 

We found this fountain and pool on the back side of the Excalibur.

Again, we have not been in this spot before.

 

We haven't a clue how we ended up in places we have never been in before, but we are certainly glad we saw this before we left. Things constantly change in Las Vegas. The construction never stops so we know if and when we return this place will be completely different. That just means more for us to explore! This was our last nice day weather wise so we enjoyed every moment. We'll be inching up close to the 100 degree mark from here on out. Time to go!