Nan, Mary Jane and I visit a ranch.

Today I drove Nan and her mom to visit a working ranch and have lunch at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. When we got there we had lunch and then one of the cowgirls gave us a tour of the facilities. This was the strangest ranch I ever saw. I didn’t see any horses or cattle. Also, we got there around noon and all the cowgirls were still in their sleep wear. The only thing I saw that reminded me of a ranch was a room that included a bed with a set of stirrups in it, plus the girls all said they would be willing to get in the "cowgirl position", whatever that is. They had bungalows there that you could rent for $3,000 for 2 hours. For that kind of money I told Nan she should do whatever it takes to get a job there. We haven’t heard back from them yet.

Pawn Stars visit

Nan's mom arrived for a one week visit yesterday. She's a big fan of the show Pawn Stars on the history channel. We went to the pawn shop today and Nan and her mom got their picture taken with one of the employees (Chumley) that is a big part of the show.

Red Rock Canyon, Visit with Jordan, and Cobra Museum

Friday (4/16) Nan and I drove to the Red Rock Canyon. In addition to the many hiking trails, it has a 13 mile scenic loop where you can drive around the canyon.

On Saturday Nan and I drove 1 ½ hours west to Baker, California. The purpose was twofold. My nephew’s daughter and her son live in California about 1 ½ hours west of Baker, so we met them at this halfway point for lunch and a visit. But this also gave me a chance to cross another item off my bucket list. As I’m sure many of you already know, Baker, CA is the location of the worlds tallest thermometer. And what made it even better was the fact that it was located at the Bob’s Big Boy restaurant. So not only did we have a nice visit and feast, we ate at a location with some historical significance.

Then on Sunday our former neighbor from Ohio (Betsy) and her lover (Steve) arrived in Vegas. We met them at the Mirage Casino for dinner, and then the 3 of them went to see the new Cirque De Sole show "Love" which is a Beatles tribute. I’ve seen 3 Cirque shows already so I decided to pass on this one. I have a philosophical problem with putting more money into the pocket of someone as arrogant as Yoko Ono. Instead I went back to the campground and watched Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice show on TV.

Today I went to visit the Shelby Cobra museum. They give tours during the weekdays. The one car with the racing stripe is what I consider to be a classic Shelby Cobra design. The other car was the first Shelby Cobra built by Carroll Shelby. A few years ago he was offered $20 million for that car, but he turned it down. If you look closely at the picture, the seats are original and all ripped up. They took us in the back room where for $33,000 they will modify your Mustang to make it 750 horsepower. This voids the power train warranty, but people don’t seem to care.

Las Vegas

We arrived in Las Vegas on April 7, and will be here until April 28 at a Thousand Trails campground. We are about 5 miles from the Las Vegas strip, and walking distance from the Boulder Station Casino. Since we are here 3 weeks, Nan is doing a lot of quilting, and I’m playing a lot of poker. Nan played poker with me one night and she lost about $30, so she is not in any hurry to play again. I won that night, so as a team we were up.

Since Roxy isn’t a big fan of the desert, we drove to the Lake Mead Recreational area to let her go swimming. There is also a 31 mile paved trail in the Lake Mead area where walked a little. I included a picture of a prickly pear cactus by the trail that was in bloom.

Laughlin, Nevada

While staying in Cottonwood we went to visit the Tuzigoot ruins on Easter day. These ruins were from Indians that lived in the area in the 1300's. The next day we left Cottonwood and drove 5 hours to Laughlin, NV. Our choice was to cross the Colorado river at Laughlin, or cross at the Hoover Dam by Vegas. After September 11, 2001, the security at Hoover Dam is tight. It can take several hours to cross if you look suspicious. We decided to go to Laughlin. It’s about 2 hours from Vegas, and since it’s just on the border of the Arizona/Nevada line, they decided to put several casinos in this town. On Tuesdays they have a 2 for 1 deal on the buffet at the River Palms Casino, so you can have dinner for $10.00 total for 2 people. It sound like a good deal until you taste the food. At least I was able to fix a hole in my shoe with a piece of the London broil. Laughlin does have a nice river walk along the casinos, and the river is very clear.

Hike at Red Rock Pass

Today we took a hike at Red Rock Pass, just outside of Sedona, AZ. There are beautiful red mountains surrounding the pass. There is also a nice river running through the area. One picture is of an area along the path where people began stacking rocks on top of each other. Tonight I play poker at the campground clubhouse for a couple hours. They call it nickel, dime, quarter poker, but last week when I raised a quarter I heard a couple people gasp.

Sedona, AZ

A few day ago I drove up to Jerome, AZ which is way up in the mountains. I saw snow on the mountain peaks from the campground, so I wanted to drive up there to take a look. One picture is Roxy by the snow. When I got out of the car to take the picture I noticed a smell from either the engine or transmission of the Smart. I guess it’s not geared for mountain climbing. Then a couple days ago Nan and I drove to Sedona, AZ. It’s a very pretty city within a canyon. We took a picture of the mountains, and you can see houses in the background that are built to blend in to the countryside. We also took a picture of prickly pear cactus. These were purple, but most are green. I bought some prickly pear cactus jelly, but it didn’t have much flavor other than the sugar.

Yesterday we went to a local winery with Gary and Linda who we met in the park. For $10 each we got 5 samples of wine. They were pretty small samples. There was no way Nan was going to get buzzed off these small samples, so she tried to flirt with the guy to get bigger samples. Unfortunately she struck out.

This morning I took Roxy swimming in a river behind the campground. I heard a big splash, and then a form swimming towards Roxy as she was about 10 feet from the bank. They don’t have alligators here, so I wasn’t sure what it was. Then I heard a booming sound that echoed off the canyon walls. It turns out it was a beaver that was slapping it’s tail to warn others about Roxy. It did this about 8 to 10 times, then disappeared. I kept Roxy on the leash while the beaver swam around since she might have tried to chase after it. When she did see it she gave a yelp/howl telling me she wanted to give chase. Her sound also echoed off the canyon walls.