White water!

Hi all,

I know it has been a LONG time since I have updated my blog. The beginning of school proved busy to say the least! Some days, I feel like my head is reeling from all the things I have going at once, and I am about to add Tae Kwon So, back into my schedule. But yesterday, we did something recreations JUST for ourselves!

We headed down the Deschutes river at Maupin Run with our dear friends Dave and Connie. We left at 7:30 in the morning for the 2.5 hour drive to Maupin, out by the Dalles. After feeding the boys, yes, Jeff and Dave, we arrived at the put-in site at 10:02...not bad!

We were greeted by Troy, our guide and owner of Natural High Rafting. After going over some quick safety information and brief itinerary, we headed off to the river without delay. Once in the raft were practiced our instructions, and headed down for the first few rapids.

The beginning looked so smooth...but in this picture I had just gotten soaked by very cold water!

Then Jeff "rode the bull" which is rafting equivalent to hanging on with one hand to the mechanical bull at the bars. You sit on the front of the raft and hold on to the rope with one hand while riding the rapids. This picture is shot just as we are about to turn in to the rapids.

After a few class III rapids we stopped at a really quite spot in the "city park" for a catered lunch. The lunch was nice enough, but swarmed by bees, that did leave you alone once you got to your covered picnic table. Unfortunately ours was by a dog pile covered in flies, hardly appetizing. Needless to say lunch was not a highlight, but the sun warmed our skin and felt great!

Connie shot this hanging upside down over the raft:-) Everyone did this but me, as I had only one dry pair of shorts, but at least I got to see the pictures.

Then we went for a hike, which was HOT but pleasant enough. Jeff shot this of me unaware, even though it looks like I am looking right at the camera.

This is Connie soaking up the sun on the break we took before heading for the rapids once again where we were drenched! Ahhh now that's the life!

My favorite thing

I just love the sun, and it is so sunny and nice today. I am here with my eldest grandson, watching him paint a volcano for school and the weather is perfect!

Saturday in Reno

Today was our last full day in Reno and Jeff's birthday, though he's been celebrating for two days. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, though the placed was packed with the Memorial Day Weekender's

There was a volleyball tournament, a Tae Kwon Do tournament, and a BMX tourney. The volleyball kids were noisy and left beer cans in the hall. Jeff was not impressed with the staff for not getting it cleaned up 1st thing, but I think they probably had a LOT to deal with given the noise from the night before.

I went to see about catching a round or two of Tae Kwon Do but for the admission price I prefer to compete, so we played 18 holes of indoor golf. It was so relaxing and fun. I wish I would have gotten pictures. Everyone played well and of course there were no people behind us wanting to play through, we had lunch between turns, it was just really nice. What more can you ask, you can play championship courses for pennies on the dollar, it is temperature controlled, you don't even have to walk and they deliver drinks right to you! No bugs, no bags to carry around, and chair to sit in while someone else is taking their turn. Now that is my kind of golf!

After golf we went upstairs and opened Jeff's gifts, packed and returned to the casino. I WAS doing great! And then I didn't...se la vie! I enjoyed watching Jeff open his gift from Brandon, which was a book in a series they were reading, that Brandon bought with his own money. The story goes, that Brandon introduced Jeff to this series from the library. Brandon read the third in the series but had to return it as he couldn't renew it as someone else was waiting. It became a standing joke between the two of

them.

We had dinner, including cake for Jeff's birthday, and finished our final night with Oh Hell and King's Corners.

Oh and I forgot to mention the IPod I got Jeff.

In summary the vacation was great, very relaxing, better than I anticipated AND I leaned to play craps!

Lake Tahoe

5:45! Argh that is early when you are on vacation! We got up at this time so that we could meet Dad for breakfast in the event that he would care to spend the day at Lake Tahoe. Alas, he did not sleep well the night before, so Jeff and I dined alone and headed for Lake Tahoe at 7:00.

Jeff's birthday present from me was a dive in Lake Tahoe as he has wanted to dive that since last December. I decided after talking with the dive shop that he may as well get another certification while doing so. He received his High Altitude Diver specialty certification. He was so excited!

I grabbed a good book on the way up to the lake and I read while they did their thing. I was able to go off and read in peace while the group was diving. This was paradise! Not a soul in sight save the dive flag bobbing in the water. The temperature was just perfect. I was comfortable and surrounded by beauty and peace! It was amazing!

Their second dive they picked up another local diver and the four of them went into their underwater world. I crawled atop the rocks to try and get a good shot or two of the group.

Friday night, as we still had the car Dad took Jeff out to the dinner of his choice for his birthday. I got the added benefit of coming along for the ride. By the time we arrived I was of course famished. The food and the margarita was delicious! I had asked the locals for a few good names. We were not led wrong, this was authentic and wonderful. So if you are ever in Reno and want authentic Mexican Fare be sure to stop in at Miguel's on Virginia Street. There was a wait, but it was not terribly long, and they had chips and drinks while you waited, so who cares! I was a great evening.

Thursday in Reno

Today I spent the majority of time feeding the slots until 11:30, when I went to get our rental car. After much adieu I ended up securing a car which I had requested the day before, but with it being the holiday weekend, cars were difficult to obtain.

We needed the car to go and get Jeff's rental gear for his birthday dive the following day. So, we left Dad at the casino where he was a up a few bucks. We spent a couple of hours out and about and upon our return he was down; such is the nature of the slots I guess.

After out return to the resort I laid down for a nap but ended up arguing with Jeff. We did however, in the meantime catch a good show on t.v. and at least rested. Naps are highly under rated I dare say. I should like to work one into my daily routine regularly. Funny how we fight naps as a kid, and beg for them as adults.

This evening we did get to see Iconman which was great! Greg London was an impersonator with a great band and a variety of characters. While I am generally not an impersonator far, he had a great voice, and while he didn't really attempt to look like any of the people he was impersonating his humor and ability to pick out/on their shortcomings made it believable.

We had a great maitre de who listened the day before to Jeff's special needs and had a table situated just right for Jeff. Rather than wait in line, we were personally escorted to our table. This raised a few eyebrows in line, as Dad and Jeff stood in line while I went to the will call to obtain the tickets and asked to speak with Vic the maitre de, per his instructions. Hence Jeff and Dad were taken out of line and escorted. I didn't think anything of this as I am accustomed to arranging special seating, but apparently the people behind Dad and Jeff did, as they commented wondering 'what package they got' etc. I imagine they felt slighted.

We met some great people from Kentucky and it was great fun chatting with them and watching them have as much fun at the show as we did.

During one song that would typically illicit lighters in the air, having no lighters any longer, I grabbed the table candle and held it up, which Greg London pointed to, smiled and smirked; that was fun.

Following the show we went back to the hotel as Jeff had an early wake up cal for his diving expedition and high altitude class.

Wednesday...downtown Reno

Wednesday we went downtown Reno. I dare say, though the change of scenery was interesting, I am very glad that we stayed away from the strip. We took the bus downtown and went to the Riverwalk area with a plethora of shops. Not being impressed we went to the Auto museum. This museum started off looking not so impressive with a room dedicate to the first woman to travel cross country in a car BUT saving grace, they had the remainder of the rooms set up by decade and had time appropriate facades and collections of fashions.

We also had fun with the costume pieces. Jeff got the camera and got this lovely picture. Born in the wrong decade maybe?

Jeff became gangsta guy, and looked like he belonged in the era.

Dad was the epitome of a gangster! He looks believable don't you think?

After walking around for a few hours we headed across the street for lunch. I was a fairly quiet diner. The food was okay, but the patrons made Dad uncomfortable, one in particular. We didn't hang around long. We headed back to our area of town and relaxed in our rooms for a little while.

Tuesday in Reno

Tuesday started out with a nice breakfast in the cafe. The funniest thing was that I ordered a muffin and with it came butter. Dad ordered toast and requested additional butter. The waitress was a comedian by nature and from that moment on gave Dad schtick. To try to reiterate in print the dialogue between them would be an injustice, but suffice it to say it served as our daily grins, and Dads ability to take it and give it back with grace made it all the more entertaining.

Following breakfast we played, no, fed the slots. golf,Then we headed over to the RV area and decided to take in miniature golf. The nice lady at the miniature gold place let us in about a half an hour early. After mini-golf, which I won hands down...(I know big accomplishment)

After a long mini-golf game we ate at Johnny Rockets,a 5o's diner where they play oldies and serve good old fashioned malts.

This evening I took advantage of the free cocktails...two to be exact and discovered that on an empty stomach two Chocolate Martini's is one two many. When I was sat int eh bar waiting for Dad and Jeff after my afternoon nap (luxury!) I managed two in an hour. When we went to go eat and I was escorted through the casino. When my Dad asked how I was feeling I replied that I was feeling "pretty f'ing merry." Such a proud moment!...from that night on I stuck to one drink in the evening!

Monday

This morning we decided to meet in the lobby for breakfast and decide from there what we were doing for the day. Dad graciously said that he would do whatever we wanted as he had no preconceived itinerary. He didn't wish to make the decisions (I know what it is like to want a rest from that) just go along.

When looking for things to do around Reno other than gamble, I found Iconman,

a variety show and an advertisement for a wild animal zoo. This zoo reportedly took injured animals and rehabilitated those they could and kept those who could not be rehabilitated into the wild. I asked the front desk clerk if it was cheaper to rent a car or take a cab. She said "Oh it is only about 8 miles up the road" 8 exits was more to the truth. We ended up paying $66.00 for a cab round trip. We could have rented a car for less, but rather than commiserate on this I set out to enjoy what lie ahead.

Upon arrival we discovered an empty lot, and a run down area. I was not hopeful. Once inside we found they were indeed open and we were treated to a little 8 week old squirrel monkey. It's mother died right after giving birth. His adoptive mother was a stuffed monkey. He was handled by the volunteers, but Jeff got to pet him.
They did have goats, alpacas, and deer. It was nice to relax with the animals. We spent probably 20 minutes just in that area.

Later that night we returned to the hotel to discover that one of the lounges offered free drinks to the ladies from 5:00 to 7:00p.m. They offered Cosmopolitan's, Lemon Drops, Dry Martini's but best of all Chocolate Martini's! Generally speaking I am a Margarita girl, but after giving up salt there is really no point. When my Dad went to order it he asked the bar tender if it was in fact candy with a kick. He agreed that was exactly what was. It really packs a punch as you will read later in my blog.

Later that evening, we play aqua golf. This was the aqua driving range arranged at various distances were docks with signs to aim at and a barrel for a hole in one. We had such fun! This was probably a favorite event of the trip. The weather was perfect, everyone enjoyed themselves, and my first hole was on the green!

Reno

August 30th 2009 we landed in Reno for one last hoorah of the summer. We met my Dad at the airport and awaited the shuttle to the Grand Sierra Resort. There is a standing joke that I went there because of the bathrooms, but in actuality, I remembered the resort from the rest of them because of the bathrooms, which I now wish to recreate in my bathroom. I really like the resort because while it is close to the strip it is not right on the strip, leaving me to feel a bit more secure, and relaxed. They have amenities galore including a Starbuck's.

Our first day we had such fun doing a variety of things including taking advantage of the 50 lane bowling alley. That evening we bowled, ate pizza, okay I had Nachos, and enjoyed ourselves for $14.95. The deal was 4 games, pizza and a pitcher of beer or that price. We decided the extra game would be a combination of our bowling skills, or lack thereof. Turns out "extra" bowled a better game than I.

Later in the evening we retired to our room to play Scrabble, one of Dad's favorite games. I think I won Scrabble the 1st night, but I really could care less. For me playing the game is about building memories and having fun. Of course it is always nice to win, but unimportant to me.

Keep your eye on the blog for nightly updates on our vacation!