Christmas in San Diego!

Ted and I had a very enjoyable Christmas!  Before Christmas we had already given each other their present, quite by mistake!  My friend Jeri was telling us how much she loved her Kindle.  I was thinking what a great idea for us because we don't have a lot of room to carry around books so I ordered one for Ted.  Jeri told Ted that I would really like one so he went to order one for me and when he connected to Amazon, it came up on the computer that I had already ordered a Kindle!  When I got home, he had a smile on his face and wondered aloud if I had ordered myself a Kindle!  A long story to say we both got a Kindle for Christmas and are really enjoying it.

Max enjoyed his Christmas as well!  He loves to open presents and he's good about not opening any that he isn't given!  I think he enjoys the opening even more than the gift!

On Christmas we went to our friend Peggy's for brunch.  Her son had cooked a brine turkey and a stuffed flank steak.  I think they could have fed the whole neighborhood!  Everything was delicious. 

We left their house hurried home to let Max out and then headed to Tony and Gina's house (our friend's Jeri and Stach's son and daughter-in-law) for an Italian Christmas of lasagne!  Again, lots of delicious food.  We had a gift exchange and Jeri and I each added a gag gift.  After the gag gift was opened we gave them the good gift!  It was a lot of fun watching the expression on their face and not knowing what to say!

Ted and I hope our family and friends all had a safe and Merry Christmas!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Merry Christmas Eve!

We are in San Diego, in spite of the rain!  We did our Christmas with the kids on Sunday at brunch, had a good dinner with Craig Sunday evening and left Fresno Monday morning.  Poor Ted had to tear down in a pretty steady heavy rain and deal with the lake we were sitting in!  It took us all day to drive to Beaumont with the heavy rains and the winds.  Again, poor Ted unhitched in the rain so we could go get fuel and have dinner.  We never even opened the slides except for our bed slide.  Tuesday morning, still raining!  Ted hooked us up and we made it down to Pio Pico in Jamul!  Because of the rain we finally got fully set up today, a beautiful sunny day, and finally have internet that doesn't work all the time and is very slow, especially with pictures!  It is better than nothing!

Oh yeah, and Max is pretty sick of walking in puddles and getting soaked every time he had to go out to go potty!  He loved getting out in the sun today!

We've spent the last couple of days running last minute Christmas errands and had lunch with our friends Jeri and Stach on Wednesday.  Tonight our friend Peggy came to dinner.  That catches you up on our week.

I only took a couple of pictures of the kids while in Fresno, and missed getting any pictures of Stephen and Marissa this time.  Here are Chip and Hayley, Claire and Craig!

We wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Winning at Chukchansi!

We met our friends at the casino on Wednesday.  I was having some good luck until we ate dinner.  Dinner was delicious I might add, steamed crab legs were pretty good!  After dinner we gambled some more and Ted and I were both losing.  We stopped by one last machine and both of us had good luck.  Ted made back half his money and I actually made back all of mine plus $70.00 and we got out of there fast!!!!

Last night Claire (Craig's fiancee) invited us to dinner at her family's home.  She made dinner for her Mom and Dad, her brother and his family, Craig and his brother's and girlfriends and us.  Claire made a great dinner and it was a lot of fun getting to know them better.  Claire made puff pastry filled with ice cream and covered in chocolate syrup for desert along with some cookies.  Everything was delicious!

They have been predicting lots of rain in California and we know that at least in Fresno, we are getting it!  Fortunately we are parked on a concrete pad because there is a lake all around us with much more rain expected tonight!

Tomorrow is brunch and Christmas gift giving with the kids and then we leave here on Monday for San Diego (hopefully).

Getting to know Claire's family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting the guys in Fresno!

On Monday we had lunch with Craig and Claire.  They are both on break from law school.  Craig is working full-time in the law firm and Claire works part time in her Dad's law firm.  They are very busy with wedding plans!  It will be the second biggest wedding of the year, just a bit smaller than Englands Prince William!!!!

Last night we had dinner with Chip and Hailey and Stephen and Marissa.  All but Chip have finals yet this week.  Marissa leaves on Friday for Missouri with her family for a week. 

We have more get togethers planned with the kids this week but today Ted and I are going up to Coarsegold to meet our friends Judy and Clem (red lippers from Ted's High School) for an early dinner and a little gambling at Chukchansi Casino!  It rained yesterday but is showing partly cloudy for today and in the 50's so we don't think we'll find any snow!

Family and "vice"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Red Lips Christmas Party 2010

It's Sunday evening and we are in Fresno recouperating from the Red Lips weekend!  What a fun time.  Our hosts Billy and Vicky Whited (from Sweetwater High, Ted's high school) are the best. 

On Saturday, Billy and Vicky's son Jeff, who is in a band, had some of his fellow muscians over to play some good time rock and roll music!  The band was great and Billy and Craig (party attendees, even sang some songs with the band)!

We took pictures all day long, here are some new classics:

As you can tell, we were already having fun and then came the gift exchange.  Each person brings a $5 gag gift and a $20 good gift:

Vicky picked one of Phil's gifts last year, Glen.  This year she tried really hard not to pick Phil's gift...oops!

One gift that keeps on giving each year is Mr. Dickhead.  You remember Mr. Potatohead?  You can use your imagination on that one!  You can bet that 2010 is NOT the last time this one will be seen!!!!!

After the gift exchange, there is always a group picture.  Unfortunately this year Marion wasn't feeling well and so she and Pat had to head back to San Diego.  Craig also had to leave before the gift exchange, but here is the rest of the gang that attended!

This morning we had breakfast together and then everyone went their separate ways:

Great fun, food and friendship..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Atwater, California 2010

Today we left Sacramento and headed south to Atwater.  We are staying at the Air Castle RV Park and Air Museum.  We are now official members of the Air Museum.  They add new planes all the time and is a large, interesting museum.  The RV Park is a parking lot with a park!  But they have 50 amps and sewers so life is grand!

I haven't mentioned it, but after all the trouble with our truck registration, it is now official!!!!  We have truck and RV registered in South Dakota!

Attending Christmas parties with friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Raining in Sacramento!

Sunday was a rainy day watching the Chargers lose!  Sunday night was rainy and extremely windy!  We went over to Yuba City on Monday, north of Sacramento to look around and pick up some groceries.

Yesterday we met our friends Joel and Lale for dinner.  They are looking well.  Lale had a pacemaker put in a few months ago and is doing so much better.

Today it's raining again and we are just planning a trip over to Camping World to pick up some RV stuff.  Pretty boring to write about but nice relaxing days!

Tomorrow we leave for Atwater to party with our red lip friends!

The first party of the holidays..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sacramento December 2010

We had a fun 24 hours in Fresno.  I got my hair cut (thank God) and we saw the kids.  We had happy hour with Craig and Claire before they went to Craig's office Christmas party!  Claire looked beautiful and Craig handsome, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera.  We did some Coldwater Creek shopping before heading home!  On Saturday before leaving Fresno we met Chip and Haley and Stephen (Marissa was unavailable) for breakfast. 

The kids are all doing great.  Chip's getting pretty good hours at the company and is getting paperwork together to substitute teach (including being to coach wrestling) at the high school.  Haley is doing great at Fresno State and has been accepted to the graduate nursing program and is excited about school.  Stephen is working a lot at the bike shop for Christmas and doing well at Fresno State.  He's changed his major and plans to go into real estate law, so law school after Fresno State!  Marissa is doing very well at community college and is thinking about the nursing program for her future.  Craig and Claire are very happy and are doing well in law school!

We are now up in Sacramento to visit some friends.  From our campsite we can see quite a bit of snow on the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

A quick visit with the kids..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying the Valley of Fire!

Yesterday we took a drive in the park.  We hiked back to the "Mouse Tank".  It was named this because of a renegade Paiute indian who caused great trouble for other indians and settlers.  He used this area to hide because of all of the nook and crannies.  There is a "tank" made from a stream worn basin which traps and holds water for long periods of time!  We were surprised at how much water was being held in this rock. 

Along the way we saw many petroglyphs.   There are some writings that we couldn't figure out how someone could have climbed up to write on the rock face!

We also hiked to the "petrofied logs" that were found in the park.  There was a forest several miles from the park made up of Pine trees.  From the "age of reptiles" over 150 million years ago the floods carried the trees to the park.  They were buried under sand, silt and seawater.  The water around the logs deposited the minerals in the logs crevices.  The pretty colors were caused by oxides of manganese or iron.

This morning we left Nevada and are in Bakersfield tonight.  We will spend tomorrow night in Fresno.  I need a haircut and we will see the guys!  We will be back on the 12th to spend more time with them.

Seeing the sights of the Valley of Fire..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Camping in the Valley of Fire

We left Las Vegas on Tuesday morning headed for the Valley of Fire, about 55 miles north and east of Las Vegas.  It is really gorgeous here.  The campground is surrounded by red sandstone and is so nice, has water and electric only, and lots of space between campers.   It was 45 degrees at 2:00 when we arrived and stayed in the low 30's all evening and this morning.  Max is really enjoying his walks and sitting on Dad's lap!

We leave here tomorrow morning and will end up in Fresno so I can get a hair cut.  We will then head up to Sacramento to visit some friends before heading to Atwater for a Christmas party with our RLS friends!

Enjoying the peaceful scenery and the red red rock..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Cold and Windy in Vegas!

We met our friends Jeri and Stach on Friday for breakfast at the hotel and took them to the airport.  We then ventured out and did our part for a successful black Friday by buying a tv!  Our old tv would be green for a few hours every time we moved.  It also didn't have digital/hd capability.  Friday evening we had wonderful leftovers with our friends David and Debbie and their friends and family that were visiting for the holidays!

Yesterday Ted got the new tv set up and I got lots of laundry done.  This morning we were relaxing when the wind came up and blew over our Satelite dish, fortunately it didn't get busted up!  Max has been a lot happier having us home and not having to do "guard duty"!!! 

Staying inside and warm on a cold, windy day..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our friend Jeri arrived on Saturday as scheduled and we've had a great time with her.  I even spent Sunday night at the hotel with her so we could stay up late and have casino time.  That was my one lucky day so I was feeling great! 

Saturday evening our friends, David and Debbie Hawkins celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at Table 34, a great restaurant in Las Vegas.  There was eight of us at dinner.  David's nephew, Lance, whom I have known of for many, many years but had never met was there with his wife Janine.  There were some other friends from their gym and Jeri, Ted and I.  The food was really wonderful and a good time was had by all!

Tuesday evening we picked up Jeri's husband, Stach, at the airport.  Yesterday we went to see the new Harry Potter movie, which we all enjoyed.  I thought it was the final chapter but apparently they made it into two parts, it was obvious that there will be another movie!After the movie we headed over to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory.  We sampled some chocolate and watched some being made.

Ethel M has a 4-acre botanical cactus garden with over 300 different plants, half of which are cacti and half are succulents.  In the daylight you can read about the plants.  During the holidays they decorate the gardens with Christmas lights and other decorations.  We walked through the gardens just as it was getting dark and the lights were beautiful!

Today we took Jeri and Stach to the Valley of Fire State Park.  It is about 55 miles north and east of Las Vegas.  The name of the valley is derived from the red sandstone formations formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago!   Extensive erosion, uplifting and faulting have created the present landscape that is so beautiful!  The valley was occupied by the Anasazi and Pueblos from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D.  They would have hunted and gathered food but would not have stayed too long because of the lack of water and the heat.  Today it was a bit chilly (mid-40's) but sunny and clear.  We showed Jeri and Stach the campground which we are going to go to on Tuesday for a couple of days. They also saw the natural arch, the balancing rock, the dog, beehives and petroglyphs.

Tonight we had our turkey dinner at the casino with Jeri and Stach.  It was a good dinner and we are home recouperating!  They leave tomorrow, it's been a fun week!

Giving thanks at Thanksgiving..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A blustery day in Las Vegas!

We've had a good week in Las Vegas.  Got a few chores done, did a little casino time and visited our friends David and Debbie Hawkins.  They invited us to dinner along with Max!  We had a good visit with them and have plans to see them again this week.

Today Jeri flies in from San Diego.  Stach is on a jury so he can't come until Tuesday night.  They will be here until Friday so we have some plans to show them around!

Today is pretty chilly and very windy.   We are supposed to to rain tonight or tomorrow and it's a cold storm! 

Relaxing in Las Vegas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Las Vegas!

We are back in Las Vegas and will be here possibly for two weeks.  We are planning on spending time with my former boss, David Hawkins, and his wife Debbie.   We also have San Diego friends, Jeri and Stach Gutowski, coming to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving!  We hope to take them to the Valley of Fire State Park, Hoover Dam, Red Rock area, to check out some casinos and the guys will probably play golf!  The only hitch in the plan is that Stach is on jury duty and does not know if the trial will end in time for him to come or not!  We hope that he can.

We were in the Valley of the Fire in February, 2010 and the rock is so red it is breathtaking.  Unfortunately my pictures do not do the park justice.  Here are a couple of pictures taken in February.

Visiting with friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in San Diego at Pio Pico!

We made it to San Diego on Wednesday evening.  Poor Ted was setting up in the dark!  We ran over to Filippi's Pizza in Jamul for great pizza and antipasta salad and headed to our friends, Jeri and Stach to watch Survivor with them!

We have also visited with friends Jim and Della having a wicked game of Phase 10 which Ted won! Visited with our friend Peggy and I actually cooked dinner.  I cooked one of my "meals" from Dinner Studio called Baja Chicken (atop a can of Sprite soda-see below).   Peggy made a fabulous chocolate/peanut butter pudding cake for dessert! 

We had breakfast with Jeri and Stach yesterday and today we went to watch their grandson, Trent, play winter baseball (about 80 degrees out).  He's 10 and really doing well at baseball.  He did a good job pitching for two innings so I took some pictures through the fence.  He had a good game today and said "I wonder why I pitched better than usual" and smiled at me!  Boy, that melted my heart!  We also saw Mallorie, his sister, and his mom and dad, Tony and Gina!  It was a beautiful sunny San Diego day for baseball!

Now, as to the reason we drove over to San Diego instead of going to the Grand Canyon.  In order to register in South Dakota we needed to have our pink slip for the truck which was in San Diego.  In early October when we were in South Dakota I printed off an application for a duplicate copy of the title and mailed it (with $18) to the California DMV.  After checking every week for a month to see if it was mailed to our So. Dakota mail box, I called DMV.  They told me it would take at least 30 - 45 days.  We then made the decision to come to San Diego because the renewal was due November 30th and we didn't want to pay California $800 which they would not refund.

Sounds simple????  NOT!  We got here and got the pink slip.  I called So. Dakota and said I was mailing the original.  They were concerned  that the pink slip would have been voided if the process for the duplicate had been started.  So I phoned DMV again.  After almost two hours I was able to speak with a very helpful lady who told me it was actually three to four MONTHS to get a duplicate pink slip.  She also gave me a phone number to call at DMV where they will stop the process for the duplicate and said I would have time to send the original to So. Dakota and get it registered.  She did tell me it would take forever on hold to accomplish this stop but, it will be worth it!  So we are hoping this will all get done before November 30th!!!!

Enjoying time with friends in San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Bye to Boerne

On Sunday evening we said good bye to John and Gloria, all the wonderful meals (and desserts) and all the Phase 10 card games John won!!!!

On Monday we got ready to go, stopped off at the tire place to get the flat tire fixed and put it back on the RV.  We left Boerne and made it to Van Horn Texas (about 120 east of El Paso).   Tonight we are in Benson Arizona (about 50 miles east of Tucson).

We are headed to San Diego for a few days to pick up our truck title so we can get the truck registered in South Dakota!

On our way to San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

San Antonio River Walk

We started the afternoon at Chris Madrid's.  It's in a not so good part of San Antonio but is so popular they added on and have two full parking areas.  You line up to place your order and then go and pick up your food.  They have the GREATEST hamburgers!  See for yourself!

After eating all that food, we needed to walk it off so we went to the riverwalk.  In 2009 they extended the riverwalk to the north.  They are currently working on extending it south (to the Guenther House and Pioneer Flour Mill).  Being a Saturday there were tons of people so we got on the water taxi to take us to new part of the river.  There are not a lot of hotels or food places in the new section.  There is a lock that you go through that was very interesting.  The city wanted the new part to blend in with the old part of the riverwalk and make the landscaping maintenance free and attractive.  They did a great job of that.  They added art work under the bridges and along the way that cost millions!  Think they should have gotten some of their money back!

The first part of the trip is through the hotels and the restaurant area that we've seen before but that is so pretty:

John, our great guide, both with boat and tour took us through the new section!   There are cool bridges to see, lots of old buildings such as the Pearl Beer Brewery that is now a Culinary Arts School, a museum and more.  The new artwork under the bridges cost a cool $300,000 to the artist each.  The only bridge that would show up the artwork in my pictures are the fish hanging under the bridge, they even light up at night.  There is one bridge with some very small mirrors made of some special polymer and steel that reflect colors and a bridge with small glass pieces that were made to reflect the surrounding colors of the riverwalk according to the artist and his 10 year old daughter.  One of the bridges plays bird and water sounds sounding like the Rainforest Cafe.  There are three concrete palm trees, some concrete benches that look like they are made of wood (at a total cost of $600,000) and a big rock cave with waterfalls at a cost of who knows how much!

When you enter the lock it takes 3 minutes for the water to rise 9 feet.  It is gravity fed and all the water is recycled in a tunnel.  It is very efficient!  At the end of the river there is a restaurant with many small waterfalls which represent the 11 springs that were there for the brewery.

At the end of the river there is a restaurant with many small waterfalls which represent the 11 springs that were there for the brewery.

It is difficult to see the waterfalls but they go down the steps to the water. The birds are sitting on the steps enjoying the water!

Enjoying San Antonio with John and Gloria..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Boerne Deer!

Ted's been working on some projects all week.  He replaced the drawer guide in my pots and pans drawer with only a few special words uttered!  He also fixed our RV step.  The bolt had jiggled loose from the nice roads we driver over.  He fixed some stuff on the truck that had also worn out from road vibration.  He's had a busy week!

Ted was on the computer this morning and he thought something hit the RV.  It did, a deer "head butted" us!  I took his picture and his girlfriend:

These were both taken from our RV door!

Going to John and Gloria's for another great dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Touring San Antonio

Yesterday John and Ramola invited us to go with them on a tour of the Toyota plant where they manufacture the Tundra and Tacoma trucks.  The plant employees 2800 people and have 2700 more employees of on-site suppliers.  They have a complete healthcare facility for the employees and their families, exercise area and more.  They have been making the Tundra since 2006 and they started making the Tacoma in August of this year.  Yesterday they were making 880 trucks in two shifts, which is about average for the number of trucks made per day and approximately 200,000 per year.   They took us on a tram ride through a small part of the plant with a guide.  We saw them install a dash board in about 1 second, saw them put the truck body down on the axle and much more.  They have an educational area that you can walk through to learn how Toyota was started by Mr. Toyoda.  Mr. Toyoda started by making an automated a loom for his mother!  They name was changed because it looked better when it was written!  They have 3 tours per day, 5 days per week.   It was an interesting tour.

After the tour we went to lunch and tried a Bill Miller Barbeque restaurant.  We all thought the food was okay but I enjoy a sweet barbeque sauce a bit more. 

Of course we had to eat again at John and Gloria's and had a great dinner and another round of Phase 10!  Of course John won again! 

A fun day in San Antonio..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Cute kids!

Yesterday was Halloween and it was also a celebration for Jack's birthday.  Jack is Gloria and John's grandson.  He turned six and is such a character! 

After birthday cake, we began trick or treating!  Jack was a bumblebee transformer and their granddaughter Olivia was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  Grandma Gloria and I took the kids trick or treating!  I think we had more fun than the kids did!  Jack tired out and wanted to pass out candy so "Dorothy" and I went on around the neighborhood!

Having fun with the kids..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Halloween in Boerne!

We've been keeping busy in Boerne.  We've been visiting John and Gloria in the evenings.  Gloria has been making fabulous dinners for us and we've played a few card games of Phase 10!  John has won the most game so is still the big winner so far!

We also met a couple in the campground, John and Ramola, and had a glass of wine with them one evening.

Friday John was off and took us down to San Antonio at the south end of the River Walk to the Guenther House, my sweet cream pancake provider!  Carl Guenther was the founder of the Pioneer Flour Mills and built an elegant home next to the mill in 1859.  The home has been restored and houses the River Mill Store, a small museum, a restaurant and has retained the original parlor.

The home is very pretty, right on the river and the store has many fun things as well as sweet cream pancakes, waffles, ice cream, biscuits, gravy and more.  We also had a delicious lunch on the veranda.  Ted had champagne gravy chicken enchiladas, I had a sweet cream waffle and John had breakfast tacos.  We stocked up on sweet cream pancake mix!

Yesterday  we did some Costco/Sam Club shopping with John and Gloria and then went to the "Haunted Theatre".  Their granddaughter, Haley, is a freshman in high school and is in drama.  The drama department put on a haunting!  It was pretty scary and lots of fun.  The kids did a great job and it was a terrific set.

After our big scare, we went to Willy's for dinner.  They had a guy singing and playing guitar.   It's a very casual place, with a beer bottle chandelier!  John has been wanting to try the "ultimate sampler" but you definitely need a group to be able to eat it all!

Today is halloween and we are going to John and Gloria's for dinner!  Her two younger grandkids, Jack and Olivia, will be coming over for his birthday and for halloween.

Trick or treating at John and Gloria's..."Ain't Life Grand!"   

We made it to Boerne, Texas!

We made it to Long Lane, Missouri on the 18th. Parked in our friends front yard (of their 300 acres)! We had a good visit and of course some fun sightseeing. They took us to Ha Ha Tonka State Park in the Osage River Hills region of the Ozarks. According to the literature, the park is most noted for its geologic features and formations, characterized by sinkholes, caves, underground streams and natural bridges. I think most people think of the castle! The castle was built in the early 1900s along a cliff over looking the Osage River. Unfortunately the roof caught fire in 1942 and burned a lot of the castle. There is a skeleton of the castle left, the carriage house and the tower.  It was very large and looks interesting!

There are many trails and caves to explore at Ha Ha Tonka and after leaving the castle, we went to the Natural Bridge.  Our friend Ginny wanted to explore the bridge down a 1/2 mile trail.  Such a trooper, she made it down and back up with her walker without any problems.  The bridge shows some of the layers that are the result of water percolating through porous underlying dolomite bedrock.

The next day they took us to Silver Dollar City.  It is a theme park in Branson.  There are craftsmen demonstrating their trades from days of old, such as making molasses, making yarn, building log cabins and much more.  They have rides, shops, shows and lots of food to eat!   We ate breakfast, looked around, and rode the train.

We left the park in the early afternoon and headed for Lamberts Restaurant for lunch and dinner because we were told they serve a lot of food!  Boy do they!  They also throw red hot dinner rolls to you from across the room!  It is home style cooking galore!  You get a couple of sides with your meal and then they have "pass arounds" such as; fried okra, macaroni and cheese, molasses for the rolls and more.  We had another lunch and dinner on just my pork chops they were so big and everything was delicious.  We rolled out of there!

It took us three days to get to Boerne.  The first day the road to Oklahoma City was really rough.  The second day we drove through Dallas/Ft. Worth in the hardest rain storm, with tons of lightning and thunder.  The third day we started to leave and found we had a flat tire on the RV.  The Good Sam (great roadside service) came out and put on our spare for us and we finally made it to Boerne Sunday around 6 pm!

Last night we had a fabulous meal at Gloria and John's house (Ted's cousin).  We will be here for a couple of weeks so more to follow.  It's great having cell and internet service again!

Back in the outskirts of Boerne with the deer..."Ain't Life Grand!"

 

We are now in Nevada, Missouri!

Yesterday was the Silver Needles Quilting Guild annual fundraiser.  Katie had one of her guests cancel at the last minute so I filled her spot, coincidently, her name was Sue!  Katie didn't even have to change the name on the pumpkin!  When we came through here last year, we came at the very same week and I sat at another table.  The ladies decorate all of their tables:

Katie's table was in black in white with fresh flowers, a toy Singer Sewing Machine and Iron that actually heated.  She had stitched tea towels for us to color, had black and white tea towel and pot holder, crayons, and a pumpkin signifying our table setting! 

After salad and sandwiches made from pumpkin and banana bread (yum), we had delicious home baked cookies the ladies made!  They raised $5,000  from raffle tickets and the auction which they use for the club and the charities they are involved with!   They also have lovely quilts displayed around the room.

While Katie and I were partying, Ted and Gary went to one of his Grandson's football games which they won!  The Grandson, Cole, made a touchdown on offense and also played on defense.
This morning we left Kansas and are now in Missouri.  Tomorrow we will be at our friends, Bill and Ginny's house where we camp in their yard!  The only problem is that in Long Lane, their town, which really is just a long lane, we usually don't have cell, and therefore no internet service.  We are staying there until Friday so there may be no blog for the rest of the week.

Quilt parties and football..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Kansas!

Last night was the Kansas State vs. Kansas University football game.  A VERY big game in this town.  Ted and I donned Kansas State t-shirts and headed over to Gary & Katies!  They were very surprised and pleased at our choice of shirts!  We had great barbeque from a local restaurant and watched K-State win big 59-7!  This was a good thing!

Katie saw a Passion Vine growing when she and Gary first got married and she vowed that when they got their own house she would have one.  She forgot about it for all these years and came upon one in Texas.  She didn't really want to try and get it back to Kansas but found one when she got home.  She planted it and here are the results, they are so pretty!

Today Gary took us for a ride around the areas surrounding Salina.  He took us up on one of the very few hills in Kansas where a work project was done in 1936.   Using local rock they built a "lookout" with  picnic tables inside and a second floor that looks over the area.  I took pictures but for some reason I can't get them to download!

We also drove around and looked at the ranch Katie's brother has where he raises and keeps bulls for rodeos.  We looked at the town of Linsdborg, a small Sweedish community with lots of cute little stores.  We had a sandwich at a Sweedish Bakery.  Gary was going to take me fishing but my back has been having spasms and I didn't think I could fish (darn)!

Tonight we are having dinner with them at the "Manor", a retirement home.  It is an annual fundraiser for them.  We went before and the food is good and the people very nice!

Finding a hill in Kansas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting in Kansas

Yesterday Katie made a yummy dinner for us.  Their youngest son and his wife, Steve and Mary and their two daughters also came for dinner.  It was a fun evening!

Our campsite is right on the lake.  We open our door and look out at the beach!  This morning when I stepped out with Max, the sun was just coming up so I snapped this picture of the lake.

This afternoon we will head over to Katie and Gary's with some barbeque to watch the Kansas State vs Kansas University football game.  They are huge rivals and we will root for Kansas State with them!

A beautiful sunrise..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Teddy's Birthday!

Yesterday was Ted's birthday.  We ran some errands, had a birthday lunch and then met our friends for a birthday dinner last night!  We went to a local Italian restaurant in Downtown Salina, Kansas.  We had a great table with a window to downtown, the food was scrumptious and it was really fun catching up with our friends!  We had not seen them for two years but felt like we saw them last week!

It is so exciting that the Chilean miners are finally getting out of the mine!  It is amazing that it is going so well and we pray they continue to safely get out!

Bringing the miners to safety..."Ain't Life Grand!"

We are in Kansas Toto!

Before we left Rapid City, South Dakota on Saturday, we were driving over to pick up our mail and were behind a car with something odd in the trunk!  It was drizzling so this was the best I could do on the picture!

 That is the leg of a deer!  Not sure if there is a whole deer in there or not!

So we made it to Mitchell, South Dakota (southeast side) and after getting set up at the campground went into town to fuel up the truck.  We drove through the historic part of town and came upon the Mitchell Corn Palace!  We didn't take the tour but just took some pictures.  You can't tell but the murals on the building are made out of corn materials, cobs, kernels and husks!  They change the theme and mural every year!

We spent the next night in Waco, Nebraska and arrived in Salina, Kansas this afternoon along with the rain!  We will be here for five days visiting some friends.

Driving along the cornfields of Americana!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Bear Country USA!

Today Ted and I went to Bear Country.  A dentist decided to open Bear Country since Rapid City did not have a zoo and black bears are plentiful!  So he did!  You drive a three mile route sectioned off for the different wild animals.  You are not allowed to get out of the vehicle (not sure who would be so dumb to do that but you never know)!  Here are a lot of collages to show the animals we saw, it was really fun!

The baby bears were so playfull and fun to watch!

After Bear Country we went into downtown Rapid City and had lunch at the Firehouse Brewing Co. The restaurant was definitely an old fire house! Good food too!

Being among the wildlife..."Ain't Life Grand!"