BUSY WEEK

Time sure does fly when you're having fun! Saturday was really busy, and cold, and wet! We started by going to Jenna's two sets of volleyball games which they won-and it was warm! Then off to the LaCrosse game-we had already missed the first one-just can't be in two places at once. Then there was a short time before Joe's baseball game, which was followed by Mexican food. On Sunday after church, I went shopping with Carrie, Jake and Jenna, and Don stayed home with the other guys. (Jenna and I had already been to the scrapbook store one evening.) The kids made us a wonderful dinner and we said our goodbyes. Monday we had a slow start, but got to Grinnell without difficulty. The fields were really wet along the way and the rivers and streams were out of their banks around Des Moines-all that rain from Saturday. We had dinner with Wilsons and Fitzgeralds and then went to Wilsons to talk. Tuesday Don got his haircut and I went to the bakery to see Suzi and Bill. We went to Heidi's for the evening and took Lucas his birthday gifts. He's also added some inches. He had basketball practice the night before and now he's working on his golf game. We drove to Dubuque yesterday and went to see Don's mother. She sure looks good for a ninety year old! On to Teresa's beauty shop for a haircut. Then in order to fuel our reputations-we visited the new Diamond Jo Casino-very nice! Then, because we needed to do research for our AZ get together this summer, we moved on to the redecorated dog track. They now call it the Mystique Casino. I won at both places. Todays full of errands and tomorrows my reunion-more fun!

UPDATE FROM OMAHA

Well, we made it to Omaha on Tuesday in time to go to Joe's baseball game. It was interesting. He plays second base, but seemed to have a place dug out enough for a comfortable stance. Russ thought he was digging a hole to roast a pig! He needs some help with his hitting skills , but made a couple good defensive plays. He's also grown several inches taller since November! On Wednesday, we went to Jenna's track meet where she ran hurdles, 100 yard dash and the long jump. She had a real nice jump and was third in the other two. Not too bad for her first attempt. She also grew, got contacts and was proof reading her paper for Junior National Honor Society. Yesterday, we got to see Jake and Dan play LaCrosse for the new high school team, coached by Russ. The boys each scored two goals, Jake only had one penalty, and they won 9-7. It was a good battle, and everyone was happy. Carrie was a nervous wreck-she obviously knew more than one of the refs. She stays on the opposite side of the field from Russ, because she can't help herself from "helping Russ coach". Jake grew a bit more and is now 16-where did the time go? Dan had his hair cut and is back to looking like our cute grandson again. When we left, he was afraid he'd never grow again, but I'm happy to report, he's now about 4-5 inches taller! Brian hasn't started playing LaCrosse yet, so we'll see him in May. It's his turn to go through the "I haven't grown yet" stage, but, at 12, he's got time. Today we're going there for dinner and tomorrow we have a whole day full of sports. We plan on heading to Grinnell for Monday and Tuesday, then to Dubuque on Wednesday. More fun ahead!

PETRIFIED WOOD

We stayed at a campground near a petrified forest and they had some samples of petrified logs by the office. We got in a little late and it was rather cold, so we skipped the forest this time. Here are a couple examples.

ON THE WAY

We've been lucky winding our way around the bad weather. We've had a little wind, but it's only been annoying rather than serious. Here's a little snow still on the ground along the road.

A pretty mountain along the way.

A closer view.

Some interesting rocks.




It's amazing how things change as you wander down the road. We have a fantastic country!

LEAVING LAS VEGAS

Wow! I can hardly believe it- I'm caught up!!!! We finally left Vegas this morning and stopped outside Kingman, AZ. Now we're trying to figure out how to head north without getting in snow or wind. We want to get to Omaha in a week to see the kids ball games. Then on to Dubuque by May 1st for my reunion from nurses training. Apparently 18 of the 34 living will be there and some of them haven't returned in 45 years. Should be fun! I think you have enough to read for a bit, so hope you enjoy our travels. One more thing-for all of you who think we're addicted to gambling-we hardly did any-we didn't have enough time. We're leaving with more than we started. Note to Al- we still haven't taken all our change to the bank, (winnings from cards), but it hasn't hurt our mountain traveling!

OUTSIDE THE VENETIAN

There are even gondolas outside.

MORE OF THE VENETIAN

There were very expensive stores inside-even eating places. Emeril, Mario and Wolfgang all have restaurants inside.

Here's the lobby which was very busy.

You can have your picture taken with "live" statues.

THE VENETIAN

Just when we were ready to leave, we would have been heading into a snow storm in Utah, so we stayed another day, and decided to check out another casino. Don wanted to see the gondolas in the Venetian.

There were lots of pretty areas.

THE STRIP AT NIGHT

It's amazing to see all the lights, but difficult to get good pictures. There are signs everywhere.


Lights everywhere you look.

GIANT SLOT MACHINE

Inside one door of the Golden Nugget is a gigantic slot machine.

BACK TO FREMONT STREET

I showed you a picture of the outdoor ceiling that they put on Fremont Street where they put on shows every hour after 7 o'clock. Aman was playing instruments in the street and he was projected on the ceiling.

Here's part of the show.

It's really hard to get a good picture-if you're not fast, this is what you get.

It's easier to see at a distance.

RED ROCK CANYON

In the foothills of western Las Vegas is a national conservation area known as Red Rock Canyon. They have a visitors center with a few exhibits, but are currently building on.

One of the exhibits.

Some of the red rock.

A couple rock climbers.

A nice view.

Now, for the miracle-the nearest I get to wildlife is Mulert! We saw a car stopped and I saw the bighorns!

LAS VEGAS AIRPORT

Since you all know how weird I am, I guess you'll understand how freaked I was, to see a major airport with over 900 planes coming and going every day, within walking distance of the strip. As you walk down the streets, planes fly between the casinos. It's amazing! I don't know how many acres it covers, but it is huge! You can see the strip in the background.

Notice the plane on the right and the casino on the left. The airport continues up so it's right across the street from that building.

I thought it was interesting, Don thought I was nuts! What else is new?

CELL TOWERS IN DISGUISE

I think this is a hoot!!! Phoenix has beautiful landscaping and decorative walls along the highways. Texas has their wildflowers thanks to Lady Bird Johnson. But hey, Vegas has cell phone trees. "Only God can make a tree!" Maybe not!

GETTING AROUND ON THE STRIP

The escalators are a God send on the strip. So are the skywalks.



As you can see, traffic is bad and worse at night. They do have a monorail around the strip and buses they call the Deuce, which travel around town and to the strip.

We did okay driving and parking in hotel ramps, but it's a llot of walking. Wear comfortable shoes if you come here.

THE FLAMINGO

The Flamingo has-guess what kind of animals?

We weren't able to get across the street because the police had it blocked off. The fire engine was there also.

THE MIRAGE

We walked over to the Mirage and saw this huge aquarium.

This is their pool.

We thought about seeing the white tigers, but it would have cost us $30,
and we decided we weren't that thrilled with the idea. Here's the entrance.

CAESAR'S PALACE

There are many elaborate areas in the casino and in the Forum Shops, which is a mall of very upscale stores. Some of the statues move and talk, like these.

While we were walking through the casino, Men (the master)Nguyen, professional poker player, passed us. Pete Rose and Kenny Stabler were signing autographs in a sports store.

BELLAGIO CHOCOLATE SHOP

We looked, but didn't buy-it was tough! This is half of the chocolate fountain-it's cool.

A chocolate boat hanging from the ceiling.

Crepes being made.

Some goodies we passed up.