Southfork Ranch

 While visiting with the Bankstons one weekend, LW and I went on a little adventure.  We went all the way out to Parker, TX to tour the Southfork Ranch, home of world famous bad guy JR Ewing from the tv series Dallas.

When we first moved to Texas back in the mid 80's, we drove past the ranch but hadn't been back since then.  This was really a treat for LW since he was (and probably still is) a huge JR Ewing fan.

Lucy Ewing's room

Young Bobby Ewing's room

The gun that shot JR

College Station 2021

 On one of his last Fridays off, LW and I decided to head to College Station to visit the Bush Library and Museum, the last of the presidential museums on our list.

Now to wait for the museums of the most recent presidents to be built and open to public.

Summer Camping Adventures Final Part

Left the beautiful Grand Canyon but not before our daily visitors came by to say good bye. 

We headed to Gallup, NM and the USA RV Park.

Sunday found us headed to Raton NM. and Monday we arrived in Loveland CO to stay for a few days for a visit with some of LW's family.

What a great week we had with LW's family!

 Here's my top ten from the visit.

10. The sculpture park near the RV park.

9. All the dogs. Sorry Jake I missed getting a picture of your dog.

8. JJ"s cat, which I tried to take home with me.

7. Showing off our trailer to everyone.

6. Seeing and hanging out at JJ and Cody's beautiful home.

5. Girls day getting pedicures. (Boys went to Top Golf.)

4. Playing Cornhole with my partner Vov.  Winners despite the stupid scoring rules.

3. All the meals together at the house (created by Jake) and those at restaurants.

2. Tuesday night's hold 'em game. Sorry Poppy and Buck. Winning with my partner in crime Nik.

1. Wednesday night's hold em game. Winner winner! Sorry Cody.

Thanks to everyone for everything while we were all together. Tons of fabulous memories and fun.  Special thanks and a shout out to JJ and Cody for putting up with all of us in their home.

Thursday we headed south, working our way back to Texas. Be home on Saturday.  What a great trip!

Summer Camping Adventures Part 4

Arriving in Vegas on Tuesday to 113 degree temperatures was not so awesome.  But after dropping Benny at the Luxe Pet Hotel, we checked into Bally's and went out to get a late lunch at Cabo Wabo.  The heat was oppresive.  But at least it is not humid as well.  Then we played in the casino for a bit until LW's brother arrived and  we had a quick bite and done for the night. Here is the view from our hotel room on the top floor of the Jubilee Tower at Bally's.

Wednesday the boys had to bowl so I was on my own.  What trouble can I get into?  I walked from Bally's down to MGM and over to New York.  Checked out the Hershey store and was going to go to M&M World but the line to get in was crazy long and they were standing in the sun so forget that.  I played a little in the casinos as I walked back to Bally's to wait for the boys.  Won a little, lost a little and ultimately ended up down for the afternoon but had a lot of fun on my own.

These were at the Hershey Store.  The chocolate Statue of Liberty is sculpted from 800 pounds of Hershey's milk chocolate or 8,258 bars.  Fun fact:  The actual Statue of Liberty weighs approximately the same as 4, 645,161 Hershey's milk chocolate bars.

The Twizzler Statue of Liberty was created from 23,000 Twizzler ropes or 1,300 pounds of Twizzlers.  It took 6 weeks and 6 artists to create her.  She is 9 ft tall.

For dinner Wednesday night we went to Lawry's Steakhouse.  It was a very expensive meal but so so delicious!  This is the guy cutting off a piece of prime rib tableside.

By the end of Wednesday night I had lost a good sum of money.  But I had also learned how to play a new game...roulette.  

On Thursday I began at the pool for a few hours.  After showering and getting ready for a late lunch with the boys, I went down to the casino and won a lot of money!  By the end of the night I was the big winner.

Once the boys left for bowling I headed over to the Aria Casino to attend the Van Gogh exhibit that is traveling around the country.  I raced over there in the heat but could not find the exhibit and was worried I would miss my entrance time.  After pulling out my ticket and rereading the directions, I realized my ticket is for July 29.  The exhibit does not even open until July 26.  Talk about disappointed!  I was looking forward to seeing it so much.  Now I have to see what I can do about my ticket.  Maybe change location or get a refund.  Ugggh!

I did come across this interesting display of tornadoes though.

One last interesting Vegas fact.  Now there is a Chick-fil-a on the strip!!

In the morning LW will take his brother to the airport, come back and get me and we will go get Benny from the pet hotel.  Then we will drive back to Trailer Village in the Grand Canyon for one more night before heading out to Colorado.

Stayed tuned for more fun!

**On our way back to the Grand Canyon we drive through Bearizona. There is a drive thru park and a walk thru park. We couldn't do the walk thru park because we had Benny with us. We have been here before but I love this place. Here's a photo dump of the animals we saw today.