Family Arrives, Carl's Jr., Fremont Street, Hoover Dam

When I woke up on Tuesday, Nov. 28^th I had three thoughts foremost in my mind. Today is the day my sister and her husband arrive from Ontario for 9 days, at 5:30 it was too early to get up and 6 years ago today I lost my brother, Bruce, far too young.

Bruce and I in 1975

I remained in bed and crept out ‘sneakily’ at 6:35. I felt the excitement for our company flying into Las Vegas at noon PST. I heard from Gerry as they were waiting to board their plane.

Pretty pigeon

It was still dark out but I opened the blinds anyway. I should have walked this morning to calm down as I know excitement also brings shingles for me more than worry. Bill wasn’t too long after me getting up and we had our drinks together while reading blog posts. After an hour I had my shower and emptied a few hangers in the closet for our guests and then did a quick dust through the Suite. It was mainly dusty from the winds yesterday and I had windows open on the west side.

Quails taking a drink 

Bill had his shower and took Clemson for a short walk down to the corner with the garbage. The winds are evident again this morning but so far not too bad and it looks a calm-down is coming today. That’s good. We are looking at temperatures here in the low 70’s and mid 60’s in Vegas so it sounds perfect with this blue sky. We were all cleaned up and ready to go when Bill took the key over to Lori and explained about Clemson’s food and stuff.

Crossing the bridge into Nevada

We hopped in the truck at 10:20 and arrived at McCarran Airport at 11:50. We parked in the underground parking and found their Gate E. After a bit of a kerfluffle and no clear markings, we finally found it. Donna and Gerry met Bill by 12:30 and we were loaded in the truck and on our way. Our destination was to Las Vegas Blvd and to find a place to eat. We were all hungry and of course, their times were way off, gaining an extra 3 hours to their day.

Bus boondocking

Carl’s Jr. turned out to be the spot. Donna was surprised to see that they offered an All-Natural Grass Fed Beef Burger so the two of us ordered that in a combo. The boys ordered a Big Carl Burger combo. Oh, they were so good! This would mean we wouldn’t need much supper tonight. Next on the agenda we needed to take part in The Fremont Experience! We found a spot to park a block away to park the truck.

We did a bit of gambling on the slot machines while waiting
I was up $1 and then spent it.

Yay!

A couple of happy campers

I’m glad they call this ‘an experience’ because we have never witnessed so many ‘strange’ people all in one place before. We all enjoyed this experience and will chat about it for years to come. Donna and I took pictures of some fun things and avoided some other things too embarrassing to record on film. We laughed a lot and had a good time before making our way back to Black Beauty.

A couple of happy guys

We drove from there to Boulder City where we found the entrance to Hoover Dam. We saw the new bridge, which was holy cow, SO big but surprisingly were able to drive across the dam. Things have changed again since our friends Judy and Oscar last visited the scenic area. The Hoover Dam is an arch-gravity concrete dam and is located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River on the border between Nevada and Arizona.

Yup, he's real

We had a nice view of Lake Mead which is about 24 miles from the Las Vegas Strip as we drove by. The Dam, named about President Herbert Hoover, began construction in 1931 and opened for use in 1936 during the Great Depression. Over 100 lives were lost during this construction. It covers an area of 220 acres and is 726’ high. The base of this dam is 660’ thick.

I think this building is coming down, curtains and all

We were all fascinated with just looking at it and trying to imagine how they built it. It is an awesome thing to see if you haven’t been there. By this time, it was approaching 4:30 and we headed back towards Bullhead City for home. It is quite a different view coming through the mountains and down into Laughlin, NV in the dark and our guests wouldn’t get much of a view of things today.

this lady tried her darnedest to show us all 8 ways to wear this wrap scarf
she had us all laughing along with her

We moved inside and I showed them where things were, where they could put their personal items and then we sat and relaxed. Bill and Gerry had a toasted sandwich and Donna and I had an orange which was just the right amount for supper. Bill brought in our creation of a room divider and totally surprised them. This should give each of us some privacy during the overnight and early morning hours.

Action figures for my grandsons, oh and my son and my brother :)

They were tired and by 10:30 we were pulling out the sofa bed and settling in for the night. We had a great day and are anxious to show them around our area and this lifestyle. 

You need to view all 4 of these pictures to get his performance

And yes, there was music

Priceless!

So, on Wednesday, Nov. 29th we had planned a quiet day other than some walkabouts, grocery shopping and Donna and I took part in Water Aerobics from 11 to 12 noon. We prepared bacon and eggs for lunch and headed into Bullhead for shopping. The guys pushed the cart around and Donna and I ran here and there picking up things. We left there and Bill dropped us girls off at a Thrift Store while they went to put fuel in the truck.

Lake Mead

When we returned home, we put the food away and made ourselves a drink for Happy Hour here at the Suite. It was gorgeous outside so Donna and I sat in tankinis and shorts until 5 when it started to cool down. We've had a great day and put in a lot of walks together, and separately in pairs. Even Clemson got out for a walk today! We didn't take many pictures today so this part of the post contains pictures from yesterday. Enjoy!

sunset last night

the new bridge

Huge!

There are those happy campers again

Goodnight
Sorry if it is a jumble
Hard to post with 4 chatterers here. :)

Thank you for taking the time to stop in today. Please feel free to comment if you wish.