Vacation update.

I finally have WiFi so I can update our trip.  Here are some pictures of the smoke from the fire that sent us on a detour.  Hwy 197 was closed just before Maupin so we had to find another way to get to Madras.  

This was looking out the Driver's side of the van.

This is Mt Hood in the background. Looking out the Passenger's side of the van.

This is looking out the driver's side.

  Here you can see a little of the sky without the smoke.

 The smoke just kept getting thicker as we went along.

 We were starting to wonder if we were going to be detoured again.

Finally made it to Madras where Steve's Brother lives but he wasn't home. 

 So we visited with His wife Tammy and son Gabe.  Steve and I don't get to see them very often and it is amazing how fast the little ones grow.  

 Then we were off to The High Desert Museum.

 These bronze sculptures are very beautiful.

As part of the outdoor Museum, they took us back to 1904 and Steve helped the carpenter who was working on his Adirondack Chair. 

Steve is sitting on the Shaving horse shaving the boards to make them smooth.

Then we went into the real working sawmil from the 1900's.

If you ever get the chance to go to The High Desert Museum you should go, we only planned on being there about an hour, but ended up being there over three hours and we didn't even see it all.  It is Awesome!!!

After we left the High Desert Museum, we ran into another issue on the way.  A Semi-truck had wrecked and was laying on it's side, luckily it was off the road and he looked like he was hurt but going to be ok.  From there we drove to Alturas, CA., we stayed the night and then on to Reno NV.  We stopped at Hawthorn, NV. to see their Museum here are some pictures.  They had a large selection of Taxidermy animals, including a Pelican, an Antelope, 

  Pheasants, a Porcupine and a Badger. 

 

Then on to Reno, NV., where we played a few slots and when we got up the next morning we tried to go to Vegas, but they had road construction in a couple places and we ended up staying at Beatty, NV.  

We finally made it to Vegas yesterday, it was 106 degrees.  Even Mom took off her sweater.  We took Mom to see the Laser light show in old town and had our picture taken with Bret Michaels and Tupac (ok they were look alikes, but it was fun anyway) I will have to post the picture later when I can figure out how to get it out of Steve's phone. Yeah, I had to call James, but I got the picture.  Then we went to the Strip and walked for what seemed like for ever, among a million people.  

Tonight we took Mom to see Dirk Aurthur's Wild Magic Show , we had a nice time 

and I could tell by the way Mom laughed and clapped that she enjoyed it too. 

 That is all she talked about all the way back to our room.  

Tomorrow we are off to see the Grand Canyon.  I don't know if we will stay where I can get WiFi again or not so it might be a few days till I can update you on our trip.  We are really enjoying having Mom on this trip, I am so glad she wanted to come with us.  

Thank you for checking out  my blog and I hope you all come back soon.

Happy Scapin',

Janice