Partying in Nevada

My goodness, our last post was quite some time ago! Time does fly sometimes when you're on the road.

To pick up where we left off in the last post.... We left Fallon at a reasonable hour in the morning and arrived at our friends' place near Gardnerville in the early afternoon.

Not much for wasting time, we soon launched  into a round of  parties, birthdays for two friends and a first birthday for Raylan,
a housewarming for friend Jeanne,
a pool party,

and of course,
the big Happy Birthday America BBQ and Reunion.  










We had to move into the garage for Raylan's party, but can you think of a better backdrop for a little boy's first birthday cake than tool boxes?

Kendra had a bubble machine for the boys, balloons, lots of cake and packages to open (so they could play with the paper and boxes!) and lots of Aunties and Uncles to help with the celebration.  Perfect!



The stormy skies from Texas seem to have followed us, as we had either gray cloudy skies or rain almost every afternoon. Shuffling all the yard furniture and cushions indoors, then out, and back again gave us a considerable amount of exercise! It never was really cold, just wet! We can't complain too much though. The area needs the moisture, and it kept the wildflowers looking very spring-like.

The kids joined us for the week of the 4th, and surviving the weather in a tent was part of the fun.

Our agenda also included a visit to the railroad museum in Carson City. 

We visited the museum a couple of years ago, but Jax is older now, so he will undoubtedly remember more of what he saw.

 We rode in the caboose on this trip, and had a chance to view the cabinets, shelves for storage, and even the wood stove that kept the brakemen warm.

As this was the museum's special July event, they paraded three of their restored trains around so we could really get a good look at all of them in action. The trains really show the loving care the volunteers take with them. There were several volunteers dressed in appropriate period garb, running the engines, managing the crowd, and answering all the questions. They really enriched the experience!

Jax also toasted his very first marshmallows, and after running into the ends of the toasting fork a couple of times he learned that indeed, that fork is hot when it's been in the fire! Due to the local fire restrictions we had to limit the "campfire" to a fire pot, but it worked quite well.

That fire in California, near Markleeville (known as the Washington Fire) was finally extinguished. Over 1,100 fire fighters worked on the fire, which finally burned about 16,00 acres. The smoke that poured over the Sierras into the valley was pretty bad at times, completely obscuring the mountains, and we were crediting it with a cold-or-something that we both came down with. We never decided if it was a cold or allergies, but after three weeks of the sniffles and coughing we are ready for it to be gone!

We spent a few days recovering, first at Ramhorn, (photo album from previous visit) a primitive campground in northeastern California.  The wild horses didn't make it into camp this time, but the scenery was as interesting as ever. The wildflowers are still blooming as the elevation is fairly high. Shiner and I took a hike up to the top of the rim rock for a different view of the campground. She loved the area, as there were lots of little critters to pounce at and lots  of space to run in.That little white spot in the middle is our rig.

After Ramhorn we moved on to Collier State Park (see 2012 post for more pics), just down the road from Crater Lake for a night, and then up into the Oregon Cascades, to North Davis Creek campground, one of our favorite hide-a-ways.

Our campsite at North Davis, was right beside the creek, where we could sit and read, watch the crystal clear water flow by and enjoy the wild flowers. The camp is never very crowded, so it's quite peaceful.

Next, we spent a day in Prineville to stock up before Training Camp. When in Prineville we "camp" at the Crook County RV park, right next to the fairgrounds. It's quite nice, if a bit crowded by our standards, and there's a big open field right across the road where we played ball with Shiner. It's perfect for large dogs that really need space to run. If you happen to stop in Prineville and are looking for a place to eat, try the Ranchero Mexican restaurant. I can highly recommend their shrimp enchiladas.

Next we're heading out in to the Ochoco forest for Training Camp. Wow, will the partying ever end?   I hope not! Good times, visiting with good friends.