A Weekend with my Son!

A week and a half ago on a Tuesday morning  I put JoAnn on an airplane for a week in Boise, ID to visit daughters and grandchildren. I had earlier decided it was a great weekend to visit my Dad. Tim decided he wanted to come too and we talked about travel arrangements finally agreeing he would fly into Las Vegas and we would drive to Modesto, CA with me the following day. He arrived in the evening of the same day JoAnn left for Idaho.

Wednesday morning we went to my campus, dropped off an exam for a colleague of mine to deliver in my class. Then Tim and I were off by about 9:30 am and headed for Modesto. We both agreed the 160 miles from Las Vegas to Barstow had to be the longest and most boring drive you could ask for. However, after we topped off the gas tank - at $4.47 a gallon - Tim took the driving tasks and took us to within 1 hour of Modesto. It was a great drive to have with Tim.

Our goal was to spend as much time as we could with Grandpa and Grandma Ruby. But we started Wednesday evening with a relaxing time with Don and Marti, our gracious hosts. On Thursday we went over to see Dad and Ruby and just to spend time with them. We had also been given an assignments by my sisters, which was to talk Dad into a new television. His old one was even older than my front room television.

We weren't making much progress - Dad can be a tough sell when he wants to stall. We just visited, took them out to lunch at Applebee's. We sat at our tables and realized the baseball Giants were playing the Cardinals. Tim made the comment to Dad saying, "If you had a new television you could see the ballgame that well too." That seemed to be the turning point. Late that afternoon he said, I think I'd like a new television. Tim & I told Dad we would deliver a new TV in the morning.

Tim and I found a great Mexican restaurant around the corner
from Dad's house. Would you believe there are 3 enchiladas
somewhere under there?

Sending 2 guys out to purchase a new television is "dangerous" to say the least. We checked out Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. We had lots of options, but finally made a great decision on a 47 inch television for Dad & Ruby. Yet, we knew we weren't quite done. We decided that Ruby needed her own TV for when Dad is watching sports (which is a lot). We settled on a 32" TV to replace the one that had been in the back bedroom.

We got to the house, set up the new television, and plugged it in and Tim programmed the controller. Having Tim there to program the controller and make sure everything was set up right was a blessing. He is so good at those tasks. Dad told us we could take the old TV to the back room for Ruby. That was when we told him that Ruby got a new television too!

Before we set the 2nd television up we turned on the golf channel and Dad was like a little kid! He loved it! And we sure felt good.

We almost had the 32" set up before Ruby got back, but we couldn't find the remote. Ruby and her daughter-in-law Kathy found it in 2 minutes. We got it programmed and when Tim and I left they were both watching the back room television.

Grandpa/Dad with the Grandkids - and yes "in-laws" are automatically grandkids!

Friday evening we got together with all of the sisters and family. On Thursday Krissie had called and said she and David were going to Sacramento on Friday. They met us for dinner at Jeri's home. We didn't tell Dad they were coming and we were lucky enough Krissie & David arrived at Jeri's the same time we did. Dad was surprised when David was there to help him out of the car. David is Dad's favorite Marine. It was a great evening with family. . I almost forgot - we celebrated Tim's birthday and everyone enjoyed it. Thank you to my sisters who put the whole evening together.

Tim receiving his Birthday Ice Cream from Aunt Marti

Jeri and Marti working hard in the kitchen. John worked hard too, but somehow
I missed him in this photo.

Saturday I took Tim to the Sacramento airport to fly home to his family. Krissie met us near the airport and we had a nice lunch. I drove back, spent a short time with Dad & Ruby feeling good about the visit. I went back to Marti's house and had a nice evening with her and Don.

On Thursday afternoon Tim and I sat on the back patio and dad shared his World War II experiences with us for about an hour. I heard some stories I hadn't heard before. I did record this and will make it available to family.

It's not very often I have the opportunity to spend a few days with one of my sons. I really enjoyed it. The time together in the car was relaxing and enjoyable. To just spend that time together was special for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Las Vegas, Rain, Grandchildren, Hiking

Dean, Lexi, & Ellen on the steps to
Calico Basin in Red Rock. The steps
are an exception and not the rule.

When we lived in the Midwest we loved a good rain and thunderstorm. Unless it was accompanied by tornadoes. The same is true in Las Vegas. The only exception is that our thunderstorms only occur 2 or 3 times a year. That makes them BIG events. Last week we had almost 3 full days of thunderstorms and heavy rain (heavy for Las Vegas). Because Las Vegas sits in the bottom of a bowl all the rain runs downhill to the lowest parts of town and gains some impressive speeds. It doesn't take much rain to create a flood. They say a 6 inch flow of water will move a car - a long ways. Most of us take our storms seriously knowing that there will be flooding, high water and the like.

Mix all that rain with a house full of grandchildren who want to go to the parks and play and it even gets more interesting. Fortunately that all worked out pretty well and there was enough dry time for them to have a great time at the parks.

Thursday was a moderately heavy rain day. We live almost right up against the mountain on the west side of town. Behind the mountain in Red Rock National Conservation Area, a beautiful area of mountains, plains, and enjoyment. Those mountains around Red Rock channel the storms and they tend to get heavier rain then we do.

Friday morning began with a beautiful sunshine and nice cool weather. I figured it was time to take the two big girls, Ellen and Alexis, and their Dad to Calico Basin. It is in Red Rock and about a 2.5 mile hike that takes 2 hours. It's all up and down and requires some bouldering. Both girls are big enough to engage in the bouldering, so we started out. At the gate I used my new $10 over-65 lifetime pass to national parks, recreation areas, and the like - You've got to take advantage of those over 65 deals!

I took the hike to Calico Basin for the first time last February with Tim. So I was familiar with the trail and knew what to expect. The first thing we noticed was that the rain had widened the channel (see photo). Some of the new cuts were 5 feet deep and looked like a knife had slide the soil away. There were also quite a few uprooted trees. Last time we walked up the wash and used that as our primary trail for about 30%f the hike. This time there was water in the wash so that meant we were climbing from the very beginning.

It was beautiful. The rain had cleared the sky. It was bright, the colors were magnificent, and the hike was refreshing! It was refreshing in February too, but a tad bit cooler that day. The girls kept up with a minimum of complaint and sometimes we had to ask them to wait for us! Well, me, not Dean, their Dad. There were spots where we crossed the wash and got our shoes a little muddy and our socks a little wet, but we lived through those experiences. They are part of the fun.

Ellen, Alexis, and Grandpa enjoying the beauty!

You can see the rugged beauty of Red Rock area, and the clouds that were
beginning to move in.

We even found hail left over from the storm. It wasn't a lot, but it was fun to find
in Southern Nevada.

We got to the top and looked at Calico Basin and saw about 3 feet of water in the bowl. I stuck with the girls while Dean went around to the other side to see the valley. Normally we go through the bowl to get the view of the valley. While all of this was going on we also recognized that the clouds were moving in and they were very dark. We decided it was time to scoot out of there as fast as we could, which isn't very fast when you are trying to be safe. Nonetheless we beat the storm. It just started to rain as we left, we got a little light hail, and later as we were driving on the main highway looking back we could see the rain coming down pretty good. We felt for all those folks who were out on the trail. We had a great time!

The Bake gang about half way through the hike!

Grandpa, Lexi, & Ellen celebrating!