I'M BACK !!!!!!!!

Where has all the time gone?  First things first.  Last night, Sheila, Gerry, Margie and I met for a movie, then dinner.  We went to see HOPE SPRINGS, with Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep.  She is my favorite actress of all time.  She just seems to live a normal non-Hollywood life, then WHAM!  She slays another role.  This was no different.  We all really liked the movie.  I thought the part where she was going to learn to give oral sex using a banna was soooo cute.  She was reading the book, then before she knew it, she was eating bananas and reading a book.  Anyway, that was only one of the funny scenes.  Very sweet story.

After the movie, we all went to Fridays and ordered "custom" food.  We ordered a unique style of shrimp.  It arrived, and it was delicious.  Well, that's all of us except Sheila.  She'd had shrimp for two days so she had steak.  The manager is a female, and she sort of spoiled us the last time we were there.  She told us how to order custome shrimp, and gave us a free sample last time.  This time, we got it and were NOT disappointed.

I put the RV in the shop Monday.  While we were on vacation, the first few days were great.  Then, as time went by, and Eric came to join us, the RV got smaller and smaller then tiny.  I came home determined to get a bigger one.  I mentioned it to Mel, and she said it might be a little early to start looking again.  Damn, she's right of course.  Honestly, it is perfect for 2 people.... maybe even 2 people with 2 kids.  It'd work great for 2 adults and 2 overnight guests.  However..... 2 weeks and 5 to 6 people is probably a tad too much for such a small space. 

I did look at a bigger RV, a Class A Diesel Pusher, and really liked it, but man, it's hard to justify 1/4 million dollars for basically a CAR you can sleep in.  I'm just going to have to be happy with what I alread bought, at least for a couple of years and see how often I travel.  Gary is wanting me to get rid of it and buy a large travel trailer and a big truck.  Hmmmmm.  That's what I originally wanted then he convinced me to get a class C.  Oh well.

All in all, vacation was great.  It was a little crowded, but hey, the entire family got to go together.  It really was great getting to share the sights with the girls.  When we traveled in the RV, Chloe read and Morgan watched videos on the computer.  What's really funny, Chloe told Gary that she prefers vacations where it's just girls.  She like sitting in the front shot-gun spot.  With four adutls, there's no way she'll get that seat, ever!

Here are links to pictures from our trip. 
First portion of our trip. Our favorite.... Chacura, Colorado.

Chacura is only about a block long, and it has one fantastic restaurant-bar...... the Dog Bar.  The food is reasonable, and very delicious.  Of course, we ate there, then shopped a little.  They have a general store and a gift shop.  After that, we headed to LaVeta, to spend a couple of days in a RV camp.  Frank came down and visited us on our second night, then we headed non-stop to Yellowstone.

Here is our first day of touring Yellowstone.

If you ever tour Yellowstone, you'll be driving along at 45 MPH, and all of a sudden you're in a traffic jam.  You are not moving at all.  It is usually because some animals are very close to the road, or blocking it.  It's an every day event.  Each day, we'd all have a pool where everyone guessed how many road blocks we'd encounter.  The most in one day was 7.  That was a Sunday, and it was because the bison decided to walk on the highway.  The longest was that Sunday, and it took us about 1.5 hours to go 1/2 mile.  BTW, they have the right of way in all instances.  If they are blocking the highway, the park rangers will come and make sure no one bothers the animals.  That's not really a problem though, cause that's what we all want to see....animals.

We told the girls that the Gibbon Falls and the Gibbon River was named for our family.  Hey..... it's our story.  They asked about the missing "s" on the end, and we said it wasn't until later that we changed our name to GibbonS.  Hey, they thought it was neat.

Eric's first day of arrival.

Gary and I took a day off with Morgan, while Angie and Chloe went and picked up Eric.  She had to drive to Jackson Wyoming to pick him up at the airport.  That took all day, but of course, they did a little touring on the way.  They hadn't been back 30 minutes when Morgan slammed the door on her thumb.  Man, that sucke was crooked.  Off she and Angie go to the emergency center in West Yellowstone, Idaho.  It was 9pm, so naturally it was closed.  She had to drive 2 hours thru the mountains to get to and ER.  She had broken her thumb.  They put it in a soft cast, and she was good to go.  Of course, that came of about 2 days later.  Gary and Morgan tried climbing the Sheepeater Cliffs.  We toured the north loop of Yellowstone.

Fishing and Rock Hunting

Then we had a day of fishing and rock hunting on Yellowstone Lake.  Everyone fished except Angie and I.  We didn't have a license, but we didn't particularly want one.  Angie and I did some serious rock hunting.  Gary fell off a rock and got wet.  I scraped my left leg and got blood (thank you Plavix) all over my clothes, but I wasn't really hurt.  We spent most of the day doing that, then we enjoyed our expensive (really!) meal at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel Dining Room.  It was really good. 

Old Faithful

We did the south loop, and checked out Old Faithful again, and also the Old Faithful Lodge. 

Time to head home.

It was time to leave Yellowstone and start the trek home.  One last traffic jam for Bison.  We stopped at a rest area, and while everyone else was in the rest center, I took a tour of Hell's Half Acre.  We were still in Idaho.  I walked almost the entire trail.  It was still in high elevation, so I sure got winded. 

WELCOME TO UTAH

We arrived in what I think is one of the most colorful states I've ever seen.... UTAH!  The first pictures are of Bear Lake.  Here is a quote....

Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Utah-Idaho border in the Western United States. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Utah and has been called the "Caribbean of the Rockies" ... Wikipedia

I swear, it was the clearest water.  We rented the girls a water trike.  Chloe and Morgan started out, and Chloe smashed her finger on it.  While she tried to compose herself, I rode it with Morgan.  Man, it was a lot of work.  Then everyone but Gary and Eric took their turn on it.  We stayed there a couple of hours.  That is one place I definitely want to go back to.  Imagine, crystal clear blue water, sandy (granite sand) beaches, and no salt water.  It was so neat. 

Just when I thought I'd seen the best, we came upon the Flaming Gorge.  Blue water (again) and red mountains backing up to it.  OMG!  Yes, I definitely want to go back.

Flowers Mountains and Dinosaur..... OH MY!!!

We stopped at a KOA in the middle of nowhere, spent the night, then got up and resumed our drive. The first city we came to, Vernal, Utah, had every nook and cranny of town covered with flower baskets. It was so cute. Then, we toured Dinosaur National Park. I actually got to touch a real dinosaur fossil. Morgan was estatic.
We arrived late in Gunnison, Colorado.  We did manage to find a Mexican Restaurant (Chloe was having El Fenix cravings).  We ate there, then stayed at the only RV site that had an opening.  Who knew Gunnison was such a busy place?  On Saturday morning, they had a car show, an arts and crafts festival, and a farmer's market to boot.  We had a grand time.  I met an Olympic Cross Skier, Rebecca Dussault.  She and her husband were running a brick oven stand.  It was an actual brick oven built on a trailer.  She was really neat, and pregnant.  She has a web site (I found this out googling her, she didn't tell me about it) that pretty much explains her life.  It's a pretty good read, Angie liked it.

Since we were going to attempt driving all day, we unanimously agreed to spen a couple of hours in Gunnison, then we started the long drive home.  We went thru the Continental divide.  Angie and I stayed in the RV while everyone else went to the top in a tram.  UGH..... too high for me.  Crap, it was hard enough to breath as it was. What does that mean?  Something about if it rains there, wanter on one side will untimately reach the east side, the other side will drain it's water to the west. 

We pulled into a rest area around 1am.  Angie had been driving, and she was ready to sleep.  Gary got up to go to the bathroom, and I decided to finish the drive.  I made it all the way to about an hour and a half away from Dallas.  I was sound sleep when we finally got home.

I had to take the RV to the shop to have them fix a couple of things I found wrong.  So.... I had to unload everything.  Gary did help me a little.  I just put it in the garage.  Then, I got sick.  Stomach issues.  Dang, Sheila came home from vacation with a bad cold.  Tis week, I've manaaged to get everything cleaned up, sorted, and ready to put back in the RV once it's finished.  They will probably have it for a week.  They're installing side camera, working on the generator, a light, the surround sound system controls, and about 7 other items.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and play 18 holes of golf with the FWGA.  So is Sheila, Gerry, and Margie.  Hopefully, we'll all have a good day.  I'm trying to get prepared for the DAC tournament that Sheila and I paid $600 to join.  Neither one of us has played golf for a couple of months.  My aches and pains have kept me home, and she had her skin graft to worry about.  Hey.... we're back. 

We did go to practice hitting balls yesterday.  I got tired after 15, so I quit.  We probably won't win.  We already agreed that we don't care, as long as we're not DAL (dead ass last).  That's it for now.  I'm still feeling puny, so I've got an appointent Friday.  Hopefully, she'll figure out what's wrong.  I did go ahead and stop the Cymbalta.  Hopefully, that will be causing my problems.  I may be getting dehydrated.  My blood pressure has been running on the low side.  That's the newest one, so last on my list... .first off.

Later, sorry it took so long.  (also, no spell check today)