Trip to Las Vegas and Santa Fe

     Last year John went to his bi-annual education fair in Las Vegas and wasn’t due to attend again until February 2016.  Apparently because of various employee changes, his company was going to end up with most of their folks needing to go in 2016 so John was asked if he would attend again this year.  Since I’m retired and we knew the hotel the meetings are held are take dogs, I was thrilled that John and I AND our girls could go.  Last year we stayed home and it was the coldest week of the entire winter.  It never got above freezing the entire week and I wasn’t much interested in doing that again.  

So we planned to take several days for our trip – 12 to be exact – and John only had to take two of them as vacation.  The rest were either his usual days off, weekends or professional leave.  We had our motorhome back from the shop and all the heating problems seemed to be resolved so we didn’t have that to worry about.  We didn’t plan to take the motorhome as we didn’t want to be driving on I-40 in snowstorms with it so planned to take the Jeep.  On the 29^th of January we loaded up the girls and all our gear.  Since we were going to be gone a while and had dogs with us we had lots of gear.  We stored things like computers, coats, snacks and coats in the car.  The girls were in car seats in the back seat and the rest was stowed inside a large all weather bag on a cargo hauler along with the girls’ stroller.  There is very little storage behind the back seats.  Enough room for a folded dog crate and things like jumper cables and other road necessary items.  

Our first night was in Amarillo, TX.  We booked ourselves at La Quintas the entire trip as they allow dogs and don’t charge a dime for them.  Our first hotel was very old looking but the room was quite nice with updated furniture.  A very comfy bed and very clean.  We found a decent Mexican restaurant right next door so enjoyed dinner and hit the sack for a long drive the next day.

The following day we planned to drive from Amarillo to Gallup, NM.  Our first couple of hours went without any problems but then things started to change.  We started with rain and the temperature just kept dropping and finally bottomed at 29 degrees.  Once it dropped below 32 the rain turned to snow and it just kept coming down.  At one point we stopped for gas and I was told by another lady that she heard it was horrible west of Albuquerque.  We were in a Jeep so we kept on going.  Eventually the passing lane was shutting down and not safe to use at all.  I just kept praying that the temps would go up and the snow would stop but was fully prepared to stop for the night in Albuquerque.  About 10 miles east of Albuquerque the temps did go up and the roads started to clear.  Yea!  We stopped in Albuquerque for lunch and kept on going.  From that point on all the way to Gallup we had great roads.  It rained on and off but that was it.  As we got to Gallup the snow started in again and it snowed all evening.  Thank goodness we had reached our hotel and could get a break.  

Our final day of travel into Vegas was uneventful.  We even made a quick side trip in Golden Valley to check out where a friend lives – who is rarely home as she is usually with her husband in their RV – currently in Houston.  We actually met in the RV park we live in at this time back in 2011 and have remained friends and in touch since then.  It was only a 3 week relationship but we just clicked.  Anyway, we found her house, grabbed a pic of me in front of it, and texted it to her – then left.  She got a big kick out of the pic and I don’t think she believed me at first that I was standing in front of her house. 

Then we drove onto Vegas.  We spent two nights in another La Quinta as my son, Chad, was meeting us there.  He lives a day’s drive from Vegas about 80 miles outside Reno.  We had a nice visit with him and saw quite a bit of the countryside around Vegas.  There was a beautiful park right by our hotel so we spent one afternoon walking around it and enjoying all the other people and their dogs.

He had to head home on Monday as he had to work and we had to move to the Rio All Suites Hotel in downtown Vegas for John’s meeting.  I was sorry we didn’t have more time with Chad but at least we had some time.  I hadn’t seen him since summer 2012.  We plan to see him again in 2017, if not before.

The Rio Hotel is huge as was our room.  It was probably twice the size of a regular hotel room which was great since the girls and I were going to spend quite a bit of time in there.  The hotel actually had two areas for the dogs to do their business with grass!  After we left Oklahoma until now all the girls had seen was either rocks or snow.  Poor April was having a hard time getting used to all this but I was able to get them back on a schedule since we were at the Rio for 5 days.  I mentioned earlier that we had a doggie stroller with us.  This thing is a life saver especially in large hotels like this.  Since there were lots of other dogs and we had to walk through the casino to get anywhere, the stroller was very helpful for me to move them around.  So we went for lots of walks, I got some work on the computer done that I needed to do for the Board of Directors I serve on and I read books.  In fact, I read two books while in Vegas.

 

John had Wednesday afternoon off so we took a drive out to the Valley of Fire State Park about an hour out of Vegas.  This park was beautiful as you can see from the pictures.  I was looking at my Maps app on my phone for possible places to see around Vegas and saw this park.  When I pinned it on Maps it brought up a description of the park and some pics and I was amazed at the beauty of it.  The drive out was nothing very pretty to see but once you actually drive up into that mountain area this gem of gorgeous just shows up.

 
On Thursday, while John was in meetings, I found me way to a laundromat in Vegas and washed a lot of dirty clothes.  Then found a Walmart to stock up on cokes and snacks along with some other items we needed.  It was nice to have clean clothes. 

The meetings went on through Friday with a big gala dinner that night but we decided to pull out early and the hotel allowed us to check out early without additional charges.  On Friday John did attend another class but we were able to hit the road about 12:30 pm.  We headed to Flagstaff, AZ for the night.  We didn’t see much of Flagstaff but what we did see seemed very nice.  I think I would like to spend some more time there at some point.  Wonder what their winters are like.

 

On Saturday we headed to Santa Fe to spend a few nights before heading home on Tuesday.  We arrived at their La Quinta and we were given what used to be a manager’s room.  It had a large living room with a sofa bed, two sitting chairs, a work table and two chairs and a credenza and TV.  The bedroom was enormous as well with a king bed, large credenza, TV, sitting chair and a huge walk-in closet.  The bath was also twice the size of the usual hotel bath.  It also had the usual microwave, coffee maker and refrigerator.  The large amount of space was nice for three nights.  That night we found our way to Posas for dinner.  It was a kind of fast food Mexican place.  You have to walk in but you order at the counter and then find a seat.  They had wonderful homemade tamales.  They make several thousand of them fresh daily and do mail orders. 

On Sunday we had breakfast at the Flying Tortillas restaurant then took the girls and headed out to Pecos and up into the Santa Fe National Forest.  It was just one road up the mountain but it was beautiful.  There was more snow the further up we went and the road got pretty narrow.  At the top we stopped and let the girls run a bit.  They enjoyed the stream running down the mountain and proceeded to walk into it and drink.  It was sunny and in the 50’s but the wind was blowing so it was nippy and they were wet from running in the snow.  April kept jumping in it and sticking her nose in the snow.  Thankfully we had a small blanket in the Jeep so we wiped them down and got the heater started.  A lot of the land along the road was privately owned and had some nice homes/cabins on it.  After that we headed over to a walking trail that allowed dogs – Atalaya Trail.  Once you are out on the trail the dogs do not have to be leashed but our girls cannot be trusted to come when off leash – especially if they see a wild critter.  It’s like their hearing just shuts down.  So they were kept on leashes.  We ran into lots of large dogs, many of which were off leash that would run up to the girls.  I was amazed at how well they did.  They didn’t get mouthy nor did they seemed scared.  The large dogs were all well behaved as well.  April is normally very mouthy and loud and they can both act like wild mad dogs as if they are going to kill but not today.  All was quiet and well behaved.  We need to do that more often!

In the afternoon we traveled without the girls down to the old plaza in the town square.  We were looking for a place to eat and to just walk a bit without the dogs.  We found our way into the Thunderbird Grill in the upstairs of one of the buildings on the plaza.  The general manager came by and introduced himself.  He was very nice and had lived in Oklahoma at one time.  John ordered their green chili steak enchiladas and said they were the best he had ever had.  The green chili was very good.  We opted out of dinner that night as we had just eaten too much.  Instead we opted for some ice cream.  Would have preferred DQ but had to take Baskin Robbins.  

On Monday, our last day in Santa Fe, we chilled out in the morning.  Slept in late which was awesome.  It seems our biological clocks have reset and are in sync with the time zone we are in.  I was still not hungry so had coffee for breakfast while John ate.  Then I hit the hotel’s laundry to do 3 loads.  Just didn’t want to arrive home with a bunch of laundry to do.  At noon we met the Fines for lunch.  He was one of my old bosses at OU.  I went to work for him when he took the Chairman of Medicine’s job and was with him for five years when he retired.  It was great to see him and his wife.  They hadn’t changed a bit.  They have lived in Santa Fe for many years now and love it.  Both are very involved in volunteer work. 

On Monday afternoon we grabbed the girls and drove up the mountain to Ski Santa Fe.  It was about 15 miles up the mountain through the Santa Fe National Forest.  The drive was beautiful.  A sunny afternoon with lots of tall pine trees and snow.  There wasn’t much to see at the top of the mountain so we made several stops on the way down to get some photo ops.  The views overlooking Santa Fe were beautiful as were all the Aspens toward the top of the mountain. Toward the bottom we walked around outside in the snow a bit with the girls to let them run around.  

We hit the road for the long drive home on Tuesday – 547 miles to cover.  It took us 9 hours but we arrived home safely.  I read 2 ½ books while gone which was great as I often have no time to read.  Our next trip is in April when we head to south Texas.