June 29th...I went over to CA and picked up 4 grandkids...Adam, Mia, Seth and Mason..stopped for a quick lunch at Mickey D's and over the hill we came..it was Sunday so not a bad day for us traveling...Came home and out came the ping pong table! They had a good evening playing!
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| Mason, Mia, Seth, Adam and Ken setting up ping pong! |
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| Miss Mia |
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| Seth obviously won! |
June 30th...While the kids were here we thought we'd go camping for a few days..was looking at Bridgeport, June Lake area and Ken brought up "How about going to Craters of the Moon for 4th of July?!" Are u kidding, they jumped on it! So we spent the 30th getting ready for our trip and bright and early we headed out...because we had 4 kids we had to take his truck and my car to fit us all..
July 1st...We got as far as the Elko, NV area and Lamoille Canyon...(Thomas Canyon Campground)...NFS so $8.50 a night thanks to Ken's pass! Found a camping area and had a great night! This was Mia's first time camping in a tent..she did really well! She and Mason slept in the tent and the other boys slept outside under the stars! Great temps!
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| The RV guesthouse |
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| Our view |
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| More of our site! |
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| Mason relaxing |
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| Ken getting ready to bar b q |
July 2nd ....We got ourselves up and out of there as we knew we wanted to be at Craters of the Moon that afternoon..great drive and we pulled in around 1500. Great weather...a little too warm but ok. Surprisingly the campground wasn't busy..so we scored 2 spots (just for extra room) and $20.00 for two nights for both sites (with Ken's discount)...
The kids played and enjoyed and we planned the next day to spend in the park and they kids going in caves! We were here a few years ago with them (except Mia) so they knew what they wanted to do!
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| Beautiful Nevada near Elko |
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| A new state for MIA! |
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| Craters of the Moon Idaho! |
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| Seth and Adam sleeping outside |
July 3rd...We headed for the caves and climbs! Kids really enjoyed themselves spending hours in the lava tube caves! We all went through Indian Cave and they went through the others...In the afternoon we went over to the visitor center and watched a couple of short films as it was so hot at the campground.
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| On the trail to the caves |
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| Climbing to the top! |
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| Adam, Mia, Mason and Seth near the splatter cones |
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| Caves and fun! |
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| Boy Scout Cave |
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| Entrance to Indian Cave |
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| This was the exit we had to climb out! |
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| Trail to Buffalo Cave |
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| Mason and Adam exploring at Buffalo Cave |
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| Mia going down to the cave! |
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| Dinner! |
July 4th...We headed a whole 18 miles to Arco, Idaho KOA..we had stayed here a few years ago and knew there was awesome fireworks in the little town that we could see from the KOA. Went to the local market and then spent the afternoon at the pool! They have a little ice cream social at 1900 so the kids had ice cream and then a camper there offered to host karioke...apparently he carries the whole system and songs with him and did it for free! Mason and MIa loved it and finally near the end Mia along with a few new friends got up and sung "We will rock u"...very cute but it was nearly midnight when it was over! The fireworks started about 2100 and continued until midnight or later...we actually fell asleep to the sound of fireworks...Awesome!!
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| Mason and Mia listening to karioke |
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| Mason watching fireworks! |
July 5th...The KOA offered a free waffle breakfast so we did that in the am..and then headed to a Museum about 18 miles from the KOA. The Worlds First Nuclear Reactor...EBR1.. powered up December 1951..it was free and really something to see!
The kids seemed to enjoy it and so did we...very well put together and you are right inside of what was the original reactor. After a hot dog lunch we spent the rest of the day at the pool!
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| EBR-I the worlds first nuclear reactor |
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The names of the people who were present when the reactor produced
electricity...written in chalk on the wall and preserved...awesome! |
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| Seth being silly! |
Knowing we were going back to Lamoille Canyon in the morning after 2 wonderful days at the KOA we decked we better get up early so we'd have time to enjoy the campground.
July 6th...We headed out and got to the campground early afternoon and ended up in the same campsite as the campground was really busy! It was hot but we still enjoyed. One casualty...Mia fell off the bike but never fear Papa fixed her up! A great evening, and Mia, who had never slept in a tent before this trip..actually slept outside with the boys under the beautiful sky!
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| Papa fixed her up! |
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| All four kids slept outside! |
July 7th...Up and outta there early as we knew we had about 300 miles to go. Got home about 1700 hours and unloaded what we needed to, showers all around and a lazy evening..well for us old folks anyway.
What an awesome trip...kids were really good even though it was alot of riding...1371 miles to be exact!
July 8th...Left here about 0900 to return them all to CA and their parents..back to Yerington about 1900 and a nice relaxing evening.
July 9th...Got up and worked around here. Around 1300 we went to lunch at our favorite Mexican place in town and decided tomorrow we would head for Reno and do some shopping as I'm leaving on Friday to head to Cheryl's for the night, grab Adam and Mia and head to Antelope on Saturday. Russell's 36th (ahhhh) birthday is on Sunday so he and Lori are going to Santa Rosa area for some brewery hopping. I am picking up Jacob and Aaron for the week and we are going to Dillon's Beach for the week. I have rented a house there (actually Sister, Linda is there until Monday am and we have it rented after that)...be back next Friday. Summer is flying!!
