July Cali Road Trip- Stop-Off In Reno, NV

Super 8 Continental Breakfast!  Girls and Steve had cereal, donuts, OJ, and milk.  I had a packet of oatmeal and a yogurt.

We got on the road after breakfast.  We were traveling all the way into Vacaville, California, with a stop off in Reno.  The girls busied themselves with books, writing, taking pics, eating their donuts, etc.

Steve was a great driver.  He'd listen to his own tunes on his earphones, and used his sun hat as a sun shade.

Long road trips call for silly face contests.

We stopped in Winnemucca for a bathroom break and to fill up our water bottles.  That was a mistake.  The water in Winnemucca is the absolute worst water I've ever tasted.  If you ever make this same trip, bring plenty of water from Utah.

After hours in the car, we got to Reno in the afternoon.  I wanted to stop there to play at Circus Circus with the girls.  It's something my family always enjoyed doing.

We spent $20 on the midway games and ended up winning 3 stuffed animals in the end. 

We also got to watch 2 really cool shows.  One was a dog show which was only about 5 minutes long, but very entertaining.  In fact it was better than the dog show at Sea World that we went to a week later.  The other show we saw was a couple of very talented jugglers.  Again, it was only 5 minutes, but it was cool.

We were going to eat at the Circus Circus buffet, but then we discovered that they are only open on the weekends.  Lame-O!  So, we decided to find a different buffet on our way to Vacaville. 

We went to the Hometown Buffet in Vacaville, which was a mistake.  The food was worst than cafeteria quality.  It was such a disappointment.

We ended up getting to Aunty Cheryl's home in the evening around 7 or 8.  It was cool to see all the flowing fields of sunflowers farms near her home.

Farewell Sister Bennion, And Farewell Utah (for a couple weeks)

~July 2014~

 My step-sister, Ashley, left on her mission this past July.  She was called to serve in the West Indies mission.  She is now sharing the gospel in Barbados.  We love her and miss her. 

 Before Ashley left, she gave a farewell talk in church, which we got to see, then we had a get-together at my dad's house for everyone to eat and see Ashley before she left.  The food was delicious, as always.

Dad's Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Meatballs, Salad, white and brown rice, Jamaican chicken legs, 5-food-group Salad, Pickles, Veggies, Dip, Fruit Salad

Cake, lemon bars, pie, ice cream, rice crispy treats, candy and fruit

 We ate our fill and said our good-byes to Ashley.  Then we said good bye to everyone else because we left from there on our trip to California.  I was able to snag a couple pics of my well-wishing brother and sister.

Joe maybe had a touch too much sugar.

Preggo April

 Then we were off for a 3 hour drive across the West Desert of Utah and into Northern Nevada.

 We passed this sculpture thing of what I believe is supposed to be an artist's rendition of the solar system in the middle of the salt flats.  I remember always passing this as a kid when we would go to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lauret.

 The Salt Flats are such an interesting land formation.  We saw several mirages of water.

More salt flats.  Maybe you can see the water mirage.

Wells, Nevada is "The Gateway to the East Humboldts."  Growing up, my family would drive clear through to Reno before stopping to spend the night on our way to Cali.  I thought that we would take it a little slower, and that meant not traveling as much on our first day- just a few hours.  So, we called Wells home for the evening.  It is a very small town with a couple motels, a gas station, and that's about it.  We stayed at the Super 8 because the prices were cheap, and they had 2 queen beds, a refrigerator and microwave and continental breakfast.  

We are standing in front of the building next to our motel.  It's an old rundown closed casino.

When we got there, we found out why things were so cheap.  The place was old.  The laundry was out of order (not that we needed that).  There were little tiny bugs in the bathroom sink.  I don't know how long it had been since some one had used our room.  It wasn't dusty/dirty necessarily, and I checked the beds for bugs and they were clean.  But the old front door was sorta brittle and didn't close very well, so all you had to do is push, and you were in.  In fact, we were glad we used the swinging lock thingie at the top of the door because at midnight, we had a guy try to walk into our room.  Besides giving us a heart attack, there was no harm done.  The guy was staying in the room next to ours, and he accidently got the wrong door.

Not a lot to do in Wells Nevada.

So, our accomodations were cheap, and not my favorite, but they did the job.  It was air conditioned.  We had our microwave and fridge which allowed us to have our frozen dinners that we had packed.  The TV worked and we got to watch lots of Ninja Warrior, and some dumb Big Foot show.  And in the morning, we had a decent continental breakfast.

I think the girls snapped this pic of Steve "sleeping."

A True Summer Feast!

Our Summer Feast included Grilled Chicken Skewers, Homemade Mexi-Rice, Crispy Oven-Baked Fries with Fry Sauce, Rolls, Wedges of Juicy Watermelon, Colorful Veggie Plate,  Green Salad, Ranch, and Mashed Avocado.  Dessert (not pictured) was Homemade Blueberry and Raspberry Smoothies.

 

-JULY 2014- 

 

Our first stop on our BIG summer vacation was Herriman, Utah where we gathered with some of Steve's side of the family for a memorable, summer-y, BBQ feast that I wouldn't mind living over and over again.

Bev's Truly Crispy Oven Fries.  The trick is to bake them a really long time.

These marinated chicken skewers were mouthwatering.

When we weren't eating, we were visiting, and playing outside.

This dog is Ninja.

Ninja acts like a ninja.

She is very playful and energetic.

 My girls enjoyed going on a little garden tour with their cousin, Eva. 

 Later, James started a fire in his fire ring while the girls played on the jungle gym.

 

 When the fire was ready, we found sticks and broke out the marshmallows.

 Matt has lived abroad quite a bit, and he let us know that roasting marshmallows is a very "American" thing.  Gotta love the good ol' US of A!

 Everyone tried to achieve the perfect golden brown outer crust with a warm, gooey inside.  Everyone except James, I believe, who liked to set his mallow a-flame and eat it char-y black.  I went through a phase as a teenager where I actually preferred that too.  That stage is gone for me now, though. 

Amara was thinking, "yummy gooeyness!"

Lily was thinking, "yummy gooeyness!"

I love the toastiness of these marshmallows.  P.S.  We had fresh raspberry smoothies for dessert and we all had raspberry seeds in our teeth afterward; Steve was just the lucky one to get his photographed when I tried to capture his perfected mallow.  I assure you that he normally has impeccably clean teeth.

Flaming Gorge Freedom Festival

July 5, 2014

Flaming Gorge does a freedom festival every year, and we thought that we would take Grandma Christensen and Uncle Matt up to go see that beautiful countryside.  Our drive was beautiful and took us through colorful rock landscapes, past sparkly reservoirs, and on into fragrant pine forests.  Flaming Gorge area is a good 1.5 hours from our house, so we're glad the drive is so pretty.

We stopped at a lookout point for a few pictures.

Our first destination was one of my favorite historical sites in the Uinta Basin, the Swett Ranch.  I love the solace and the history of this simple place.

 We walked around the property and since it was the Freedom Festival, there was a tour guide giving tours of the structures on the property.

 We didn't join the tours so much, but we got to go in the buildings that are normally locked up when you go there any other time.

The tour guide had a tame dog that liked us and he liked lounging on the picnic table located on the front porch.

P.S.  I want one of these dugout root cellar things.

One of my favorite structures on the ranch is this hidden root cellar.  It is somewhat cool, somewhat creepy, and completely impressive to me.  It is built into the side of a hill, it stays quite cool in there, there are shelves for food storage, and they even brought electric light to it (you can tell the wiring is old- not up to today's codes).  Swett Ranch was one of the first places, if not the first place, in the Uinta Basin to get electricity and telephone service.

 After touring the Swett Ranch, we were off to a nearby car show and then the Flaming Gorge Dam tour.

Lily and Amara loved the sparkly purple corvette.

 Steve's mom and Matt had to leave early because they had a long drive to make to get back home that day, so they didn't get to go on the tour with us.  Our tour was fun and educational.  This dam is massive!  You start off the tour at the top of the dam, then they take you down on the longest elevator ride you've been on to the bottom.  Did you know the cement is so thick that it is still curing, and this dam was built in the 70s (if I remember right).

Flaming Gorge from a different view.

The bridge in the background is where the dam is.

 On our way home, we stopped to take a short hike on the Bear Canyon Trail.  I'd love to spend more time on that trail when I have more energy.  We only went a short distance and we experienced the glory of nature. 

Yes, this was another "see and do" activity for the contest we entered.

Can you see the deer looking at us?  She didn't stay long, but we saw her first, so Steve got a good photo.

 Coming down the canyon, there was heavy smoke near Steinaker Reservoir.  A forest fire had started and was burning rapidly.

 We got to see the helicopter load his big bucket of water in the lake and then dump it onto the flames.  That's one thing you can count on in Utah during the summer.  It's fire season!

 By the time we reached Vernal, we were ready for some good eats.  We finished off the day at Winger's Roadhouse Restaurant.  And for dessert, our good-natured and resilient driver, Steve, ordered the Cookie Zookie (a giant, warm chocolate chip cookie with a scoop of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whip cream.  A good end to a good day.