Laughlin Here We Come

Looks like we are in for "A Devil of a Good Time"




More soon.
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NAWLINS

Madame and Cheri are in Nawlins to celebrate Cheri's birthday, 21 again!

So first off they are drinking beer in Pat O Brian's.

Then it's off to Café Du Monde for coffee and beignets.

Followed by a trip to Emeril's for fillet of Pompano with his world famous pie for dessert.












Today they had a trip to two plantations, Laura and Oak Valley.

 

 

 Keep that fan going Cheri!

 

 

 

 Madame outside the hotel Place D'Armes.

More hard work ahead on Thursday!

The Day After!

The Red Bull Flug tag was being prepared ( Silly buggers throwing themselves off the end of the pier in non-airworthy craft!)

Anne bemoans the loss of her Gossip Partner!

California Mourns the Ross's Departure

The day after Tess and Ron departed, the sun NEVER emerged!

 

 

 

 

 We went to Long Beach instead of riding to the Canyons because the weather was so shitty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrap Up of the Ross Tour

Madame has taken over because she says she wants this done right - ahem - "Correctly!"

Heading for Virginia City

Ron showing where the Magpies carved a notch showing where they caught a fish so that next time they know where to put the rod!

Loopy Leopard Lady with her long-suffering sis



This was our "Glam Night" at the Peppermill in Reno



Wigs are us!

Hollywierd!

The swing at Hotel Americain

The Beverly Wilshire , where "Pretty Woman"   Julia Roberts went with Richard Gere

 

 

Tess with my former student, Stephen

At the airport

"Bye , Playmates!"

 



A Local Day Tour

Tuesday Ronnie and I decided to take a tour of the USS IOWA.
What a day we had!
The vessel is, in and of itself impressive.
It is 887long, 108 feet wide and carries a draft of 37 feet when fully loaded.
The 16" fifty caliber guns just give you a sense of awe when you look at them and the projectiles they fired.

 

The projectiles and propellant bags were handled and loaded individually!

 

The maximum range recorded by a 16" shell was fired by the Iowa at 26.9 miles in 1989 .

 

 

The tour is getting better, I was on board about a year ago and now they have it better organized with more people to describe what it is you are looking at.

 

 



 

 The only problem we encountered was in the bar, the service was very slow and there were not too many other customers.

 





This was one of the names applied to the Iowa, the other was the battleship of presidents.

 

 

Here is a picture of Ronald and Nancy Reagan on board in 1984.

 

Of course the president who was remembered most for his time spent on board was F.D.R.

 

He travelled on the Iowa from the east coast to the Yalta conference and during his time on board certain accommodations for his disability had to be made. For example the shower in the captains quarters was removed and replace with a bath tub. The Iowa was the only ship in the fleet to have a bathtub.

 

We followed the visit with a trip to Point Fermin to see the light house and another famous landmark!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We headed back over the Vincent Thomas bridge to Long Beach, even the bridge itself is an impressive sight. Driving over it you can see the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles spread beneath you.

 

 

 A quick look around near the Queen Mary and then back to HB for a little R&R.



Weekend Stuff

Saturday morning, I went to HB Hogs & Choppers to get the red bike back.

Here is Ronnie trying it out for size.

On Saturday afternoon we took a trip over to the Grill in Seal Beach to meet up with some of the crew who frequent.

We had a good time and met up with several people we knew.
Lot's of people asking about Barb and Leon and how they were doing.

On Saturday evening we had a get together with the some friends and neighbors to celebrate the visit of Tess and Ron.

Lots of the usual suspects were in attendance.

 

The smoking swing!

 

 

 

On Sunday we headed up to Hollywood for a quick tour.

A trip along Hollywood Blvd to see the star signs and of course a photo op.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to Rodeo Drive for a spot of shopping (WINDOW)

 

 

The Official Guide for the "Pretty Woman" tour.

Meantime Ronnie and I went up to the Beverly Hills Hotel and visited the famous landmark near by.

Will Rogers Memorial Park.

 

 

 

AS most of you already know, Hollywierd is not my bag.

But look what I saw!

 

 

 

 

Santa Nella

We drove down from Reno to Santa Nella today, just an easy 250 mile drive.
The views through the Truckee river valley were particularly good, wonderful down hill drive from the entrance to the Donner Pass.





Of course there was the ubiquitous road construction going on.

On we went past Sacramento and Stockton.
The size of the ships docked in Stockton is always quite a surprise.






We got to the hotel and checked in, this is the place I had intended to stay with Jeff as our last stop before we arrived home on our trip from Sturgis.
I screwed up that time and ended up in Los Banos, it may not have been such a mistake after all.

This place has certainly gone down hill since the way I remember it.
There is a giant truck stop next to the motel and their impact wrenches are pretty loud.
The guy in reception said that it would quiet down after 6:00 PM.
I hope it does or he is in for a visit from Madame.


However the British tourists headed for the pool.










Tonight I guess it is Peasoup Andersens for dinner.


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