Vacations

Kathy and I went to San Antonio, Texas for a "vacation". The plane ride was horrible and required extra Actiq's. Kathy attended a work conference for the Emergency Nurse Association Conference Thursday through Saturday. I went so I'd be able to see my best friend's family - Cliff, Hilda, Watson and Sheba. We arrived late Wednesday night and stayed at the Westin Riverwalk (very nice and quiet). Thursday we took a taxi to the Pioneer Flour main office and the Guenther House restaurant. The food was very good. I went with Kathy after lunch to the ENA convention and then took a taxi back to the hotel. Thursday evening Cliff and Hilda joined us and we went to the DOS EQUIS Pachanga Del Rio "The Taste of the River Walk" (September 14, 2006 along San Antonio Riverwalk). We enjoyed sampling culinary offerings from 20 participating River Walk establishments. The best food and margarita's were at Casa Rio (west bank of river off Commerce Street).

Friday morning Kathy went to the convention while I relaxed around the hotel. We rented a very nice Cadillac and drove to Cliff and Hilda's house. We at dinner at the Camino Ranch Restaurant along I-35 in Selma, TX (northeast between San Antonio and New Braunsfel). Then we went to the Retama horse racing track. We didn't win any money (considering cost of getting in), but we had a good time. Saturday morning Kathy was back at the convention, while I went antique shopping. We flew home Saturday afternoon. I did well health-wise while we where there, but on the trip home and for the next 5 days I suffered from the effects of higher dosages while on the trip.

June 17-20, 2006 Asheville, North Carolina

We left Friday evening for a long weekend. We stayed Friday and Saturday at the Double Tree and then Sunday and Monday at the Grove Park Inn. Saturday morning Kathy went on a jog on a 3 mile "rolling hill run" from the Double Tree. Kathy quickly found out that the run started out on a 1 mile run up a very steep hill. We went out for brunch at the "Early Girl". Kathy rates it as on of her favorite restaurants of all time. We laid around the pool that afternoon, just resting. Saturday night we ate at Chili's (Kathy's food was good, but mine was one of the worst meals I had ever eaten). Sunday we moved to the Grove Park Inn. It is a very old hotel, with new additions including a brand new Spa area. We ate Sunday night the "Flying Frog" restaurant. The owner, Jay Shastri, is the brother of Kathy's Wisconsin work mentor, Jagdish Shastri. It was a truly delicious dinner. Monday morning Kathy went for an early morning massage at the Spa. I joined her in the area later in the morning. We laid around in the different pools, spas and hot tubs and spent until middle afternoon just lazing around. We went back to the room for a short afternoon nap, then went back to the spa to lay around until late in the evening. We ate (mostly appetizers) at one of the Grove Park Inn restaurants. This was a very expensive stay except for a large bottle of spring water at the restaurant ($4). Tuesday morning we ate at the Early Girl Eatery again and then left for home. We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville to Silva, where we went to see Jonie Claussen an old antiquing buddy of Alan's. We then went to Cherokee where we took the picture of Kathy with "Big Boy". We then drove through the Smoky Mountains and then home.

September 4-10, 2005 Las Vegas, Nevada

Click on "Vegas 2005", to the left, to read the story of the trip and see photos.

July 2-3, 2005, Minocqua, Wisconsin

We took a long 4th of July holiday weekend and spent 2 days in the Minocqua, Wisconsin area. We drove up Saturday afternoon to Minocqua, WI. It is a 260 mile trip from New Berlin to Madison, WI then up I90/Highway 51 to Minocqua. We took a side trip to Stevens Point, were Kathy went to her 1st 2 years of college. Afterwards we finished driving to Minocqua. The town was packed with people and we ended up staying at a not-so-cheap Super 8 Hotel that allowed Kenai to stay (yeah!). We ate at "Bosacki's Boat House". The bar was an exceptional antique and the view of the lake and sunset was nice. The food was only okay, but slightly pricey ($60), but the service was great. Early Sunday morning, Kenai and I took an uneventful walk. We had breakfast at "Paul Bunyan's Northwood's Cook Camp". This was our second time at this chain (1st time in the Dell's). The "all you can eat" food is fine, price $16, service not so good.

We then headed out to "Moon Beach Camp". This is Kathy's favorite place in the world. We spent an hour walking around the camp. There was only 1 person at the camp on Sunday morning around 10:00 am.

Then we went to Eagle River to an antique show. We purchased an antique lightning rod with stand, glass conductor ball and wind directional arrow. I've been wanting one all my life and finally had the chance to purchase. Afterwards we drove back to Minocqua to another antique show. Didn't purchase anything at this show, but did find a possible flask collection cabinet. Trying to negotiate an antique item trade for the cabinet.

At 1:00 pm we drove out to Judy and Gary's lake front house. The are just in the final stages of rebuilding. It went from a small lake house to a huge vacation home! We took a tour of the house and lot, then a boat ride around the lake. It started clouding up and raining, so we left to go home. We stopped at the "Watering Hole" just south of Minocqua and had dinner. The chips and salsa were not good. I had a Santa Fe burrito that was good. The trip home was long, but uneventful.

October 8-11 2004, Door County, Wisconsin

We took a long weekend in Door County to see the fall colors. We stayed at the Landmark Inn in Egg Harbor. We went with a co-worker of Kathy - Judy and Brian Schaff. In Fish Creek we all rented mopeds and rode around Peninsula State Park for an hour (cold but fun). It was Kathy and Judy's first time on a motor-powered cycle. They were both scared, but they say they had fun. We went to Cana Island Lighthouse, an Art Festival north of Egg Harbor and the Fall Fest in Egg Harbor. It was a quick, but fun trip.

September 10-18, 2004 Las Vegas, Nevada

We took a nice vacation to Las Vegas for hour 1st year anniversary. We stayed at the "Cliffs at Peace Canyon" resort and the west side of Las Vegas. This is a nice RCI resort for the area. We tried to get one of the resorts down on the "Strip", but we were unsuccessful this year. We spent quite a bit of time with Kathy's Wisconsin friend Kim Sperry, her husband Dave, 2 children David and Shannon, and Kim's parents, Nancy and Dale Perusse. We watched David play middle school football one night, Went to dinner at Nancy and Dale's twice, ate dinner with Kim and Dave one night. We gambled several afternoons to a loss of $450 dollars. We went to Fremont Street one evening for around 4 hours and thought we had won lots of money on the nickel machines, but probably ended up losing another $100. We went to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, the Dancing Fountains at the Bellagio, walked through the arcade at Treasure Island at the Mirage, walked the shops at Aladdin Resort and saw the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand. We went to the M&M World, but didn't buy anything. Went to Ethel M Chocolate Factory twice and bought lots of chocolate! Our favorite outing was the hiking in Red Rock Canyon west of Las Vegas. Otherwise, we just were lazy and had a good time.

May 5-10, 2004 South Lake Tahoe, California (select to see photos)

We took a wonderful trip to Lake Tahoe with Kathy's Family - Francis and Tim Hopen, Jerrine & Jim Bogan, Jane (a friend of Francis & Tim) and Larry & Marilyn Beebe (friends of the Bogans). We toured Carson City on Wednesday and had lunch at "Pops - 3rd & Carson". Tuesday went took the boat ride from Zephyr Cove across the lake to Emerald Bay and back. On Friday Tim, Francis, Jane, Kathy & I took the drive all the way around the lake. We stopped at the State Park "Beach", Incline Village, Truckee for lunch at a Mexican Restaurants and a little shopping, Olympic Village for a look around, and the overlook to Emerald Bay. Saturday the Bogans, Beebes, Kathy & I took a long drive south and west into the mountains. We went south on Highway 89, West on Highway 88, North on some unknown road and finally East back to Tahoe on Highway 50.

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