Las Vegas, NV

There was very little open in Las Vegas, but we were able to see good friends in the area and enjoy a dinner with them.  Vegas wrapped up our RV adventure for the year.  It was an interesting year with a lot of challenges, but we were still able to see some amazing sights in our country and spend time with family and friends.  That's what traveling in an RV is all about.   I am already working on our plan for next year which will include the stops we had to skip this year while adding in some new ones in places we have yet to visit.  

Ely, NV

 With so much still closed in Washington and California, we decided to throw in the towel on the RV adventure for this year and head back to our home base in the Phoenix Valley.  Ely was a good stopping point to help break up the drive and it also has the advantage of being the perfect stopping place to visit the Great Basin National Park.  The park is the home of the bristlecone pine which can live to be over 5,000 years old.  We enjoyed a hike through the bristlecone pines and were able to hike up to one of the glaciers on Wheeler peak.  After the visit to this National Park, we have been to 48 of the 63.

Boise, ID

 We are always excited to get back to Boise to visit our family and friends.  This year we add a few other adventures, and some that left scars... We decided to stay in an Airbnb this year so we could host more of our friends for dinners.  The motor coach is great for a small number of guests, but gets crowded quickly when you have larger groups.  The Airbnb worked out great and we plan to stay in one again next year.  I have always wanted to try axe throwing and our good friends are always up for doing these kind of abnormal activities with us.  The axe throwing was a big hit.  Danelle is deadly with a hatchet, just so you are warned.  My high school friends finally convinced me to go mountain biking with them.  Little did I know that we were going to end up on tough and narrow ride in the foothills above Boise.  I crashed over the handlebars 3 different times, but luckily both me and the bike survived, for the most part.  I am now officially retired from mountain biking.

Ketchum, ID

 It is always nice to get back to our favorite place in our country, Sun Valley.  We had two fantastic weeks enjoying the mountains, restaurants and friends.  Danelle and I did several hikes to various mountain lakes and were joined by good friends from Boise on a very scenic hike along Redfish Lake.  We took a side trip from SV to Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It had been over 30 years since either of us last visited the park and it was good to refresh the memory of the sights.  Some high school friends were also able to visit us in SV during our stay and we got in a challenging hike up to the top of Baldy.  We are already looking forward to coming back next year.  

Cheyenne, WY

 Cheyenne is a fun western town that celebrates its history of cowboys and the railroads that built our country.  We toured the state capitol building, the Cheyenne depot museum and walked around the historic downtown area.  No stop in Cheyenne would be complete without a visit to the Big Boy Steam Engine on display in their city park.

St. Louis, MO

 No trip through the St. Louis area would be complete without meeting our good friends for dinner.  It was a quick stop this year with no sightseeing, but we did have some great seafood and company for dinner.

Springfield, IL

As we have a goal to visit as many of the presidential libraries and museums as possible, Springfield was an obvious stop so we could visit the home of one of our greatest presidents.  The Lincoln museum and library was a powerful reminder of the accomplishments he was able to make during one of the most difficult times in the history of our country.  We would highly recommend stopping if you are in the area.  We were also able to visit the Lincoln grave and monument.  This was the one and only time it was nice to have virtually no tourists out and about.   Frank Lloyd Wright also designed a fantastic house in Springfield that you can tour.  Since we are big FLW fans, the Dana-Thomas house was a must see attraction for us.

Cincinnati, OH

 Cincinnati was a surprise for us.  Even though we could only visit the ball park without seeing a game we enjoyed the tour through the Reds museum.  There were so many historic baseball events that happened in Cincinnati.  One of our other highlights was a visit to the American Sign Museum.  This museum had all sorts of signs from the different eras of our history and the evolution of advertisement signs.