Thanksgiving in Las Vegas

Ever since Lyn's niece, Jen, and her family moved to Las Vegas 2 1/2 yrs ago, we have been trying to find a time to go visit them.  The original plan was to go when we have enough time to also go to California since none of us have ever been there.  It just hasn't been working for one reason or another.  We finally came to the conclusion that Thanksgiving might be the only time to make it work for all of us to go.

We were there for 5 days....

Day 1 was spent at Hoover Dam.  We enjoyed touring the plant and seeing this historically, amazing dam which was built in a relatively short period of time considering the lack of machines that would be used on a project this size today.

Above the dam

The water goes down through the four towers.

Below the dam

I forget all the sizes, dimensions, and other wowing facts.  This is the top of the turbines that the water flows through.

From the top, looking down

From the road bridge (in the 2nd picture) looking down. The water comes out from the side areas.

So glad we weren't visiting in the summer! Nothing but sun & rock.  

The locals do put boats in Lake Mead.

Nevada was on the west side of the river, Arizona on the east.

Day 2 we went to Red Rock Canyon on the West side of Las Vegas.  Jenny, Kayla and Riley were able to go with us both of these days.

The hike they took us on had places to explore....

......And high places to conquer

View from the top.  It's hazy, but the city is in the distance.

Darryn hiked back down with Riley.

The Byler gang

It was hard to narrow the pictures.  Even the desert can be beautiful!

That evening we all went downtown to the "strip."  We stopped at Pawn Stars (we can say we were there!), ate at a casino buffet, got shooed out of the casino area (because of under aged kids), walked the streets, waited for a water fountain show which canceled on us, and marveled at all the wealth, lights, & architecture.

Its hard to capture on camera.

Day 3 was Thanksgiving Day and we mostly were at the house hanging out, playing games, watching football and, of course, eating!

Against all odds, Darryn & Jen won the corn hole tournament.

We would like you to believe that we also got to enjoy the pool....NOT....

Temps only got to the low 60's.  Devan very gingerly got on the float for photo purposes only to send the picture to his aunts & uncles who went to Florida!

Later in the afternoon we went to a nearby place on the edge of town that would have been a true desert oasis back in the day.  There were peacocks, Canadian and other geese, ducks, & rabbits just waiting for the bread we would throw them.

Day 4 we all packed up and drove 3 hrs to Zion National Park in Utah (except Rachel who had to work).  Lots of other people also decided that this was a great way to spend Black Friday instead of shopping!  While Rob, who was using a knee scooter because of a broken foot, and Jen, who was pushing a stroller with Riley went on a "handicap" hike, the rest of us decided to tackle Angel's Landing.  This 2.5 mile hike was mostly uphill and not for the faint of heart.  Unfortunately, we couldn't do the last 1/2 mile because there were so many people.  It's a slow going section anyway because of places that are too narrow to pass, and sunset was an hour away.  Amazingly, we all agreed to head back down.

There is a small river in this canyon if you look close.

On the right side is the trail going up.

Part way up

Switchbacks up the side.

The landing where we turned around.

This is what the background in the above pic should have looked like.

Here is where the trail got narrow and had chains in areas to hang onto.  

You can't see the shear cliffs on each side.

Day 5 was very anticlimactic to say the least....of the 12 people in the house (not counting the baby) seven woke up with either diarrhea, throwing up, or both.....mostly both!  We would have blamed it on Chick-fil-a where we ate supper on the way home from Zion, but Rachel, who we had hardly seen the day before, also had it.  Thankfully, it was the short lived kind of bug that had emptied itself out til our flight left in the evening and there were no embarrassing incidents.  By the time we got to our house though Sunday morning, we had one more that got it.  Oh well....made a memory!

We really appreciate Rob & Jen & girls hosting us!  I regret not having taken an organized group picture of us all to look back on!

2016 Deer Slayers

I recently realized that I didn't document this fall's deer kills.  We have our 4 deer and the freezers are full.  It doesn't mean the hunting will stop, but the rest will be given away.  DE & MD still have some gun seasons through Jan. and bow season is open through Jan. as well.

This was on youth hunt day, the first Saturday in Nov.

This was Renae's first buck.

Devan got a nice doe on opening weekend.

And Lyn got the big one that he had been seeing occasionally on his camera.  I guess he is going to join the ranks on the wall.... if there's room.... ("There's always room for one more" - Lyn)

It scored 152 and weighed 190,  For those who want to know, the G2 tine was 12,5" long; it only had a 16.5" spread. Lyn's largest deer to date.

Sweet Potatoes, anyone?

Maybe we should just plant sweet potatoes in our garden.  We sure had some whopper ones!  This wheelbarrow was level full plus a 5 gal. bucket I had dug earlier.  Wish my kids like to eat them.

Grandpa Byler is 90

On Sept. 2, Grandpa turned 90.  It seemed fitting to celebrate.  We invited family & friends and had a very nice turn out and evening down at the pond.  I attempted to take a few pics but most of them weren't that great.  I really like his expression on this one though.... He really seemed to enjoy the evening!

He is sitting beside his oldest great grandson, Ryan, 

and oldest great great grandson, Luke.

We are so thankful for his good health.  He has enjoyed working in the garden this summer and does all his own mowing.  I think he also enjoys sitting on his porch and watching our coming & going and is entertained by all the dogs, chickens & ducks.  We usually have supper with him one night each week so I try to use the produce he raises in my meals.  He is wearing his age real well!

Family Vacation 2016.....Summary

We feel really blessed to have been able to take another trip like this with all of our kids.  They really are a good bunch!  Trust me....we all had our moments and after about 3 days in I think there were some thoughts like "you mean we have another week?"  Here is a summary....

1)  We are thankful that the rainy weather was mostly on days that we were driving anyway and that we had a tent for back up when our camper had some wet beds from packing up in the rain.  The days in between the rain were beautiful....no humidity.....60's & 70's.

2)  We are thankful for good travels and that we got home safe.  Even though we limped home the last 6 hrs. due to a tire plug that started leaking.  (Had to stop every hour for more air.)  And even though our Yukon was making a clunking noise every time we started from a stand still. (still haven't got that one fixed yet.)

3)  In hindsight, the driving between locations took longer than what we expected according to google.  I guess they don't figure for any stops.  We put on just over 3000 miles.

4)  Because of the rain, we skipped Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia which is a very popular place to go.  That was disappointing.

5)  If we had it to do again, we would have found time to schedule a half day fishing trip.

Thanks, kids, for making it a good trip!

Family Vacation 2016....Part 4....Fundy National Park & Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

The last place we stopped was at Fundy National Park in New Brunswick.  This is on the Bay of Fundy which has some of the highest changing tides in the world.

Just outside the national park is the town of Alma.  It was here that we were able to get the promised lobster meal (everyone wanted it after the previous "taste" of Ericka's).  The common question.....how much did you pay?  Our total bill divided by 7 came to about $19 (US $) per person.  Not bad.

1 1/4 lb. lobsters from Alma Lobster Shop

It was also here that we FINALLY saw our first moose!

The boats have to time their coming and going.  As you can see by comparing, they are sitting out of the water during low tide.

It was fun walking out on the beach during low tide.  During high tide this big pile of rocks would be covered and the water would fill in the whole flat beach area.

All these rocks are covered in barnacles.  Very rough & sharp!

Darryn found a crab.

Near this same area is Hopewell Rocks.  Here we found tourists!  At first we felt like it was kind of a rip off because we paid to take a .7 mile walk (one way) to see this.....

This was at least an hour past high tide.

There was some grumbling and everyone was hungry so we went and got a bite to eat and came back about 3 hrs. past high tide which is when they start letting you out on the beach.  It really was pretty neat after all.

We walked for quite away up the beach among very cool rock formations.  Because we were there near full moon, the tide variance between high & low tide was about 36 ft!  We could stand in one spot for 10 minutes and see a difference as the tide receded. You may ask like we did, "Why the great tide variance?"  Because this bay is wide and deep at the mouth, and because the bay narrows and shallows, it acts like a funnel for the rising and falling tides. We took many pics but I will choose a few.

High tide would be above this seaweed covered rock....and it was probably another 2 hrs. yet til the actual low tide.

The ground was mostly not muddy.  Devan found a few spots to squish between his toes.

Ericka to the rescue!

And a few other random pics from this area....

Short hike to a beautiful waterfall.

Don't you wonder about the story behind this tree's life?

In all 3 Provinces, these flowers were blooming everywhere along the roadways and open areas.  Goldenrod & Fireweed

Family Vaca 2016....Part 3....Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Island is on the far northeastern end of Nova Scotia.  We were surprised at how hilly/mountainous and remote this country is.  It reminded us of western MD but with northern trees (birch & balsam) and lakes.  Most towns are along the coastal areas.  We traveled up the western side of the island and camped just inside Cape Breton Highlands Nat'l Park.

Our plans were to spend a full day hiking and seeing the sites along the Cabot Trail which is the main road through the park.  However, the rain from the previous day just didn't quite want to quit and we had an on/off again light drizzle of a day.  We couldn't just sit in our cramped camper so we made the best of it and took some hikes where the fog didn't really matter.

 First was a short hike back to a waterfall.

Next was a hike back to a lake....in hopes of seeing moose.

Nope....no moose.  Only people trying to act like a moose.

We did see several partridge.....

.....and this sign of moose.

And by evening the fog was gone and we were hopeful for a clear tomorrow.

For supper we went into Cheticamp to a nicer restaurant.  Ericka wanted to try lobster (we all tried a bite) and we tried an order of mussels which surprisingly we all liked.  Dwight ordered a burger which was quite the burger.  A young girl was at the restaurant playing Celtic music on the violin.  There is an area on Cape Breton Island that is known as Little Scotland.

The next day was beautiful and we were able to hike up the Skyline Trail.  "Where mountain meets sea and sky" was real.  These scenes are from the western side of the Cabot Trail.  The water is the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

 We found the most beautiful blueberries on top of the ridge.

We just couldn't help getting off the path and picking a few of them!

The Cabot Trail has several very steep areas to drive up and then down.  Several times we were headed down and would have gone straight into the water had the road not sharply turned.  The eastern side of the island was a bit different in terrain.

Lunch at Neil's Harbor Point Chowder House.

 The chowder was awesome with plenty of seafood.

Black Brook Beach

The eastern side is the Atlantic Ocean.

Black Brook Beach

This reminded me of a beach along Lake Superior with all the rocks and the waterfall creek next to it.

It was a beautiful day.  We camped south of the the national park near Baddeck.  We were at a private campground that had such amenities as a pool, laundromat, great wifi, and a lounge where we could watch TV (Olympics).  Unfortunately, as we were making supper, we found out that the whole Island of Cape Breton lost power and was going to be out for close to 3 hrs!  So much for using all the great amenities!  We had also hoped to spend some time in Baddeck but without power, we figured there wasn't much to do there either so we did more bonding and played Rook instead by the light of our Coleman lantern.