The Jessi James Gang

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Reno - March 7, 2010

We explored the most enormous sporting good store in Sparks/Reno called Scheels. It reminds me a lot of Cabellas. I loved the different statues outside the doors. These are huge! And there are a half-dozen more depicting different sports or activities.

Just inside the main doors is a huge double-arch fish tank. A fresh water tank on one side of the store and a salt-water acquarium on the other side of the store.

Amazing to see a catfish swim above your head - right James!?

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but isn't he pretty!

It is a two-story building and the center is dominated by a Ferris Wheel! It only cost $1 to ride.

Jonathan and Aunt Laura

Uncle Rod & James standing on the 2nd story watching the Ferris Wheel. All the way around the 2nd story landing are "Presidents". Life Size manequins of American Presidents (the most recent I saw was Ronald Reagan. I suppose they can't use presidents who are still living?) The Presidents are dressed in period clothing and are giving a speech - out of speakers near each president.

Like Cabellas, there are life size animals all around the store. This mountain of animals is on the 2nd story, so you can see how tall this building is!

Outside Scheels is an outdoor mall. Many different shops in stand-alone buildings. With lots of sculptures and several places to sit and rest. One of the other stores that I really enjoyed was frozen yogurt! James tried on shoes at the Nike store and the Adidas store. And we stopped at the Farmers Almanac store and the Harry & David store.

We said goodbye to the Bonnells and headed south to Lake Tahoe. Our first hotel was the Tahoe Biltmore in Crystal Bay just inside the Nevada border on the North Shore. We did a stay-and-ski-free deal - we paid the total cost of two full-price Squaw adult lift tickets to the Tahoe Biltmore and we also got to stay the night in one of their "cabins".

Here are the "Cabins" - basically a motel building outside the Hotel/Casino. Oooooold! But the price was right (essentially free). And once we turned up the heat at 2:30 in the morning, we slept just fine!

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Highway 50 - March 6, 2010

Whooo Hooo! Vacation! James & I saved my Christmas bonus and spent it all on lift tickets at Lake Tahoe. We decided to take Highway 50 across Nevada on the way to Reno and then I-80 on the way home. James had already driven the "Lonliest Road in America", but this is my first drive.

The state of Nevada turned the designation of the Lonliest Road in America into something of a tourist adventure and they give out Survival Guides. If you get your guide stamped in each of the 5 towns, they'll send you a certificate and a bumper sticker. We got our survival guide in the mail and used it to tell us a very little bit about the towns we were driving through.

Our first stop was Uncle Doug & Aunt Barbara's house in Santaquin, UT. We had the most fantastic buttermilk waffles, eggs, sausage and fruit. There house must be my favorite place to eat in Utah County! Thank you for feeding us!

Just over the border into Nevada is the Great Basin National Park. I had never heard of Great Basin National Park, but we didn't hesitate to stop and eat our lunch here. If we had an extra half day, we'd have stayed for the tour of the Lehman limestone Cave.

And we skpped the scenic drive up Wheeler Peak to look for the ancient Pinon Pines - the state tree of Nevada. Even with a week, we don't have enough time to do EVERYTHING there is to do, so maybe we'll get another try at the Great Basin National Park...

Our first stop for a stamp in the survival guide was in Ely, NV. And sure enough, there seems to be a casino for every town!

The second stop is in Eureka, NV - a historic mining town with some neat old buildings. We explored a museum in the old newspaper printing building that had a lot of history of the town and of mining.

Third stop: Austin, NV. This is a picture of Stokes Castle, located at the west end of town on a steep dirt road. The "castle" was built to resemble a Roman tower and is was used for only a short time as a summer home.

We only got stamps from the first three towns, the tourist stops in the last two towns were closed - plus it got late! So we mailed the survival guide postcard to the Nevada Tourism Office and are eagerly awaiting our Certificate of completion!

Just as it got dark, in between towns, we came across The Shoe Tree.

The story is that a newlywed couple got into an argument and one of them threw the other's shoes up into the huge Cottonwood Tree. After making up and as a peace offering, a pair of (the other spouse's) shoes were thrown into the tree. Ever since, shoes have been decorating this tree (and a huge pile at the base of the tree!). Makes the 'bead tree' at Brighton look pretty small!

This last picture is a casino in Fallon, NV. We stopped across the street for a quick bite to eat before finishing our drive to Reno and our air mattress in the living room of Uncle Rod & Aunt Laura's apartment.

A very mellow, very enjoyable road trip. Lots and lots of things we didn't drive off the highway to see, so there are definitely reasons to drive this road again!

Happy 60th Uncle Glen! - February 27, 2010

Uncle Glen's birthday isn't until March 1st, but this was a SURPRISE PARTY!

All of the Glen Price's were there - look how huge Maddox is already!

The theme (of course) was the highway!

In addition to good food, there was a little program: "Great Big Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts!" is being sung by Scott, Erin, Alan, Keri, Chad, Brett, & Craig, Marcus, Braeden, Jett, Jaxson, Sydney, & Kyan with Hunter on the Violin and Sarah on the piano (next to Hunter just outside the picture).

Thanks for the invite! Happy Birthday and MANY MORE!

Skiing w/Uncle Doug & Michael - Brighton - February 20, 2010

Uncle Doug & Michael came for a quick weekend of skiing at Brighton. And got lucky with lots of new snow! A beautiful day!

Michael & James looked for fresh turns over every single ridge and had to do a little bit of traversing to get out of the Millicent lake shots.

A quick break at the deck of the Milli Chalet.

Some little ski videos...

Michael

And James

Valentines Weekend - February 13-14, 2010

We had company for Valentine's weekend this year! Billi, Kathleen and Brian came down from BYU-I and we joined up with Tiffany, Jaclyn and Anchorage Dan at Brighton on Saturday for a very fluffy ski day! Left to Right: Billi, Kathleen, Tiffany, Brian, Jaclyn, Dan, Jessi & James at Milli base.

We spent most of the morning on Millicent in the powder. It snowed all day long, and as James & Dan said, "FREE REFILLS!" Kathleen, Tiffany & Brian on the lift.

Brian (showing off his goggle lines) & Tiffany

After heart-shaped pancakes and waffles with strawberries and whip-cream, after church and after Sunday naps, we went for a drive. Our first Sunday drive of the new year! We took the freeway south through SLC and Provo.

Detoured past BYU and the MTC and the Provo Temple

And finally through Provo Canyon (past Bridal Veil Falls) to Heber City and Park City and home again in the dark.

Our official valentines gift this year is a heavy-duty cooler with wheels and a pull handle and cup holders - perfect for future car camping and adventures. But we also splurged and bought some treats from Carlee's online store: http://www.cjsweetsandtreats.com/ - I LOVE her chocolate caramel pretzels! James is disappointed that I didn't order him an apple. Father's Day order for sure!

Valentine's Decorations - February 14, 2010

We are so spoiled! I didn't have any plans to decorate for Valentine's Day, but we got a package in the mail, about a week before the big day. It was full of colorful hearts and valentines from Idaho! Thank you!!!!

I'm impressed with Tyler & Carter & Zoe writing your own names!

And Emma & Hallie - thank you for such beautiful drawings!

My mom made the cute pouch hanging on the door handle and the big valentine was from Jed & Maria's family.

We've since supplemented with a valentine from Alaska (Thank you! Hope you're feeling better Mom McCalvy!) and my nursery class. I think I'll leave them up until St. Patrick's Day. Hint Hint!!!

THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE!