Air Show at Offutt

I haven't seen an air show in a few years so the timing was about right.  Not that they are not interesting.  It is always cool to see the aircraft up close and watch the air shows.  The pilots and aircraft are amazing and it is incredible what they can do.

The show, and I think this was a first for me considering how many of them I've seen, did not feature the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels.  A navy team of, and I may not be right on this, T-34's, did the big show and a fine job of it.

In this next shot, please note the planes are passing inbetween each other going in opposite directions.  Great maneuver. Great shot too!;)

This next shot looks like helicopter playing yoyo....and that is exactly what he was doing.  This guy was good and a lot of fun.

Allie did very well. She did not like the noise from the jet, the F-15.  Heck, I had to put my hands over my ears for it but it is/was awesome and I enjoyed that demonstration very much.

Allie meets Cadet Inflatable......hmmmmm.

Gosh, she is sooooo cute!

Finally a winery or two!

Yesterday, Saturday, Mike and I went to check out a couple of wineries in the area. There are actually several in Nebraska.  I knew the wines would be a lot different from the CA wines and tried really hard to keep an open mind and savor the new experience.  They can't produce the same types of wine because of the climate and region.

  Check out the Soaring Wings winery on the right at the top of the hill with grape vines.....then note on the left side of the road the corn.  Only in Nebraska:)  Don't forget, you can enlarge these pictures for a better look!

A wine we did like is a red, of course, it is called Chambourcin after the name of the grape.  The wines were so different we were happy to find one we both liked.  We bought a bottle of it from the Glacial Till tasting room in Ashland.  We found out that the winery of the same name is harvesting and needs all the help they can get and if you go and help they make breakfast for you.  We are going to try to help out in the next couple of weeks and get that experience under our belts!  Sounds like fun!

We will be checking out a few more wineries while we are here I am sure.

Today we (Mike and I and Jared, Jen and Allie) went to the Offutt Air Force Base for the annual air show and I will tell you a bit about that tomorrow.

The SAC museum

 Sunday Mike and I went to get a stamp in our parks passport at the Lewis and Clark Midwest Center on the Missouri River in Omaha.  It was interesting to see the river still flooded and we enjoyed a walk over the pedestrian bridge to Iowa and back.

Monday we took Allie to the SAC museum.  If you are a military aircraft buff, this museum is for you.  Even if you are not, it is pretty impressive.  It has a couple of static display hangers  full of aircraft along with lots of background info, what the aircraft was designed and used for etc.

Allie did very well, it was the first trip out without mom where we might have to feed her and we took a bottle of moms milk not knowing if we would be able to heat it up.  Turns out she did get hungry but there was a cafe at the museum where we were able to have the milk warmed and all was good!  As you can see, she enjoyed riding some of the aircraft herself!

Have to include a lovely Nebraska sunrise.  It is nice to see something so pretty comes from some of this humidity!

Omaha Zoo

Hi all,  I feel like a mom all over again taking care of my grandchild, Allie.  She is a joy! A happy baby unless she needs something, of course, mostly it's moms milk.  Jenny (mom) pumps and then I get to bottle feed Allie during the day while mom is working.   OK........a couple of pics of Allie:

There may be a few more pics of Allie in this post (really??)

So my daughter, Felicia, arrived Friday to spend a week here, yay, and yesterday we all went to the Omaha zoo.  The Henry-Doorley Zoo is one of the best in the nation and I have to plug it cause if you ever get by this area of the country, you should check it out!  It has it's own rain forest, desert, aquarium, swamp, butterfly exhibit, etc., etc.

In addition to the animals there were people exhibits.......

Dad (Jared) and Allie.......

Mom (Jenny) and Allie...

And more of our gang.....

That's Felicia leading the way across the rope bridge.

It was a very nice day, no rain, some clouds, did not feel the humidity as much.

On to Omaha

Missed yesterday because we had no internet at the state park in McCook, NE, where we spent the night.  It was a nice little park though, with 7 sites, free, only had electric but that is the most important thing!

Leaving Loveland on US 34 heading east yesterday morning through CO, we saw a lot of corn

And a lot of cattle

And at the park last night in McCook, NE,  we enjoyed a bottle of our very own wine, a zin blend, that we made with friends in a wine making club.  We call it, Zincarceration, and it turned out really good!

Today, as we headed further into NE towards Omaha, we saw...

Yep, lots more corn and ......

Soybeans...as far as the eye can see!  The small black specks you see in the pictures are bugs on the windshield.  Mike had to clean them off in the middle of the day they were so bad.

So we made it safely to Omaha and tonight I got to hold and play with my granddaughter, Allie.  Yay!

We will be here a month and I will post every few days or so as I am sure we will be doing some interesting things.

Another Hike in Rocky Mtn NP

Today we drove back up to the park with Anne Marie and Jim and enjoyed a great hike to the Alberta Falls.  We had a great time and though it looked like rain when we got there, the rain held off till we were on the way down which is always nice.

Tomorrow we continue our journey to NE.  We had a great time here in Loveland and area and it was wonderful seeing Anne Marie and family as always!  Will miss you!

Me and Anne Marie!

Another Beautiful Day

As you can see, I have changed the design.  Much better don't you think?  I also discovered, with Mike's help, that you can double click on the pictures to actually see them better. Duh...said I was learning;)

I told you all that I/we have this beautiful grandchild, Allie Marie, but did not have a picture for you which is just not acceptable.....so here she is:

She is 3 months here.  Will have to update soon as she is now 5 months!

We walked around an art fest today at the local park with Anne Marie, Jim and the boys.  Hard to walk away from those things without buying something even if you don't have room so we bought a ceramic sponge holder, yep thats right, to go next to the sink.  Not a big thing, but useful.

Mike and I checked out a local brewery today also.  The Big Beaver Brewing Company.  It is in a large storage garage right now and business is so good that Peter, the owner, is hoping the space next to him where a non-denominational church is right now will soon become available so he can expand there.  He says the minister is very old and only has a few followers left so he doesn't think he will have to wait long.

Adventure in Rocky Mountain National Park

What a great day!  We drove up to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park to do a hike and add a couple of stamps to our national parks passport.  Did the Cub Lake trail and really lucked out!  Not only did we see a herd of elk.......look closely they are in the first picture......but we also saw moose!  A mother and her 2 young ones!  We were in awe, it is such a beautiful place and we could not believe our luck!

We then had dinner with a very good friend of mine, Anne Marie, and her lovely family.  They are the reason we are spending the weekend here in Loveland, CO.

Already Catching Up!

OK, so after my first blog and promise to try to keep it up, we parked for the night in Ami's Acres campground right off the I-70  and next to the Colorado River in CO and.....they did not have wi-fi!  Well, they did, just a hotspot quite a ways from Paradise (our motorhome....yes, she has a name)So....

Today I have included a few pics.  The first is Paradise and the jeep at our first night in Richfield, UT.  The next pic is the "family" of bikes on the back of the motorhome next to us.  Thought that was so cute, note the training wheels on the smallest bike.  The the moon rising over the mountain across from our site at Ami's Acres last night in Glenwood Springs, CO.  And lastly, just a pretty pic taken of the stream in at Idaho Springs, CO, coming out of the pass.

The drive over the Rockies was awesome!  So beautiful!  I wonder if the skiers who go up there to Vail, Avon, etc., ever go back in the summer for the summer beauty.  Wow!  We will be going back that way because we did not factor in a stop at Rockies National Park, really goofed on that one.  So just an excuse, like we need one, to go drive that pass again.

Hit the road today!

This is for all of you who are curious about what we (Keyna and Mike) are up to, where we are, how we are doing in our retirement, when we might be through your area etc. etc. etc.

OK, this is for me too, cause I just have to try to convey some of my excitement about what we are seeing and doing!

I will endeavor to keep it as up to date as possible and it will, of course, include pictures!

As I am just learning this whole blogging thing, please bear with me.

Mike and I left Las Vegas today in our motorhome to meander our way up to Omaha, NE, to spend a month with my first grandchild, Allie Marie.  Her proud parents are my son, Jared, and my daughter-in-law, Jenny.  Allie will be about 5 months then.  She is so darn cute!

Anyway, we traveled a little over 300 miles today through some beautiful country and are spending the night in Richfield, UT.  It is really lovely here.  The temp is only in the 90's which is a nice break from Vegas and the KOA we are spending the night in is really nice, lots of trees, green patches with picnic tables at every space...no bugs.

No pictures yet cause I have not figured out how to upload them or where they go and cause it's late we need to hit the sack.