Holo Holo Blog

Weekend Getaway: Panguitch Lake Family Fishing Adventure

Breathe in...cough, cough... It's a sign that it's time to get me some fresh mountain air away from the flashy bright city lights and dust clouds in Las Vegas. Can you imagine that a few hours on the road, we went from the 110 degree oven and dry desert landscape to a brisk 65 degrees and fields of wildflowers? Oohhhhh... Ahhhhhh...... We finally arrived at Panguitch Lake which I should mention is located in Utah.

Last year we bunked at the Bear Paw Fishing Resort but opted to stay at the Panguitch Lake Adventure Resort this year. The cabins are new and well equipped with kitchen, refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, outdoor patio, loft, shower, bedroom and, wait for it, washer and dryer. The resort also has a restaurant where you should definitely sit back and have some pie and ice cream.

As for the fishing, you can rent a small boat or a pontoon boat. We rented a pontoon boat for a full day but I was exhausted and decided to take advantage of the vacated cabin and crawled back into bed while the boys went trout fishing.

While the boys were on the boat, I had a slight accident and slipped down the very steep and narrow loft stairs and managed to somehow slice or rip open the bottom of my baby toe. It wasn't pretty and ended up on the two-way radio (sorry, no cell reception up here) to tell my husband to get back to shore and take me to the hospital. Where is the hospital? I asked the same thing and thought it was going to be a 90 minute drive to Cedar City but was told 18 miles "that-a-way" is the little town of Panguitch where they have a small hospital and one stop light. So, in the car we went and I did what anyone else in my predicament would do. I took pictures of the scenery as it whizzed by because, hello, cows and deer. I don't get to see wildlife or greenery much in Vegas.

The staff at Garfield Memorial Hospital were wonderful and I was stitched up and hobbling out the door in less than 2 hours. If I were in Las Vegas, I would probably be waiting in the lobby for 10 hours. Other than the injury, the trip was fruitful with four trout in our cooler and a pink bandage to match my chippy pink toenails.

This is what I learned from this trip.

1. Pack two-way radios.
2. Pack a first aid kit that contains liquid bandages.
3. Be extremely careful walking up and down loft stairs.

Las Vegas Field Trip: Gilcrease Sanctuary

The Southern Nevada Zoo is permanently closed but families can still visit Gilcrease Sanctuary in North Las Vegas to see a variety of animals for a small admission fee of $4 or $2 (2- 12 years of age). My only regret is that we visited the sanctuary closer to noon when it was getting hot, hot, hot!

The sanctuary has a large number of birds but I had to stop and smell....I mean smile at the baby goats. The are super cute and super stinky. Did I mention that they are cute? How can you not resist those puppy goat eyes?

There were also little horses (hey, I don't know the proper terms but they were little), emus with gigantic scary eyeballs and llamas, oh my. Unfortunately, the heat was getting to us so we cut our visit short with a promise to see the rest of the animals another day.

RISE Lantern Festival 2014 - Jean Dry Lake Bed, NV

We (The Mister, The Kid and I) attended the RISE Lantern Festival outside of Las Vegas at the dry lake bed located in Jean, NV. It was an awesome, breathtakingly beautiful sight. However, the whole experience was marred by the lack of organization and the transportation nightmare.

It began with our wait in the traffic that was building up on the I-15 South exit to the Gold Strike Hotel & Gambling Hall. We parked and proceeded to follow the line of people snaking around the parking lot for the next hour. This was the line to get on the shuttle to the event.

The Kid was wiped out before we even got there. I somehow didn't realize that when you left the shuttle, there was a 500 yard trek through sand and rocks to the event location. Not the easiest trek for those who elected to wear wedge sandals, flip flops or heels. I felt sorry for those with babies.

The view was worth the walk. However, trying to find the location of the section you were supposed to be in was difficult. Signage was not clear and I had to ask multiple volunteeers for directions to our "seats" which were yoga mats. The lantern lighting and release was scheduled for 7:30pm but it was delayed until 8:30pm due to transportation issues. We wrote messages on the lanterns while we waited. I was disappointed that the organizers assumed everyone knew how to light the ground lanterns and that they would all light properly. Of course, ours didn't light and neither did the next one that we moved to. In the end, we lit the fuel source directly to get our lantern off the ground. By then, lanterns were released and floating upward.

We left early to catch a shuttle back to our car but there was a massive crowd of thousands who had the same idea. The 500 yard walk through the dimly lit desert made it difficult and hoardes of rude people cutting to the front of the line cause an uproar and chanting of "get in line". One woman had the nerve to flip us the bird as she walked past the line. In the end, it took us 3 hours to get on a return shuttle. I hear people waited for 5 hours or longer and that the shuttle contract ended at 11pm so shuttles left the site empty while people were stuck in the desert. Apparently the 100% retrieved lanterns did not get retrieved which is a question I had before attending. It was pretty awesome to see but definitely not worth the effort or the wait.

Weekend Getaway - Houston, TX

Memorial Day weekend was spent visiting family in Houston, TX. Yee-haw! Most time was spent eating because that's what I do best. Did I mention I spent half of my birthday on the flight? It also is quite the conicidence that The Bro-In-Law's wifey has the same birthday as I do. The "men" (husbands and nephew #1) left us on our birthdays to go pig hunting. So we gals, nephew #2 and The Kid went to The Chololate Bar to get us some birthday sweets.

Since it was just for the two of us, we opted for a slice of Uncle Darryl's Chocolate Cake and chocolate candles. $75 for a whole cake! Yikes! You would think that the cake would be extremely sweet but it was the frosting that made my teeth hurt. Uncle Darryl, you make a mean cake. It was delish. Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us....

Since the men were still out being manly, we drove to Moody Gardens on Galveston Island. We were looking for an affordable water park and somehow ended up at Schlitterbahn across the street. NOT within our budget at $50+ for adults and $40+ for children at the gate. We turned around and headed to Moody Gardens Palm Beach which was $23.95 for adults and $17.95 for children. Much more affordable.

The lazy river was awesome and The Kid did laps until he got water in his ear as you can see in the foreground. Nephew #2 couldn't get enough of the water guns. BTW, do not ever, ever, ever trust your child to put the sunscreen in the backpack. The bottle ends up rolling around in the back seat of the car and you don't realize it's not in the bag until you have already jumped in the pool. What happens soon after is that you go to the sundries store and buy a can of suncreen for a whopping $16! What a ripoff.

It was a fun-filled day at the water park but it was time to hit the road. Bye-bye Galveston.

The men were home from shooting piggies and had to process the piggy the next day after draining the blood and yucky stuff. Poor piggy. Thank you for the food.

If you haven't been, be sure to visit the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. They have several walking trails to choose from. We took a quick route and stopped to see the wildlife and plants.

If there is one thing that I would like to bring back to Las Vegas, it's H-E-B. The grocery store of all grocery stores. They even have Central Market which carries imported goods. It reminds me of Whole Foods but better.

Bro-In-Law took us to Crawfish and Noodle for a lunchtime seafood feast. Since I knew I could steal a taste of his crawfish, I ordered the Cajun blue crab. Yum!

Lunch was so good that we hit Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. I am pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in 2 days. But before we knew it, we were on a flight back home to LV and the 100 degree weather. I think it's much better than the Houston humidity and non-stop traffic. Not to mention toll roads. What the heck is a toll road? :)

Oregon Coast Getaway Part 5: Astoria

We drove from Cannon Beach to Astoria which took approximately one hour. The wind and rain had picked up and our hotel check-in time wasn't until 4pm. We had a lot of time to kill and ended up at the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

There was an interesting array of fishing boats, sail boats and a Coast Guard display.

I was fascinated by this ship model that took someone 5 years to build. I don't have that kind of patience.

If you peek through the window, you get a glimpse of the Lightship Columbia which you can also tour.

The Kid did not like walking up the metal ramp which moved with the motion of the boat. I didn't get a chance to take photos of the cramped quarters below because I hate closed in spaces. I could never live on a ship.

You can't visit Astoria without stopping at the Goonies House! I was, of course, the only one excited about seeing the house. It started to rain harder as I trecked up the hill to the Goondocks. A group of other Goonies fans walked down and I asked "Is it as exciting as it seems?" They laughed and one of the girls answered "I want my money back!" to which I replied "Hey, at least it's something to do."

So, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped but it was still a fun 5 minute jaunt.

We finally made it to the Cannery Pier Hotel which sat on a pier. Go figure. All the rooms had a view and a balcony with a bigger view.

Our stay in Astoria was short and we headed back to Portland where we came across the Danner Outlet.

At the back of the store you can view workers resoling boots. I walked out with a pair of hiking shoes. They weren't on sale but there was no sales tax and no shipping fees.

Our Oregon coast trip was short, sweet, cold, wet and fun. Goodbye Oregon winter, hello Las Vegas sun!

Oregon Coast Getaway Part 4: Cannon Beach

On the way to Cannon Beach we saw ocean, rocks and a herd of elk in someones backyard. We flipped a U-e (is that how you spell it?) and saw another guy taking photos of the herd. By the time I got out of the car, they had disappeared down the hill. Bummer. No pics to share.

We made it to Cannon Beach and see the famous Haystack Rock. I am a Goonies fan so I had to ask where the pirate ship was.

Can you imagine waking up to this view everyday? Pretty awesome.

The wind was picking up and it was brrrrr....cold. It's a good thing we had only a few more minutes to kill before Mo's Chowder opened for lunch. We were told that they had the best clam chowder.

Lunch also came with a view.

We watched people walk by and dogs playing fetch in the surf.

Then our lunch came. The clam chowder was as good as it looked.

I had the crab melt while The Kid had Grilled Cheese. The Mister had a Blackened Cod Sandwich which looked and tasted delicious.

 Total cost of lunch: $30-ish (Hey, I was on vacation and lost track of our spending by this time!)

Mo's Restaurant - Cannon Beach
195 Warren Way
Tolovana Park OR
(503) 436-1111

Oregon Coast Getaway Part 3: Tillamook

I didn't really have a large list of things to see and do for this Oregon coast getaway except for the Tillamook Cheese Factory tour. I heart cheese, grilled cheese, cheesecake, cheese bread, cheese sticks and more cheese.

My travel companions weren't as excited about the visit. But who cares? For once it was all about me. And cheese.

And cheese on wheels.

The first thing that you notice when you enter the building is the smell of (sniff, sniff) waffle cones. Did I see my travel companions perk up? I think they did when they saw the ice cream cases.

Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the cheese making process. There are benches situated in front of a television and wall of cheese and dairy fact charts. 96 lbs! Poor cow.

Walk up a flight of steps and watch the magic of cheese preparation and packaging.

Those are huge blocks of cheese being sliced into smaller blocks.

We weren't sure what was going on here. I suppose we could have found out if we watched a few of the videos.

Unfortunately, we were on a time schedule and a choice needed to be made between educating ourselves or sampling cheese and visiting the Tillamook cheese store. Guess which activity won? Give me a toothpick and a shopping basket.

Since it was 9 am, we had the breakfast of champions. Ice cream. The Mister had Chocolat Peanut Butter in waffle cone (of course), The Kid had Cookie Dough and I had some sort of Salted Caramel ice cream. Don't worry. We saved room for lunch.

Total cost of factory tour: Free

Tillamook Cheese Factory
4175 Highway 101 North
Tillamook, OR 97141
(800) 542-7290

Oregon Coast Getaway Part 2: Lincoln City

We were starving by the time we reached Surftides in Lincoln City, our lodging for the night. Luckily, we didn't have to go far for dinner. Surftides has a cozy restaurant called MIST that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I recommend the crabcakes as an appetizer. Delish! The Mister had surf and turf, The Kid had mac and cheese, and I had the smoked salmon pasta. Everything was yummy and the servers were extremely quick (see the menu). We watched them as they literally ran from table to table to assist their customers. Two thumbs up for great service.

We were beat and hit the hay. My internal clock insisted I wake up at 5 am and I dragged myself out of bed and took the opportunity to freeze my toes off on the balcony overlooking this view of the ocean and sounds of the surf. Pretty cool huh?

6 am. Where is the daylight? The sun is up at 5:30 am in Las Vegas. Lincoln City apparently sleeps in. However, the seagulls are awake.

Our stay in Lincoln City was very brief since we had only a few days to explore. But before we left, we had to take a stroll on the beach. It actually means the "I" took a stroll on the beach. The boys had no interest whatsoever in getting sands in their shoes or braving the cold winds on the beach.

To the beach!

Here is a view of the Surftides from the beach. Cold, cold, cold beach.

I stood and watched the foam fly away for awhile but realized the boys were waiting for me to stop playing tourist.

Goodbye Lincoln City. It was fun!

Total cost of ocean view room with two queen beds (holiday weekend rate): $159.99 + tax

If your vacation days are flexible, check out the current Surftides Storm Watchers Package: a two-night stay for two for only $250 per couple.

Surftides
2945 NW Jetty Avenue
Lincoln City, OR 97367
(800) 452-2159

Oregon Coast Getaway Part 1: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

We flew into Portland International Airport after a delayed flight to find lots of rain and heavy winds due to several storm systems moving through the area. The next several hours was spent fighting the rain and visibility on a winding one lane road to the Oregon coast. What should have been a two hour drive took at least three hours. I think.

Along the way, we came across this building in McMinnville, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Unfortunately, they were closing in 15 minutes. Fortunately, the person at the desk was nice enough to let us wander around for the last 15 minutes for free. We saved $73.00 but we didn't see as much as we had wanted.

I didn't even have time to catch his name. I had to look him up on the internet. Let me introduce you to Captain Michael King Smith.

The first thing that you notice as you walk into the space is the Spruce Goose. It's ginormous. I saw it once when it was displayed near the Queen Mary in California. Howard Hughes thought this boat could fly? I don't think so.

There were so many things to see but our 15 minutes were up and were told that the museum was closing. Definitely a must-see if you are in the area.

Total cost of 15-minute visit: FREE

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
500 Northeast Captain Michael King Smith Way
McMinnville, OR 97128
(503) 434-4180