Some Funny Business

We drove from Boulder City to Pahrump, Nevada, yesterday...a distance of just a little over an hour's worth of driving. Occasionally on these trips, we take a day to be lazy and just hang around. Yesterday was one of those days. With that in mind, I don't have much to tell you. Nevertheless, I have been saving up some things that gave us a chuckle along the way, and I'll tell you about them here. Allow me to start with this selfie of two people who have shared 42 years of wedded bliss.

Now, you might wonder why Mike is looking so glum in that picture. Okay, well, neither of us has mastered the art of the selfie, and nearly 100% of the time, one of us ends up looking funny. Below is the first attempt. Mike has his smiling face on...mine, one of deep concentration because I'm always trying to keep my finger off the lens while simultaneously finding the shutter button.

Which picture do you suppose I posted to Facebook?

Okay, then there was this guy. I nearly missed the shot as we left the park. It isn't as funny in a still shot as it was seeing it in motion. This guy walks his dog dutifully morning and evening, but the dog is the only one walking. The dog is tugging the leash, which makes it look as if the scooter is running on one dog power. That is a happy little dog, let me tell you.

As we drove out of town, check the time and temperature please. If you've ever wondered why we didn't stay in Phoenix when Mike finished school so many years ago, here's a clue.

We saw this cell phone "tree" both coming and going. Surely you've seen when they try to disguise a cell phone tower as a palm tree or (where we live) a fir tree. What kind of tree do you think they're going for here. To us, it looks like a fir tree in the desert that desperately needs some rain.

Smitty and Sadie didn't have warm enough weather in Oregon to shed their winter woollies, and they've been too warm in these desert temperatures. Smitty has taken to spreading himself out on the cool leather chairs like so much melted butter.

We arrived in Pahrump just before noon, had some lunch, and then sat out by the pool for a couple of hours. Fortunately, there were plenty of umbrellas and lounge chairs. After getting wet in the pool, a warm breeze allowed us to experience that natural air-conditioning that comes from wearing a wet swim suit. Even with temperatures in the high 90's, we had goose bumps. Sitting there by the pool made us feel as if we were on vacation.

We spent a good part of the afternoon right there until the sun moved into a position that would require us to either move the umbrella or our chairs. Instead, we moved ourselves back to the trailer. By then, it was nearly time to go to dinner.

Symphony restaurant here in Pahrump was a great choice for dinner. Even though we'd been here the week before, we enjoyed it just as much. I want to commend them on their excellent service at both visits. We didn't have reservations because the folks in the RV park told us we wouldn't need them. When we arrived, the restaurant was full, but the hostess didn't bat an eye and separated two tables (set for six) so that we could have a table for two, and then seated us within minutes. Our server was a woman with a lot of personality and a great sense of humor, and we had a wonderful time. Since it was our anniversary, they gave us a free dessert. I let Mike have the free one since he was paying. (Let that sink in for just a moment, and know that "generosity" is my middle name.)

After that, we took a little walk around the place. There are baby grapes in the vineyard.

And of course I took pictures of every blooming thing.

There were a lot of these decorative shrubs growing all around the vineyard and the park. I don't know what they are, but they look like small orchids. We got Smitty out for a walk yesterday evening. Smitty doesn't do a lot of walking, but he does like to roll in the dust and sniff the air. He took up a position next to one of these, and while we were standing there, the tiniest hummingbird slurped the nectar from every single flower. 

I so wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but I didn't have my camera and it was dark anyway. When I did a search of Nevada hummingbirds, the only one that looked anything like it was the Calliope Hummingbird. According to Wikipedia, it is the smallest breeding bird in Canada and the United States. Indeed, it was barely larger than a big moth. I can't post the image here, but if you'd like to see it, you can click right here.

Finally, here's another oleander. The oleanders in the park have been groomed to look like trees, rather than the shrubs that they are naturally. We saw them often where we grew up in Southern California, but they will not grow in Oregon. We've seen them everywhere this trip, and it's a little like coming home.

Finally, I have this one story to share with you. We were aware that prostitution is legal in Nevada. Just now I looked it up. It isn't entirely accurate to say that it is legal all over Nevada. In fact, it is only legal in regulated brothels, and those are kept far away from the cities. Nevertheless, Wikipedia tells us that despite legal prostitution, most prostitution is conducted illegally in Reno and Las Vegas, and that most of the money spent on prostitution in the state is spent illegally. Weird, huh?

When we drove into Pahrump the first time, coming from the north, we saw quite a few of these brothels, and we got a chuckle when we drove by the "Shady Lady Bed & Breakfast." And I said to Mike, do you think...? And I'm not sure why else you'd give a business establishment that name when you're in a state with laws like Nevada's...right? By the way, online booking available right here. 

So with that background in mind, it was quite a hoot when we were in the grocery store the other day. We purchased some Mike's Hard Lemonade (so good on a hot day), and Mike, in all innocence, asked the cashier if we needed to have it in a bag to drive it home. She looked at us and said in all seriousness, "You can do anything in Nevada." It might not be as funny re-told, but we both cracked up.

Okay, so today, we're on our way to Lancaster, California and the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. To be completely accurate, we have reservations at an RV park in Acton, California. We're hoping to see some blooming poppies, but we're also going to see the Musical Road. Here's a video I found online. If you can't see the video, click right here.

Well, no video will do for these intrepid travelers. We must see it for ourselves. Also, there's a quilt shop nearby, so off we go.