on to July…

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.
Shaun and I got two free nights at the Atlantis Hotel in Reno.  It’s always fun to get free stuff, but then you stick us in a city were everything focuses on putting all the money you saved into slot machines.
In order to avoid that trap, I planned a trip to Virginia City.

We had planned it out quite well.  Shaun would take a half day at work and while he was working, I would get the oil changed in the car and fill’r up.
Things didn’t work out as planned.
He woke up with a sinus headache and I was still battling the bladder.  The 20 dollar oil changed turned into a “Ma’am when was the last time you changed the oil?” trip.  Note to readers; Change Your Damn Oil More Than Once A Year.

After hours and hours of getting things ready to go, we started  our drive up through the mountains, without any cell coverage to our destination.  The car overheated.  The 40 dollars in coolant the oil change people swore they put in wasn’t put in.  The GPS system we just bought paid for itself in spades as we located a nearby mini-mart and fixed the problem.
We drove home and got the gas guzzling truck and began our adventure again.  Instead of getting there at 5pm, we got there at 10pm.  BUT WE MADE IT.

The next morning we plugged in “Virginia City” in the GPS and headed out to the old town.  It was awesome.   I hadn’t been there since I was a little kid.  It’s weird going back as an adult.  I think my mom’s attitude towards Virginia City when I was younger is what made the place so magical.
I kept telling Shaun, “I need to find the candy store!”  When we finally found the store that had barrels of candy, I wanted to squeal with delight.  No, it wasn’t the candy, it was the memory of the awe I had as a child when my mother brought me in that store and allowed me to pick out an assortment of whatever candy I wanted.  It was ALL mine, I didn’t have to share it with anyone.  What heaven, a store of barrels of candy.

We spent the majority of the time at the old cemetery on the outskirts of town to avoid the huge parade they were having for the fourth of July.  We could hear everyone hooting and hollering and I stood at the top of the hill overlooking the town I tried to remember how old I was the last time I was there and tried so very hard to remember everything from when I was a kid.
The only thing I could remember holding my mom’s hand as we walked through places and looked at the old relics.

I wonder what places my kids will remember when they get older and revisit all the places we went…and what they will remember.