When family comes to town

This is one of the cars my brother-in-law got to drive us around to the wineries.
This is the inside of Frogs Leap winery in Napa Valley CA.


Hi All, Here are a few pictures of this week's journey.My sister and Brother-in-law came to visit us this week. They have been to the wine country several times before and knew exactly where to take us. We really had a great time with my family. It's kind of hard out on the road, as you can imagine, only getting phone calls and not seeing anyone you know for months at a time. The first time anyone came to visit us was when we were in Phoenix last year. We try to travel through the towns where our family and friends live on our trips from one assignment to another, but it's not the same as seeing them on a regular basis. We had a great time and went to a bunch of wineries as well as a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train. The wine train was cute, the food was good, and the scenery was beautiful...it's one of those toursty things to do. That's part of the traveling thing, to see all the places you want and to send a piece back to the people you know. Adding the pictures was a lot easier than I thought, so you can look forward to lots more pictures in the future.
As far as work goes, it's been slowing down. They say the summertime here brings a low census and it has slowed some. I worry about having my contract cancelled due to the low census, I haven't had it happen to me but it could. This week and last week I only worked my 3 twelve hour shifts so it was like a vacation. I have been working 4 twelves for about year now. Once you train your self, it's not hard to do. Some of the people I work with do 5 and 6 twelves a week, not every week but most weeks. That's too much for these old bones...makes me tired just thinking about it. It would make me too cranky too, I think, but the checks would be great!!! Nothing else exciting to talk about as far as work goes...we'll see what happens over the weekend. Wish me luck! Have a great weekend yourselves!!!!

Reno for a day

Hi there sorry it's been so long, maybe if I had some comments I could write more (hint,hint). We had 3 days off in a row so we took a little road trip. We drove down to the southern end of Lake Tahoe,that was beautiful. The water was so blue! We stopped in at Caesars and I won on the quarter slot machine. First time anyone ever came over and handed me money instead of the machine spitting it out at me. The we drove up the east coast of Lake Tahoe and stopped at Cal-Neva casino. Much smaller than I anticipated. The trip to Reno was beautiful the mountains still had some snow when we were by Lake Tahoe. We stayed the night at Circus Circus...and this time my husband got the quarter slot, he was so thrilled. My machine was very subtle and quiet when I won, his was really loud bells and lights and all. He loved it...I moved a little further away to let him have all the attention. Plus it was hurting my ears. We met up with a traveler we had met in Phoenix and had breakfast the next morning. We were going to play just for a little while and ended up staying till 6pm. The ride back was longer than I expected...most times the trip home is shorter. It was a very curvy ride along the mountain side. I hope it's quicker when we leave here in September to go to Oklahoma.
Yes, I renewed my contract until the end of September..the money and the job are too good to leave right now. Plus it's over a hundred degrees in Oklahoma right now...no thanks. It's been hot enough here this week, 90+ everyday. I guess the weather is like that, one week hot the next week cooler. That's what the natives tell me anyway.My husband will be thrilled when it cools down.
Work has been just as busy as ever. They tell me it slows down in the summer, and, we're still waiting for that to happen. Well, I should say they are waiting for it to happen. I love getting the extra days in. Last week I didn't get any extra time because they didn't need me. This week people are on vacation so I picked up 2 eight hour shifts on the transitional care unit. It's like a skilled floor and is much slower and quieter than my regular floor. I figure that's the best way to pick up extra hours and not burn myself out. It seems to be confusing my boss though. He saw me today and said "again?" because I had floated down there earlier this week and had picked up an extra day there last week. I told him that our floor didn't need me but I wanted to work...he just shook his head. Guess he's not used to travelers working so much overtime. Most just want to do their 3 days and then play. I want to work as much as possible then not have to work at all. I guess I'm looking at the big picture and further into the future.
We went to dinner at another travelers house last night. Also someone I met in Phoenix. She is living in the next city (St. Helena) in a cute little cottage. It was nice to have a deck to sit on and to be out in the fresh night air. It's a very pretty drive, past all the vineyards. Since it's been a little clearer in the mornings she gets to see all the hot air balloons as well on her drive in to work. It's nice to have someone we know in town.
Well, I'll try not to make it so long between posts. Thanks for reading.