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We spent 6 days in Wisconsin enjoying the cheese. Vacation pictures are in The Shures photo gallery.

Our trip included:

Pirate’s Cove
Top Secret
Pizza Pub
House on the Rock
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not
Mount Olympus
The Great Wolf Lodge
Moosejaw Pizza & Brewing Company
Rick Wilcox Magic Show
Buffalo Phil’s
Knuckleheads

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I’ve gone to Graceland.

After traveling past it several times while headed to Texas, I finally made a pit stop to visit Elvis at his home. More pictures are in The Shures photo gallery. I had seen the signs, but not realized until I looked it up how close to I-55 Graceland is. It’s right off the highway.

I envisioned it being larger. But for being such a big name in show business, Elvis’s house is kind of small. The swimming pool is dinky. At the site, there is much that has been added since his passing. They now have his jets housed and a museum complex built across the street.

I thought the everything Elvis store next door was cool. I bet they even had Elvis toilet paper. For fun, I bought a pair of prop sunglasses and a fake ID.

This is where Elvis used to hang out. I could envision little Lisa Marie playing around the grounds or Elvis with his friends grilling out on the patio. I got a tingly feeling while walking around this place that is steeped in so much rock and roll history. I also stopped and paid my respects to the man himself.

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My daughter and I took a 5 day trip to the eastern Missouri Ozarks. We tent camped at the KOA just outside Eureka. The main reason we chose this area was the St. Louis 6 Flags. Our SF Great America season passes give us free admission to any other SF park.

My daughter enjoyed the camping. Her favorite activity was riding her bicycle around the campground with the new friends she made there. At night in bed before falling asleep, she liked watching old Yogi Bear cartoons & Tom Sawyer streaming from YouTube on the magic TV. She also went swimming every day in the campground’s pool.

We spent 2 days at the Saint Louis 6 Flags. Oh course her favorite rides were the roller coasters with ‘The Boss’ being at the top of the list. She also really like the Tony Hawk cars spinning coaster but thought the Screaming Eagle was boring compared to SFGA’s American Eagle. She doesn’t like going upside down, so we skipped all the coasters that do that.

We were able to visit some other sites including Meramec Caverns, The Magic House Children’s Museum, and the St. Louis Arch. On the way home, we stopped at a Route 66 landmark in Spfld. IL that happens to sit in the front yard of the Southern View neighborhood I grew up in.

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I’ve been there, done that, and would like to go again. Amsterdam was a cool place to visit. Here’s me standing out front of the orginal Holland Hard Rock Cafe. Not the new touristy place they built in 1999.

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Circa 2001.

I have been to the mountain. When visiting Seattle, I made a pilgrimage to see Microsoft 1st hand. It resembles a college campus with low buildings spread out. All the employees were wearing Microsoft clothes like a business casual theme park.

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Yes, I ski, and I’m itching to do it again. Spring time always has the best snow. I posted pictures from my last excursion to Utah in the Shures Photo Gallery. Salt Lake City is a trip with those Mormons. I met some cool cats at the Dead Goat Saloon and had a great time in Park City with them.

Here are a few recordings that I made of some local Utah musicians who I met while hanging out with my new friend Sid at the Sundance Film Festival. He sure was a dead ringer for Willie Nelson.

Right-Click Save As
Smitty – Wrong Direction.mp3
Smitty – Women’s Got the Blues.mp3
Sid – Old Man.mp3
Sid – Magnolia.mp3
Smitty – It’s Only Love.mp3
Sid – Fool For Your Stockings.mp3
Sid – Knocking On Heaven’s Door.mp3
Sid – Needle and the Damage Done.mp3
Sid – Wooden Ships.mp3
Sid – Fooled Around and Fell In Love.mp3
Smitty – Beatles.mp3
Smitty – Blues Jam.mp3
Smitty – How We Gonna Make It.mp3
Smitty – Illinois Studio Call.mp3
Smitty – Sid End Night Ramble.mp3

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Time for a holiday. I’m heading to Reno Nevada at the end of the month for a little fun at John Ascuaga’s Nugget. I’ll be playing in their 50th year anniversary $140,000 slot tournament. If my luck is good, I may just bring home that $50,000 first place prize. I’ll have a 1 in 200 chance. There are also lots of other great prizes to win too.

The Nugget is a 4 Star hotel with 80,000 square feet of casino gambling, two 29-story towers, and 1407 rooms featuring sweeping views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and surrounding valley.

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