Home Sweet Home

We arrived home yesterday at 6:00 PM. The snow is gone (if they had any snow after we left), the grass is greening up and the trees are in bud. We unpacked the camper and then spent most of the evening putting things away. I couldn't believe all the stuff we had in the 5th wheel. Abbey is quite happy to be back home, she has been making her rounds in the backyard and checking out the backs of all the sofas and chairs to see if she can remember which was her favorite. It will take a few days to get reorganized around here and then I think I should start some spring cleaning.

One More Day To Go

We had a good day of travel today and made it to Great Falls before dark. That means we will be back in Eatonia sometime tomorrow. There are plenty of reasons I will be happy to be home such as not having to walk half a block or more to shower, not having to shower with shoes on, being able to talk to Meg and Al anytime, getting back to walking with Marla and Bunny, and the dishwasher. However there are many things that I have come to enjoy about living in our 5th wheel. Such as: I can do a full top to bottom cleaning in a very short time, grocery shopping is much more interesting and there is no yard work.
Overall, the past 10 weeks has been great and we can hardly wait to start planning next year's trip.

Baby, Its Cold Outside

This morning I checked the weather here in Ogden and it is 6 degrees. When I finally crawled out of bed it was to quickly start the furnace and put as many clothes on as humanly possible..... even "long pants" something I have not had on since February 23. Abbey has been huddling under blankets and shivering since her morning walk. I also checked the weather for home and it is also 6 degrees. Now, if I was at home I would be stepping out the door an saying "oh, what a beautiful morning" and happy that I did not have to put on mittens, heavy jacket etc. I bet the morning walkers at home are smiling and almost whistling because the sun is shining. I do believe it is going to be very difficult to get back into the "spring is coming and it is warming up" from the "jeez, it sure is cold here compared to Arizona".

Homeward Bound

We spent the last 3 days at the Sam's Town RV park in Las Vegas (sorry kids we didn't win a million and we aren't driving the BMW either) and this morning we started our trek north. Tonight we are at an RV park north of Salt Lake City. We drove through a bit of rain and wind today but nothing compared to the winds in Las Vegas. Good thing we were planning to spend a few days there because we wouldn't have been going anywhere with the strong winds. After checking the weather this evening it looks like it is warmer at home than it is here. If all goes well we should be back in Eatonia by Friday.

Lazing Around in Laughlin

We arrived at the RV Park in Laughlin on Saturday afternoon. We had a great drive from Yuma, taking our time and enjoying the drive through Parker and Lake Havasu. Since arriving we’ve done a bit of gambling (not winning anything), lots of relaxing and we even went to the Riverwalk Art Festival. There were about 50 displayers with everything from pottery and painting, jewelry and clothing to musicians and woodworking. We don’t have WIFI at our RV site so we went back to the carwash at Bullhead City and used their service while getting our truck washed. Our plans are to head to Las Vegas for a few days and then continue north. We aren’t sure which route we will take home; it depends on weather in northern Nevada. If it warms up at Jackpot we will stop for a round of golf or two. When I checked the calendar today I realized we have about 10 more days until we will be home. It seems like we just left!!!
An added note: Just as we were getting ready to head to the carwash Doug ran into Fred and Colleen. they have just arrived in Laughlin and will be here for a few days. Looks like it might have to be a "Margarita Monday".

Dust Storm in the Desert

We have had four relaxing days in Yuma. We made a return trip to Algodones for a few souvenirs and checked out the Swap Meets. The RV park is almost empty and so were the Swap Meets. Most of the vendors had already packed up but it gave us an idea of what to look forward to another year. We toured Old Yuma and stopped off at Lutes Casino, a restaurant/bar full of antiques and memorabilia from days gone by. We also experienced two days of high winds here in Yuma. Tomorrow we will head to Laughlin and then on to Las Vegas for a few days. We will slowly make our way north and hope warm weather is with us on the way.

Golf at Turquoise Valley

Here are a few pictures of the golf course at Turquoise Valley.
A view from the 11th Teebox
The 18th hole.

The restuarant and bar.

Moving On

We are on the move again. A week at Turquoise Valley included: 99 holes of golf, a trip to Tombstone and Bisbee ( if you are in this part of Arizona skip Tombstone but be sure to go on a walking tour of Bisbee), great mexican food, excellent music at the Fish Fry, a birdie ( my first), my lowest golf score ever (under 50 on 9 holes.....can you believe it???), a nail in the tire and of course, more happy hours with Fred And Colleen. This morning we headed west and ended up in Yuma. We have decided to make one more stop here so we can look over some of the RV parks, go to the Flea Market (we've heard it a must if you are in Yuma), maybe a trip to Algodones and some R&R before we start north.
We are set up at the Westwinds RV Park. Senor Ping thinks it looks a little like a ghost town, as most of the snow birds have started for home. It is in the high 20s (celcius) today and the weather forecast is for strong winds and then cooler temperatures for a few days. That's better than the snow and rain they are having back home. Now that we are settled in for a few days I will try to update my blog and post a few more pictures of our past week.

Hoppy Easter Everyone

Easter has always been a favorite time of the year for me. When I was a youngster it meant jelly beans and chocolate bunnies and big family dinners with all the cousins. When I was at University it meant the end of a term and the start of exams. As a teacher I always enjoyed filling hand made baskets with chocolate eggs and convincing my students that the Easter Bunny had indeed come to our classroom while they were in the gym. You wouldn't believe the number of students that came running in after recess to announce that they had seen the Easter Bunny leaving the shool yard. Easter also became a great time for family holidays. We made numerous trips to Las Vegas when Megan and Allan were growing up. I'll never forget the year I packed all the Easter treats up and left them in the trunk of the car until Easter morning. The extremely warm temperatures turned the bunnies into puddles of chocolate. Last year Senor Ping and I were in Rome at Easter and had a great time touring Vatican City just prior to the Pope's first Easter address. This year we are in sunny Arizona. The chocolate eggs stayed in the fridge until it was time to eat them and we didn't have the traditional meal of ham or turkey. We feasted on barbequed steak and shrimp after a round of golf. We wish all our family could be here to join us but we will have to settle for wishing everyone a very Happy Easter.

Guess Who This Is

If you recognize this sweetie give her a call and wish her a happy birthday!!!

Happy Birthday

Senor Ping and I would like to send out birthday wishes to our nieces Jaime and Kelly, who are both celebrating their birthdays on April 6 and a very special "Happy Birthday" to Megan who will be turning 23 on April 7 . We wish we could be with all of you on your birthdays but since we are here enjoying the sunshine and you are at home with snow and floods (looks like Manitoba is in for a wet spring) we will toast all of you and hope you have a very Happy Birthday.

A Reason Not to Play the Rough

We thought the golf course at Leader might want to incorporate a sign similar to this one at their golf course.

Touring About Bisbee and Beyond

We are enjoying beautiful weather and great golfing at Turquoise Valley RV and Golf Club. The park is very small and the Mexican border is practically at our doorstep. Today we went on a walking tour of Bisbee, a copper mining town about 15 miles from the RV Park. The self-guided walking tour was very interesting and many of the buildings we saw were built in the late 1800’s or after the fire in 1908. Many of the buildings are still in use as cafes, art galleries, antique stores and gift shops. I was especially interested in touring about because I have enjoyed reading the books set in Bisbee written by J.A. Jance. After the walking tour we stopped for lunch and did a bit of shopping. On our way home we stopped off at the Shady Dell RV Park and looked at some of the “park models”. I couldn’t convince Doug to trade our Dutchmen in on this model. In actuality these park models are for those of us who would like to spend a night reliving camping from the early ‘40s and 50’s.

We stopped to look at the open pit copper mine. It hasn't been in operation since the '70s but it is an impressive sight.

The Rattler at Turquoise Valley

We arrived at Turquoise Valley on Sunday and tried out the 18 hole golf course today. We didn't see any rattlers except the 15th hole, which is called the Rattler. Its a par 6 and the longest hole I have ever seen. We will be here for at least a week but WIFI is not the greatest so don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a few days. The drive was great and there is quite a bit of sight seeing to be done in this area. We will check out Bisbee tomorrow and if we get brave enough will go to Tombstone. Fred and Colleen have fore-warned us that it is very "touristy" but we may go see the OK Corral.