Winter Trip 2010 #13

Well our two weeks in Harlingen, TX went by so fast we can hardly believe it is over. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect and our friends couldn't have done more to keep us entertained. I was telling Jim, it seemed everywhere we went there was music and seniors were dancing, laughing and having a grand time. It was so good to see people enjoying themselves. Harlingen does such a wonderful job of making "Winter Texans" feel welcome. There are welcome signs everywhere. One of our fun times was going to Pepe's on the river. They had wonderful entertainment and a huge dance floor and the place was jammed packed in the middle of the afternoon. We went over to Progresso, Mexico about 3 times. It was only after we left Texas that we heard about how bad Mexico is getting and it turns out Progresso is one of the only cities left that is heavily protected to ensure tourists are safe. After Harlingen we went to a Thousand Trails campground in Columbia, TX about halfway between Austin and Houston. We are still checking off diners from our book of Funky Diners, Drive-in and Cafes in the U.S. One of the Cafes in our book was located in Austin, called the Magnolia Cafe on S. Congress St. so we decided to go and check it out. The restaurant was wonderful and food excellent. It was extremely crowded but once you got seated the service was outstanding. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. I noticed a lot of the customers looked like performers because of the way they dressed and the strange hairdo's. I started reading some of the pictures on the walls and realized Austin is known as the Music Capital of the U.S. (I always thought Nashville was). Later we rode through town and we realized that a music festival was going on so we parked and enjoyed the music for the afternoon. A lady sitting next to us told us it was a music festival with performers coming from all over the world to perform. Most of the concerts were free and there were concerts going on all up and down Congress St. We really had a great time. The next day we were hooking the truck up to the motorhome. I was in the truck and Jim was standing behind the motorhome and in front of the truck. The motorhome was running. All of a sudden I saw the backup lights come on the motorhome and I pointed to Jim to look up. Jim went around to check inside the motorhome and our dog Charlie had put the motorhome in reverse. Thank God the air brake was on, and the motorhome didn't move. So now we know we can't leave Charlie in the motorhome with the motor running. Jim says no telling what the little black s__t will do next. Nothing like a little excitement. The next night we spent at a WalMart in Lafayette, LA. We went to a Cajun restaurant called PreJeans recommended by Jim's brother Mason. The food was really good and they had a Cajun band playing music. We met a couple at the next table and spent the evening talking with them. It was a great time. We are now in Ocean Springs, MS spending the weekend with a classmate of Jim's from West Virginia, Dave and Nan Kuhl. We started off our weekend visit with a trip over to Biloxi, MS for dinner and gambling. I was pretty lucky and won $47.00, so needless to say we are looking forward to a nice weekend visit.

Winter Trip-2010 #12

We have been having a wonderful time in Harlingen, TX, catching up with old friends, Mason and Flo and Kenny & Jerry from Oklahoma. They have been wintering in the valley now for eight years. The weather has been beautiful. We've been enjoying having dinners together, flea markets, and going to Mexico. Progresso, Mexico is about 30 minutes from Flo and Mason's Campground. We also went to Border Fest which was kicked off with a 2 hour parade. The parade was awesome. They must have had a hundred floats, a couple high school bands, motorcycle clubs, beauty queens and my favorite of course was the horses. We saw lots of paso fino horses and it was really cool to watch them. The middle picture above is one of my favorites - this dad and daughter are making wonderful memories together. That little girl was so cute and she rode the whole ride. We even saw Charo at Border Fest. She is still a good entertainer. I remember seeing her some 20 years ago in Hawaii and she still has the crowds laughing and clapping the whole time she is on stage. We all went to Padre Island today to watch the spring breakers but the fog was so thick and it never lifted so we couldn't see the beach goers but we did have a nice lunch at the beach. We leave Harlingen, TX on Monday, March 15th.

Winter Trip - 2010 #11

We left San Jose, CA on Feb 24th and headed for Harlingen, TX. Our first night, we spent in Ventura, CA camped along the Pacific Ocean. It was a cloudy afternoon when we stopped but we opened our windows and enjoyed listening to the ocean. It was very soothing. We made it to Quartzsite, AZ the next day. We went to the same location that we spent two weeks earlier on this trip. There were still a lot of winter campers in Quartzsite but most of the flea markets and gem dealers were gone. It was a very quiet town this time. That evening Jim and I went to Parker, AZ which is 30 miles from Quartzsite, for a birthday dinner and some slot time at the casino in Parker. The place was packed. We had a very nice dinner but our gambling experience turned out to be a donation. We didn't win a thing but we did have fun. We have a book called More Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which is a drop top culinary cruise through America's finest and funkiest joints. We decided that we would make it a goal to try to visit as many as we can in our travels now and in the future. One of the diners noted in the book was Matt's Breakfast located in Phoenix, AZ. So we left our motorhome at a Flying J in Phoenix and drove over to the diner. It was a very small diner with a waiting line around the block. The wait actually turned out to be fun because we met a couple and talked with them until our name was called. The wait was worth it - the food was great as well as great service. We look forward to trying out more of these places noted in the book. The next night we spent at a Flying J along the New Mexico/Arizona border. The next night we made it to Ft. Stockton, TX and stayed at a Wal Mart. The next day we made it to a Thousand Trail Camp Ground in Medina Lake, TX. I love this place. We have stayed here before. It is full of deer. They come right up to you for treats. Of course I spent the evening feeding them cereal. The next day we made it to Harlingen, TX. We are staying at another Thousand Trail Camp Ground. We'll be here for two weeks. We are visiting with our good friends, Mason and Flo Young and Kenny & Jerry from Oklahoma. We started off our visit here with a little crises though. Tomorrow we are all going to go the flea market here. Its only open on Wednesday and Sat and Sun and is a pretty big deal here. Wednesday night we are going to a show where a guy sounds just like Willy Nelson so that should be fun. Saturday they are having a Mexican Border Festival here and we all plan on attending. Sunday we are going to Mexico. Kenny is having some dental work done there and we are going to keep Jerry company drinking Margaritas while she waits for Kenny. I mean what are friends for! So looking forward to a fun weekend.

Winter Trip 2010 #10

We just spent a wonderful 10 days visiting family in San Jose, CA. We got there on Feb 15th. The ride was so beautiful. I have never seen CA so green and plush. It felt like riding through the hills of Ireland. Anyway, my Aunt Bev just moved into a new home in an adult community. It is a very nice community and very well kept. I'm sure she is going to be very happy there. She just recently moved from Morgan Hills to San Jose to be closer to her daughters and their families to include grandchildren and great-granddaughter. Aunt Bev was such a gracious host - always feeding us and Charlie. My aunt's dog, Pixie is half of Charlies' size and she wanted to play with him so bad but Charlie was only interested in what was in her feed bowl. Poor Pixie, everyday, Charlie would barge in the house and clean out Pixie's bowl. We enjoyed helping my cousin, Jody and Aunt Bev with little jobs to get her settled in. The rest of the family had already moved in her furniture and stuff and put in new appliances in so she looked pretty comfortable and cozy by the time we got there but Jody made up a "To Do List" and we enjoyed helping check things off the list. Aunt Bev treated us to a buffet lunch one afternoon at her favorite restaurant and cousins, Jody and Karen joined us. I can see why that is her favorite restaurant - the food was great and my goodness so many choices. It was hard to get back to our chores after that feast. On Friday evening, we finally got to see Jody's husband Dave. He worked all week and we had left for the motorhome before he even got home from his evening commute. Anyway Dave and Jody treated us to a nice dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, called the Flames Coffee Shop. It was really great. Again so many choices. But the one thing we noticed they had, but did not partake in, was wonderful desserts. I have never seen cakes so huge. We definitely had a fun evening catching up. We took a break on Saturday and drove over to Santa Cruz, CA for the day. They were having a Clam Chowder Cook Off on the boardwalk. I love clam chowder and I couldn't wait to taste all the chowders. The place was packed - it was a beautiful day and I think everyone came out because of the beautiful weather. However, when we got there I found out, out of the 76 chowders they had on hand, you could only taste five. What a bummer! But I did enjoy my 5 little tastes anyway. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the boardwalk watching all the people and the beautiful ocean until they called out the winning chowder. We then drove over to lighthouse point and watched the surfers. It was there that we had a quiet moment thinking of our beloved uncle Joe, for it was he who introduced us to that spot the last time we were with him. There were some huge waves. It was also cold. Jim and I wore jackets with hoods and the surfers did have on wet suits but it still looked cold. The waves were so big and we was wishing we had our camera but it was in the truck and it was too cold to walk all the way back to the truck and then back to the surf so you'll just have to take our word for it! Later that evening we met our niece, Heather and her finance, Nicole for dinner at the Hindquarters Steak Resturant in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time catching up and telling stories on each other. It was our first time meeting Nicole and we were delighted to meet her. On Sunday, Jody and Dave hosted a wonderful brunch at their house and everyone brought something. It was definitely a feast. That afternoon, some of us girls went to see the movie Valentine Days and the guys went to visit the Hiller (Hiller Helicopter fame) Aviation Museum. (Bless Dave and Tom's hearts, for they had to endure Jim reading EVERY information plaque in the museum) The movie was great and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Jim said he had a wonderful time at the Museum. Monday it was back to the To Do List. We were getting all the small stuff done and feeling pretty good about the list. Only the big stuff is left like paint the house, and landscape the front -- we would have like to have done that -- but they still needed to decide on the color to paint and the design for landscape and then notify the Manager of the park. Tuesday we spent the first part of the morning packing up the motorhome and getting things ready for our next leg of our trip. We went to Aunt Bev's for dinner on Tuesday and everyone surprised me with a 60th Birthday Party. To say the least, I was very surprised and had a lot of fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to San Jose and Santa Cruz and left for Harlingen, TX on Wednesay, Feb 24th. We'll be catching up with our Oklahoma friends in Harlingen and looking foward to it.

Winter Trip 2010 #9

Our second week in Las Vegas started off pretty restful. We caught up with laundry, cleaned the motorhome and watched movies and of course a little gambling. But by Thursday all peace and quiet went away. Jim's brother, Mason and his wife, Judy arrived in Las Vegas. It was their first trip to Las Vegas so we tried to pack in everything for them to see in 4 days. We had so much fun but we kept staying out later and later each night. Thursday afternoon we took them by one of our favorite sights to check out -- a neurosurgeon's house. This man collects carnival and Las Vegas memorabilia such as signs, statutes, boats, airplanes, etc. and it all covers his rooftop, backyard and front yard. It is quite the site to see. Of course I forgot my camera. Then from there, we went to Hard Rock Casino to pick up a rental car. Then we took them down the strip so they could see all the lights and fancy hotels. We later met with Audria and had dinner at Buco de Peppe's, then back to the strip to tour the Bellargio and watch the water show. Friday, we went out to Terrible's Casino for breakfast and then went to Hoover Dam. As you can see from pics above we had a beautiful day for touring the dam. Judy, Mason and Jim also took a helicopter ride over the dam. That trip really watered their eyes. Neither had ever been in a helicopter before. They did get some great pics though. The middle picture shows the new road they are building to get traffic off the dam. As you can see in first pic, the water level is down really low. After the dam tour, we went back to Boulder City and had an early dinner, late lunch. That evening we took them to the Freemont Experience (Old Las Vegas). We had a ball. Judy and I hit the slots and Jim and Mason people watched (or should I say "girl watched") under the dome. Saturday, we did breakfast at Terrible's again and then took them to the Sahara Casino where we taught Mason how to play Black Jack because the Sarah has a dollar table. Mason really took a liking to the game and really caught on pretty good. I played Black Jack with the guys for a little while and once I got $20 ahead I joined Judy at the slots. I was playing the penny machines with my $20 winnings when all of a sudden I hit on the bonus and the machine gave me several free spins and it kept hitting the bonus over and over. I must have sat there for 15 minutes and watched my winnings go higher and higher. I thought the machine had broken and was just going to keep going until it was empty, buy finally after reaching $562.00 it ended. I was so excited. I cashed out and found Judy and showed her then went to Mason and Jim and showed them. I spent the rest of the evening watching Judy - she did pretty good too. She ended up winning $100 that night. We also went to the Blue Man Group show (thanks to Audria) at the Venetian. It certainly was a wild show. We really enjoyed that. By this time it was getting late but we took them to one more casino that we like to play Black Jack over in Henderson. This is a $2 Black Jack table and Mason and Jim played til 2:30am. Mason was having a ball and he had really caught on and was playing really good. I think he ended up $100 for the better. Judy also had a good night there and won another $100. We actually didn't get to sleep that night til after 3:30am but boy we sure did have fun and all of us ending up making a little money so we were all pretty happy gamblers! Mason and Judy left on Sunday and we left for San Jose, CA on Monday,

Winter Trip 2020 #8

We have been in Las Vegas, NV for a week now. We have had a wonderful time so far. For all of our snow bound friends and relatives, I hate to tell you but the weather here has been wonderful. We are enjoying it so much. We had rain one day but that didn't put a damper on our activities. The first thing we did was meet up with David's girlfriend, Audria, (3rd pic) and had lunch. David had sent Audria an RV part that we needed. It was our first time meeting Audria. She is a wonderful girl and we really enjoyed meeting her. We also had a nice visit with my neice, Shaunna, and her son, Jordan (4th pic). We went to dinner at one of her and Jordan's favorite restaurant, Mimi's Cafe. We couldn't believe how much Jordan has grown. He's almost as tall as his mother at 12 1/2! They will be coming over to the RV for dinner this week and we hope to play some games; we are really looking forward to their visit. We've been to two shows; KA and a tribute to Prince called Purple Reign. Both were excellent. KA is a Cirque du Soleil production at the MGM. Audria was so gracious and surprised us by making arrangements for us to see it. It was a fantastic production. Purple Reign was held at the Hooters Casino. Believe it or not, it was an 11:00 pm show (way past Jim's bedtime) but he was a good guy and agreed to go with me to see it. We got there early (9:00pm) to be sure and get our tickets and then the show didn't start til about 11:30pm. But once it started it was so good even Jim had a good time. We've been doing a little gambling but haven't won anything substantial (duh!) but we haven't lost very much either. We have been going to $1 Blackjack tables and have been able to play for several hours and still break even, so we're pretty proud of ourselves!! Jim's brother, Mason, and his wife Judy are coming in later this week. We're looking forward to showing them around. Our next stop after Vegas is San Jose, CA to visit our aunt and cousins.

Winter Trip 2010 #7

We arrived in Laughlin, NV on Saturday. We stayed at the AVI Resort and Casino which is on the outskirts of the town of Laughlin. It was kind of nice to see civilization. After we got settled in Jim and I went for a ride into town just to check it out. It reminded us of a mini Las Vegas only with trees. We ate dinner at the Colorado Bell which is a resturaunt and of course casino built to look like a river boat. It was really kind of neat. Of course I forgot to bring my camera so now that we have been to Laughlin, I don't have any pictures to show. The pictures above are of the AVI as we were riding toward it. It is along the Colorado River and there are some beautiful homes built along the river. The next day, we had a 99 cent breakfast in the casino then spent $10 in slots. Well I did anyway, Jim was not going to ruin his big save on breakfast by gambling. I broke even so I was happy -- I got to play and didn't lose anything. Right across the street from the casino was another campground and believe it or not another gem show. Jim and I went for a bike ride and then visited the gem show before heading back to the RV. The stuff we saw there didn't even come close to the deals or quality we saw in Quartzsite. Gave us a real appreciation for Quartzsite and for what Quartzsite is all about. Later that day we took a ride over to Bullhead City, AZ which was on the other side of the river just to check it out. We heard gas was $2.39 so we took advantage of the deal and got gas. That evening we went back to the casino. I made $14, Jim lost $5. Believe me he was not a happy camper! Well off to Las Vegas on Monday.