Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas day at Michael & Brittany's beautiful new home. Brittany is the oldest daughter of Barry & Rachel (for those of you that don't know them... Barry is my 1st husband's brother). We had a wonderful day and truly appreciate Barry & Rachel including us in their family Christmas.

Barry

Papa & Victoria

Victoria

Proud Papa & Victoria


Duke

Getting dinner ready

Baby Kourtney & Brittany

Baby Kourtney...she was just

getting her first teeth

Barry making himself at home...

not sure what Jeared is doing

with the doll. :-)


Kourtney ready to

go nighty-night

Merry Christmas from Apache Junction/Mesa, AZ

We arrived in Apache Junction on Wednesday afternoon. We went to dinner with our friend, Ginger, Wed. night and had a nice visit. Yesterday we had some last minute errands to run and it was a zoo out there! Tomorrow we will be spending Christmas with Barry & Rachel and their family. We ALWAYS have such a good time with them and are really looking forward to it. Below are a few pictures of this area that shows why we like it so much here.


We never get used to how low the
planes fly over the freeway when
landing at Sky Harbor Airport in
Phoenix.


Same plane...

This is my favorite type

of palm tree and it's right

across the street from us.

Here's a corner in Apache Junction

with the Superstition Mountains in

the background.

The Superstition Mountains with

the Phoenix sign made from white

rocks.

Another shot of the Phoenix sign.

The Superstition Mountains from

our campsite...not a bad view!

Quartzsite, Arizona again

Yesterday we drove over to Quartzsite, AZ again. There are more RVs there and more of the flea market booths are open now. After Christmas it will really fill up. The months of January & February are when they have the Gem & Mineral Show there and there will be thousands of RVs camping in parks and in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) areas in the desert. Quartzsite is unlike any other place we have been. It's excellent for people-watching and you just never know what you are going to see there.


The Quartzsite billboard...
listing their claims to fame.


More RVs in the desert now



"Welcome to Beer Belly"...not
sure what that's about, but check
out the painting of the miner to
the right.


"No Name Street" and they
even have a sign for it. :-)


Somebody even flies their own
plane into Quartzsite.


Sure glad they didn't have to
climb too "high" to create their
rock artwork. :-)


The sky was so pretty on our
way back to Ehrenberg...

The Official Center of the World in Felicity, CA

Yesterday (Sunday) we visited "The Official Center of the World" in Felicity, CA. This place is directly across the freeway from our RV park. The idea comes from a children's book named, "COE, The Good Dragon at the Center of the World". Felicity was named after the owner's wife. There are dozens of marble slabs there being engraved to depict the History of Arizona; The History of California; Early Aviation; A Korean War Memorial and Part I of the History of Humanity. One of the marble artists was working while we were there and it is amazing to see how he etches the pictures from a small example. There is also a pyramid that houses the "Center of the World" plaque, a section of the original Eiffel Tower winding staircase, a chapel and a sundial.

The highway sign at our exit.

This is the Chapel On

The Hill. They brought

in tons of dirt to build

this chapel on.

This is a section of the

original staircase in the

Eiffel Tower in Paris. It

was the steel that Mr.

Eiffel installed there in

the late 1800's. It was

replaced in the 1990's.

This is the arm of the sundial.

It is a 3-D bronze replica of

Michelangelo's "Arm of God"

painted on the Sistine Chapel.


The sundial.


The dot in the center of the plaque

is The Center of the World. :-)

The 1st marble slab in

the History of Arizona

section.

This is the section of marble

the artist was working on. The

large picture on the bottom

right of the slab is the same

as the small picture on the

bottom right of the paper.

This is the pyramid that has the

marker for the Center of the World

on the center of the floor inside.

Winterhaven, CA & Yuma, AZ

We have spent the last week at Pilot Knob RV Park in Winterhaven, CA which is right across the state line from Yuma, AZ. There's not much to Winterhaven, so we have spent most of our time in Yuma for shopping, etc. Below are a few pictures from the past week. Tomorrow (Monday) we leave to go back to Ehrenberg, AZ for 9 days.

In the background you can

see the inland sand dunes,

which are just west of our park.

We aren't just close to the

California/Arizona border,
we're also close to Mexico...

this is the border area on the

Colorado River near here.

I saw this tree (and others

like it) in Yuma. Not sure

what kind it is, but I think

it may be the same as the

one below, just trimmed

nicely.

A tree in our RV park...I love

the white trunk.

This is the "Ocean to Ocean

Highway" bridge in Yuma.

This bridge made it possible

to travel from the Atlantic to

the Pacific on land. It was the

last link to connect the route.

For those of you who remember

when Bob had his beard and had

darker hair (and more of it)...I

was shocked when I saw this guy

at the end of Antiques Road Show.

Bob replayed it and couldn't believe

himself how much this guy looked

like him. :-) Now I'm trying to

figure out how he was in San

Antonio in 2007 and I knew nothing

about it.

Not The Thanksgiving We Were Planning...

We were planning to be at Zion River Resort in Virgin, Utah this weekend with my cousins from California. Late Tuesday night we checked the weather for that area and realized it was going down to 11 degrees there last night. We decided that was just too cold for our rig (and us) and we headed back to Ehrenberg, Arizona. We cancelled our reservation at Zion River Resort and are still trying to juggle the rest of our reservations. We will be having Thanksgiving dinner at the clubhouse at the park here. We are so sad that we aren't going to be with my cousins and also that we won't be able to visit Zion National Park. At least we'll see my cousins in February when we head into California for a few weeks. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Las Vegas, Nevada

We spent all day yesterday in Las Vegas and did not step foot in ONE casino! We just really don't care for Las Vegas since it has become such a zoo. It's just TOO MUCH of everything now. We were really there to have Bob's hearing aids repaired and my wedding rings repaired. We had to wait 4 hours on my rings because once they reantique the wedding band, it has to dry for at least 4 hours. So, we went to lunch, went to Sam's Club and a few other stores. We were very happy to get back to Pahrump and the slower pace!!! We went to the Nugget Casino for their excellent prime rib buffet for the 3rd time this week. You just can't beat a good buffet that's only $10.70 (including tax) for 2 people! I'm sure I couldn't make a meal at home for that. When we first got there, I went into the restroom and Bob dropped $1.00 in a penny machine while he waited for me. When I came out, he had it up to $10.23. So, he cashed it out and we went to dinner. After dinner, he put that slip in a poker machine and ended up cashing out $249.23. YEAH!!! It's about time he carried his own weight! Especially since I didn't have a good night...I lost $45.00. :-( I apologize for some of these pictures not being centered too well. I was on the phone with a friend as we were crusing through Vegas and trying to take pictures at the same time. :-) At least I wasn't driving at the time!


This snow was on the side of the
road between Pahrump & Las Vegas.
YUCK!!! It was in the higher
elevation, but I didn't need to
see it that close up!


Red Rock Canyon between
Pahrump & Las Vegas

I remember when this jerk

had a TV show.