The Porters

Now we Cruise

2011-03-12T18:54:00.002-07:00

We didn't have to hurry next morning as check out time was noon and we could start boarding the ship at noon. We just had coffee and a sweet roll as when we board the ship they'll have a full buffet brunch for us. We got a cab without any problem and headed for the ship. I had pre done a fun pass so it made it a breeze and before we knew it we were on the ship.

This ship had the biggest screen TV right on the deck where we had the buffet. They showed movies and concerts on it.

After we had a bite to eat we walked around the ship. It's not the biggest or most elegant ship I've been on but pretty nice. We then relaxed on the deck.

We couldn't get into our rooms till 2pm so we just hung out on the deck and walked around. The ship was docked right under this bridge that went over the mississippi river. I had taken this earlier this week we were too close to it to get a good picture of it when we were on the ship.

We spent the first couple days just relaxing on the ship as it took 2 days to get to Belize. They won't let you take pictures of the shows on the ship but they were excellent. Variety shows and comedy shows. Not much luck in the ships casino. We got seated for dinners with some really neat people from Michigan named Mike and Dianne. We had alot in common and talked almost non stop through our dinners together. We really hit it off with them, and plan to stay in touch.

Our second night on the ship was formal night. We dressed up really nice went to a reception to meet the caption but never saw him. I did try chocolate martinis and wow they were good. I could be in big trouble.

Don't we look so nice? I really should of taken a picture of my shoes. 3" heels and I did wear them all evening. I admire those women whom wear them all the time.
I just love the little towel animals the cabin boy makes and leaves each night when he turns our bed down and leaves us a chocolate. I just had to take their pics.

Our first stop was Belize. We booked a city tour and I wasn't really impressed with it. They took us to a museum but no pictures were allowed only at the entrance. Alot of artifacts and old stuff. It was quite interesting.

Then they took us to a really old church. I've seen much more beautiful old churches but this is a poor country and it was very well preserved.

Other than these two places we just rode on a bus and they pointed out schools, fire department, hospitals ect. We had a little time to shop and Brent got a hat and I got a little change purse and a bottle cozy. I really wish we would have booked a snorkel tour here I heard it was amazing. We'll just have to do a repeat.
Our next stop was Honduras. We booked a nature park and the beach here and both were absolutly amazing.

The iguanas and mckaws were great, but these monkeys were oh so fun.

OOPS Brent almost lost his hat. They had told us they would try to steal things they liked and to not wear your sunglasses jewelry or hats and have your purses zipped up.
After visiting the monkeys we went walking on an old fashioned rope bridge. We saw swimming turtles in the water.

Now the beach. It's a beautiful day and nice and warm.

What a neat day. We stayed under a palm but still got a little sunburn. The water was clear and wonderful. We could see lots of different kinds of fish in the water just walking in it, especially over by the rocks where people were snorkeling. I wanted to get snorkel gear but they wanted $15 each and Brent thought that was too much. Next time bulky or not I'm packing at least my mask and snorkel. You could do without fins when you go from the shore. We played around in the water alot today and my arms are a little sore from swimming so much. Oh well it's good for me.
Here's a couple more of the fun towel animals. I need to learn to do this.

The next day was Cozemel Mexico. We've been here before when we took Jenna and Brian on Jenna's graduation trip. The water here is very blue and clear too, but the all inclusive beach stay wasn't as neat a beach as we went to before but it was still a great day. The cabana boys waited on you hand and foot keeping you supplied with drinks. I like miami vices. They are part pina coloda and part strawberry daquri. We also got a mexician buffet that was really tasty. There was also a swimming pool if you wanted and all kinds of beach games to play. All non motorized toys were available like kayaks, water bikes but we just relaxed on the beach most of the day. The wind came up and you could see maybe a storm was coming but just windy while we were there.

After this nice day on the beach it was our last night on the ship and another dress up night. I wore the dressy pants outfit Lorna helped me pick out when we stayed with them during our motorhome trouble last fall. I had a portrait picture taken on ship but I didn't like the way it turned out so I just took one in our cabin. It turned out OK but I should have had the little light turned off.

There was alot of rocking and rolling of the ship tonight as the seas were a little rough. One more towel animal....tomorrow we get off the ship. We have booked a New Orleans city tour and airport transfer as our flight back to Phoenix doen't leave till around 4pm.

New Orleans and Mardi Gras

2011-03-11T18:05:00.006-07:00

Our flight to New Orleans was early in the morning so I had made arrangements at a hotel near the airport to stay the night before. They also let us store the tracker there and shuttled us to and from the airport for no extra charge. We got into New Orleans at about 2 pm and got checked in. We stayed in the garden district and the trolly stops right in front of it and takes you to the french quarter. Ruth, Randy, Dave and Lynett were not due to arrive till later in the afternoon, so Brent and I got checked in and unpacked. We went and saw the view from the rooftop patio. Then just relaxed till we heard from them.

When they got here we hurried so we could go see the first parade of the mardi gras celebration. It was in the french quarter so we got on the trolly and rallied for a good spot to watch. I was surprised how many people there were for being so early into mardi gras. Then I found out it was a popoular one cause it was a sexy one. It was to celebrate ones sexuality, so not g rated but not that bad.

We then walked around the french quarter where a musician asked Lynette for some help playinf his horn then we went for a bite to eat. Then back so they could get unpacked and to bed.

Next morning we wanted to go on a swamp and plantation tour but they were already doing pick ups so we booked it for the next day and headed into the french quarter.

You must try beinets ( a french donut) in the the french quarter.

Then some yummy southern food.

Then to bed to get rested for our tour next morning.
I thought we were pretty close to the swamp but it took us a half hours drive to get there. Our guide was pretty smart about the swamp, It was pretty cool.

The swamps have some really interesting scenery. Our guide says there are alot of wildlife that lives in the swamps, like wild oars, deer, lots of different snakes and many birds. He warned us when we started to watch the trees cause the snakes will be up in the branches and sometimes we were right under the trees.

We were going through a pretty narrow part of the swamp with the trees over us. We saw a few snakes but they were on the ground. Our guide warned us again about the snakes could be in the trees. Then here comes flying a snake right up by Lynett and she screams bloody murder and about crawls right on top of David. I look up and see the snake..... it's a plastic one that the guide threw up there. She was so upset and told him she would get back at him. We all laughed but it had truly shook her up. We saw a huge alligator back in the bush. Our guide estimated it to be 12 feet long. We couldn't get a good picture of it and he would not let Randy get off the boat to walk in a ways to get one either. Don't blame him but I think Randy would have if he would have let him.
Now on to the plantation. It was a big one but no longer a working one. We toured the home that had some original and some reproduced furnishings. I loved the surroundings. I really think that I could of lived in the old south in a previous life.

This is one of the slave homes.

I just love this one showing all the spanish moss in the trees. If you look real close that's Brent walking toward me.

After getting back from the tours we grabbed a bite to eat and just relaxed on the veranda that faced St Charles Avenue and visited till time for bed.
Next day Dave and Lynette had booked a City and graveyard tour. We slept in as did Ruth and Randy. We had coffee and donuts and then decided to go to the casino for a bit. Dave and Lynette were going to call when they got done and we were to met them on frenchman street. This street we heard had alot of blues bands playing and we wanted to hear some. None of us did good at the casino but for signing up they gave us some great big mardi gras bead necklaces that were hollow so you could fill them with your favorite drink. I filled mine with water but it was heavy so I soon emptied it out and just wore the necklace. Soon Dave called and we walked to frenchman street, but it was pretty empty, maybe they only have the bands on the weekends and it felt kinda scary not in the heart of the french quarter so we soon found Dave and Lynette and headed toward the inner part of the quarter and searched for something to eat. We settled on Pat O'Brians for lunch and a hurricane.

We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the french quarter. Seeing the fun things having some fun listened to some music, danced some and went to dinner. These people are so much fun.

This guy was awsome. he played empty buckets for drums and did it well.

All in all we've had alot of fun so far. At least I have and I hope everyone else has too. The next day we moved from the garden district to the french quarter. I had booked 2 nights at the hotel Montelone on Royal street and Randy had booked them at one on Barricks Street. We got moved and decided to take the ferry across the mississippi river and check it out. It doesn't cost anything to ride the ferry and we thought it would be cool. We walked around and stopped in a cafe/bar for a drink then rode back. Got a neat picture of the jackson square area of the french quarter with the church.

When we got back to the french quarter we walked around. Lynette and I considered getting a boyfriend (haha) but decided against it. Went and wandered around Jackson square and the marketplace.

Next day after breakfast we went and got ready for the 2 parades today. One in the french quarter and then one on canal street. We wanted to wear our mardi gras get ups.

We've had a ball this week with these guys but they are leaving to fly home tomorrow and we get on the cruise boat. So after a fun evening listening to a couple other bands we said our goodbyes and went to get packed.

Casa Grande

2011-03-11T17:05:00.001-07:00

We then also moved to Casa Grande but only had a few days there with Garth, Bev, Dee and Teddee. We had told our friends Joe and Lorna that we would drive over when we got to Casa Grande as it was Lornas birthday. Garth and them guys had already gone to see them so they didn't go again. It was good to see them. They are such neat people. We met at the casino and Joe won $800 dollars and Lorna $200. Brent and I didn't win but still had a fun day. Back at Casa Grande the 6 of us rode around the area to see what we could see. I like the area. The resort is nice and the area is nice. We then bid them bye as we won't see them again now till we get to Redfish again.

We decided to go see the Casa Grande ruins and it just so happened that it was also the annual Indian music festival that day. It was pretty cool. We got to see the ruins and also listen to some authenic indian music. One of the indians was the worlds champion hoop dancer. He was really good.

Another day while we were here we drove down to see the "Organ Pipe Cactus Monument" It is the only place in the USA where this type of cactus grows. We visited the visiters center and watched the movie about the area. It was in this area that the famous outlaw Poncho vila hid out in the rugged mountains here.

Here's those rugged mountains.

Here's some of the catus in the area. First the saguaro that some of you might have seen around the Phoenix area.

They told us an interesting thing about these catus. They will suck up all the water within 6 feet of them and store it inside and use it to sustain itself in the dry season. As the season progresses you can see where the water is by where it is the biggest. Starts at the top and works down. Also most other plants that may be around it will die because it is a water hog.
Here's the barrel catus.

Then theres the buckhorn catus. So named because they resemble a bucks horns I assume. When they need water they turn kind of purple.

I know you'll all recognize the prickly pear cactus. We even have some of these in Idaho in the desert.

Finally here is the organ pipe cactus. They are pretty amazing.

They had a really neat campground here that with our golden age pass would only cost $6 a night. I would like to spend some more time here to take some of the dirt roads and maybe do some hiking. We enjoyed our time at the Casa Grande resort and so far it is one of my favorite resorts. Here is where we made arrangements to leave the motorhome in storage while we go to New Orleans for a little Mardi Gras and then our cruise to Belize. They only charged us $1 a day.

Quartzsite

2011-03-11T16:02:00.001-07:00

After we got back to Yuma after Christmas we stayed for a few days in the Casino parking area and went to a New Years party and dinner there. They had a live band there that played disco music. We went with our friends Garth and Bev but they decided to leave after dinner but we stayed well after midnight. It was a fun night.
We did some dancing which we doin't do very often and we texted happy new years at midnight to alot of people and got texted back. I even got one back from Brian. We have been sending wishes every new years even though he and Jenna broke up we still really like him.
We then moved on to Colorado Rivers and then Salome which are both close to Quartzsite for the rock and gem and RV show. Dee and Teddee came and it was good to spend some time with them as well as Garth and Bev. We also hooked up with Wayne and Jo and some of there friends and went to dinner and did some visiting. When we moved to Salome the 4 of them ( Garth, Bev, Dee and Teddee)went to Casa Grande. Shauna and Brent came and stayed with us for a week while the show was still on. We would spend hours looking at the rocks and stuff while the Brents went to adult day care. They had an area called that cause there was live music and if you wanted beer or drinks and snacks. Then we would meet them there. There was a good singer there named Duke Michaels. He was quite good we stopped in and listened to him serval of the days we went to the show. We had our picture taken with him and bought his cd's.

One of the days they were there we drove down and went into Mexico for the day. Had a nice lunch and did some shopping. We always have fun with them.

When you drive to the RV resort we stayed at you went through a little down called Hope and when you left Hope they had this sign. We thought it was funny.

And while there we did have a pretty sunset.

I was sorry when they had to leave. They vowed in a few more years they'll be right there with us. Sure hope so.

Yuma

2011-01-31T15:18:00.006-07:00

We spent 2 weeks in Pilot Knob. We spent some time in the pool and of course the hot tub. I think they really help keep me going. We did a little bike riding, went to the flea markets but I find I didn't take many pictures. We did go to Mexico a few times and I had my eye pressures checked and they were 15 and 16 which is good. Did a little shopping for Christmas while their and went to our favorite place to have lunch their.
Then we put the motorhome in storage so we could head home for Christmas. I had bookd us 2 nights at our condo Polo Towers going and coming back to break up the long drive. It was cold and rainy in Vegas when we got their, which is quite unusal and it was evening so we got something to eat and settled in for that night. We really hadn't gone without gambling so we didn't want to spend much doing that, so we looked in a book they gave us at check in that night and a casino named Casino Royal was offering $50 in free gambling for signing up for their players cards, so next morning in a slow drizzle we walked down to it, which was more of a walk than we thought. We got there and it wasn't all it seemed. Yes you got $50 but you had to play it on certain machines which were $1 machines and you couldn't cash out unless yoiu won one of 3 top jackpots. We both played but didn't win. We were hungry as we didn't eat so we headed to their foodcourt and settled on subways. After eating it had started raining a little harder so we thought we'd just play there for a bit. We won a little and lost a little then on a fishing machine I wom $236 so I went to find Brent to show him. Didn't find him so cashed in my ticket and played a few more machines a little. Then I spotted him and wernt over to tell him and sat and played a machine by him but it wasn't nice. I told Brent I was going to be right behund him on a quick hit machine (they had at times been good to me). This one though to play max was $3 and I couldn't make myself bet that much so I was playing $1.50. Brent came over and started playing the one right next to me. I got to go into the bonus on mine and won about $70 so decided I would play the $3 for a bit since I was playing on their money. I had started with $20 and was down to $14 and something when I hit the big one. I got nine quick hits oin my screen which paid $20,000. Brent first thought it was $2,000 and were both way excited. I couldn't believe it and some other onlookers came to confirm I had won. Here's pics I took.

WOW!!!! It took a bit but they paid it to me in CASH, 4 bundles with $5,000 in each bundle. We asked about being safe to walk back to our hotel. They asked where we were staying and they said as long as we were on the strip we'd be perfectly safe as there were alot of plain cloths security and noone would get away with trying anything but if we'd like they would give ud a security escort. We declined and belined it out of there. rent had $10,000 in each front pocket ads I only had my very small purse. It was still raining and we were soaked by the time we got to our room. We put it in the safe and got in dry clothes. I said we needed to go celebrate with a really nice dinner and we each took $500 to gamble to our hearts content. We went to Planet Hollywood as it was the closest to the condo and found a nice restraunt named "Lombardi's" as I wanted steak and lobster.

After we finished dinner we went out to gamble and seriously we couldn't lose. We played max coins and after playing about 3 hours we both still had more than our $500 each. We went back to the room and next morning headed home for Christmas. I had facebooked about my win and so everyone knew before we got there. We hit a little bad weather in our way but made to Ruth and Randy's where we stayed the night before heading home. I hurried to get the rest of my shopping done and what a great Holiday. Everyone was glad to see us and we equally glad to see them. We had planned this year for all the adults to go out to dinner in lew of exchanging gifts, but with my recent win I treated everyone to dinner which noone really expected. I'm so lucky to have the family I have. They are all wonderful people and I love them all.
Christmas for the kids is always a hoot, and this one was the same. Hers's a few pics of the fun.
Carson opening the new WI system.

Trace, Vicki, Dayne and Austin enjoying the morning.

Trace loved his new inch worm.

Kaisley and Kambree having fun.

Kaisley with her new twins.

Kortney enjoying himself.

Brooklyn with her lifesize doll.

Coen with his new gun.

Alyssa and Kieran are good buds.

Kendall really likes the banana chair.

Kieran showed me how good she could play the Martin guitar. She got a new electric one for Christmas but I didn't get a picture of it.

Craig and Jodi enjoying all the fun.

Trace is all dressed up in Carsons buikd a bear's Harley Jacket. What a cutie.

I was able to get together with my good friends from when I worked at Bourns. Brenda and Joan. It was great to visit and catch up.

Lois was there in spirit I know and watching over us. I sure miss her.
I also had lunch with my buds from Icon and had a nice visit with them. Norma and Linda are fun to be around and it was good to see them.

I love this holiday picture Vicki painted.

Sooner than I wanted it was time to leave and head back to Yuma. It is warmer there but my heart was really warm seeing everyone. We stayed in Vegas for 2 nights again but the luck was not repeated. We went and had gelato and watched a fun little show.

We made it back in time to have a nice New Year. There was a Party at the Que and Us and Garth and Bev went. They dinner was really good, they had Dads favorite crab. We had more than our share. YUMMM so good. We stayed well past midnight but Garth and Bev left early saying they didn't like the music. It was mostly Motown and good dance music. Yes we did some dancing.

Palm Springs

2011-01-31T13:56:00.002-07:00

We stayed in the Palm Springs area for a few weeks. We stayed at a resort named Desert Hot Springs. It was a little cool while we were there but the hot tubs were really nice and even under cover to keep the wind out. Besides seeing Josuha park we played in a few of the indian casinos in the area. While there I won $400 so I decided to use some of it to get my new smart phone. It's like a little mini computer and does so much I'm still learning about it. We did go and visit an area called 29 palms it was out in the middle of the desert and there were a bunch of palms. Signs told you while walking in the area that yoiu may encounter cougars and what to do if you did. We didn't see any thank goodness. Here's a few pics taken.

From here we left and headed to the Yuma area. We stayed two nights at the Que Casino as we wanted to go to the Welcome winter visiters party in Algodones Mexico and we couldn't check into our RV resort for a couple days and this was really close to the Mexican border. It was a fun day. The had mexican food and drinks for free and gave away lots of prizes and had none stop entertainment. Here's a few pictures,

We then met up with Garth and Beverly at the Pilot Knob Resort.

Continuing on

2010-12-17T08:08:00.001-07:00

When we finally got the motorhome fixed and went on our way, we headed toward Parhump Nevada. On our way we stopped by and spent a few days with some friends we met at Redfish last summer. Wayne and Jo were staying in a campground by Kingman Arizona. We missed a turn off and had to turn around. While we were stopped and Brent was acessing the best way to do that I noticed this in the sky and took these pictures.

We had a nice visit with them and a nice dinner. We hope to see some more of them in January at Quartsite.
We then headed to Parhump. Well in spite of going there before we got a little lost on the freeway trying to not go through Las Vegas, so we turned on gabby (that's what we call our GPS) she got us back on track and we made it well before dark. While we were there we visited the casinos of course. They weren't real good to us, but one night they did draw my name out of the barrel and I got to pick for a chance at $5,000. I wish I could say I drew that one out but not, I did get $100 though. So goes the life in gambling huh. We also spent some time with Brents cousin Janet and heher husband Jerry. It was Janets birthday while we were there so we got to share that with them. The weather was not that great while we were there, so no swimming or hot tubbing. We really wanted to go golfing again too, but mother nature didn't cooperate. We didn't do much more site seeing as we'd been to "Death Valley" the year before. We just shopped and visited and relaxed. No pictures to post either from this part of the trip.
When we left there we headed to met up with Garth and Bev in Palm Springs. We decided not to go via the freeway and took the side roads through the desert. It was quite interesting. We drove right through a large dry lake bed. It looked like you could be on the moon. There was a few small towns now and then but best of all NO TRAFFIC! We had one night out before we could check in at Desert Hots Springs resort so we stayed in Joshua Tree National Park in the neatest campground. You felt like you were in the flintstones days. Here's some pictures.

On to Lake Roosevelt

2010-11-11T15:35:00.015-07:00

After leaving Camp Verde we headed to spend some time with some friends we made at Redfish. Joe and Lorna are really nice people. On our way there the motorhome started to act up and we weren't sure we were going to make it but we did. Joe and Lorna met us at the entrance to the Windy Hill campground on Lake Roosevelt to lead the way where we should go. We got parked and Brent told them of our troubles. We went to their house and Brent called a Chevy dealership in Payson and made arrangments to take it to them the next day. We had a nice dinner with Joe and Lorna and went back to the motorhome to sleep.
Next day Joe followed us to show us where the dealership was in Payson, but the motorhome didn't make it. Good thing we had Good Sam. We called and they sent a tow truck that towed it to the dealership. They said it would be a few days so Joe and Lorna invited us to stay at their house with them. We got a few things out of the motorhome and went back to Roosevelt.
We all decided to make the best of it and the next day Joe and Lorna took us out on the lake in their boat. Here's Brent and Joe getting the motor started.

Here's me and Lorna keeping the sun off us.
We fished for a few hours and Lorna caught a bass and Brent caught a catfish. Didn't get a picture of Brent's catfish as it got off the stringer but here's Lorna with her bass, in her backyard.

We saw this bald eagle while on the lake too. Pretty neat.

They took us to a couple of Indian casinos in the area and they both won pretty good. Lorna won over $600 and Joe about $350. I lost a little and Brent won about $200. We had fun though. They also took us on a ride to see Apache Lake where they have camp hosted. I took this picture of them at the viewpoint behind the dam of Roosevelt Lake.

We had packed a picnic lunch and when we stopped to eat at one of the campgrounds that they were hosts at we discovered that we had forgotton to put in the loaf of bread. No worries we discovered a real treat, bologna tacos. You put cheese, mayo and potatoe chips on the bologna and fold it like a taco and eat it. It was pretty good. Here's a picture I took of us having the picnic.

Well when we checked on the motorhome they hadn't done a thing and didn't know what was wrong. Brent had called Austin and he said he thought it sounded like the catalitic converters, but they said they thought it was internal engine problems but hadn't even put the scanner on it cause they didn't even know where to do it at. So Brent called our mechanic that had tuned it up before we left and he told him where it was and he showed the technican and we left again.
We spent a day seeing some more of the area and went to the visiters center. We took a couple of photos there. I especially liked this one of Lorna.

Then Lorna took this one of Brent and I.

Joe had a doctor appointment at the VA in Phoenix the next day so we rode with them to Phoenix. We left early so we could go see how Joan and Don were doing as they were in Phoenix for awhile. It was good to see them. Then after the doctor appointment we went to Joes favorite Chinese place to eat. We got home kinda late, so Brent waited till late the next day to call to see how they were doing on the motorhome. Well, they hadn't even put the scanner on it yet and it was now Friday and we took it to them on tuesday. Well Brent was livid and had it towed to a different shop Joe had told him about in Payson. We still had to pay the dealship $100 for nothing, and another $100 to have it towed to the other shop. GRRRRRR! Anyways the other shop didn't even get it till late on friday and they don't work saturdays. When we called them on monday they had already diagnosed it and it was what Austin said and they said it would be ready for us on tuesday and it was. Brent says it runs better than new. Meanwhile when we were coming back from Phoenix Joes engine light came on and he had to take his truck in. They had been so great to us that we couldn't leave them in a lurch so we stayed till he knew when his truck would be done and they had given him a loner car which was just an extra day and we were glad to do it, and it gave Lorna and I some time to paint. She had us each a canvas to paint and helped me along the way. No picture to paint from, she said just paint something in your mind. She showed me some pointers to do with a paint knife. Here's the final results. Don't be too critical I'm still learning. Lorna of course said I did good.

Joe and Lorna hated to see us go and we hated to too as we'd had a good time and I can't think of a better place to have broke down. It was great to get to know them better. Thanks so much for all your hospitality. I love the cactus there, here's a picture of one I liked.

We then headed to see if we could find Wayne and Jo, some other friends we met at Redfish that were staying somewhere around Kingman Arizona and we were headed to Pharump Nevada and it was on the way. We found them with a little help from Jo when I called her and we stayed with them two nights. Had a nice dinner with them and Brent got to play pool with Wayne and some of his friends. We made a day trip to Laughlin and I won about $150 and Brent about $40. Not too bad for a days work. ha ha.
Thanks Wayne and Jo for the nice visit.

After Redfish

2010-11-11T14:25:00.010-07:00

After we were done at Redfish we headed for home to get our house emptied out as we had decided to Rent to own it to Jed and Nicole. I didn't think we could do it, but with alot of help from the family we had it pretty good in just 11 days. Whew was I tired and my whole body hurt from all the lifting and going up and down stairs a million times I swear.
Then it was on to our winter traveling. We headed for Sedona first to stay in the condo for a week and recoup for awhile. Here's me on the balcony of the condo.

Here's Brent on the couch watching TV.

We did alot of sitting in the hot tub too to ease our weary muscles. After a few days of just veggin out we did a little site seeing.

Then on Brent's birthday we decided to go and golf 9 holes as they offered him free golfing with a cart on his birthday. We had gone and hit a buccket of balls earlier just to see if we could still even hit the ball. We didn't golf very good but we had fun. The course was up and down so it seemed we did a little 4 wheeling while we golfed.

After our week was up at the condo we head just a little ways to Campe Verde RV Park. It was quite a nice park along the Verde River. While we were there we went to the Indian casino where we both did pretty good at winning. We put some of our winnings in our gas fund for the motorhome like last year.

How we spent the Summer 2010

2010-10-16T19:06:00.008-06:00

Since last posting Brent finished working Jan Feb March and April back at Bourns. Then we went to Redfish Lake to camphost for the summer. It was great! It was the year of the Bears. We had alot of black bears come down into all of the campgrounds. Some were spotted almost daily at one or more of them. We met some really neat people and enjoyed the summer alot.
When we first got there in May it was still quite snowy.

We had a friendly fox come visit us early in the Spring. Brent had cooked some bacon on the cache cooker and some of the grease had fallen on the ground and the fox found it. Guess he liked it.

Both Little Redfish Lake and Big Redfish were frozen solid when we got there and it was pretty cold.

It soon thawed and with that we started to see some wildlife. Quite often these deer would come right into our campsite and were not really afraid of us. It was pretty amazing. Then of course we had the chipmunks, squirrels and birds too.

Oh and as I said it was the year of the bears. We got to see them ourselfs 4 different times but only camptured these few not real good pictures.

We also watched a goose pair with their goslings and they and the little ones were frequent visiters at our campground until we started to get really busy. or Then we didn't see them for quite awhile and was worried that maybe our resident fox had got them. Then in the fall when the campers decreased here they came back and I couldn't believe how fast the little ones had grown.

I took dozens of pictures of the beautiful Sawtooth mountains. Inspired by their beauty I decided I would try to paint them. Only having that one class before hand I wasn't too sure of my ability without someone to coach me. This is the photo I choose to try to paint. The jagged peak is Mount Heyburn. It is my favorite peak in the Sawtooth range.

Then after weeks of working on it and I got some pointers from one of the other camphosts who has painted professionally in Jackson Hole. Lorna a very talented painter and her husband Joe became good friends of ours while working at Redfish this summer. Love them!

We didn't get a picture of Lorna and Joe before they left but I'll get one next year.
We met many really nice people. One couple is Dale and Irene. They managed the most popular campground "Outlet" which is right along Big Redfish Lake and has some really nice beach areas. Really nice people. Dales an execellent cook and did the food for a few of our meetings for all to enjoy. Thanks Dale. Irene is friendly and always makes you feel like your a long lost friend.

Then there's Earl and Jennie. Jennie would most times have Brent and Garth Banana nut bread freshly baked or her famous Cinnamin rolls when they would bring their reservations each morning, and yes I usually got to share in that bounty. She has a tender heart and would do anything for you. Earl is a social person and loved to talk to you and tell you stories. He loved his 3 dogs too.

I didn't get good pictures of Dale and Vivian. They took us on their boat when Mo and Cona and Steve and Rainee and the kids were here. We went to the Inlet of Big Redfish lake. It's pretty there and we took a short hike to a lily pond and a waterfall. They also took us out for a leisure day later for some snacks and scenry. Very nice people. Thanks much.

I must mention other friends we met too and will have to do better at getting pictures next year.
Wayne and Jo were at Glacierview. We hope to spend some time with this winter around bullhead city.
Stan and Eleanor and Vicky at Stanley Lake we enjoyed getting to know. Vicky and I both got a new grandchild this summer and she made mine a cute bib.
Don and Joan were down river at Salmon River campground. I loved visiting with them while we filled their water tank twice a week. They had some really interesting stories and lots of pictures to share.
Then there's Art. He was at Mormon Bend. He liked to pull my leg. I teased him that he had done that so much this summer that I now had one leg longer than the other. His wife Mary didn't come up so Art had a full plate. Maybe next year.
The list is not complete without Greg. He managed Sockeye. His wife Barb wasn't there all season so he had his hands full too. I meet Him and Barb last year and it was nice to get to know him this year.

Fun Family Trip 2010

2010-04-06T11:35:00.001-06:00

We all had such a good time in San Diego and then the Cruise to Mexico.

This free scrapbook generated with Smilebox

2010-02-20T20:07:00.002-07:00

Well I have been a little slow getting up to date and these smile box things help with that. They are great I think. Now since we've been back to this cold weather I've had one cold after another. The first one was bad I was not feeling good for about a week. Then I heard some of the other family had been sick too. Must be this cold weather. After that one I got it back but not so bad. Mostly I lost my voice and then a little cough. I've had a chance to spend some time with some of the grandkids and that has been so fun. I do miss them so when we are gone for so long without seeing them. I have yet to actually see Jeff since we came back. When we've stopped by he's not there or noones there. Jeff I do love you so call me when you are around so we can come up.
This smilebox should bring you up to date on what we did while we were away. Next week is our 30th anniversary. Not sure if we will do anything since we are all counting down the days for the CRUISE. I can't wait.

quartzsite & more

2010-02-20T20:06:00.001-07:00

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Christmas Fun

2010-02-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

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Home for Christmas

2010-02-18T14:19:00.012-07:00

Before heading home for Christmas we went and picked some oranges to take to the family. They taste so good fresh from the trees.

We drove to Vegas the first day after getting the motorhome to the next place we will be staying when we came back Colorado Rivers. It is pretty close to Quartsite Arizona. We drove to SLC next day and spent the night with our friends Ruth and Randy. They have a new grandchild that Tony and Tina adopted. He's so cute.

We got home the next day. Steph had invited us over for dinner and that was so nice of her. It was great. Thanks. We were invited to watch Kambree in her band program and then to her violin recital the next night. It was Vicki's birthday and she and Austin had plans so we went to the recital. She did an excellent job. Here she is at her program.

and here she is at her recital.

We got Vicki her card and money nothing too exciting. The next day was Kambrees birthday. We have 3 in a row. Vicki, Kambree then Coen. Here's Kambree on hers.

Here's Coen on his.

It was sooo good to see all the family and spend some time with them. Next came Christmas day and our Porter Christmas party the next day.

Our time in Yuma

2009-12-11T09:41:00.011-07:00

We have had such fun in Yuma and the area. We have actually stayed in a small town called Winterhaven a few miles west of Yuma and is actually in California. It's a nice RV park with a pool and hot tub, many activities and meals are provided for a small cost. Every monday and friday we have free donuts and coffee. We just got back today.
The spots are nice with a cement pad coming out of your rig, no grass but we are in the desert. Each has a tree and some other plants. Ours and Garths have a park area behind us so that is nice. Here's a picture of our spot.

The desert has some pretty sunsets too. Here's a nice one.

We have made some trips to a Mexico border town named Los Algodones. It's nice for a border town. Pretty clean and lots of options for dental, eye glass, medications and of course shopping. They even had a big festival that welcomed back us snow bird and had free food, drinks and entertainment. Here's a few pictures.

When the entertainment was done they had a dance contest and anyone could enter. Brent and Bev wouldn't go enter so Garth and I did. Here we are with the prize we chose. I could say we won, but actually everyone that came up got a prize. So if those other two would have just come up and took a couple of steps they would have got to chose a prize also.

I choose a Tucan plate that turned into a bowl and Garth choose a leather wallet.

We also went to another border town named San Louis but I will not ever go there again. It was so different than Algodones, not friendly at all and in fact you got the stink eye alot, and it was dirty and slizy. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
We've had fun here and after my bike injury I decided to sell my bike in a in the park garage sale and I bought a new one. A girls style bike and I like it alot better. I'm not up to pare with the Brent, Garth and Bev though they all can take quite a long ride, but my legs still feel like jelly after just a short one, but I'll get there.

We have gone to the biggest flee markets I've ever seen and had several free meals on RV dealers. You just go and look at RV's and lunch is free. There's also a food bank place where you can go and pay $25 and you get about $100 of food. You can't pick what you get but it's alot.
Oranges and Lemons are being picked right now, so we are going to try to find a place where we can pick our own and bring some home for Christmas for everyone. We plan to leave on sunday, so we should be home for the holidays by the 15th. Can't wait to see everyone I've been missing so much.

Going South

2009-11-25T11:31:00.009-07:00

We had a great time in Pharump and here's some final pictures of our last days there. We went to a museum that had some of Jerrys findings in. I didn't know this till after we had been there. He had some old bottles and two old belt buckles. This is an old time washer. I remember my mom having one when I was little, but there were a little dangerous, I remember my cousin got here arm caught in the wringer and it just kept turning around on the top of her arm she still has the scars to this day.

Here's a few more pictures from the museum and our fun in the pool there.

We then headed toward Yuma. We stopped in Parker at an Indian Casino overnight. It was a pretty nice one. This is where I saw "NEW MOON". It was awesome.After the movie we went in and gambled some and I won $180, so I kept $80 and put $100 in our gas fund. Next morning we headed to Yuma. It was mostly desert but with some interesting looking mountains in the distance.

We stayed at another Indian casino in Yuma, there are numerous ones here. Didn't win anything there but stayed about even. Next morning we headed to check in to the RV resort we will call home for the next three weeks, until we come home for Christmas. It's outside of Yuma a little ways and is actually in California but just barely. We went into Mexico for the day and it was pretty neat. You can actually walk across the border and be right in the town. We spent the day there and had lunch. I didn't buy much cause we are going to go again while we are here so I just shopped around. It took almost 2 hours to get back out though cause you have to stand in a big long line and go through customs. The temperature here is very nice.Right now it is 80 degrees and we are headed to the swimming pool and hot tub for a few hours. Look forward to seeing you all at Christmas time. LOL

Pharump Living

2009-11-10T12:26:00.010-07:00

We have been staying on in Pharump as the weather is so nice here. 80's during the day and 40's at night. After leaving Janet and Jerrys house we joined Garth and Bev at a RV resort named Charleston Peak. It's very nice and only $4 a night with our membership. It has roomy sites, a nice swimming pool and hot tub, a club house with pool tables and big screen tv. So we've just been enjoying it all. We've also tried to start riding our bikes, but my legs still feel like jello after just a short ride and today I took a little tumble cause I can't quite touch the ground when I stop. I guess I need to trade it off and get one with the girl bar to make it easier. We've also seen some incredible sunsets here.

We had been watching the bull riding finals that were in Vegas and decided why don't we go to the final night, so I got online and got us tickets for it for about $50 each. We went last sunday and it was great! Those young men are really in shape to do that.

This last picture is of the kid Cody Lostroh that won it. He won over a million dollars. It was really fun to be there. We then stayed over night at the Silverton and the next day we rode over to see how the new expansion bridle over Hoover dam was doing. It is quite an engineering feat. I took a few pictures. It's almost done.

2009-11-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

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Happy Birthday Brent

2009-10-23T23:10:00.005-06:00

Brents cousin Janet got a small birthday cake for him and she put 5 candles on it, lite the candles and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him and made him try to recall his best 5 birthdays. He never did get to 5 of them as memories brought up other memories that he and his cousin talked about. Then when they took us into Vegas to fly out for Costa Rica we all went to dinner at Marie Callendars. Now we are just sittin at the airport waiting for our plane that doesn't leave till 12:35 am. I hope I can sleep on the plane or I'll be really tired when we get there. Hopefully we will find some kind of wifi over there but if I'm not heard from you'll know why then I'll play catch up. Here's a picture of Brent with his cake.

Death Valley National Park

2009-10-23T12:05:00.025-06:00

Pahrump Nevada is a city about 63 miles west of Las Vegas, that's where Brent's cousin Janet lives with her husband Jerry. We got there around noon on the 19th. I had been weepy eyed on the ride thinking I was missing Trace's 1st birthday. Hope it turned out nice. When we got there Janet and Jerry were not there, so we unhooked the Tracker and left the motorhome there and went into town. They live out of town a ways towards death valley. We had some lunch and gambled a little but didn't win. Take me back to the Indian casinos! They were having an RV show in the parking lot of one of the casino's so we decided to go look at them. They were pretty nice, but man were they expensive. The only one I would have wanted to trade ours in for was almost a half million dollars!!! While we were looking Jerry called and said they were home, so we headed out to their place. We visited and they fixed us a very nice dinner.
The next day they said they wanted to take us to Tecopa hot mineral springs to soak. It is located in the California Mojave desert about 15 miles from Pahtump. They usually go at least twice a week as they are therapeutic for aches muscles and joints. We said sure that sounded good. Brent discovered that he hadn't packed his swimsuit, so he ran to Walmart to get one while I was getting ready, then off we went. When we get there we meet the people who manage it as Janet and Jerry know them quite well. We go to our perpective dressing rooms and I proceed to change into my suit, when Janet tells me no suits are allowed you have to go in nude as the waters have a natural water rating second only to Baden-Baden hot springs on the French and German borders and to wear clothes of any kind in them pollutes them. HUMMMM never done this before. I was a little uncomfortable but thought what the heck, so in I went after a shower with soaping to get any lotions ect off my body which is required. After the initial skyness of being nude it was actually very nice and I have to admit that it relieved my aches and pains. Of course we didn't see the guys until after cause it is not co-ed. I wondered how Brent was reacting to this and afterwords I asked him and he just shrugged his shoulders. Oh well life is about new experieces I guess. Sorry no pictures of this.
After we were done here Jerry took us to an Oasis in the desert called China ranch. Part of the adventure is getting there as you wind down a narrow road and when you get there there are dates palms and willows and a stream running through it all.

This is not at all visible on the desert it just looks like it's all sand and sage brush with nothing green in site. It's amazing. It's owned by a private person who has a date palm farm so to speak. The dates were almost ready to harvest and they cover them with pieces of clothing it looks different.

They had a little gift shop and serve up date shakes, cookies, muffins and candy. We had a date shake and I bought some cookies. The grounds were cute too.

We visited some ruins where pioneers and miners lived back in the day. Some had 3 rooms. These are truly fixer uppers.

The Next day we went deep into death Valley National Park. It is an awsome place.

Then on to a place that was built in the deseret by a rich man. It's called Scottys Castle. It's was really a castle in the desert. Very elaborate. We took a tour of the inside it was unbelievable.

Well that's all for now..

On to California

2009-10-18T17:33:00.021-06:00

Just a few more pictures at Harris beach. It really is a neat place and it's too bad it was misty and rainy while we were there. Then it's on to California!

Well we headed to California in the rain. Got a few pictures along the way of the California coast. Then we went up and up and the coast was more than 500 feet straight down and the road was narrow. Kind of scary on my side which was the ocean side, but Brent just amazes me how he drives this motorhome like he's in a corvet or something.

All through the Redwood National Park it rained but I was still in awe of how BIG those trees are. We didn't stop too much to explore because of the rain but I did get a few pictures as we drove along pretty slowly as the road was narrow and zig zagged alot, plus there were a few spots that they were doing road repair and it was one lane only so you had to wait for your turn.

This tree had quite a history. It's about a 1000 years old and survived being hit by lightning, a forest fire in 1908 and a flood in 1964. It is called the Imortal Tree

We stopped at a "good sam" RV park called Valley of the giants. That was where the immortal tree was. The next morning was sunny so we went into the Redwood shop where they had many things made of redwood. Here's some more fun pics.
This chair was made of redwood limbs and quite unique.

This was a cute from a humongous tree that had a hole in the middle. I wanted to pose inside it but like I said it had rained for several days now and it was really wet inside, but this gives you an idea of how big some of those trees get.

This was another redwood chair that was outside at the redwood shop. We made a few purchases then headed on our way.
Not too much to report as the next few days were mostly driving. From the Redwoods we headed after checking if the road was ok for RV's to Williams California, which took us inland from the coast at Willits California. We went to a Indian casino there called Colusa. That was some undertaking as the directions we had lead us to a dead end road where we had to unhook the tracker so Brent could get turned around which he did. So from there I drove the tracker and he the motorhome and we tried again only didn't turn left quite as quick as we had and we drove. Brent thought we had to have missed it so he stopped at a little chinese place and asked and if we had just gone around the next curve in the road it said we were almost there. When we did get there it was dark and Brent doesn't like driving the motorhome after dark. Sure enough they let us park the motorhome overnight for free, but the spot was quite a ways from the casino, so we just drove the tracker over there since it was already unhooked. They did have a shuttle that would take you though. We signed up for their card and they gave us each a key chain that lights up and $10 in gambling money on our card and 2 for the price of one buffet. It was quite a nice place. We enjoyed the prime rib buffet. We didn't win big but $100 went in the gas fund. I won $60 and Brent $40.
From here it was another long day driving and not much to see. We stayed in an RV park between Fresno and Bakersfield. Next day we started to see lots and lots of vineyards. Grapes and more grapes everywhere.
Next day we drove alot too and there were lots of citrus orchards. I think they were oranges, lemons and grapefruit ones. I think some were some kind of nut trees too. They went on for miles and miles and miles. This must be where we get all our citrus from cause there were sure alot of them. We stayed somewhere around Portersville that night.
Then on to Baker California, alot of the ride was desert and boreing and I did some craft stuff on the ride. Then as we got closer to Baked we passes some huge huge windmill farms. I've never seen so many of them.
There we alot of oil wells being pumped too on this drive too, but when we stopped to gas up it was $3.09 a gallon, so what's up with that?

Well that brings you up to date. We are staying in Baker tonight in a free spot where RV's and trucks can stop for the night. Tomorrow we head to Parump where Brents cousin Janet lives.

Oregons beautiful coast

2009-10-15T11:13:00.009-06:00

After leaving Cannon Beach we headed for Lincoln City. You guessed it, there was an Indian Casino there where you could park your RV for free. It was right on the Ocean and even from where we had to park you could see and hear the ocean. This Casino was really big one of the biggest I've seen, but it wasn't very nice to us. We played a little this night and neither of us won. We went back to the RV and watched a movie and played around on the computer, as most of Indian Casinos also have free wifi. I would say this states coast line is more scenic than Washingtons, and wonderful beaches. Of course none beat Hawaiis in my opinion, but they are pretty nice.

The next day we headed to Coos Bay. No trip down the Oregon coast is complete without stopping at Tillamook at the cheese plant there for an ice cream cone, so we did. We got a little cheese to snack on too. The Indian casino there was a little nicer to us. We signed up for their players card and since it was Brents birthday month they gave him a free travel clock, plus they gave us each a key chain with their name on it of course, plus$100 went into the gas fund. It was on the bay but where it was was where all the barges came in so it wasn't very pretty, so no pics here. I worked on my sea glass jewlery, I'm almost done so I'll be sending soon. Hope you all like it. I'll come up with something for the boys too but not jewlery.
From Coos Bay we headed for Brookings, which is a pretty place. It rained all night last night and most of the drive to Brookings so it was kind of misty, but the pictures didn't turn out too bad. This is the big tall rocks off the shore of Harris State Park. The storm had the ocean really wild and the waves were splashing over the rocks with no effort. It reminded me of the North shore of Maui.

There was a big hole through this rock where the surf could go out the back side toward the beach.
A big wave crashing over one of the rocks.
We walked down a path that could lead to the beach but the tide was high and the waves crashing that this is as far as we got and just stood in awe of them and watched for awhile.
Well now we on to California tomorrow. We're only about 10 miles from the border here. So later.

Forks, La Push and Oregon

2009-10-11T20:25:00.029-06:00

Here we are at Forks.

Brent was such a good sport. This day was all about me wanting to see these places from the book. Did you know that the places in the book are actual places in forks and La Push? However the places you see in the movie are not in Forks or La Push as Washington state would not give the movie makers any tax breaks so they were actually filmed on the Oregon coast. They did have a fun treasure hunt to go find the places that were talked about in the book so we did that. This is Charlies house.This is Bellas truck.

We also found the Cullens house, the police station and some other stuff. We also went to eat at Sully's and I had a Bella Burger. I asked if it was a veggie burger first cause we all know Bella's a vegetarian, and the girl wanted to argue with me that she wasn't. She obviously is not a reader of the books. Another girl came to my defence though. You could order it as a veggie on or regular. Mine was a hamburger with a slice of pinapple on it and was pretty good. We saw some vampires too, but I had to be fast and took the pictures with my cell phone and I can't figure out how to get them in my picture folder so I can blog them. I saw Edward and was really surprised to see James (I thought he was a goner), Victoria and Laurent. I got a few things in a Twight store and then on to La Push. It was more than a little drive over there but really rain foresty. We did a 3 mile hike in to see beach 3 where Bella and Jacob saw the cliff divers from there bike ride. It was pretty long getting there and then it was misty. But I did get a few pictures of us hiking there and of the beach when we got there.
Brent had to hold this limb up and secure it so I could walk through.Then after that mile and a half walk in it was misty like this. Then we had to walk the mile and a half back to the tracker.

We had a little bit better luck on first beach. Not quite as misty and more scenic.

The next day we headed further down the coast, to Ocean shores Washinton and surprisingly I wasn't too sore from our 3 mile plus walks yesterday. We stayed at another Indian Casino in there RV parking area. It was right on the Ocean and we had a partial ocean view from the motorhome. It's pretty neat as so far they have been paying our gas as I have won every time we have stopped and Brent has won some too. You won't believe it but I won at this one too. We parked the motorhome and it said to register even though it was free to park there. So we walked in and registered and they gave us a sign to display in the window so Brent said he would take it back out to the motorhome and then come and find me. Well I put in $20 in a 2 pennies machine and got to go into the bonus on it. While in the bonus it hit something really good and it paid better in the bonus. Well, after the bonus I had 23200 credits so I told myself I wouldn't play it down past 20000 credits, so when it got down around there I figured I had won about $200 so I cashed out, only I was playing a 2 penny machine so it was $400 and some odd cents. All this before Brent came to find me. I started toward the motorhome and met him walking back and showed him by ticket worth $400 and he could believe it. We played a little more but $300 went into the gas fund. That's it for Washington.
Jason called and met us in Cannon beach Oregon the next day. He drove from Portland out to the coast. It was nice to spend some time with him and I think he had an enjoyable time.
Here we are down on the beach. I think this is the area that Twight used as first beach in the movie. See what you think.

When Jason got to Cannon Beach the night before we went and had clam chowder at MO"S. The next day we walked along the beach down to haystack rock. That's the big one in the picture. The tide was low and we wanted to look in the tide pools.Here's Jason and I were almost there. It was another long walk. I should get in shape if I keep this up a few times a week.

We made it and here I am wading to look in the tide pools. Not too much though a few hermit crabs and some tiny fish. We could see some star fish but they were on the furthest rocks out.
Then from here we went to Ecola State park and another bit of a hike. We took a path that led to a vista view. It is so awsome. You all must see it some day.Jason really enjoyed the view. Then we went to see Indian beach.

Jason's as strong as his dad, he pushed these big trees off the path so we could get by.

We had to cross a bridge over a river that way going into the Ocean before we could get down to the beach area here.

Here we are on the beach now. There were surfers in the water here. They had wetsuits on of course. It was a little chilly. We decided to just play around here on the beach and then watch the sunset over these rocks. It was a nice one.

Aren't these just gorgeous! They really don't do it justice it was a neat one. I'm a sunset nut in case you all can't tell. More later.

MORE IN WASHINGTON

2009-10-11T12:30:00.015-06:00

From Friday Harbor we headed toward Olympic National Park. We went to Oak Harbor area to put us on a ferry to take us across Puget sound instead of having to drive clear around it. There was this huge bridge that connects the two Islands (Fridalgo and Whidbee), it was kinda scary going across it because it was to high and narrow. called for a reservation cause for oversize vehicles they suggested you have one. We wanted to get on the 3 pm ferry but they said they were full till the 6 pm one, but if they weren't full on the earlier ones we might be able to get on them, so we headed and our luck was with us and we got on the 3 pm one. It was really weird cause they put us in the very front so as we went along across the ocean it looked like we were driving across the ocean.

When we arrived at Port Townsend we drove for awhile and pulled in and stayed at another Indian casino. We're really liking them, cause they let you stay for free and so far we've won some money toward our gas fund. So we stayed at 7 cedars casino. Brent went in and asked for sure that it was ok to park for the night and the security person said yes and even told us where we could park so we would have electricity and all for free. Well by nights end which was just a few hours both Brent and I had won some money, $275 in the gas fund.
Next morning we headed the rest of the way to Olympic National park. What a pretty drive.
When we got there we stayed at a campground called Sol Duck Hot springs inside the park. It looked like big foot country to me. Then we went exploring in the tracker. A place called hurriane ridge was so awsome. The views were breath taking. These few pictures just do not do it justice.While we we visiting there, Brent found a new friend. He was an alright guy.
From here we rode to the Elwa valley and saw a pretty waterfall, Not alot of water this time of year but still pretty.
We rode on further and saw a herd of elk. They were right off the road.
All in all it was a really nice day. Tomorrow we explore FORKS and LA PUSH area so of course we had to come back and watch "Twight" again. Then I sorted my sea glass cause I want to make my daughters and daughter in laws some jewelry with it.

2009-10-08T19:51:00.007-06:00

Well we headed from the Cascades towards Friday harbor. We left the Motorhome at the Ferry parking and stayed in two really nice bed and breakfasts on the Island. We figured it out and it was cheaper than taking to motorhome on the ferry and alot less hassle. We had a really nice time on the Island. The first day when we got there we couldn't check in till 3 so we went to my moms grave to say hi and then decided to go drive past her old house and on the way there we saw whales out in the ocean. We stopped and watched them for quite a long time. It looked like maybe there were 2 pods cause there were alot of them. It's hard to get pictures of them. Brent go a little bit of video though. The first B&B we stayed in was the Argyle House. We had our own little cottage.
Leter on after seeing the whales and having some dinner we drove over to watch the sunset and it was very pretty.
The next day we decided to go to Cattle point and I talked Brent into hunting for sea glass with me. He wasn't too excited but after he found a few pieces he got into it I think. Then afterward I took him to a little shop and showed him how much just a simple pair of earrings are made of sea glass. $30 and we found enough to make 5 or 6 pair and some for pendants and they were $55. So then he saw the value in helping me. We saw the neatest sailboat while we were searching.

We had seen that the winery was having a festival that day, and you could taste the grapes and stuff so we decided to see what that was all about. My hair had got so wind blown on the beach that I redid it and clipped it up and then put a brush roller in my bangs so when we got to the festival I would look so bad. I told Brent to not let me go in with the roller in my hair, but when we got there you guessed it he forgot to tell me. So here we are in the little shop looking around, asking questions and tasting for about 10 minutes or so when Brent leans over to me and says you still have the curler in your hair. Well, I was so embarrassed. I said you were suppose to tell me that before we came in. The lady that ran the shop got in on the conversation and said she had noticed but thought it was adorable cause she hadn't seen that in a long long time. Another lady also said something a pretty soon I was the talk of the shop. There were quite a few people in there and it was a small shop. Needless to say I best not plan on him being my reminder next time. It was actually quite funny but we didn't get any pictures of it.
Then it was time to go check in our second B & B, the Kirk House. Shauna and I stayed in this one in May when we went for Mothers day. Brent said it was his favorite out to the two. The bed was very comforable.It had an old fashioned claw leg tub. I soaked in it too but no pictures of that, just this of Brent.

He really still had on his levis when he posed for this, but isn't he such a good sport!

Adventures in Washington

2009-10-04T22:36:00.009-06:00

We traveled all day to get to the cascades. Every National Park I've ever been to has been impressive and they all are as different as one person is to another, and the Cascades are no different.
There was not alot of interior roads so most of what you see is along hiway 20 unless you are ready to hike alot. We took a few short hikes, but that's all. It was cold. We did get thru the passes before the snow, but the night we got there it rained where we were but when we drove back to get some nice pictures in the tracker the next day it had snowed on the passes, but none stuck on the roads. First a few on our way in with no snow but the glaciers.

Then the next day with the snow.

ON WITH RETIREMENT

2009-10-04T11:24:00.008-06:00

After a quick trip to Redfish to see a bit of what is to come for next year from Garth and Bev and waiting for our new windsheilds to get installed in the motorhome we are off on our first winter trip and I guess we will be called sunbirds. But before going to the sunshine state of Arizona we are going North to the panhandle of Idaho then west to the coast and then south down the western coast then on to Arizona. Our first stop was Fort Hall where I won $180 which I put in the gas money kitty. From there we headed to the Big Hole River, Brents favorite place to fish. On our way there we stopped in Spencer Idaho, the opal capital of the states and dug for opals. We found a few nice ones and will check later on into getting them cut out so I can make some jewerly.
Then on to the Big Hole where we did some fishing and had good luck there.

Me at Lake Como in Montana. After leaving the Big Hole we drove to Lake Como via St Josephs pass. We stopped at the place where a big Indian battle was fought and learned about it in this canyon, it was very sad the lifes that were lost for really no valid reason. Brents cousin Janet had told us about the Lake Como area and she was right it was very pretty there and had nice sandy beaches kinda like Bear Lake but with prettier surrounds.
Then we went on to Priest Lake in the Panhandle of Idaho. Along the way we went past Lake Pend Orielle and Cord a lane Lake. Austin would love these Lakes there were alot of sailboats of them and they were very nice and clean lakes. We learned about Preist Lake from one of our campers this last summer and they encouraged us to make the side trip to see it. It was well worth the side trip. Brent tried fishing but didn't have any luck here, but it was very pretty and we had a site right on the lake.

It was so pretty here I wanted to stay longer, but we were told that the passes we had to go over to get to the cascades were expecting snow in a storm that was coming so we headed on to get over the passes before the storm.

2009-10-04T11:09:00.002-06:00

A picture of one of the deer we saw this summer.
we were done camp hosting on September 10th. We had an end of season dutch oven dinner put on by Dellene and Keene who are the people who run the cave and very nice people. We have enjoyed our time here and working for the Petersons. Next year it's Redfish Lake.

2009-10-02T19:51:00.012-06:00

A day at Bear Lake, was alot of fun
Twin fawns still with their spots.
Baby racoons. There were two of them.
Brent caught a really nice cutthroat trout on fathers day.

my hummingbird feeders were a hit with the hummingbirds

We saw this small moose and a mother moose quite often at Blue pond springs.

Here's a quick see of our summer camp hosting at Porcupine in St. Charles Canyon by Bear Lake.Here is our site all set up. Pretty nice I think

camp Hosting

2009-07-07T16:04:00.003-06:00

Jeff sent me the picture he took of us in our camp host uniforms. Aren't we just soooo cute. They came up for the weekend and we all went up and went through the cave. It was pretty neat, but all those steps almost killed me, but if I went through a couple times a week I bet I'd get in shape fast.

What I've been up to

2009-06-30T15:20:00.014-06:00

Wow it's been awhile since I have posted anything. Alot has happened.

We went to Mazatlan in April and stayed at the most amazing resort called the El Cid Castilla Beach. We only had regular rooms reserved but requested our rooms to be by each other and they offered us a suite which was amazing. Our own hot tub on our deck two stories up right along the beach on one part of the deck and nice views of the swimming pool area on the side part. It was really the nicest room I've ever had by far.

We had so much fun in the sun. We went to an Island for the day and beach combed and swam in the ocean, played in the wonderful swimming pool. Toured the city of Mazatlan. We also went deep sea fishing and caught alot and I mean alot of fish. We caught red snapper, maui maui, grouper, and baracuda, but unfortunatly they wouldn't let us ship it home, so we just took some maui maui and had the resort cook it up for us that night.

Then, Brent and I decided to retire, so in April I left Icon after working there for 14 years.

We went and saw some friends in Parump Nevada and we on a day trip and saw Death Valley National Park. Yes it's a desert but the desert has beauty too.

Then we took a job being camp hosts in St. Charles Canyon, over by Bear Lake. We are at the Porcupine Campground in spot #12, so come over and see us when you can. We will be there until September 10. It was really rainy for awhile and we weren't very busy, so I got 3 books read and made friends with the chipmunks. They will now come and get a peanut on my lap and take it out of my fingers. It is a beautiful Canyon and close to the North Beach at Bear Lake.

Somewhere I think Jeff has a picture of us in our cute little camp host uniforms. I'll post one when I get it from Jeff.

29th Anniversary

2009-03-02T16:48:00.002-07:00

Well we just got back from a quick trip to Wendover. Ruth and Randy went with us and gave us a really nice gift basket. I should have taken a picture before I tore into it. Lots of yummy goodies. It was our 29th Anniversary. We got married on the 29th of February and it was our 29th anniversary. I would have liked to be on a Tropical Island somewhere, but I couldn't get any days off work, so had to settle for a weekend trip. Brent got me the new phone that I wanted. I'm still getting used to it, but it's cool and purple. I can be a texting maniac now, so watch out. Oh by the way I was a winner in Wendover. I can go on the bus again this saturday cause I still have more than I took with me. Yea!!

Sweetheart Day

2009-02-19T17:28:00.002-07:00

I wasn't feeling my best this Valentines, but getting some pretty pink roses and a very nice card helped some. We also went to dinner and saw the movie "Grand Trino". It was a nice date night, in spite of not feeling my best.

The budding artist?

2009-02-19T17:16:00.005-07:00

Vicki and I went to a painting class. It was so fun. I've never prided myself as being an artist. I'v envied those that have that talent. It's not fabulous, I like Vicki's alot better, but it was so fun learning and maybe my next one will be better. Brent says he's making a frame for it and insists we are displaying it. So next time you visit you may see it if he gets his way.

Road to Hana

2009-02-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Hawaii scrapbook

2009-02-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Aloha!! From Maui

2009-01-19T22:47:00.003-07:00

New Years 2009

2009-01-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

After bringing in the New year with a bottle of non alchol Champagne we have been excited and looking forward to our trip to Hawaii with Chad and Steph. It's now only a few days away and we are getting all packed and trying not to over pack. That's hard for me but I'm determined to do it this time.
We'll have some fun pictures when we get back. And HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone

Happy Holidays

2008-12-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Thankgiving

2008-11-29T23:50:00.001-07:00

It was great having most of us together. Jeff and Sheila and family were in Vegas to have dinner at Sheila's brother's house, and Alyssa had other plans but the rest of us were there and it was a great time. Jenna got to hold Vicki's new baby Trace.

Yea, Chad's carving the turkey. Can't wait.

We all get our plates of yummy food.

Kambree you can't eat all that. Can you? Yep she did it.

Jenna had a full plate, I couldn't believe she ate it all!!

And then there was pie. HUMMMM

All done eating, so Steph starts cleaning up some of the mess we all made. She did a good job with her first try at doing the really good Thanksgiving dinner. It was yummy.

I asked Kaisley for a smile, but by this look she seems to be saying I'm busy playing.

Carson wasn't too interested in eating, but had fun playing with the toys.

Coen had fun playing with the toys too.

Some Halloween Cuties

2008-11-05T17:36:00.001-07:00

Coen, Cona and Brooklyn were our first trick of treaters.

Kambree and Kaisley

Me and Trace.

Carson and Trace. So cute

Our Newest additon Trace

Gettin firewood

2008-11-05T16:57:00.001-07:00

He had to work on his saw some, but got it going. We got a pretty good load.

We like to get in the outdoors. Brent does most of the work. I try to help some.

2008-10-21T22:12:00.001-06:00

I think this Bear was having something to eat. I'm glad they weren't toooo hungry.

2008-10-21T22:09:00.001-06:00

The girls pet a baby deer in the petting part of Bear world.

2008-10-21T22:08:00.001-06:00

What a bunch of posers they are. Cute picture.

2008-10-21T22:06:00.001-06:00

Kendall really loved the bears and even hugged one and gave it a little kiss.

2008-10-21T22:05:00.000-06:00

Yep we saw some bears. Pretty close up too. It was pretty neat. They were really active when we drove through.

Bear World and Warm River

2008-10-21T22:01:00.002-06:00

We went to Bear World on the way to the family camp trip. We had a ball!

Warm River Family Camp trip 2008

2008-08-26T08:09:00.003-06:00

We all did tie die shirts and here we all are. The grandkids and me. It was so fun and easy.

Kendall liked to float the warm river but didn't want to get wet.

Jeff helping Kendall catch a fish. What a neat Dad he is.

Yes, Jeff caught some fish too, I think everyone
did. We had a good fish fry by weeks end.

The Porter's

2008-08-25T18:02:00.000-06:00

Alyssa and Kieran putting on a show.

Brent with Alyssa, Kendall, Pepper our dog and Kieran.

Craig by the beautiful Mesa Falls.

Aren't Kaisley and Alyssa cute??

This is the whole gang at our last camp trip, only Kortney isn't there. He had soccer camp this year. We missed him alot. He keeps us all in stiches.

Brent and Carson were both tuckered out.