4/26/06

Blog Update

4/26/06 Sorry, no picture of the London Bridge will appear on this blog. I never was in town again during the daytime to take the picture. Perhaps next year... The pictures I am posting today are some of the ones I tried to take at the fireworks event at Sara Park in Lake Havasu City. I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures and also the fact that they can’t even begin to communicate to you the awesome quality of this experience. But we had a demand from an avid viewer of this blog for an update and some pictures, so see below.

The Western Pyrotechnic Association puts on this 4 day event each year in February in Lake Havasu City and it has been remarkable both years we attended it. Usually there are fireworks being shot off as soon as they might be visible in the darkening sky, with organized arrangements and displays, often to music, starting at 8 each evening. For over an hour each night, the fireworks that are being detonated are as awesome as the grand finale at most 4^th of July fireworks events. This year, on Sunday night, there was a presentation by the LaRosa Family from Italy. This family has been in the business for 3 generations and they presented the most awesome display which was impeccably choreographed to Andrea Bocelli singing one of his operatic blockbuster hits. Additionally, some of their fireworks were very different from the American ones and quite impressive.

Besides the fun of going to the fireworks displays each evening, it was enjoyable being at another event with the Boomers. About 20 rigs of Boomers and RoVing Rods stayed near us in Craggy Wash, on the north end of Lake Havasu City. We had Happy Hour gatherings each day and also set up a big Happy Hour and Tailgate Party at Sara Park on Saturday, with the Boomers staying right there in the parking lot. As usual, the food was delicious and we enjoyed meeting new people and catching up on gabbing with old friends. After the fireworks event was over and the number of rigs left at Craggy Wash had been depleted by half, Chuck & Betty Goehring supplied enough fish for a big fish taco potluck. More great food and more good socializing.

The biggest downer about our time in Craggy Wash was that we had a total of 6 mice as uninvited guests! Each night we would hear them, I would get up and set up the glue traps, and we would catch them. We have already heard that after we left, our nearest neighbors, Chuck & Betty, took over as the proprietors of the mouse hotel.

Now we are camped with our friends Vi & John Primmer, and Lee & Susie Blattner at the Avi Casino, which is an Indian Casino not far from Laughlin, NV. We have been enjoying cheap buffets and breakfasts but still managing to stick to the South Beach diet for the most part. We are still walking at least 4 miles a day, doing crunches and lifting small weights. So far I have lost 12 pounds and Elaine has lost 18. Probably Susie will be outdoing us on the weight loss front because she is currently down and out with the flu. Sure hope she feels better soon, and we REALLY hope we don’t get it!!

The last big news is that we have been using John and Vi’s internet access to make some exciting travel plans. You already have read on this blog that we will be taking another cruise between Galveston and Lisbon leaving April 24 and arriving May 6. After 5 days in Lisbon, we are going to poke around Portugal for 12 days with Lee & Susie in a rental car. On May 27, after we visit Elaine’s nephew in Spain for a few days, Elaine and I will be picking up a 15 day Morocco trip with a UK company called Imaginative Traveller. They are a company a lot like Intrepid, the travel company we have used in the past in China, Vietnam and Central Europe. Then we will fly back to the USA on June 11 and spend about 2 months in the RV, probably going up to British Columbia. On Aug. 28 we use the second half of our air ticket and fly to Istanbul where we will have until Sept. 3 to explore on our own. Then we start a 31 day tour, again with Imaginative Traveller, that goes through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and ends in Cairo on Oct. 3. On Oct. 8 we start a 15 day Egypt trip that includes a week on a 4 star river boat on the Nile, stopping along the way to visit various sites. It ends on Oct. 22 and we will have a week until the ship leaves from Venice to return to Galveston, taking 18 days and hitting some very interesting ports. Now I am working on nailing down all the little details for all these trips.

Don’t know how long we will be staying in this area, but with rainy cold weather still happening in California, we aren’t inclined to hurry our return to Park Sierra. That will be our staging area for trip preparation and packing, and also where we will leave our RV while we are in Europe.

Fireworks at the Western Pyrotechnic four day event in Lake Havasu City. 

Fireworks on Sunday night at Sara Park. 

Fireworks on Saturday night at Sara Park. 

4/15/06 Hello from Craggy Wash near Lake Havasu City. About a dozen Boomers and RoVing Rods are camped near us and we are having sunny weather and happy social times. The event we all came here to see starts tomorrow: WinterBlast. This is a 4 day fireworks demonstration by the Western Pyrotechnic Association, and it is fabulous, and free. Last year there were awesome arrangements of fireworks choreographed to music, as well as unusual fireworks that aren't usually seen in a typical display. While we have been waiting for this to start, we have been trying to catch up on some paperwork and computer work. Luckily, John and Vi Primmer are parked right next to us with their internet dish. Over the weekend we wandered through the street fair that was held here, although the only purchases we made were from the nearby thrift store! Yesterday, to celebrate Valentine's Day, we did our usual 4 mile walk and then went to see "Brokeback Mountain" at the theaters. It was a very good movie, although the ending is sad. Then we fixed ourselves a delicious filet mignon dinner, with grilled asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, and twice baked potatoes. Yummy.
Lake Havasu City is famous for being the place where the London Bridge is now located. In my next blog update, I will try to have a picture for you.

Mary and some interesting rock formations on the Craggy Wash hike. 

Elaine in front of a pinnacle while hiking in Craggy Wash. 

Some unusual rock formations in Craggy Wash, a little further up from where we are camped with the Boomers. 

4/15/06 This is the Split Rock Lighthouse on the shore of the Colorado River In Lake Havasu City. We often do the 3.6 mile walking trail near here.
 

Our friend, Marilyn, and the beautiful necklace she made. 

2/4/06 This post is from Parker, AZ where we are attending another Boomer gathering. This time it is the Off-Road 425 race, which is a yearly event here. There are about 200 cars and trucks competing in various categories for some big money prizes. They run a course through the desert that is about 130 miles long and people like our group, who want to see it, can camp right along the washes where they have laid out the course. The race started at 7:30 AM and will end sometime this evening, thankfully, since it creates a lot of dust and noise. Our hosts had a nice polish sausage & kraut lunch for everyone today too.
We mainly came here to have some more time with our friends for socializing and doing crafts (Elaine). For a good look at some of the crafts that these clever gals can create, look at the picture of our friend, Marilyn, below, wearing a gorgeous necklace that she made. She has spent several days helping Elaine, as have many of the other ladies in this group. It is like an old fashioned quiliting bee when they all gather and do their crafts and talk.
Our time at Quartzsite was VERY BUSY since many of our friends from several groups we like to socialize with were all in the area at the same time. Thank goodness so many of our good friends we wanted to see camped with us at Boomerville, so we had some short but sweet visits. The RoVing Rods had a BBQ rib feed plus potluck out at Dale & Della's lot at Rainbow Acres, and it was great to see everyone again. We enjoyed many events with the Boomers, one of which was the "talent -no talent show" where there was a cute skit and also some of the guys participated in the Geraldine contest. You can admire their colorful outfits in the picture below. There was a delicious potluck with the Stonewall BOF and Rainbow RVers, where we made some new friends and had a good time with Al & Donna Ellis. Then we had an e-mail from Kirk Bowles, who was on our Panama trip with us in 2004, and who has been selling times shares down in Puerto Penasco ever since. He was going to be passing through, so we contacted Bruce & Maria, also from the group, and we all met at a restaurant for lunch and enough time to catch-up on each others doings since the trip. Kirk's new girlfriend was with him, so we got to meet her too.
There were lots of RV vendors in Quartzsite and we spent two days looking for a new RV but didn't find anything that was 100% acceptable. It was fun to look and going with our friends Mike and Marilyn was a good idea because they pointed out features we never had noticed. Actually, our favorite rig, after all this looking, was the one Mike and Marilyn lived in!!
On January 28 Elaine celebrated the 20th anniversary of her 39th birthday. Last year we had a huge party for her so this year she asked me to keep it quiet. We had a delicious meal and a convivial time with Ken & Janice Ryder and Gary & Cecile Thompson - all friends from Park Sierra.
Up next on our schedule is the WinterBlast, which is the presentation of some spectacular fireworks. It will be held in Lake Havasu City between Feb. 16 & 19. Of course, more of our RV friends will be there and a good time will be had by all.

Guys in the Geraldine contest. 

Kirk, our friend from the Panama Trip in 2004, and his new girlfriend, Severina. 

Bruce & Maria, our friends from the Panama trip in 2004. 

Our friends, Joe & Carla Calwell, who will be going on our April cruise with us. 

Off-road racer in wash near our RV's, outisde Parker, AZ. 

Off-road racer in wash near our RV group.