Indio, California - February 22-27, 2008

I think we found motor home heaven here on earth in Indio! We have never seen or stayed at such a gorgeous RV Resort in all of our travels so far. It's absolutely incredibly beautiful! The sites are enormous - I think some are at least 1/4 acre here at the Outdoor Resorts Motorcoach Country Club. At our site we faced the man-made canal that ran through the resort and looked out at the snow-covered mountains. Mr. Bailey got so excited just to be able to run through the lush grass and roll around - it's been so long since he's seen grass like this. It's just like Minnesota grass in the summer. Amazing! I'm so glad we spent most of our 5 days here just relaxing and enjoying the resort with long walks & relaxing in the hot tub. We were amazed at all the luxurious motor homes we saw as we walked around the resort and how beautifully the lots were landscaped. They were building an inground swimming pool with a hot tub & waterfall at one lot at the end of our street. Most people also have incredibly cute golf carts or little electric cars that they use to get around in the resort. One of our neighbors invited us out on his electric pontoon boat & we were able to enjoy a nice leisurely cruise around the 1-mile long canal. The weather was absolutely perfect here, too. The days got up in the upper 70's to low 80's and the nights got down in the low 50's. We spent one day driving around the base of the mountains through Palm Desert and Palm Springs. Most of the towns have gated communities so it was hard to see what the houses were like, but if they're anything like the resort, they must be beautiful. So enough relaxing as we're off to San Diego for a week!

Las Vegas, Nevada - February 13-22, 2008

Las Vegas...Sin City...the lights & all! The first night we were in LV, it got windy with gusts up to 64mph. While laying in bed, we could feel the rig moving. I thought for sure we were going to take flight! We enjoyed our visit to Red Rock Canyon because the day was warm & sunny, so we decided to put the top down on the EOS & let Mr. Bailey experience the wind in his face. He really seemed to enjoy it. Red Rock is incredible with all the different colors in the rocks on the mountains. We didn't do too much hiking as I was still somewhat afraid of running into another rattlesnake! The highlight of our time in Las Vegas was when Karen & TJ (my sister & brother-in-law) flew out for 5 days. Before they came, George & I ventured down to The Strip once & decided we would wait for them because they've been to LV several times. We went downtown to Fremont Street their first night and enjoyed the light show. Wouldn't you know the first light show we saw was about aliens (I think they did that just for George & TJ!). WOW, that's a lot of lights! After dinner, we decided to go into one of the downtown casinos and George, who usually won't gamble more than a buck, put in $5 and was having fun winning. He was happy to walk away $35 richer! Since Karen & TJ were only going to be with us for a few days and there was so much for them to show us, I don't think we rested until we pulled out of LV! I even spent one night staying at the Luxor with Karen - a girl's night out - and TJ stayed at the rig with George. We had a ball! We not only spent a lot of time walking around The Strip, we also went to Valley of Fire, which is a beautiful spot that gave us some time away from all those huge casinos. I think we did more walking (and Karen & I did more shopping!) in those 5 days we were together in LV than we had done since we left home! We had to check out all the fancy new casinos on The Strip. Of course, we hadn't been to LV in about 15 years so there were a lot of new sites to see. I couldn't even tell you which casino we liked the best. They all had something neat to see like the auto museum at The Imperial Palace, the conservatory & fountains at The Bellagio, the lion habitat at the MGM Grand, the masquerade show in the sky at the Rio, the canal & gondolas at The Venetian, and the waterfalls at The Wynn. So much to see...so little time to see it all! The best part about Las Vegas was spending time with TJ & Karen since we hadn't seen them since we left the first part of January. We dropped them at the airport on Friday & headed to Indio, California. We'll meet up with them again mid-March in Ventura, California for their son's wedding.

Lake Havasu City, Arizona - February 6-13, 2008

The trip from Mesa to Lake Havasu City was incredibly beautiful as we drove through the mountains. I think I could easily make this place a winter retreat. The weather has been in the mid to upper 70's during the days & low 50's during the nights. The site we stayed on gave us an incredible view of the sunrise over the Arizona mountains to the east of us and unbelieveable sunsets over the California mountains to the west of us. We really enjoyed sitting out each evening and watching the sun go down. Of course, the most important site to visit here was London Bridge. We walked under it & we drove on it. It's incredible to think that it was shipped here piece by piece back in the 1960's or 70's. Who would have thought that you had to go to Arizona & not London to see the London Bridge?? We drove down to Parker one day to see the dam on the Colorado River and enjoy the scenery. The water in Lake Havasu is so much bluer than any lakes back home. We also spent one day driving up old Route 66 to Oatman, Arizona. Oatman is a small western town where the donkeys come down into town each morning and hang out hoping to get fed carrots by the tourists and then they head back up into the mountains each night. While we were there, we decided to have lunch at a saloon where people have tacked dollar bills on the walls until you can no longer see the walls. While driving back to the site down Route 66, it was hard to believe that George & I had taken Route 66 home from California about 37 years ago when we came back from our honeymoon. All the twists & turns really made for some fun driving with the top down on the EOS! Is it really winter??? I don't think so! Mr. Bailey has had a great time here because there were so many dogs his size to play with. He especially enjoyed playing with Ms. Twinkie Sparkles, a 13-week old Yorkie who had just as much energy as he did! We've met a lot of really nice people from all over the country here, but tomorrow we say good-bye to Lake Havasu and head to Sin City...Las Vegas here we come!

Mesa, Arizona - January 30-February 6, 2008

Our first night in the Phoenix/Mesa area was truly exciting! We spent it in the Freightliner parking lot with lots of fire trucks that were being built. George had discovered a small oil leak & decided since we would be close to a Freightliner/Cummins shop, we should get it checked out. They found not one, but two small leaks so they needed to keep the RV overnight and since that's our home, that's where we stayed. At least they got to it first thing the next morning and we were able to head back to Mesa before things got crazy with Super Bowl fans coming to town. Just outside Mesa is Goldfield, an "authentic" ghost town so, of course, we had to go. Driving out there by the Superstition Mountains was beautiful and the ghost town was fun. But I think we had more fun shopping at the Superstition Harley Davidson shop on the way home! It was huge! On Super Bowl Sunday while everyone was either at the game or watching the game, we headed out to the Pueblo Grande Museum & Archaeological Park near downtown Phoenix and had the park almost to ourselves. The highlight of our time in Mesa was stopping by Earl & Marilyn Weckman's winter retreat and visiting with them. Earl's a retired Hopkins cop who George got to know real well when he first started with the Hopkins Fire Department and Marilyn used to work for the City of Hopkins. I've known Earl since I was about 6 years old because his brother & my dad were on the Minnetonka Fire Department together, so it was really great to be able to spend the afternoon visiting and then going out to dinner with them. Marilyn gave me some grapefruit off their tree and I've been enjoying them for breakfast. We're now packing up and heading to Lake Havasu for a week.

Tucson, Arizona - January 21-30, 2008

We arrived at Rincon Country West RV Resort and within an hour, we met our neighbors, joined them for drinks outside and were invited to a champagne brunch on Saturday. WOW...we could get used to this resort real quick! The people we met here were awesome! The set-up was different from any place we've stayed. The sites are set up in a square around a grassy courtyard with one RV parked on each side, so it's real easy to visit with neighbors. These people were so incredibly friendly. It was real hard to say good-bye & I sure hope our paths cross again. (Don - thank you so much for teaching Bailey how to climb out of the RV. Now we have to remember to close the door or he comes running out! Bailey really enjoyed playing with you! And we hope Jan's ipod is working okay.) George thought he had seen it all when we went to Roswell, but soon found out Tucson had a lot to offer! We spent one day driving down to Tubac, a small historic village on the Santa Cruz River with tons of little shops. If Karen (my sister) had been with me, we could have done some serious shopping! The weather was gorgeous & we had a great time walking around the village. The next day we drove down to Tombstone (another dream come true for George!) and watched the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. Who were the good guys? It was really hard to tell! Walking down the streets of Tombstone really made us feel like we were in the Old West & me without my boots & spurs!! If Tombstone wasn't enough excitement for George, the next day he went to the Pima Air & Space Museum. Not only did he get to tour a retired Air Force One plane, he toured the Boneyard. No, it's not a human graveyard, but an airplane graveyard with about 4,400 planes resting side by side. Oh, the glory of it all! We ended our sightseeing in Tucson by visiting the San Xavier Mission. The inside of the mission was as beautiful as some of the cathedrals we've seen in Europe. Oh, and the champage brunch we were invited to attend....was incredibly delicious! There was everything you could possibly think of to eat for breakfast as well as the OJ & champagne! To our new friends from Rincon Country, thanks for your hospitality - may we meet again some day! Farewell to Tucson...we're off to Mesa!

New Mexico - January 14 - 20, 2008

We left Texas and arrived in Carlsbad, New Mexico where we stayed for a few days. While the nights were chilly (down in the 20's & 30's), the days were sunny and warm (50's & 60's). Of course, everyone who stays in Carlsbad has to make the drive up to Roswell to visit the UFO Museum and Research Center. I think this will make the top 10 on George's lists of neat places we visited this year! Even though George was convinced that we should wear aluminum foil helmets, we decided to be daring and walked around the town without them on! The museum was interesting with a lot of newspaper clippings to read, but I'm not sure about their "research center". But unfortunately for George, we did not see any UFO's nor did we meet any aliens (at least, not the kind that come from somewhere other than Earth!).

The day after our visit to the UFO Museum, we put on our hiking shoes and went to Carlsbad Caverns. We chose to enter through the Natural Entrance which meant we walked down a steep path that descended 750 feet below ground. I was almost backed out when we reached an area they called the "twilight zone". That's when we left all natural lighting & could no longer see the outside world - my claustrophobia just about kicked in! However, we stuck to it & walked the mile down to the Big Room. It was incredible and so beautiful! I was just glad that the Mexican Free-tailed Bats were not around - they don't arrive until March! Luckily, after walking the mile around the Big Room, we took the elevator up to the surface. Thank goodness, they no longer let you walk back up - we never would have made it. Both of us had sore legs the next day, but it was worth every ache & pain!

We left Carlsbad and headed for Las Cruces, New Mexico on the 17th. On the way, George decided to stop at a wayside rest to check on the car and suggested I take Mr. Bailey out for a quick walk (cats are so much easier!) so I did. We were not more than 4' from the RV when I looked down & saw what appeared to be a "dead" snake not more than 6" from Bailey and me! It was big and all curled up, so I grabbed Bailey and ran for the RV screaming as loud as I could. George couldn't figure out what I was saying & when I could finally tell him, he decided to go see for himself. He got out of the RV, camera in hand & took a picture of the snake. When he got back inside, he decided to throw some rocks at it to see if it was alive and it was! It slithered off like nothing ever happened. George got a good picture of it so we could identify it. It was a Western Diamond-back rattlesnake. So much for my carefree days out in the grass in New Mexico!

Lucky for us, Las Cruces held their Hot Air Balloon Festival the weekend we were there and the view from our campground was perfect since we overlooked the city. It was fun to see them go up in groups of a dozen at a time. They said there were about 70 balloons total.

We spent one day visiting White Sands Museum and Missile Park. It was incredible to see all the missiles on display. I never knew we had so many different missiles of all shapes and sizes. After touring the park, we decided to drive out to White Sands National Monument (which is actually a huge park & not just a monument!). Now this place really is something else! It was incredible when we got out of the car & hiked through all the white sand. It looked like Minnesota in the middle of the winter except the temperature was in the 50's! In fact, people were sledding down the dunes on saucers just like we do on the snow in MN, only without having to wear all the winter clothes! The white dunes just seemed to go on forever. It was one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen.

Tomorrow we head for Tucson, Arizona!

On the Road Again - January 8, 2008

After being home for the holidays (and all the snow!), we left Minnesota on Tuesday, January 8 and arrived back in Texas on Thursday, January 10. Thanks to a wonderful new friend of ours, Joann, who took care of our motor home while we were back in Minnesota, our rig was well taken care of. We stayed in San Marcos, Texas for the weekend while we had some minor warranty work done on the RV. The weather was fabulous - in the 70's and sunny! While in San Marcos, we went to a super outlet mall (Where are you when I need you, Connie, Derek & Jenny, my shopping buddies?). It was huge & had a lot of neat stores. We left San Marcos on Sunday morning & spent Monday night at Fort Stockton, Texas. The drive from San Marcos, which is just north of San Antonio thru western Texas was incredible. I have never seen such desolate country in my life (other than traveling thru Iceland!). I don't think anybody lives between San Antonio & El Paso!

Mr. Bailey, our new pup, is a super traveler and really seems to love life in the motor home. He has learned that he gets a lot more from us when he whines & cries than when he barks. He had his own camping site at the Canyon River RV Park in San Marcos. He was the only dog in the entire campground with his own space!

He's found that resting in our bed is the best thing to do first thing in the morning. He's also made many friends along the way, especially since he thinks everybody is here to play with him (and just about everybody does play with him!).

Bailey has also gotten very proficient with the computer and enjoys talking with Curtis on Skype each night!