Las Vegas Baby!

It is always a fun time when we pass through or stay in Vegas!  Our plan was to come for a few days to enjoy the two NASCAR races and maybe throw a couple of pennies in the machine just for the heck of it.  What we left Vegas with (ok don't get too excited, we did not win big) was a new appreciation for Sunblock and some new friends.  RV folks are so friendly and interesting.  As with our meeting of Tim and Glenda in Phoenix (also race fans), our time with Barb and Gerald from Canada was very enjoyable.  I am posting a photo of the #4 car (coincidentally the race winner) for Barb who happens to be a Kevin Harvick fan!

Thursday night was the Hauler Parade and for those who are unfamiliar, many of the NASCAR Haulers get all dressed up and fancy and parade down the Las Vegas Strip.  It's like the pre-party and we enjoyed the parade from the front of the Venetian.  Of course we had to get there early and of course we had extra time to spare so we threw a few bucks in the machines.

  

And introducing Les & Pat's two favorite drivers....Dale "Junior" Earnhardt and Kyle "Son" Larson.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Even if you are not a race fan you have probably heard the name Richard Petty aka "The King".  Here he is (in his trademark hat) in the drivers/owners lot prior to the race start.

Drivers - Start Your Engines!  Jeff Gordon (24) did have the Pole but had to start at the rear of the field so leading the pack to the Green Flag is Joey Lagano (22)

Grand Canyon Village, Arizona

We enjoyed our time at Camp Verde, and met some very nice folks from Colorado, Tim and Glenda. They were also NASCAR fans and we had a chance to watch the race with them and Tim's brother and his wife. Too bad that we were headed north and they were headed south!  We enjoyed their company and would have like to hang out a little bit longer.

We left on Monday for the Grand Canyon, and intentionally left before 7am in order to try to get ahead of the incoming snowstorm. We didn't quite make it to Flagstaff, before we hit heavy snow. We did travel I-40 very carefully and slowly, witnessing several rollovers.

We took the cut off for Route 64 to the Canyon, and fortunately we were the first vehicle behind the plow that went almost the entire length. It was smooth sailing from there. Naturally the campground was not crowded as it is winter time. We were able to select a site that worked for us and hunker down to weather out the storm. We had several inches of snow on Monday and a little more overnight today.

Elk just having a snack to keep warm!

Even in snow it's beautiful

Note the small pine tree on cliff side

It's cold!

Enlarge the Colorado River and you will see Rafters!

Socks loves the outdoors, even the snow

We took a ride in the Jeep along the rim of the Canyon but we're unable to snap any good photos because we were "socked in". This afternoon we were able to see parts of the canyon as the weather began to clear, as well as some elk snacking on berries by the roadside. Here are some shots that speak for themselves.

We are here until Friday and then we need to find a Blue Beacon and get washed!  They have a new location in Kingman AZ

Now to Lyla...where are Elsa & Anna?  They are visiting a National Park in Arizona...hint...where is Hermit's Rest?

J

Camp Verde, Sedona Arizona

We have had such beautiful weather that we are taking advantage of a little side trip on our way to the Grand Canyon.  We are staying in Camp Verde (casino camping is awesome!) and making day trips to Sedona to see the beautiful Red Rocks, the copper mine (Douglas Mansion) in Jerome Az, Montezuma's Castle (National Park, cliff dwellings, and Montezuma's Well.  In between we are sneaking in a little gambling!

The pictures speak for themselves and as we have said on other occasions, this is a gorgeous landscape.  Although the days are very warm, 70's the nights are quite cool, upper 30's.  We are scheduled to visit the Grand Canyon next Tuesday (of course we aren't going anywhere until after the Daytona 500!!!), and we anticipate some cold weather and possible snow.  Of course no snow could even come close to what our breathren in New England are experiencing.



Views of Sedona

View of the SnowBowl from Jerome AZ

 


Douglas Mansion, Jerome AZ (Copper Mine)

Looking towards Daisy Mine Hotel (long abandoned)

Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Phoenix

Sometimes traveling with Les is like going on a prolonged field trip!  He loves the history of the new places we visit and enjoys his museums.  We left Gold Canyon and headed a little north of Phoenix proper to a nice park, Desert Shadows.  Our last park found us meeting another RVer who had the exact model and color RV we did, except theirs' was a 2015.  Well you guessed it, they also showed up at Desert Shadows and parked diagonally across from us - how fun!  We spent a few days going to Penzski Racing Museum (Scottsdale), Phoenix International Speedway (Phoenix), and a drive-by the SuperBowl (and conveniently the New England Patriots were the victors!).

Our first big adventure in this area was riding our bikes up to see what was playing at the local movie theater.  We had not been to the movies in years but decided on American Sniper for a matinee.  The next day we were raring to go to Taliesin West.  This was Frank Lloyd Wright's home, workplace and architectural laboratory. Although it is a National Landmark it continues to house students (called apprentices).  Wright build Taliesin West out of stone and sand from the Sonoran Desert.  He believed that any structure should be part of the land.  Anyway it was cool to see.  Here are some photos.



Taliesin West (note the triangle shapes  FLLW was known for)

Gold Canyon Glorious!

Wow what a spectacular place, once the sunshine came out. From our spot we can look at the Superstition Mountains. What seems to be a beautiful view, turns out to be a treasure trove. We packed our lunch and jumped into the jeep to explore the area behind our view. It was a nice ride, although quite a bit of it was on a dirt road, a narrow road. We drove all the way to Roosevelt Dam and then continued on to Tonto National Forest,  where we discovered the national monument of the Cliff Dwellings.  It was a pretty cool discovery and we are posting a couple of photos. We have been doing pretty well riding our bikes and walking, although we will need to ramp up our exercise program.

View coming down dirt road.

Many of these cave like divots 

View down from Dam area

Glad we had the Jeep!



Looking down from half way point to Cliff Dwellings!

Looking up from half way!



 

Enlarge this & you will see people climbing up to see the Cliff Dwellings.  Yes we did climb!

We selected this resort because we were interested in taking a look at the RV port homes. They were very nice, although a little more money than the advertised price. If you actually want to have a concrete driveway and an RV pad!

 

 

 

 



Westward Ho!

I'm going to combine our trek to Phoenix, as most of it was spent driving through Texas, the biggest state in the lower 48!.

After we left Pelham Alabama we headed directly to Vicksburg MIssissippi.  How convenient that we stayed at a casino RV lot! We couldn't resist having the buffet dinner, Leslie needed to get his fried chicken fix. We played a little, didn't win enough to cover the dinner, but we did have a nice time.

Monday found us in Canton Texas which is located the east side of Dallas. On Tuesday we moved to the west side of Dallas to Big Spring Texas. As I say Texas is quite large and there was no sense in us killing ourselves to get across it so we ended up driving no more than 350 miles per day. By Wednesday we had reached Van Horn Texas, a spot we had stayed at two other times in the past.

Thursday we arrived in Lordsburg New Mexico. We were lucky in that we arrived before the very heavy wind and rain storm. We left three of our four slides in for the night due to the weather, but will tell you that we were still rocking and rolling with that wind.

Friday we landed at our destination for the next 10 days or so, Gold Canyon Arizona. We had been looking at some RV port homes in the Superstition Mountain area, and this was just as good as any to sightsee.

Sunrise in New Mexico

Superstitutions Mountain View, Gold Canyon Arizona

It has rained for the last couple of days so we don't have a lot of pictures but I will post a few. For those folks that follow our blog and have children, we are adding a little extra fun to the site. We have procured a life-size cardboard cutout of Elsa and Anna, from the movie Frozen. Periodically we will post photos of them with us and ask your children to guess what State we are in. Now having said that I will give you a clue for the children and you can help guide them on the map to our location. You are responsible for any prize!

This state has four eyes and four esses!  Where were we?

Deep in the heart of ...this state has an x!

On The Road Again!

We are so excited to start our new adventures. We decided to head to Tallahassee for an overnight before we tKe a jaunt to Birmingham Alabama. Our original plan was to spend the entire day Saturday with cousin Joe and his lovely wife Sher, but the winter storm Iola has brought heavy rains to this area and since we are in no hurry, have decided to stay another night in Tallahassee.  I guess this means that we will be buying dinner!

I promise to do a better job updating the blog, and when we get West will add pictures.  We will be in the Phoenix area in time for the Super Bowl and to enjoy the Patriots victory over the Seahawks.  Of course we will be watching from our television, as the Super Bowl tickets are very pricey, and for the $5000 it would cost we can put a lot of fuel in our coach.