After Hawaii and into 2020

Hawaii was amazing, as usual...  We got home about 8:30pm on December 2nd.  The next day, Tuesday, was spent shopping and packing and having Christmas Dinner with Karen and Casey.  Gary fixed fish perfectly.  Was yummy.  Able to give them our gifts for Kristina, Kenny and Alyssa.  One family down ! !  LOL LOL LOL.  Ken packed some Christmas decorations and we hung the angels that Leah and Don Orcutt gave us in Albequerque...  Love them.. he did such a great job on them.!!

Left home in the RV about 8:30am on December 4th so we had exactly one day at home.  Worried about snow and hoped that we would be between storms. Chose to go down I-5 in hopes that the roads would be in better shape than 97 out of Klamath Falls.  Stayed our first night out at Redding Elks.  Made it through the mountains with no problems at all.  Folks at the Elks were saying that another storm was due so we lucked out.  

Next night was spent at The Orange Grove in Bakersfield where we got a bag of oranges too.  We put in long days traveling, more than our usual, and got to Las Vegas Thousand Trails early.  We stayed there two nights before moving to Sam's Town KOA where Fantasy RV Tours paid for our site while we attended Advanced Training.  Great sessions and changes within the company.  Communication should be getting better and better.  Was so great to see all the friends we have made with the Ambassador community.  

I think Owen posted this picture of her and Alyssa on Facebook..  Love !!
picture won't come up from phone

After training we went back to Thousand Trails for a week.  Pretty much kicked back, got laundry done, and had the rig washed and waxed. We got $40 tickets to see Shania Twain and so were looking forward to that show.  The show was on Wednesday, December 18th..  We used Uber to get to the Strip.  So happy we did that as traffic is crazy.  Had the driver drop us off at the Bellagio so we could see their Christams decorations, however, it was getting close to 4:00pm and we knew that we wanted to try Gordon Ramsy's Burger and didn't want to wait through a huge line.  We headed right over there, a couple blocks away. 

Were great burgers, however, that is all you get, fries are extra but one order of fries was plenty.  However, Ken had a Corona and I had a glass of pino grigio, our two burgers and one order of fries..... $75.00.  Most expensive lunch/dinner ever ! !  Seemed like Kona prices !!!!  LOL  LOL





The security people told us we should get to the Zappo's Theater, inside the Planet Hollywood Casino, about an hour early.  Turned out that was a waste of our time.  We easily could have gone in 15 minutes before the show...

Shania graced us with her presence about half an hour late.  That after being in our seats an hour early.  Not happy.  Then she came out.  Did fine until she decided to sing just a couple lines of a Christmas carol.  Oh My Gosh...  she cannot sing.. Ken noticed it early but I didn't until she tried acapella.  She was so off key that even I noticed.  Was horrible.  Her backup singers really cover her on all her hits.  We ended up leaving after 1.25 hours and easily caught an Uber back to the park.  Decided to leave Las Vegas a day early so our travel to Pio Pico in Jamul won't be such a long day.  Made a reservation for Hidden Beaches in Blythe.  It is right along the Colorado River, has beautiful views and is a quiet park so very nice place to stay.  

We have our own cute elf in the family.  Corey loves his volunteering time with the Livermore Police Department.  This year he included being a bell ringer for the Salvation Army.  Love that he does this...

Heading for Pio Pico Thousand Trails in Jamul, San Diego County tomorrow.  Will probably have to do the cross over routine.  Will have horrible phone and internet service for the next three weeks but love this park.  Will get to see Joe, Becky and Darcy..  Life is good !!   

OK, it now takes two days to do the crossover routine... and then we stupidly took the C row again, horrible issues with electricity.  Can't use heat and microwave at the same time so most of the time we had the hot water off too!!  The park is in a beautiful setting but it is so horrible.  They appear to have put in some 50amp sites in A and B loops so next time.......  we will see!!

 Loved seeing all the wind and solar farms along the way...

Heather sent this picture of her, Dustin, Caylyn, Brooke and Trinity as well as Lisa. The girls are growing up so fast.  We have not seen them since Brooke was a baby. 

Off to Becky and Johnny's for Christmas dinner.  She ordered Mexican, what a change from turkey !!  LOL   was yummy!!  Fun to see everyone.  Barry was here too but left before dinner..

Went to Fiddler's Cover to see Darcy and Troy's boat.  What a fun thing to have. They use it a lot.

Forgot to get pictures when we all met for dinner at the Grand Ole BBQ.  They opened a new location in Flynn Springs out on old Highway 8, very near where I grew up.  Still can't really locate it but very near Dunbar Lane.

Finally got to see Johnny play with his band.  He really acts like he enjoys it so much.  He plays quite often at Hooley's in Jamul, very near our park.  This place allows Lyla to be there to watch her dad as long as she is sitting at a table. 

Next, I met Darcy for lunch and her favorite restaurant, Mama Rosa's, just a very short drive from her house.  We ordered what she and Troy always get, Dinner for 2.  WOWeeeeee, it was a medium pizza, a lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, antipasto salad, and meat and cheese stuffed pasta.  So much food that it was at least six meals !!  Was very good too !!  Good thing that we love leftovers !!  LOL

On January 5th Kenny and Serina had a reveal party and look what was revealed !!  His name will be Aiden Gale Collette.

Ken's birthday was January 8th and boy did we go out...  First it was lunch and then dinner with Susan and Ted at a Mexican place they knew.  

On January 10th we headed toward Emerald Cove on the Colorado River.  We spent two night at Sun RV in Quartzsite with Andrea and Norma.  Great to meet up with Fantasy travelers.  Then on the 12th we drove the 35 miles to Earp and met up with the whole Wilderness Lakes gang.  Two of the couples went to Alaska with us on a second tour. Great to get to be part of this group.  They are really nice people.  We will be here two weeks and then on to Wilderness with most of the group, some have other plans for a week or two.  

Our camp spot !!  

Went up to the Havasu Resort for dinner for Marilyn's birthday.  They have great food and specials...  Tommy, our great waiter, photobombed one pic ! !   He sure did a great job!!

Finally, our trip to the Desert Bar, been hearing about it for years.  It is just five miles off the main road out of Parker, Arizona.  But............. the five miles is totally a dirt road.  Now there are dirt roads and then there are dirt roads.  This one is all rock so very wash boardy and lots of rocks so very bumpy road.  However, it is two lanes and not hanging off the mountain so just putting up with all the bumps for the five miles..  Interesting that they have a very successful business with only being open Saturdays and Sundays noon to 6pm, that's only 12 hours a week, October thru April...  Long lines for t-shirts, food and drinks... My big wonder is how do they get all their supplies up there????

 Building this "church" was done because of some technical ruling regarding doing business..  Huuuummmm

 The band was great but the music was classic rock, not really our style...

Christmas left overs....  LOL











Finally found the burros!!

Not as many this year as last..  Someone said that they rounded up a lot last year...





Lisa sent us a picture of Dustin, Heather and the girls visit to her place..  Brooke, Trinity and Caylyn...

Love this picture of Alyssa and Owen.  They are so cute !!