Fishing in Morson Ontario Canada June 2011

Saturday June 4, 2011

We left Peoria at 3:00pm Friday afternoon and drove all night. We arrived at Red Wing Resort at 8:30am Saturday morning. We waited in line at International Falls for an hour to cross the border. There were trucks pulling boats as far as the eye could see behind us waiting in line. We hauled in and unloaded all of the groceries and our other essentials, had lunch and the guys went out to fish.

Debby and I drove back into town which probably has about 300 population and picked up a few small grocery items and then stopped at the liquor store to buy vodka and rye whiskey for Kevin. We bought a 1.7 ltr of vodka for $57.00 so needless to say we will NOT be having 'cheap' drunks while here. We started back toward the lodge and had to stop on the road to let a tiny little black bear cross the road. He was so cute and chubby and he was just hauling ass across the road. Didn't see mama on either side of the road so don't know where she was. We were telling the maid here at the resort about seeing him and she said that they had 3 bear literally tear off the back wall of their garage and when they got inside they destroyed everything. She said they had to kill them to stop them from their coarse of destruction. Anne who owns the resort with her husband Mike, told us the bear and timber wolf have been terrible this year around this area. They always tell everyone here at the resort to not put out any garbage until early morning when they come around to pick up.

The owners have bird feeders out everywhere and yesterday we saw the tiniest humming bird that I have EVER seen. It was probably less than an inch long. It was feeding at the feeder and it was hard to believe it was a bird and not just a big bug!

Red Wing Resort Morson, Ontario, Canada

Sunday June 5, 2011



We fished most of the day today and caught our limit during the day. We came in at 2:00 and had lunch then went back out. I think we caught 3 walleye, a perch and a northern. When we came in we fried fish and they were just absolutely WONDERFUL!!! We had rain off and on while out fishing but it wasn't too bad and would quit and then start lightly again.

Their was a perfect rainbow tonight when we were out. The end of the rainbow looked like it went right into the water. It was really beautiful. We met a guy and his wife who are both veterinarian's from Wyoming last year. I found out in talking to them last year that Terry is a brother to Bill Kreager, a guy I worked with at Cat for years. He and Julie, his wife, are here again this year and was asking us if we saw the rainbow. A lot of people return year after year on the same week but so far there is only about 4 cabins rented this week. The weather has not been good for fishing here in the weeks past so that may have something to do with why they don't have a lot of people this week.

Monday June 6, 2011

Today was absolutely beautiful. Probably reached the high 70's and the sun was out all day. Terry(the Vet) told us this morning that we would really have to work at catching fish today and he was right! We caught several small walleye but only 3 walleye big enough to keep and Kevin caught a perch again today. Larry caught a really nice walleye and Debby caught 2 medium size large enough to keep. I had a really nice walleye on my line and got it all the way to the boat and it got off. Otherwise all I caught was little buggers that did nothing but steal my bait. Pretty much the same with everyone else. We came in at 3:00 and decided to cook fish and potatoes for our lunch rather than wait till tonight as it ends up being pretty late by the time we cook after going back out in the evening. Debby and I opted to stay home tonight but the guys went out around 6:30. Tomorrow and Wed are suppose to be rainy and cooler but may be our best fishing days!

Tuesday June 7, 2011

Rainy and cold is the word this morning. Black clouds and still raining some after it rained last night. Larry and Kevin scheduled Lenny, the camp guide, to take them out for walleye and muskie. Debby and I could go for the same price but we decided having to pee in our bucket in front of Lenny was not an option. The guys left and I went up to the lodge to talk to Anne for some ideas of where Debby and I could drive to shop. She suggested Bemidgi, MN which is 135 miles. We got ready and left around 10:30am. We drove about half way and stopped in Black Duck, which is on Red Lake, to buy gas. The lady at the station told us they had horrible storms there this morning with high winds and hail. She also said that the weather forecast was for more bad storms later today.
When we left, I .took over driving and as we drove a little farther we  had a deer come out to the roadside. I slowed down and gave him plenty of time to decide where he was going. Luckily, he choose the woods.

We arrived in Bemidgi at about 1:00. Anne told us how to find the Paul Bunyon Mall--please note--I am using the word MALL loosely!! The 'mall' consisted of maybe 15 stores which is 15 more than Morson has. They did have a Hersbarger's, which is part of the Bergner's group. It was basically exactly like Bergner's and we actually found several bargain's. I found Ruff Hewn Carpenter Jeans for 50% for Larry and lightweight sleep pants and a shirt for summer for lounging around the house.

Anne had said there were shops down by the waterfront also so we drove down there. The only thing we found was a boutique that was also a furniture store. The boutique had some very cute dresses that Debby and I thought would have been very nice for Leslie's wedding trip. I was thinking of buying one for her and then I ask if it could be returned and the lady said only for exchange. Oh Well----guess you just lost a sale--probably their only one for the week since we were the only people around.

We came back to mall area and stopped at Gander Mountain to buy a new real for Debby, since her's is screwed up. We found the real then ended up buying Larry and Kevin some zip-off pants. We found a couple of shirts on the clearance rack that we also bought.

We went to Penney's and I found about 7 shorts and tops for Morgan and about 4 short outfits for Addy. Everything I bought there was on sale and when they totalled it up the sales clerk informed me I  saved $218.00--WOW---I only had to spend $201.00 to save that amount! Some of Morgan's will be part of her birthday gift and Morgan happens to have grown out of all her summer cloths. Addy has plenty of summer cloths, however, I enjoy buying her new things now and then.

We both called our kids while we were in Minnesota. I got to talk to Addy two times. She is so sweet when she talks on the phone. After I talked to her Taylor got on the phone and asked me if I heard what she called me. I said I didn't notice and she said Addy called me Grandma. Normally Addy calls me Mama but when I was there babysitting in May, she was calling me Grandma now and then. I love hearing her say Grandma. Morgan use to call me Mama also until she was about Addy's age. All my baby's are growing up so fast. Morgan will be 7 in July, which is so hard for me to believe. I'm looking forward to Pete and Leslie getting married and making us grandparents again. I think my wishes are probably over for Taylor and Kyle to have anymore. I feel so blessed with the two I have. There is nothing as wonderful as grandchildren!

We finished our shopping spree and headed home. We came back across the Canadian Border at Baudette and had no issues . Last year Debby and I went to Baudette and the Canadian Border Guards searched the truck from top to bottom when we came back . We stopped at the grocery store in Rainey River and picked up our sweet treats--homemade pastries. We did not get back to Red Wing until almost 9:30pm.

When we arrived back at the resort, Kevin showed us a picture of the 46 inch muskie that he caught today on their trip out with Lenny. At this time of the season, all muskie's have to be released. After the third week of June you can keep the muskie if it falls into a certain slot.
Kevin's Muskie
Ben, the resort owner's dog is a buddy to all. He has really latched onto Kevin as his best bud. He is a  Polar  Lab and is totally white. Anne told us he weighed 98 pounds and he is like a big teddy bear. Everyone in the resort loves him he loves all the attention he gets from everyone. Anne asked us not to feed Ben as all he does is eat. She feeds him and then he muches off all the camp guest. It is hard to say no to Ben as he is such a beautiful dog and so gentle.
 Kevin and Ben playing fetch

Wednesday June 8, 2011

Well another morning like yesterday except the wind must be blowing 40 mph.  We again decided it was not a day for us to fish. We gathered up our laundry and headed to Baudette to do our laundry and to look in the shops in town--which is a grand total of TWO! We bought some sweatshirts for all of us and a long sleeved shirt for each of the guys. We went to the Laundromat and did three loads of cloths and it took us probably an hour and a half to dry them. The place was a rip off as one washer did not spin the cloths out well, which meant more money to dry them. We met a guy in the Laundromat that was a hunting guide and a part time fishing guide. He has a house near Red Wing Resort. He was Canadian born in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario. He was very interesting to talk to and he gave us his card in case the guys were interested in his guide services.

We finished our laundry, refueled the truck and headed back to resort. We had to stop once again for our pastries at Rainy River. I will weight 300 lbs by the time I reach Peoria as all we do is eat wonderful food.  We got home about 6:30 and Kevin was frying fish. We had dinner and sat and looked at the lake and talked about how calm the water was. It is so changeable here--this morning the whitecaps were terrible with the wind and now tonight the sun is shinning and the lake looks like glass. Much like when I lived on Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan as 15 minutes was like a whole different season with the weather.
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Thursday June 9, 2011

When Debby and I got up the guys were already cooking breakfast. WOW that was a surprise but I'm sure the reason for that was they were wanting to get out early fishing. We gathered everything for fishing and packed lunch items so we would not have to come in for lunch. Debby and I put ham and beans in crockpot for our dinner tonight. We were out I think by 9:00 this morning fishing. We ended up catching our limit but had to work to catch them today. Larry is the hero of the day as he caught a 26" Walleye and it weighed about 6.5 lbs. It looked huge and it fought him tooth and nail getting him in the boat. We caught a lot of Walleye but threw most of them back as they were small. Debby caught two Perch today; one this afternoon and one tonight when we went back out fishing.
Larry and his 26 " Walleye


We ate lunch in the boat while fishing and didn't come in until around 3:00. When we came in we had several beer and the guys cleaned the fish while Debby and I played with Ben. Anne came out and was throwing a stick out into the lake for Ben to swim after. She kept trying to make Ben jump off the dock to fetch the stick but instead he would run back to the yard and go down the side of the dock to swim for the stick. We had such a good time watching Ben. He is just a gentle sweetie. This morning Kevin gave Ben a plate of sausage gravy, biscuits and an egg so Ben has been hanging tight with us most of the day. Larry gave him a piece of ham this afternoon when we came in and later Debby gave him a very small portion of ham from our dinner. Anne had asked us not to feed him as he is getting so fat but Ben just has the saddest eyes and has us all wrapped around his paw(??) I guess you would say. Debby went up and asked Anne if Ben could have the ham bone out of the beans and Anne asked us to wait till tomorrow morning to give it to him so we have it wrapped and waiting.

Anne trying to get Ben to jump off dock

We talked to Terry Kreager this afternoon and he told us about the black bear that visited the resort last night. He said it walked right up where they were setting outside around 9:30. He yelled at it and chased it off toward the cabins on the other side of the lodge. Anne said there are 5 guys staying in cabin 11 next to the lodge and one of them walked right up on the bear and almost filled his underwear. He was talking on the phone to his wife and he yelled so loud his wife kept yelling over the phone wanting to know if he was ok. Two of the guys in cabin 11 are big bruts and are both policemen. We were all still up but didn't hear anything other than Debby heard Ben barking.

We went back out fishing around 5:45 but only caught one walleye and a perch. Hardly worth the effort but we are trying to get enough fish to take home. Came in about 7:45pm from fishing and had our ham, beans and cornbread. They were fabulous1 If we have done nothing else this week we have had plenty of good food to eat. Most of the time I feel like my stomach is so full I can hardly breath!! Time to go home and slow down on the food before I gain another 50 lbs!!!

Friday June 10, 2011



Catch of the day at Lake of the Woods

Today is our last day at Red Wing Resort. We had a huge breakfast and headed out to Garden Island. This is where we fish most of the time and have had our best luck. Yesterday Larry caught his 26 inch Walleye just off the point of Garden Island. We were there less than 20 minutes and Debby pulled in a 26 inch Walleye. Everyone was amazed that we caught another fish of that size. Less than 10 minutes later I had a 'hit' on my line and it felt like a whale. I kept reeling it in and it was fighting pretty hard. Believe it or not Larry actually dipped it with the net without loosing it Last year he lost a huge fish I had on my line because he put the net down too soon and the fish saw it and broke the line.  My Walleye was a little short of Debby's at 25 inches. So we have caught three big Walleye in almost the exact spot in two days. We all were catching Walleye today. A lot of little ones but several \'keepers'. We probably caught our 8 fish in less than an hour. We kept catching 'keepers' but kept measuring which were the largest and throwing back the smaller ones. We came in around 12:30 and took our pictures with the fish and then the guys cleaned the fish to freeze for home.

We went back out to try fishing for Northern, since we have our limit of Walleye to take home. We tried fishing near the reeds with bobbers. Larry and Debby tried casting but none of our attempts were fruitful. We came back to cabin and packed and loaded the truck and boat with everything we could do without tonight. We are ready to hit the road early tomorrow morning.

We all walked up to lodge and chatted with some of the guys that were here last year that are from near Gary, IN. We also paid our bill and made a reservation for next year starting June 2. Anne talked to Debby and I for awhile and told us she was so proud of us for the fish we caught. She is just the greatest person I have ever known. She is so jovial and makes us laugh a lot. She is diffently the 'PR' person for Red Wing.

The guys are packaging fish for the trip home. They have to be marked for taking across the border. We are having pizza tonight for dinner as we still had two frozen that we brought with us. We did very well on our food supply. Debby and I do a very good job planning our groceries. We rarely take much home.

Tuesday April 5 - Thursday April 7, 2011

Tuesday April 5, 2011

We went to The Trump Hotel to pick up Pete and Leslie to take them to the airport. We were early so Leslie wanted to have a  Caipirinha at the bar. When I was in Brazil we drank MANY Caipirinha's so I was anxious to taste the Las Vegas version. Larry, Leslie and I all ordered a Caipirinha but with my first sip, I could tell it was not even close to what we drank in Brazil. I asked the bar tender if they used Pinga as the liquor for the drink and he said no and told me what they used but I don't remember the name The drink was ok--just not as good a a real Brazilian Caipirinha AND he let us buy three of these for $33.00. In Brazil a fifth of Pinga sells for $1.00 so perhaps he should use cheaper liquor or perhaps we should quit drinking in the bars in Vegas!@!

We loaded the luggage and took Pete and Leslie to the airport about 12:30 and their flight was at 2:00. By the time we got off the 'strip' headed home, they were boarding their plane.

After talking to Pete, he suggested we wait until after dark to go to Freemont Street as they have many light shows. We came back home and I laid down for awhile as I still have been feeling really lousy.


When I woke up I cleaned up and dressed and we headed to Freemont. We were able to drive all the way down and found a self park near Freemont at one of the casinos. When we got to Freemont, we found the 4 Queens Casino so we could make a reservation at Hugo's Cellar, which is inside the casino. They told us the earliest would be 8:30 so we put our name in and headed back outside. Freemont Street is closed to traffic so the entire area is for walking with stages for entertainment and lights galore! The entire street has a cover over the top and about every hour 45 minutes they do a light show that lights up the entire cover. It is all set to music and is just amazing. When the light show comes on, all of the casino's outside lights go off so as not to detract from the show.  We saw the show several times and each one was different. They also have a zip line that people ride from one end of the street to the other. Looked like fun but I think I am a little too old to try it out. I am really surprised Leslie and Pete did not ride it.

We walked around and right away found that several of the gift shops sold single bottles of beer as well as wine and hard liquor. We went in two times for a bottle of beer before our dinner reservation. The beer was something like $2.00 for MGD and you just go outside on the street and drink it while walking around. Vegas is really a different place. You drink on the street and smoke on the street--just about anything you'd like to do.

There was a guy doing drawings so we stopped and watched. He asked us if he could draw us and I said no it was too much money. He dropped his price to do both of us for $20.00. I'm glad we did not spend the full amount as the drawing was like a cartoon drawing of us. Pretty Lousy!

We went back to Hugo's and they took us to our table. There were three tables of VERY loud party's. I think two of the tables were wedding party's and one was just 6 guys that were just as loud. It was very difficult to hear our waiters or to even hear each other. Leslie and Pete had eat here on Monday night and raved about the food so that is why we decided to try it. I had prime rib and Larry had veal. The waiter comes to the table and prepares the salads at your table. Then they bring out sorbet or gelato ice cream in a very small cone. The main meal was then brought out and both included potatoes and green and white asparagus. My prime rib was enormous! There is no way I could have finished it all. It was very tender but I didn't think it had a lot of flavor. Larry liked his veal but said the veal he had at The Mesa Grill at Caesar's Palace was better. I became more irritated the longer we sat there as the noise level was unbelievable! I think the couples setting behind us must have asked to move as they left. We finished our meal and it was $133.00 and as usual -- was not worth the money but when in Vegas--throw your money away like everyone else! On the way out I told the manager that I just had the most UNPLEASANT meal of my life. I told him in the future when they have private parties, they need to locate them away from the other patrons. He apologized and told me he wished we would have asked to be moved. WHATEVER!

Lightshow overhead                                                           Drumner

 
We went back out on Freemont and walked around more and watched some guy playing drums with 5 gallon plastic buckets and pans. Larry said his brother Art could come down and make some extra cash as he is a drummer. Then there were a group of six on one of the entertainment stands singing and they were pretty good. We roamed around for a while and decided to head back home. Out of every place we went in Vegas, this was without a doubt the best as Pete had told us it would be.

Wednesday April 6, 2011

We packed up and left Las Vegas around  9:00am. We drove quite a distance and stopped to fuel and we had a Subway sandwich. We got back out on the road and drove the rest of the day--probably 450-500 miles. We stopped in a little town called Green River, UT. There was not much in the town but the lady at the RV Campground told us there was a nice restaurant up the road. We took the car off the dolli and drove down to eat. It was a nice place right on the river and we could see the mountains from where we sat. Larry had his fried chicken that I have been hearing about since we were in Arizona. No place in Arizona has fried chicken --of course other than Kentucky Fried--which we bypassed.  I had chicken strips but neither were to rave about. He said his chicken tasted like the ones in the frozen dinners.

We came back to motor home and I went to bed to read as it was getting pretty late.

Thursday April 7, 2011

Today was pretty much more of the same. Drove all day but did see some beautiful scenery. The mountains in Utah are pretty amazing and reminded us of Sedona, AZ , as they are mostly red rock. They are such unusual shapes that as you look at them, it hard to imagine how they ended up to be formed this way.
Mountains of Utah


We drove on into Colorado and drove through passes in the mountains that were too high to see the tops. We had a lot of wet highways up high and there was still a good amount of snow everywhere. We drove by many ski areas, Steamboat, Vail, Breckenridge and many, many more. We switched drivers and I finished the drive through the rest of the mountains. At times, I wondered if we were going to make it to the top as the peddle was to the floor and we kept dropping speed. It was a hard pull going through the higher elevations but we held our own with the semi's. It was a beautiful drive today but we had no breakfast, no lunch and finally about 30 miles out of Denver, I pulled into a Love's truck stop to fuel up and our big meal for the day was a Carl's hamburger. And as everyone knows, we are both just skin and bones!@!

Mountains in Colorado

We drove another 75 or 80 miles to Sterling, CO. We found a campground and stopped for the day around 6:30. The wind was terrible driving the last hour or so and as I set here in the RV tonight it feels like it is going to blow us off the map. Hope tomorrow is better as it makes it harder to drive and also cuts the fuel mileage. We are paying from about $4.05 to $4.20 a gallon for diesel. It would not surprise me if Illinois is not higher than here.

The Jersey Boys-Las Vegas April 4, 2011

Erich Bergen, Rick Faugno, Frankie Valli, Jeff Leibow and Deven May

Frankie Valli visits the Jersey Boys in Las Vegas(above)

Tonight we attended the most amazing show--tthe Jersey Boys Show at the Palazzo-Las Vegas. The tickets were pricey as everything in Las Vegas seems to be, but the show was such a wonderful experience, I would spend the money again to see it.

Our afternoon started out by going to eat before we hit the 'strip'. We finished our dinner by 5:00 and decided to drive on downtown, park and shop for awhile before the 7:00pm show. We parked in the Aria Casino deck  and thought we would walk around awhile and then walk on to the Palazzo for the show. We certainly walked around--for an hour and a half but we did not leisurely walk around. After we started walking toward the Palazzo we realized it was much farther than we realized. We were slapping ourselves because we have driven past the Palazzo several times since we've been here. We walked and walked and still did not catch sight of the casino. We walked for 45 minutes through the crowd and I finally asked a doorman on the way,  how far we were from the Palazzo. He informed us that we had a 45 minute walk left to get there! We picked up the pace as we were within an hour of the show. Walking through the crowd is crazy, those who walk slow prevent everyone else from even passing them because of the crowd coming the other way.  If we were not green country folk, we might have stopped and thought about taking a bus or the metro or whatever. We were given correct information because we walked at a very brisk pace and arrived hot and sweaty at the Palazzo at 6:40pm. We were both exhausted and my mouth was so dry I had a hard time swallowing! I think we were both near cardiac arrest!!.

We found the Jersey Boys Theater and paid $25.00 for two drinks at the bar. I weighed the idea of paying $5 for a bottle of water or $12 for a drink--easy choice! We walked into the theater and found our seats and sat and relaxed for the few minutes before the show. A couple came in and sat next to us and I was blowing my nose over and over as I still have the same stupid DISEASE--whatever I've had since Thanksgiving. I turned to the lady and told her that I wasn't contagious--just terrible allergies or WHATEVER! We talked for awhile and she said she had seen the show in December with her friend and insisted her husband see it with her as it was so amazing. She said the Las Vegas show was really the top rated one of all the Jersey Boys shows because they had such a choice of talent here.

As my heart was coming to a normal heart rate, the show began. I don't think I remembered to breath through the first act as it was so all consuming! The acting and signing was so wonderful. The story is about Frankie Valli's life and his climb from being a young man of 15 on the streets of New Jersey to his claim of fame with the Four Seasons. We took an 8 minute intermission which allowed everyone in the theater to stand in line for the bathroom. When I got in line, I noticed there was a family restroom, which was empty, so I told some of the ladies in line that I was going to make use of it. I came out and the line was forming to take my place. If not for taking advantage of that restroom, I would not have had time for anything.

We went back for act II and it was just as all consuming as before. The story was happy and sad as well. It told how he and the rest of his group basically lost their wives and children because they were on the road their entire career. Near the end of the show, Frankie Valli lost his daughter at age 22 to drugs. During the show his daughter had run away from home a few year prior to her death. When they found her she told him he had never been there for her during her life as he was always chasing fame.

The group eventually broke up and Frankie Valli went out on his own for awhile before he replaced the original group and was then known as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

So I was not disappointed as I was worried I would be. I have talked about seeing this for so long but was still hesitant about spending the money and insisting Larry also see it. Larry was also very pleased with the show, which I mostly worried about. It was spell bounding to say the least!

When the show ended we walked out of the theater thinking about facing the 2 mile --or more--walk back to the car. I had seen a metro station on the walk down so we asked the doorman about riding it back but he said it would not get us where we needed to go. We started walking away and I decided to ask him about  the bus. He told us how to get to a bus stop. We were nearing the bus stop and there was a bus there so we hurried to get there just as the bus pulled away. I found a bus schedule and it showed the buses run every 15 minutes. While waiting I received a message from Leslie about going to Richmond Street but didn't know what she meant. After catching the bus, a lady told us we could not miss Richmond Street. She said it was the best part of Las Vegas.  Larry said when we drop Pete and Leslie at the airport this afternoon, we would go down and roam around for the afternoon. One of the other ladies setting next to me said their are wonderful little shops and  live entertainment.

We had a great bus ride and arrived close to our parking deck. Again, my mouth and throat were so dry I had to have something to drink. We saw a CVS Pharmacy on our way to the parking deck so we stood in line for 20 minutes to purchase a bottle of water and a coke for Larry. Walgreens and CVS are very popular on the strip because they sell liquor and everyone is there to purchase it as they eventually gets smart about how to drink cheaper in Vegas.

We retrieved the car and got home about 11:30 ---exhausted!

Thursday March 31 to April 3, 2011

Thursday March 31, 2011

Today is Leslie's 32nd birthday. We are traveling from Mesa, AZ to Las Vegas, NV to meet Leslie and Pete tomorrow. The trip is a gift from Pete to Leslie for her graduation in December from Bradley. He made the mistake of asking her what she would like to have as a gift from him. I really am not sure he was thinking quite so big but they are to be here tomorrow. Pete has been in Seattle all week and rather than fly home to Peoria, he decided to fly to Las Vegas. He is due to arrive around noon tomorrow. He said he would make his way from the airport to the hotel so for us not to pick him up. Leslie does not arrive until 9:45pm tomorrow night so wel will pick her up --at least at this moment that is the plan. I'm sure we will spend money here on her as part of her birthday as well.

We arrived in Las Vegas around 3:00pm and we left Silveridge around 8:30am. It is around 330 miles from Mesa to Las Vegas so we did not make bad time getting here. We are staying at Oasis RV Resort which is absolutely beautiful. It is a huge park and spotless. There are two swimming pools, one for the children with a sandy beach and one for the adults. This is really nice to have an adult pool so those who do not have children with them can relax without being bothered by the kids. I don't mind it when I have my grandchildren but I don't like dealing with everyone else's when I want to relax.

We had to buy Internet service for a week which really is a rip considering what we already paid for our RV Site. If you want it you have to deal out the cash. I cannot stand being without Internet. When we went up to the office to pay for the Internet, we asked for a recommendation on a place to eat dinner. They highly recommended Deans Place which was on Dean Martin Blvd and just a few miles from resort. It was an Italian Restaurant so we had pasta again. It was good but nothing too special we didn;t think.

After we left the restaurant, we went to find a grocery store. The only one we found close was one called 'Food 4 Less'. It was actually a decent store and not at all what the name sounds like. As we were looking at the meat, we realized it's some form of a division of Kroger. There were many Kroger brand items in the store but could not use our Kroger card. The prices on the food was not what I considered cheap. We paid $11.00 for a 12 pack of MGD cans. We wanted canned beer to take to the pool tomorrow but MGD is much more expensive than any of the other brands here. It was the same in Mesa as well.

Came back to the resort and all the palm trees on the entrance drive are lighted.  It is so pretty everywhere in the park with lots of palms and grass.

Friday April 1, 2011

Got up this morning and cooked breakfast then pick up and cleaned up motor home some as it was a mess from traveling. We got ready and drove down to the 'strip' to look around. We found that all of the Casino's have free parking in their parking garages. That is a break for sure as I assumed the parking would cost us our pension check for the month. We walked and looked at the Casino's and went into several of them. They are very up class places and inside most of them is lots of shopping. I felt like a farm girl arriving in the city with cow shit still on my shoes!@!! In all the places in the world I have traveled, this is my first trip to Las Vegas. It is quite a sight and everything is pristine from the landscaping to the spotless side walks. When we were walking on the elevated bridges and sidewalks. there was a lady with a mop scrubbing the concrete. We went into several of the gift shops as Larry was trying to find a hat or visor as the sun is terribly hot and very bright. The prices in the shops seem to be pretty normal for a tourist town.



New York New York Casino



New York New York Casino



MGM Casino



Pool at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort/ Kids Pool has Sandy Beach



Pool at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort/Adult Pool


We walked a long distance and I suggested stopping for a margarita at an open air bar. We each got a 'house' margarita, which means it is less than a gallon glass--I could not believe my eyes when I saw the size of the glasses of the other margaritas. I do not exaggerate when I say a gallon glass--they were huge. Our margaritas, however, were very normal sized and if anything a little small compared to most I've had. I took a drink of mine just as the bartender collected from Larry for the drinks. I almost spit across the bar when she told him $26.00 for the two.  As you probably have already guessed, we had exactly ONE each!  Larry said he thought we made a down payment on the entire bar!!! I expected expensive but we could have had a beer and a hot dog at Wrigley Field cheaper than we paid for the two margaritas. I really didn't think anyplace was much more expensive than Wrigley. So the country girl had her first lesson on Vegas. We sat at the bar and nursed our drinks while watching the Chicago Cubs fall flat on their face on opening day! Two disappointments in less than an hour!

While watching the Cub game I kept seeing signs in the crowd saying 'This is the Year' --NOT! While watching them at Hohokam in Mesa, I saw nothing more than the same ol' Cubs. I think they had a record for spring training of something like 14-20. Not even close to 500 and they won't be any closer during regular season unless someone sets fire under them. It certainly looked cold, however, at Wrigley today. It was raining most of the time we watched and everyone looked like they were freezing--all of this while we are smothering in 93 degrees today. It amazes me how the weather can be so diverse throughout the US when at times there is only a hundred miles difference from 90 degrees to 30. This is true of Mesa and Flagstaff, which is a little more than a hundred miles apart. I guess we should be soaking up the heat because next week we will no doubt be shoveling snow when we reach Peoria.

We came back to motor home and Pete called. He arrived around 1:00 and went to their hotel, which is the Trump. He said he was going to go down and workout and take a short nap and call us when he woke up to see if we want to go to dinner or just have drinks with him. Leslie's plane does not get in until 9:50pm. We will meet Pete and all go to the airport to get Leslie. We told Pete before he arrived we would pick him up at airport and he said he would find a way to the hotel. The airport is right in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd where the strip is located.

We left before 7:00pm to pick up Pete. We got to the strip and it was bumper to bumper traffic. It took us an hour to get to the Trump Hotel to get Pete as it is on the far end of the strip. We were going to stop someplace along the strip for a drink but each time we saw the 'self park' areas they were either full or we did not make the right turn to get into them. The 'self park' areas are owned by a casino and are free parking. Anyway we spent so much time in traffic and trying to find a parking place, we decided we'd go on to airport and have a snack and drink there. When we got there, only one bar was open and they had no food. Larry and I had nothing but breakfast, which was several hours ago so we were getting pretty low on food. We had a huge draft and a bag of pretzels and a bag of nuts that we shared between us all.

Leslie's plane was on time and we found her without a problem and claimed her luggage. We got to the car and she changed her shoes and cloths--yep inside the car. The windows are pretty dark when it is dark outside so I guess her privacy was safe?? Her feet and ankles were very swollen so I hope after a good nights sleep she will be ok with that.

We left the airport and went back to the strip and parked in the Aria parking deck, which is where Larry and I parked earlier today. We went into the Aria Casino and bought a drink and walked around for awhile in the casino. They had several shops and restaurants inside. Larry bought four beer and a mixed drink for Leslie and paid $37. I guess that was pretty cheap compared to our two Margareta's earlier today. We left the casino and walked along the strip while drinking our beer--which is actually LEGAL in Las Vegas. Wild place here--seems just about anything goes. As we walked awhile, Leslie suggested we call it a night as she was very tired. I assume part of her being so tired was her big night out on Thursday night with the girls for her birthday. I don't think she got much sleep Thursday night. Anyway we made our way back to the car and took them back to the hotel and headed back to the motor home.

When we arrived at the RV Resort and drove down to our street, the fire department and a couple of security cars were blocking the street. One of the security guys told us that someone got lock.ed inside their motor home. How weird is that??? I guess one of the dead bolts stuck and they could not get out. I think they ended up breaking out the door window to get the door open. Kinda sounds like a blonde joke that they were locked IN??!!

Saturday April 2, 2011

Leslie called about 7:30am wanting us to come to the hotel to swim with them at the pool. I told her I'd talk to Larry and get back to her. Larry never did say yea or nah so we did nothing about calling her back. Then she sent me a couple of text messages wanting to know where we were. I just couldn't get excited about driving through the traffic to swim at that hour. When I lay around the pool, I like a beer and it just didn't seem right at 7:30am, however when she called me later, she said she paid $11.00 for a bloody mary so I guess it IS alright to drink at 7:30am as long as you are in Vegas--not to say I've never done it in my younger years!!! The next time she called, she said her and Pete would like to go to Hoover Dam since today was going to be overcast and possibly rain.

We left the resort to pick them up and I suggested we travel route 15 down to almost the end of Las Vegas Blvd, in hopes we would cut out the traffic issue. We made it to their hotel in about 15 minutes going that route. So at least we learned a better way to get there. We picked them up and headed to Boulder City which is technically where the Hoover Dam is. It is about 25 miles from Vegas. We crossed over the dam on the bridge and couldn't see a road that looked like it took us down to the dam. We turned around and headed back to the bridge and saw a sign pointing to the dam. We drove down the mountain and ended up parking on the other side of the dam. We had to walk quite a distance to get back to the visitor's center. It was terribly hot and the sun was out in full force when we got there. We walked up farther to a snack shop and got something to drink as we were all hot and dry. Leslie and Larry both wanted to take a tour of the dam so before I could tell Leslie that I preferred to just wait for them, she had bought us all tickets.


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At Hoover Dam

 


 
We got in line and they told us we needed to watch a movie about the dam before the tour started. We watched the movie and then got in line to wait to take the elevator down to the bottom of the dam, which was something like 500 feet underground. I am a little claustrophobic, so I was a whole lot anxious while down there. They took us through a tunnel into a room where the water flowed through HUGE pipes that ran under the floor of the room. We then took the elevator up a ways and this room overlooked the big generators that create the electricity for park of Arizona, Nevada and I think some bordering states as well. There were seven huge generators on the Nevada side and the guide said the Arizona side had six. It is hard to imagine that this was all accomplished in 1937. Even with our modern machinery, it would be a very complicated project. The workers worked 7/24 and were paid $4.00 a day. They indicated that was very good pay for that era but these people had to work like slaves for their pay. Also the pipes that carry the water were so huge, they could not transport them so they made them on-site. I was impressed by all the information and what it took to accomplish. It's not something that I would have had a problem with had I not seen but it was another 'tic mark' on Larry's 'bucket list'. So one more down and who knows how many more--we have been working on his 'bucket list' for quite awhile now.

We got back to Vegas around 3:00pm  and the kids wanted to go back to their hotel. Again Leslie begged us to come swim but I told her that when I laid around the pool I'd like more than just one drink and couldn't afford it at their pool. I told them to come to our pool and we could bring our own drinks but they just decided to go to the hotel to rest awhile. They called later wanting to know if we were coming back to the strip and both of us said no. Guess we sound like old fuddy duds but I don't enjoy gambling and spending half my pension on the crazy priced drinks. We are going to go to dinner tomorrow with them so will probably do the strip again tomorrow. They were going to try to see a show tonight and they already have tickets for a show on Monday night. My 'bucket list' has included seeing the Jersey Boys for a long while now. I had checked on tickets before we got here and they are quite expensive. I checked again this afternoon and talked Larry into spending the money, then could not purchase the tickets on-line. We will probably just check while downtown tomorrow about tickets for either Monday or Tuesday night.

Pete had a few things he needed laundered so I did all my laundry as well this afternoon and tonight. Almost have it all done and just waiting for my towels to dry.

I think the weather is going to cool down some tomorrow and quite a lot on Monday. It was much too warm today so I'm ready for a little cooler weather. I say that and each time I think about how cold it will be when we get back to Peoria. I am trying to enjoy the heat but I have a hard time when it gets in the high 80's and 90's.

Sunday April 3, 2011

Went to breakfast and then to Walmart--OH DUH--isn't that an everyday trip??? We needed chemicals for the motor home and a few grocery items. We headed back home and let our wonderful kittys outside for awhile to brake their cabin fever. Sat outside with them and had a beer then got changed and walked up to the pool. Since we have an adult pool they allow alchol and smoking! That's relaxing!!! Had our beer and sat around the pool for a couple of hours and read.


Ceiling in Caesar's Palace



We came home and showered and left to pick up Pete and Leslie for dinner. We went to the Mesa Grill inside Caesar's Palace. Don't let the word 'grill' fool you into thinking it is a snack shop type restaurant!! Our bill for 4 meals was $256.00 PLUS TIP! The food was good but not too sure it was THAT great! I had salmon, Larry had veal, Pete had pork tenderloin ,which was very different and Leslie had some type of chicken with a sauce. We had appetizer of shrimp which was prepared in a corn husk like a tamale which was very unusual and tasty. Everyone liked their meal and we were so full we could hardly move when we left. We walked through Caesar's Palace, which is just a huge place and so beautiful. Leslie and I saw the cutest nightgown that was in the style of a Greek goddess. It was sheer material in white with gold trim. They had the gold slippers to match so Leslie bought the gown and I bought the slippers to give to Morgan for her birthday in July.  We walked forever looking at all the decor in the palace. The place we bought the things for Morgan had a high domed ceiling and the ceiling was painted to look like the sky. It was hard to imagine you were not outside on a sunny day with the clouds floating overhead. It was beautiful.

While we were in this area, I noticed a desk that was selling show tickets. I have been on the Internet trying to buy tickets for The Jersey Boys but could never complete through ticketron. We walked over to find out what was available either for Monday or Tuesday evening. We bought two tickets for Monday night at the Palazzo for $260. Money just flows from our hands here. I didn't really care how much the tickets were as I have been wanting to see this show forever. They were in Chicago several times and again in Phoenix while we were there, so I decided if I was ever going to see the show now was the time.

We must have walked a mile or more just inside Caesar's.  Every room in the place was different with unimaginable decor. We went upstairs and when we came down we rode a curved escalator. I have never seen an escalator that curves around like this. There was a thousand shops inside from all the top designers, ones I've never heard of, which is not surprising considering how many designer items I've purchased in my life. Leslie and I could not resist going into The Kid's Kastle, which was a clothing store and when we came out our knees were buckled. OMG, I have never seen prices like they had attached to their clothing. The clothing was just adorable, of course, not like 'off the rack' items from WALMART!!! We really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful little outfits for the girls. I don't think my lovely granddaughters will be able to enjoy anything from this place --at least from their grandma Stafford!!

We finally stopped at one of the bar's inside the palace and had a drink. I was getting to the point that I didn't think I could take another step. It is just hard to imagine how huge this place is. After we sat awhile, we headed out again. Leslie wanted to take us to the Balligo Casino to see the flowers. I had no idea what she was talking about but even being so tired of walking, I told her we would go see them. When we walked outside it was like a winter blast! It was freezing. It was very warm when we first went into Caesar's for dinner earlier in the night. Larry had on shorts and I had capri's and a top with medium length sleeves, which felt good. Pete and Leslie had long pants but Pete had a short sleeve shirt and of course, Leslie had on Pete's jacket,  so needless to say, we were all freezing.


Swans standing in water with flowers in The Ballagio Casino




Carousel among the flowers




Butterfly is made of flowers also



We walked to the Bellagio Casino and again walked and walked. I was almost ready to tell Leslie to forget it when we came into an area that was nothing but flowers. What an amazing sight to see all these flowers in this huge area. I could live like the rich and famous on the money spent in this room along. They had a butterfly house with the live butterflies inside of all different shapes and colors. Their was a large picture hung on one wall that was made totally of flowers, the flowers in the room were of every color and variety. It was just beautiful. We walked through and looked at everything and then walked all the way through the Casino again to go outside. When we got outside we arrived just in time to watch the musical fountain, which only goes off about once an hour. The waters dance to a different song each time and is another amazing thing to watch. The fountain is in front of Bellagio and draws many people each time it plays. At night it is especially beautiful!


Musical Waters in front of Balligo Casino



Eiffel Tower where Pete and Leslie dined on Saturday

Leslie and Pete had dinner on Saturday night at the Eiffel Tower. I can only imagine how beautiful the sights were from there as it is set just across from the Bellagio and right in the middle of the strip with all the lights surrounding it.



Pete's first gambling rage! Spent $2 on penny slots

 We started walking back to Caesar's to claim our car. This was at least another mile trek as we had to walk all the way to the back of the casino to catch an elevator to the parking deck. On the way, Pete decided he at least had to play the penny slots. He told us he had never gambled before so this was a big event! He ended up gambling $2.00. We laughed at him because he would get ahead and then loose the money each time. We had such a good time laughing as Leslie always has 'captions' for everything that just brings you to your knees laughing. She had to 'stage' several pictures of us to place her captions on for Facebook. One was Larry with his hand on Pete's chest and her caption was Larry having an intervention with Pete about the Penny Slots! She is just crazy!When we left the fountain and were walking down the sidewalk, we saw many statues. These are actually people who pose as statues. One was painted gold from top to bottom and Larry and I had seen him during the day on Friday. He stands perfectly still and all of a sudden he would raise a hand or turn his head. Of course they have their tip jar setting in front of them and if you take a picture, they expect a tip. More than one way in Vegas to make a living I guess! We walked on and saw a gal dressed like Lady Gaga and of course she was getting lots of takers for pictures with the guys. Farther down the sidewalk we came to another statue guy that was painted white and of course standing perfectly still. When we walked by him Leslie pointed at him and said something and he immediately lifted his arm and pointed back at her. They are all so awesome and I can't imagine standing for hours bent forward with an arm up or whatever. I guess they no doubt earn what they make in tips.


We FINALLY found the car just as I was placing my last foot forward! I don't think I could have walked another step!!! We got in the car and started to exit. Each time Larry would take an exit, we would end up back in the same place. Of course Leslie and I started laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes and Pete said that this is what Larry gets for being too cheap to have the car parked by the valet. We always go for the 'self park' area because it is free. Of course Pete was joking as he and Larry and I had just talked at dinner about HOW expensive it was to be in Las Vegas. Anyway around and around we drove and FINALLY we accidentally found the EXIT!@! All of us were laughing to the point we couldn't breath and probably most of it was that we were exhausted so everything was so much funnier than normal. It was one of those things you had to be there to appreciate! Anyone who know our daughter Leslie, knows she should have been a comedian as she has been this way her entire life. Pete kept asking each time she'd say or do something stupid--'Is this YOUR daughter'!! We love Pete as he is such a great guy! He treats our daughter so wonderful and is so respectful to everyone!

 We took Pete and Leslie back to Trump Tours and dropped them off and headed home. It was almost midnight--LATE for the old farts. We had a cup of coffee and I headed to bed. Read probably 25 words before I was sound asleep!

Wednesday March 23 - Wednesday March 30, 2011

Wednesday March 23, 2011

I decided to get a little more organized before Taylor, Kyle and Morgan come as I won't have a lot of time before we leave for Las Vegas.

I cleaned out the big closet in the motor home and took a few thing off hangers, folded and placed underneath in some plastce boxes. Since I currently occupy 3/4 of the closet with my cloths, I thought I could make a little more room by removing some that I have not been wearing much since it got warmer. I cleaned out the closet as I was doing my laundry and since we do not have soft water, it seems our cloths come out of the dryer more wrinkled, even though I use fabric softener in the washer. I decided to press up some of our better cloths so I ironed for probably 2 hours or more. I got a lot of comments from my friends on facebook about WHAT IS IRONING! We believe it or not, I still iron a lot of my cloths as they just look better. I know there are very few younger people that even own an iron but each to their own!@!

Larry ran all over Mesa trying to find hinges to attach a shelf in the kitchen to give me more room when I cook. There just is not enough counter space to cook. Well believe it or not, people in Mesa evidently do not use hinges either! He went to Ace Hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, RV Dealer and even a Cabinet Shop and no one could help him. Oh well, I guess this is a project for when we get home.

When Larry got home, we went over to Old Chicago for a salad and we split a calzone. Had our beer, of course, to help the flavor!!! We came home and I was really tired. I went to bed and read for awhile but we really ready quite tired tonight. Guess I actually did some work today, which is rare!!

Thursday March 24, 2011

The only two completed painting from my classes In Arizona

Today was my last painting class because we are leaving the resort next Thursday. We painted a fall wooded scene. Trees are not my best talent when it comes to painting but they actually turned out pretty good. Pat had us paint fall leaves but in the mix was green leaves as well. I'm not pleased with the green leaves so this painting will go onto my re-work pile when I get home. I think I have five now that needs work on them when I get a chance at home. When we were finished, I mentioned that it reminded me of Larry's deer property so she started pulling out books and magazines trying to find a deer as she wanted me to paint one standing in the woods. Well with all her effort AND mine--the deer came out looking like a big husky dog!@!#! Sherry who normally paints with theTuesday class, painted a deer in her's and it was absolutely beautiful. Sherry is really a wonderful artist! Her paintings are so far above any of the others, it's amazing! I told her I have wanted to take a drawing class and she told me that she has taken drawing classes and many painting classes. She told me the drawing class would really help me with painting. So another item on my 'bucket list'. When I brought my painting home, Larry was kind enough not to laugh out loud at my deer! I immediately brushed it out of my painting and will repair the mess at a later date!

We went to Native New Yorker tonight. I had my normal wings but Larry had a small pizza. Saw Diane, who is normally our waitress. She is such a sweetheart. She is a college student and is from Las Vegas. The wings were wonderful as well as the beer! I started talking to a guy at the bar and he was with his brother and son. His son just got home from Afghanistan and will only be home a short while and will return again. His name was John and his dad was Mike and Mike's brother's name was Michael. I told him it sounded like Darrell and Darrell. He explained to me that Michael was his middle name but always goes by Mike. His brother's first name is Michael so that is what he uses for his name. Mike also told me he has another son that is also going to be sent to Afghanistan. Anyway, we bought John a beer and I told him thanks for fighting for our country. He was such a sweet and cute guy.

Friday March 25, 2011

The Painting group lunch at Los Gringos(Pat, my teacher is above in sunglasses)

The Tuesday and Thursday painting class had lunch down in Apache Junction at Los Gringos. Pat sat across from me and she told me she loves their chicken and spinach enchilada. It sounded good to me so I had it as well. It was very good and I would probably order it again. We all sat out on the patio and the day was beautiful except for being just a little cool with the wind. We were not there long and our tables ended up in the shade so the waiter lite the patio heaters. They made a big difference and provided enough heat that we were all comfortable. I sat next to Sharon and Connie, who are friends and both from New York State. They and their husbands travel together a lot and traveled here together. They normally paint on Tuesday but Sharon painted with us this week on Thursday. I had meet both of them at the Residence Craft Fair a few weeks ago. I like both of them and Connie is very funny when she talks. Sharon told me that instead of having a state by state social next year, they had already scheduled an East Coast Social, which is going to include everyone east of Iowa. There are not very many people east of Iowa here in the park so this will work out much better to just combine the social. Sharon told me the date and time so I wrote it in my calendar for next year.

After the luncheon, we ran errands to pick up groceries and whatever as Taylor, Kyle and Morgan will fly in tomorrow.

Saturday March 26, 2011

I bought some things at Kohl's yesterday, one being some underwear for Morgan since her mom forgot to pack them. Taylor has been washing out Morgan's underwear while they have been in Utah skiing. I couldn't decided when I bought them what size to get as Morgan is so tiny. I bought size 4 and Taylor said when I talked to her that she actually thought the 6 would be better. I ran over to Kohl's to exchange and also when we got our mail this morning, their was a 30% coupon in the mail from Kohl's so I took everything I bought yesterday and they refunded and recalculated with the 30% off coupon. I ended up getting Morgan two packages of underwear and still saved about $18 so was worth the trip.

When I got home, Larry had washed the  motor home and was rearranging everything underneath in the storage area. Taylor sent me a message that they were arriving at 4:20 so Larry got his shower and we had to leave for the airport to pick them up. We were almost to the terminal when she sent a message saying they had landed. I went in to the baggage area to find them and it took a long time for them to get there and longer yet for the luggage to arrive. We finally got it all and Kyle said he had rented a car so he and Taylor loaded a few things into our car and they went to get the rental. Morgan road home with us and talked the entire trip.

Kyle and Taylor got back to the motor home without a problem. We hauled some of their luggage in but not much room for extra items here so most of it was left in the rental car. We went to  a really wonderful small Italian restaurant down a few blocks in Mesa to eat. It was wonderful food and everyone was pleased with their meal. Morgan actually ate ravioli and finished the entire meal.  By the time we got home everyone was pretty tired. We talked for awhile and hit the bed. Taylor is suppose to go with Kyle tomorrow morning to Tuscon. He is going to Tuscon to see a couple of his club members who have winter homes there. They will be playing golf tomorrow and Monday and then be back to Mesa Monday afternoon.

Sunday March 27, 2011

Grandma's Mermaid

Kyle got ready to  go to Tuscon and told Taylor she didn't need to go with him. He said there would not be that much for her to do except visit with the wives. I was so happy that he told her to stay here, otherwise, we would not have had much time with her. After Kyle left, we decided to go to The Village Inn for breakfast. Morgan was not too happy that we didn't immediately grab our swimsuits and head to the pool first thing, as that is all she talked about when she woke up. We came home from breakfast and got ready to go swim. I think we went up to the pool by 12:00 and were there until almost 6:00 today. What a long day but Morgan had a great time as she met two girls from Minnesota that were here visiting their grandparents. The three of them played in the pool all afternoon. Larry was kind enough to bring us some snacks during the afternoon so at least we didn't starve on our long afternoon. We finally made Morgan get out and when we came back home, she was beat. She laid  down on the love seat and immediately went to sleep. While she took a nap, the rest of us got showers and dressed to go eat.

We decided since Kyle was gone, we'd go for seafood. Kyle does not like seafood so when he is gone we usually take advantage of  it. We all had crab and Larry and I also had shrimp scampi. Morgan ate some crab but also had her main course meal of Mac and Cheese. She lives on Mac and Cheese as does Addy.

Taylor talked to Cindy (grandma Bauer) and they drove up to Brandon's, Kyle's brother on Saturday  to help him and Kristina on a home project. Cindy and Jim are keeping Addy while everyone is out here. Brandon only lives about 25 miles from Taylor and Kyle so Cindy and Jim went to Taylor's to spend the night as Brandon has a small house. Cindy said Addison was pretty upset when they got to Taylor's and found no one home. She had to talk to her and explain that mom, dad and Morgan were in Arizona seeing grandma and grandpa Stafford. I guess Addison got over the disappointment.  It must have been really a downer for her as I'm sure she is missing everyone.

Monday March 28, 2011

The first thing this morning was 'Lets go swim'!!! This, of course, would be the first words out of Morgan's mouth. Taylor and Morgan both got a lot of sun yesterday. Morgan's face looks like a lobster! I made her put some night cream on it last night before bed but it still looks plenty red this morning. We had something to eat and headed to the pool. Morgan was really bummed because there were no young kids there today. The little girls from Minnesota told us they were going to he zoo today so we were not expecting to see them. There have been  so many kids here the past few weeks that I was surprised there were none her age in the pool today. Anyway she was pretty bored to not have anyone to play with. Taylor and I spent some time in the water playing with Morgan but got out to relax some so then she was bored and started to get a little nasty with us. I think the main issue was she was tired. We ended up staying until around 5:00 today so another long day in the sun. We kept putting heavy sun screen on Morgan's face but she still was terribly red.

We came home and sat outside and had a beer and talked, then I came in and got a shower as my skin looked like a snake from the chlorine. My skin and hair had taken a beating with the dry heat and sun. Kyle came home around 6:00 and when everyone else got their shower, we went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Larry and I have never been there since we've been coming to Arizona. Paul, our next door neighbor, came over to chat a minute so I asked him if I could show Taylor the baseball guy Paul is carving for me. We all walked over to his carving shed and he showed us the ball player and several other carvings he has either completed or working on. He is an amazing carver and he is 86 years old. You would never guess his age as he is on the go constantly. We asked Paul about the restaurant and he said it was very good.

When we arrived and looked at the menu, it was like I was in a foreign country. Nothing sounded like anything I had ever heard of, except maybe the Pita's. Taylor and I each got a different item--which I have no idea what it they were called on the menu. When we got our food, everyone was pleased. Mine was some type of spinach and  Feta cheese in a flaky pastry. Her's was hamburger and some other cheeses, I think and also had some type of pastry covering it. We all had lemon potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and rice. The potatoes were like small potatoes with the skins in a lemon and maybe olive oil and quite different. Larry got something like a pita but had lots of meat but not like a pita pocket. Not sure exactly what all but he had the same sides as Taylor and I. Kyle did not eat since he just ate with his friends before leaving Tucson, so he just had a beer. Morgan--can you guess what she had---Yep---Mac and Cheese! All in all, the meals were good but not something I would eat every week.

We came home and Taylor did a load of laundry and tried to pack as they are flying home tomorrow morning. Kyle and Morgan both went to bed and Taylor, Larry and I stayed up for awhile and talked.

Tuesday March 29, 2011.

Kyle, Taylor and Morgan got up about 3:45am to make their 5:30 flight. Wow they are going to be very tired and they are planning on Morgan going into to school at noon so she does not miss the full day. I'm sure she probably will sleep on the plane. Larry and I went back to bed but it took a long time for me to go to sleep. I always feel anxious when my family is flying, until I hear they arrived safe. I did fall asleep for awhile and the phone rang at about 6:45 and woke us up. It was Larry's insurance company with some questions or whatever. Since we are two hours behind Illinois, we get lots of EARLY calls.

We got up and cleaned awhile and I started laundry. I always have tons of  laundry with sheets and towels after we have visitors. I changed cloths and went to Sally's Beauty Supply to get hair color. My hair bleaches out so bad when I'm in the sun and the last color I had just did not color well. I wanted to find out what I could use to put some color back in my hair so they basically told me to use the same colors(I mix two) and use more of the darker color in the mixture. I bought more color as I was almost out, and picked up a few other things I needed. I headed over to the Patio Store since it was just across the parking lot and bought some connectors for the water noodles. All the people here use them and it connects the two ends of the noodle so you can put it around your waste in the pool. I have not found them any place else and some of the women told me to buy them at the Patio Store. After I picked them up I ran down to Walgreen's to get my prescriptions and some different allergy medication that the Pharmacist had suggested since the Allegra doesn't seem to be doing the job. The medication I bought is one you have to sign for but is still an OTC drug.

Larry got a call from Taylor saying they got home but forgot to tell me!@! I sent her a message t see if they made it ok and then he told me she called. Can always depend on receiving messages when Larry is involved--NOT!!!

Came home and Larry ran over to the mall to get his hair cut. I stayed home and worked on the laundry  and I also had a few items I wanted to press.  When he came home he sat outside and read and I later joined him and we had a couple of beer. Talked to our Canadian neighbors awhile and they are leaving on Friday. We plan to leave for Las Vegas on Thursday so Larry also spent some time today trying to pack up some things from outside, our grill, extra chairs and the table outside. We pretty much have everything ready to go. The bicycles will go on the ladder of motor home tomorrow night and a few little last minute items. I feel somewhat sorry for the people here in the park who are trying to prepare their park models to leave. It seems they have been working on them for the past week. Cleaning up the yards and the items they are either packing for home or discarding. He Pat and She Pat across the street have worked on trimming their trees and cactus and cleaning outside for several days trying to prepare to leave.

Art Stafford called just before we were leaving to get dinner. He, Lori and Jayden are in Maricopia, AZ, which is just about 30 miles south of Mesa. They are visiting friends or some of Lori's family, Larry couldn't remember what he said. Sounds like they are having a good time but are leaving for Peoria tomorrow.

We headed over to Native New Yorker for out last 'wing night' before we leave. When we walked into the bar, it was packed with no where to set. We stood there for awhile and Diane, our favorite waitress, came over and got us two MGD's to work on while we waited for a table. We didn't have to wait too long as there were 3 or 4 tables getting ready to leave. We had our wings and beer and said goodbye to a couple of the waitstaff that we really like. I gave Diane a hug and told her bye. She is such a sweetie. Told her she was welcome to ride to Vegas with us Thursday and she laughed and said how she wished she could.

Wednesday March 30, 2011

The phone woke us up again this morning before 7:00am  Guess we are no longer retired as we seem to keep getting up much earlier than most retirees. Don't even know who called this morning as I didn't get the phone in time and didn't recognize the number. Now that our home phone rings into the motor home, we are back to getting all the junk calls.

Prickley Pears in bloom at Silveridge
We read the paper and went for a bike ride around the park. The prickly pear cactus are so beautiful right now. They all have beautiful pink blooms galore. As I said, the residence are cleaning and packing and I think by next Monday, there were be few left here at Silveridge. I'm sure the valley residence will be more than thrilled for the old people to leave town--that is all but the business owners who have to hurt somewhat when we all leave.

Got an email from Char this morning wanting to know if we could have breakfast tomorrow morning before be pull out tomorrow morning. She has had meetings this week so no chance to have dinner with us. I told her I would ask the 'King of the Motor Home' but I doubted he'd want to wait around.

The past few mornings my eyes have been burning and itching--even though I have been taking allergy medication for the past month. Today I am going to the pharmacy to get some allergy drops for my eyes as I cannot stand it another minute. Even with all the medications I have been taking for the last two months, I am still having issues with the allergies as I cough, sneeze and blow my nose constantly. At times my voice is fine but most times it's raspy or I go to talk and nothing comes out. I am hoping that when I get back to Illinois, the allergy thing will go away. Never know what is triggering it but right now it is really a bad time here for allergies. Seems a lot of other people I talk to are having some of the same problems.

We didn't do a lot today except I did pick up some allergy eye drops and we also bought a few grocery items to last us till we get to Las Vegas. It was pretty hot today and when we came back home from our shopping, we both ended up laying down for a short nap. It's been awhile since I've taken a nap but it seems the last two or three days I have been lacking on sleep.

Saw She-Pat outside tonight so went over to say goodbye. She and her husband who I call He-Pat(since both their names are Pat) are leaving on Friday. They have their truck packed to the point they can not see out the back window. They are from Washington State and very nice people. I also went over to Lora and Paul's to say goodbye. Paul was in his shed carving on the birds that he is doing for his granddaughter. I talked to he and Lora for awhile and Larry came by walking back from the clubhouse so he also stopped and talked. They are also wonderful people and I will miss Lora with all of her quiet little questions about what we do each day. Anyway we went to get dinner and came home and I hate to say it but after my cup of coffee, I am heading to bed.

It has been a nice three months,. The weather has been close to perfect but today and the rest of the week the prediction is for the high 90's with Friday calling for 100. I think it is time for us to exit from Arizona for cooler (I'm afraid Illinois will be much cooler) weather. We will leave tomorrow for Las Vegas to meet Leslie and Pete and from what I saw on the weather, they too will have very hot weather. Since I am NOT a hot weather person, the next six days may take me over the edge!

Monday March 21 - Tuesday March 22, 2011

Monday March 21, 2011

What a LOUSY day here! It has rained all night and is still raining today. I shouldn't complain as there are FEW days in Arizona that it rains.

I went to get a hair cut this afternoon and Larry went along. We stopped at Sonic for a quick lunch and I can't begin to tell you how BAD it was. This is the second time we have eat at Sonic and probably the last. We just got chilli cheese dogs and the frickin hot dogs were cold. How hard is it to heat a hot dog. Should have just done that at home and saved the money as it was really bad. The first time we ate at Sonic was the first year we came to Arizona. We drove over to Apache Trail to look around one day and stopped at Sonic down there. We sat outside and froze to death!!! The wind was blowing and the temperature was pretty cool. If I recall the food was not good even then. We have a short memory ---ON MANY THINGS!

After my hair cut, I walked over to Frye's grocery to find Larry. He went over to find him a book while I was at the salon. By the time I got there, my hair was dripping down my back because the rain just won't let up. What a nasty day!!! I found him and we picked up a few things and came home.

Larry dropped me off and took the car back to Mitsibushi. It seems since they worked on the inside lights last week that we now have a picture of a battery lite on the dash. He was gone a long time and when he came home, he was driving a red Hundi. I knew right away that was bad news. He said they checked out my car and said the alternator was going bad so they had to order a part from Atlanta, GA. I can't imagine with the size of this area they had to order a part from Georgia!!! They told him, hopefully, the part would be in on Friday. I then thought if it is not in and fixed on Friday, there is no way we will have room in this little toy car to pick up Taylor, Kyle and Morgan from the airport on Saturday. Guess we'll figure that out on Friday. The good news is the alternator repair is covered by my warranty and the car rental is covered by our insurance. I guess I'm glad it happened here but I just think it is a little odd that all was well before we took it to have the lights fixed. Isn't it strange how repair services seem to fix one thing and something immediately goes wrong?!@??

Tuesday March 22, 2011

We took a long bike ride around the resort this morning and the weather is near perfect today after our rain yesterday. While riding this morning, I noticed the prickly pear cactus are blooming. Most of them are a beautiful pink flower, however, there are a very few that have yellow blooms. Last year about the time we left for home, almost all the different cactus were blooming. I doubt we see the other varieties in bloom before we leave this time.

We came home from our ride and sat outside for awhile. Lora, our next door neighbor, came out to fill her bird feeder. We talked for a long time and she told me they were having problems with their van starting. I noticed about two weeks ago a tow truck came out to get it and evidently it decided to start before they loaded it. She said Paul had taken it several times to the dealership and they could not find a problem. She came out to start it last week when she went to get her hair done and it failed to start again. I guess the dealer finally thinks they have it fixed now but she is worried they will have problems when they leave for home. It is amazing that they are 84 and 86 years old and drive from Minnesota every year. They are really great people!

Larry was outside talking to the neighbor so I came in and got my shower and went to Kohl's. I had a $10 Kohl's bucks that I HAD to spend. I went over and looked for the little girls first but didn't find much so I ended up buying myself two tops that were on sale. I went over to Ross's and looked and found another top I liked over there--the great part is---all 3 tops cost me less than $20. I think I'm becoming as CHEAP as my spouse!!!

When I came home, Larry was still 'putzing' around outside. I figured he would be pacing waiting for me to get home to go get lunch. He came in and cleaned up and we left to find something to eat. He mentioned Sweet Tomatoes, which surprised me greatly! When we are at Taylor's house we are always wanting him to go to Sweet Tomatoes and he says there's no way he can eat just salad----OH PLEASE!!! Anyway, I looked up on my phone to find the closest Sweet Tomatoes and keyed the address into the 'navigator' and two times it took us to an intersection quite a distance out of Gilbert and kept saying it was on the corner but there was clearly NOT a restaurant there. Anyway we gave up and came back to Mesa and ate again at Coco's. I again had the Shrimp Alfredo and it was really good.

After eating, I had Larry stop at Micheal's as they had canvas's on sale this week. Of course when I got inside, they were sold out. The cashier called another store and found they had them so we drove up to the Michael's on Power and McKellips so I could get them. If they had not been so cheap, I would have skipped it but was worth the drive. While I was in Michael's, Larry went to Pets Mart and picked up cat food. We drove back to Main Street and Larry decided to stop at some of the liquor stores to try to find Old Style Beer. He went to three stores and none of them had ever heard of Old Style--will that was a surprise--NOT! They DO serve it at Hohokam Park when we go to the Cub games so they must ship it in from somewhere--ILLINOIS Possibly?? Illinois is probably the only place that know what it is!

On our way home, Jenny Allison called. She is a good friend of Leslie's who live in Chandler, AZ, which is about 15 miles from us. We normally get together with them while we are here and when we arrived, I called and left a voice mail to tell them we were here. They did not call back and I forgot to call her. When she called she was so upset that she had forgot to get back with us and said she was going to check with Marty, her husband, to see if we could get together on Friday night. I would like to see their little girl, Sammi, as she is such a sweetie. She will be four in May and I found out through Marty's Facebook that they are expecting again. Jenny said she is due in July. I CANNOT imagine how miserable it would be to be pregnant here in the months of June and July. She said she was not looking forward to going through the heat but had been feeling good lately and they are having another girl. I'm not sure how pleased Samantha will be about a sister as she has been the only grandchild in both Marty and Jenny's family. Marty is an only child and Jenny's brother's are older and not married so chances are Jenny's girls will be the only ones. Sammi is sweet but of course she is spoiled so will be interesting as to how she handles a sister.