February-March 2018 (04-11-18)

As I sat down to finally put this blog post together, several issues got in my way.  Paul and I recently bought a new computer, and we don’t plan on continuing to use the old one, so we moved “everything” to the new one. But, being busy having so much fun, the process took a very long time and got messed up along the way.  Some pictures are on the old PC, some on the new-some got plain lost. Plus, the software I use to create the blog doesn’t seem to play nice on my new computer so for this post I am using the old one. Ugh.  Add to that the fact that I have my first cold in 10 years, and I am really not in the mood.  But, it has to get written, so here:




February brought another flurry of activities, including several trips to the Desert Bar. We took the Teryx most times, but when there were too many people, we also took the Jeep.












Liz and Randy and I finally got around to hiking SARA’s Crack..













The view of the lake at the end always makes it worth the 5 mile trip!

The weekend of the annual fireworks show brought brand new visitors to the PPP.  Al and Debbie are friends who we know from Michigan. Paul worked with Al at Ford, and I worked, coincidently, with one of Debbie’s best friends. The Rockers recently retired, and towed their trailer to the southwest to avoid some of the Michigan winter.

We loved showing Al and Debbie around town, and Debbie’s cousin also came to Havasu that week- so much fun!

With my cousin Linda in town for the fireworks, we had quite the blast at the “Winter Blast”. Paul and I had decided to park our truck camper at the show arena so we could all eat a leisurely dinner and then sit back and wait for the show. It worked out very well!

It’s usually pretty decent, and this year was no exception.

After that flurry of activity, things settled down a little and Paul continued his work on the fence/solar project.

Once the fence was moved, he installed solar collectors for the pool water. I think he would say the hardest part was digging the trench for the pipe to go through.  He can now partially bypass the electric heat pump and use solar energy to heat the pool water.  In fact, for the last few days we have shut the electric off and have been successful at maintaining the pool temp with strictly solar.

In Mid March our son Stephen came to visit from Boston! This is his first time seeing the house. The last time he was here was just after we bought the lot.

The weather was too cool to swim but we were able to show him around the desert on the Teryx.






On one of the warmer days we rented a boat for all of us and took the Jet ski and boat out on the lake for the day.












We have all owned boats in the past, so the guys enjoyed taking turns driving.

Stephen’s thrill, however, was the jet ski…we rounded a corner on the boat, looking behind us for him on the jet ski….and about 5 seconds later he rounded the corner and blew by us at 67 mph!

I had so much fun just watching him- because personally I have no desire to go 67 mph on a jet ski!

Way, way too soon, it was time for Stephen to leave.












And a very short time later, we were having our last dinner as a group, before everyone left for their summer destinations.













Boy, did it get quiet fast!  Dozer missed all the attention so much he started finding new ways to get some!

You know what happens when people get bored?

Lake Havasu City (02-14-15)

Last year we came to Lake Havasu with some friends to see the fireworks show, and we had so much fun we decided to repeat it again this year-but this time we are staying a lot longer- we’ll be here for almost two months, enjoying the warm weather and the lake. 
Our first week was spent at the state park, which is on the lake.  We did a little hiking and decided not to put the boat in the water, since we are going to spend 6 weeks at a resort and we’ll be able to keep it the lake the whole time. Instead, we just bummed around and waited for our friends to show up.

One afternoon we heard a very loud droning noise and went outside to see a flyover of a bunch of small planes.  We have no idea why they were doing it, but there is always something going on in this town, it seems like.

Of course, Lake Havasu City is home to the famous London Bridge, and there are many restaurants along the shoreline with great views of the bridge and lake.

The best way to enjoy the lake is to be on it in a boat!  With temperatures in the mid 80s, we all decided that boating sounded awesome, so we rented two boats for the day.

It was a little chilly in the morning but that didn't keep the grins off our faces….

The lake is gorgeous and has lots of places for us to pull off and relax on shore.

There are plenty of canyons to explore too..

 

We were pretty glad we didn't rent a pontoon boat, as we were able to zip around to our heart’s content…

When it was time for lunch we beached the boats at one of the many picnic areas along the shoreline….

We took the opportunity to stretch our legs and show off our goofiness…

   

Julie and I “coincidentally” both wore the shirts we bought in Quartzsite…

       

and when the time was right- we showed them off to our fellow boaters. 

We did manage to get quite a laugh…

Eventually it warmed up and some of us even braved the cold water to go for a (very short) swim.

We finished the day with Quesadillas and margaritas back at the rigs and were so tuckered out that many of us barely showed our faces the next day.

We actually ended up eating most of our dinners as a group, which is a little unusual, but we were having such a good time it seemed really easy to combine forces and come up with a smorgasbord of food with a little something for everyone. We treated ourselves to one dinner out, at the Barley Brothers Brewery, and even with such a large party, we had the best service we've seen in a restaurant in a long time.  We all had good food and a great time.

Eventually we got to see the fireworks that we came here for……

 

 

They definitely had some new stuff this year, including some that were time delayed in such a way that it appeared that a circle was being drawn in the sky..

 

and many of them seemed to have one display within another.

We really enjoy this show but it can get a little frustrating.  Its not a well orchestrated “show” – there are many fits and starts and sometimes a 40 minute gap between the displays, but being parked on the grounds in our RVs makes it worthwhile.



Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye as one by one we left on our journey to our next destination. 





Paul and I didn't have far to go- about 4 miles down the road to the state park.  We’ll spend one night here before moving to a resort for 6 weeks.


I am pretty excited because on Saturday, my brother Ray and his wife Dawn will arrive for a week.

 Come to think of it though, they may be even more excited than me….they live in Boston and have had 5 feet of snow dumped on them in the last few weeks. 




Add wind chills of 25 degrees below zero and I bet they will be pretty darn happy to get out of town for a while. 

Yes, More Lake Havasu (02-18-14)

  Yes, yes, I know that a week has passed since we were in Lake Havasu City, but I wanted to post some of this information.  Our final hike in the area was to a mine..of course. Just getting to the trailhead involved driving off road for several miles. Our truck, and it’s driver, like to drive off road.

I took this picture a few weeks ago, near Quartzsite, on one of our other off road adventures.

So, once we dropped the truck off,, we headed to Iron Gate Mine.  We weren't really sure what they were  mining for, but it was a decent hike to get there, so we enjoyed it. Total hike- about 6 miles with almost 1000 feet of elevation gain.

Once we reached the entrance, Paul walked to the back of the mine- about 600 feet or so, and I waited for him outside, just the way I like it!

That night was the final night of fireworks.  The moon decided to join the competition, and I must say, it was a worthy competitor.

Some of the displays were really unique and different.  The brightness on the ground that looks like a fire- well, it IS a fire, and several times they had to delay the display in order to put out the ground fires.

Sometimes it seemed that the fires were started because  they couldn't quite reach the height they were looking for and the explosion would take place too close to the ground- like in this picture.








It was all great though, and since we had no where to go, we could relax and wait for the show to start back up again:


    
























From Lake Havasu we headed to Mesa Arizona.  We spent 3 days dusting the rig and going to dentist and doctor appointments. We both got a clean bill of health and need no dental work so we get to relax for a while.

A few days after we arrived, my brother Ray and sister-in-law Dawn flew in for a visit.  Dozer wasted no time staking out his spot on Ray’s lap.

More on that some other time…..