A Week in Washington - November 11, 2014

Tuesday, Nov 4, Donna and I drove to Las Vegas, parked at the Hampton Inn near McCarran International Airport, and hopped an Alaskan flight to Seattle. This trip had been in the works for a year. Last November, we were all ready to fly to Seattle and be present for the birth of our grandson Ryker. A broken foot killed those plans. We decided to be there for his 1st birthday (and to see the rest of the family).

We got up at 3:30AM and made the 105 mile trip in the dark early morning hours. Not much traffic at that hour, thats for sure. Got to our parking spot and made the 5 AM shuttle to the airport. The security check-in wasn't too bad either.

After a 2 hour flight on Alaskan Airlines, we landed at the Pacific Northwest's rainy Sea-tac Airport. Our son Tim was there to pick us up. Back to his house we went.

It was good to see the grandsons Rome and Ryker after just 3.5 months.

Us and Rome.

Us and Ryker.

Our oldest daughter, Candy drove up from Vancouver. We all got together and opened a couple of gifts for Ry.

We then took a trip over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth, WA, the Bavarian Village. We stayed at the Fairbridge Inn. Our youngest daughter, Kim drove up from Pasco.

And Erik (grandson)

and Oli (great grandson)

came over from Wenatchee as well.

Kim was working and had to go back, but the 6 of us spent the night there. We had a busy evening.

A walk around town.

Can you tell it is Fall?

Leavenworth is getting ready for Christmas too.

The boys sure got along great.

Candy & the boys.

Visiting the Hat Shoppe.

What a day..... and night.

Then back to Mill Creek (Tim & Shannon's house) and Donna and Rome made a couple of pumpkin pies.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner. Yum, yum.

Shannon's Dad, Scott,  came over and we had a '1st' birthday party for Ryker. He got lots of goodies and we all had a great time.

Here is Rome doing his 'photo bomb' thing.

Cute!

Later Ry had his 1st birthday cake. What fun that was!

While visiting, we got to watch the boys while Tim & Shannon took off for a few 'date nights'. They are easy to watch and very well behaved. We played 'Transformers'.

On Tuesday, Veterans Day, we flew back to Arizona and our home on wheels. We did stop off at Costco in Las Vegas and picked up a few things.

A toast to all our Veterans.....

A great trip, good visiting family, but also good to be home.

Monster Trucks, BBQ, & Car Shows - Fort Mohave, AZ - November 3, 2014

The snowbirds are coming in everyday now. We have met some from as far as Minnesota and Canada. This is a pretty big park and it will be almost full soon.

Still a lot of time spent at Gene & Cyndi's house. No real news to report there.

I finished my installation of our new Reverse OsmOsis water system. It wasn't too bad at all. The hardest part was working in the cramped area under the sink. Then turning it up and checking for leaks. I only had to re-tightnen one connection.

Here is the new water faucet.

It is nice that it all fits under the sink.

Now the water does taste a little flat, but not bad at all. We fill our drinking bottles and even make ice cubes with it.

So Rumble Bunny has been watching the Food Network channel.

Lots of activity out back of our rig. Probably because I have a bird feeder hanging there. LOL

My sister Karen and her husband Cliff are still here parked next to us. They ended up extending their 3 day stay here to 10 days. We have done quite a few things together with them during their stay.

Here we are at the car show located at the Riverside Casino.

Nice collection.

Then we picked up Mitch (Cyndi's brother) and we all went to the 'Smoke On The Water' National BBQ Championship event at the Riverside in Laughlin.

There were teams from all over the country, vendor booths selling yummy stuff, and live bands. There were grilling demonstrations going on with free sampling. We listened to their secret cooking recipes and methods.

The samples were very good.... the free margaritas were too!

Looks like the style of aprons that Donna makes.

They gave out $110,000.00 in prize money and the winning team gets a new 2015 Camaro.

'Smoke On The Water' was a good name because it did really smell good there.

Then we all went over to the Avi Casino for a Monster Truck Extravaganza. Besides the 4 monster trucks jumping and smashing cars, there were extreme motorcycle jumps and tricks. Also a fire truck that had a jet engine in it that would melt an old clunker van behind it. Even some of the locals were there tearing up their trucks.

Then yesterday, I decided to do some serious hair trimming. Even though it is 'No Shave November', I decided to do something different this year.

Yes, It was getting a little 'hairy'.

And finally.... Ta Da!

 

 

Much better I think!

And my sister, Karen (and Cliff) just left.

 

 

 

We had a good visit, and I'm sure we'll see them down the road.

One more thing that I got accomplished, was to get our forms and paperwork together and sent off to Polk County, Texas for our vehicle registration and license plates. I filled out 3 forms for the truck, and those same 3 forms plus another one for the RV. Then copies of current registrations, proof of sales tax paid, insurance, ID, photos, weight labels, Escapees Mail address on everything.

 

It was $429 this time, but only $249 per year after that. Cheaper than the $319 we paid in South Dakota.

 

All this so we can get decent full time RVers health insurance through the ACA website.

After a quick flight to Washington to see some family, we are planning to spend Thanksgiving here in Fort Mohave, AZ. Then most of December in Southern California and January in Quartzsite.

 

Jello....