Having a BLAST at Lake Havasu!

There are two things that really bring out the "little kid" in me, and that is Christmas lights and Fireworks!  I never get tired of seeing either one of them (just ask my family!)  So, when I read a flyer that Lake Havasu was having their annual "Winter Blast Pyro Party" I knew I had to go!  We belong to our resort's RV Club and they like to put rallies together for interesting places and things, so I thought I would give it a try and sign up to be a "Wagon Master" and see who all would be interested in joining me for a few days.  The Winter Blast was for a whole week, but I had commitments so could only go for 4 days.  I thought maybe I would get 5 or 6 rigs interested...it turned out I'm not the only one who loves fireworks!  15 other couples do too!  Actually, we would even have had more, but quite a few said their dogs didn't...so, had to pass it up.

What fun we all had!  We lucked out with great weather (clear, and in the mid 70's) with beautiful sun rises and sun sets every day.  We started out with a welcome pot luck and of course had a ton of wonderful food, and a nice wood fire to sit and chat around before we wandered off to see the fireworks.  

During the daytime many enjoyed going into town to see the London Bridge and or hike the various area.  We, along with others checked out the local History Museum.  It was fun seeing how Lake Havasu got it's start.  Quite a marketing plan...flying people in from snow-filled states in the middle of winter to show them "sunny & warm" Arizona! 

 Each night we were treated to a different live band, then followed by hours of fun-filled fireworks.  You could see them from anywhere, but the best seats were in the bleachers (we camped at the rodeo grounds).  

Our final night dwindled down to half the group as many had to leave early due to various commitments, but that didn't stop the rest of us from enjoying one last dinner together and a nice campfire that we all decided to stay around and watch the last fireworks from there...all comfy together.  

 

A simple rally, only 3 hours away, but packed with loads of fun and friendship!  What a BLAST!

...sitting back in Arizona,  Marie

Family Time, Texas Style...

Our visit to my son's, as always was short and sweet.  My grandson's are growing up fast!  A one and four year old keep Mom and Dad busy, busy busy!  I had to laugh at how much the youngest reminded me of my son, always into things, climbing and undoing things faster than Mom or Dad can "do" them or get him down again!  He even has curls just like his Dad did.  The oldest looks and acts a lot like Mom, and the youngest looks and acts like Dad, so cute.

We played in Lake Lavon, which their home is right on the edge of, had a wonderful night of fireworks on the 4th with friends, took the little ones to the park to play in the water and each day checked to see if their dog Sadie was going to have her pups (she waited until I left, and had them that day!).

We introduced them to Freddy's Frozen Custard, Yum, and we enjoyed many hours of playtime and stories together.

Jack and I did escape one afternoon to go visit the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum in Greenville TX and then take in a movie afterward.  The museum was quite nice and very informative.  It's always fun to learn about things you don't grow up around like cotton farming.  It was a booming business for many years for Greenville.  Audie Murphy was also quite a hero.  I had heard of his name before, but never really thought much about him.  I knew he did western movies, but didn't really know that he was such a war hero.  Reading about his military career, and how he won every metal there was, was quite impressive, especially for someone so young and so small (barely 5'8" and 110 lbs).

While we were at my son's I received some sad news.  My middle sister passed away.  She had been battling leukemia for the past year and we knew she was on borrowed time, but we thought she had a few more months.  Our plans were to see her one last time in just a couple of weeks, as we knew things were getting worse.  Now all that's changed.  She didn't want a funeral, but her daughters do want to have a Celebration of Life, but later, in a month or so.

So, we've adjusted our route, once again.  We won't be heading to Louisiana after all, but making a slow loop northward toward Washington via Oklahoma, the Dakotas, and Montana...maybe.  "Flexibility" is our middle name...;-)  Follow along and see where we end up, your guess is as good as ours right now...

...on the road in Texas,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Celebrating "America's Freedom" in Style!

The South celebrates Independence Day, for days!  Fireworks are sold on every corner, and it seems like everyone shoots them off, everywhere, all night, for days, as well!  Evidently, as well, Nashville is suppose to be one of the top three cities in the country for their fireworks displays on the 4th, so you can imagine our dilemma when we were trying to choose between going downtown to see "the big fireworks" and going to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Oak Ridge Boys preform!  Since our campground was hosting a dinner, singer and fireworks the night before, and the park nearby was having fireworks and picnic festivities the night after, we opted to go to the Opry and see the Oak Ridge Boys!  After all, how often would we get chance to see them sing "Elvira" live again?

Greg & Cindy Hill preforming at our campground cookout

We were staying a little outside of Nashville at the North Nashville KOA, and they have a great service of selling great "front of the house" tickets that include a mini-bus ride to the Opry, which is nice, so you don't have to navigate and deal with all the 4th of July drivers trying to get to & from their festivities, plus trying to figure out where the heck you are going!

We were the furthest stop out, so the driver picked us up first, then had a couple more stops to pick up a few other folks along the way.  One couple was a grandmother and her 13 year old grandson from Scotland here for him to attend a special two week vocal school and cut a CD.  "Wow, Nashville really is the Music City, if folks come here all the way from Scotland" I thought...

Watching the Opry was a hoot!  If you've never seen it, it's "done" in 30 minute segments (for TV) and each "main attraction" does about two songs, then the other entertainers fill in around them.  Each segment has a different host as well.  The audience also gets to hear the "ads" as the curtain comes down/up while the stage is being changed for the next act.  They do four shows, which equals the two hours we are there.  Very entertaining!  All through the night, being it was Independence Day, everyone sang songs that were quite patriotic, many I had never heard before, and being "country", brought tears to my eyes. 
Of course the Oak Ridge Boys were on last, and of course they too started us off right, and had us all sing the Star Spangled Banner with them (how cool was that?), then, "Elvira"!  Yea!  And...of course, it played in my head for days!

Richard Sterban,  The Oakridge Boys at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville TN

Joe Bonsall, The Oakridge Boys at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville TN

William & Richard, The Oakridge Boys at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville TN

As we began our drive back, several of the folks commented on the fireworks going on downtown and if we would be able to see them en route at all?  Well, our driver, being a sweetheart, as he crossed over a bridge, saw that several other cars were parked there, turned and asked us if we were in a hurry to get back home, none of us were, so he parked and we sat and watched the last 30 minutes of some of the best fireworks ever!  What great seats we had too!  Up high, comfy seats, air conditioning, no smoke and we didn't even have to worry about parking or traffic afterwards!  How lucky can a person get?

The following night, we didn't even need to go to the park down the street, as we could see them from our rig where we were at!  The only "downside" was that one of the enthusiasts in the campground shot his off until about 1AM...I thought that was carrying it a bit far...Buy, hey, what a great country we live in, right?

...kicking back in Nashville TN,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/