Golden Sun RV Park, Apache Junction AZ 12/6-20/2013; Travis', Gilbert AZ 12/20-1/1/2014

 

Golden Sun RV Park, Apache Junction AZ  12/6-20/2014

Golden Sun is the Encore park we usually stay in at least once a year.  They let us Thousand Trails members stay in it for only $3.00 a night.  Can't beat that--and it is a really nice park.

 

Time to start putting up a few Christmas decorations, although we will be moving to Travis' house before Christmas.  Great weather for December!

 



We have room for a little Christmas tree on our dash.  The ornaments are all framed pictures of our kids and grandkids.  Terry's carved moose are taking the place of reindeer this year.  The stockings are just being positive that Santa will find us!

I took a beading class at Lake Minden in October and was busy ever since then making little ornaments for all of the grandkids.  They each have a different scene on them and have the kids' initials on the backs.  This picture divides them up by family--oldest to youngest.  They were lots of fun to make.  After making 17 of them, I could probably teach a class myself! 

In the park, they had a Christmas parade with a lot of residents and travelers.  It was lots of fun to watch and they served punch and cookies in the clubhouse afterwards.

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus even made an appearance!

 

There are getting to be quite a few smart cars being towed behind RVs.  This one in our park was pretty clever.  They really are small enough to almost look like a wind-up toy!

 

Travis' Home, Gilbert AZ 12/20-1/1/2014

Travis and his family moved into a beautiful new house in the fall and they were still in the middle of remodeling it.  They had the flooring and carpeting all done, but were still in the middle of new cabinets in the kitchen and inside painting.  But, they were willing to still let us come for the holidays.  They have an RV parking place and also a guest house (where Spencer was living) so it was really nice--especially because Sarah and Jill and their families were also there!  Jill's family got there before Christmas and Sarah's didn't arrive until Christmas Day evening.  Yes, Travis and Shannon were really brave to have all of us there at the same time!

Christmas morning Boe, Kamber, Nic, and Josh all came out with their Santa hats on.



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Spencer and Nathan are checking out all of the loot in their stockings.

Later on that day, Boe, Kamber, Josh, and Nate all got in the hot tub.  Travis had it all heated up for them, but the pool was still pretty cold.  They all dared each other to jump into the cold pool.  They all did, but then hurried back into the hot tub.  We had a great Christmas, but I was bad and didn't take many pictures, again!  Thanks, Travis, Shannon, and boys!

I was very surprised at one of my gifts from Terry--a hot air balloon ride!  When he bought it, he didn't realize that it was a "two-for-one" deal so I was really excited that he was going to go with me!  NO WAY!  He doesn't even like to climb on a ladder anymore!  So, since Jill and her family were staying a little longer after Christmas, I talked her into going with me.

Terry was taking pictures from the ground . . 

. . . and I was taking pictures from inside the basket of the balloon!

Jill and I thought our pilot did a good job, especially as he posed with us at over 5,000 feet above the ground.

They allowed Terry to ride along in the chase vehicle.  We went higher than any other balloon that day, but didn't go too far.  We ended up landing almost in the same place we took off from, so they didn't have to chase us very far. Terry is down there in the van waiting for us.

They fed us a desert champagne breakfast (orange juice and donuts) while they folded up our balloon.

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Jill and I both got "flight certificates."  What a great Christmas gift.  I have wanted to go up in a hot air balloon for many years--and finally got to.  It was so fun having Jill go with me.  What a nice surprise from Terry!

Home at Emmett 10/3-24/2013; Lake Minden RV Park, Nicolaus CA 10/24-11/5/2013; Perferred RV Park, Pahrump NV 11/6-12/2013; Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 11/12-22/2013; Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA 11/22-12/6/2013

 

Home at Emmett 10/3-24/2013

We left Long Beach and spent the night at John Day Dam in Rufus OR.  This is such a nice place to stay and break up the 500+ miles to get home.  We stopped on our way in LaGrande OR to take Ryan out for a birthday breakfast and then went on home to Emmett.

 

Since Shay was living at our house (in his RV trailer) Terry made plans to go deer hunting with him during the month of October.  They hunted quite a bit, but never even got a shot at one.  Maybe another year.

 

Lake Minden RV Park, Nicolaus CA 10/24-11/5/2013 

We left Emmett to start our the new traveling season.  After spending a night a the Walmart in Winnemucca NV, we got to Lake Minden RV Park, the Thousand Trails Park in Nicolaus CA, about 15 miles from Yuba City where Terry's sister, Barbara & Wayne, and all of their kids and families live.  We got to visit with most of them.  We also had a chance to go to the Temple in Sacramento while we were there.

 

One of the nicest things we got to do was visit a cousin on my Mom's side of the family.  I hadn't seen Dee for a lot of years.  I used to babysit him and his brothers and sisters when we all lived in southern California.  We got to meet some of his family for the first time.

 

We also had a chance to go visit my Uncle Ron (my mom's brother) and his wife Joan.  They fed us a nice dinner and their daughter Neila came to dinner also.  We had a really fun visit.  It was the first time we have been to their home.

 

Preferred RV Park, Pahrump NV 11/6-12/2013; Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 11/12-22/2013; Palm Spring RV Park, Palm Desert CA 11/22-12/6/2013 

When we left Lake Minden, we spent the next night at Walmart in Falon NV.  Thank goodness for Walmarts.  Of course, we always have to shop in their stores when we park there. 

 We take our little flower garden wherever we go.  All I have to do is dust their solar panels once in a while and they continue to wave at everyone they see!  They stay put very well, whether we are traveling or sitting in a park.

 

 Different holiday cuties walk in our flower garden, depending on the season!  We get lots of fun comments on our dashboard.

 



Yes, that is snow you could see along the roads in the last couple of pictures.  This is why we live this lifestyle--to get away from the snow.  But, it is kind of nice to see some once in a while, as long as we don't have to live in it. 

 

Well, the next three parks we stayed at, Preferred, Wilderness Lakes, and Palm Springs are parks that we have stayed at several times, and because I was on a picture strike and have no pictures, I am just noting that we stayed there this year.  One of the biggest highlights at Palm Springs was having Terry's uncle, John, (who is the same age as Terry) come eat Thanksgiving dinner with us in our little Journey.  Then later that day, we went to his beautiful new home on a golf course in Palm Springs and sat in his hot tub.