Happy Valentines Feb.14th,2010

    We have been having a great time here in Benson at the SKP park. So much to do with lots of activities.They had a great dinner and dance for Valentines. The dinner was made by Addie and her crew and was all home made. The best tasting lasagne I’ve had and she also made homemade Cannoli. Um,Um good.Here’s a photo of our table. On the 19th they had a party for the new leaseholders and gave us flowers,and a plaque and interviewed all of us. It was very nice and made us feel like family. 

One day we decided to go to Tubac, Az. and take in this quaint town and their Art and Craft Festival.Tubac has over a 250 year old history and has a growing artist colony.It was discovered by Juan Bautista De Anza and he became the commandant of the Presidio. Father Kino came along and built many missions along the Santa Cruz River.Tubac is a shopper’s paradise with art galleries,crafts,and great restaurants.

Don’t forget to visit Tubac when your in the area.I also had to make a fast trip up to Sacramento to see Doctor and  have tests done. After I got to Az. doctors called  back and we will be going back to Sac. to see a kidney specialist. Our trip east will be delayed for awhile.Safe travels.

BENSON FEB.1,2010

We finally arrived in Benson on the 1st and that evening they had Monday night Tacos. They have so many activities it’s hard to keep up. They had there annual meeting and it was vey organized and no arguments. We got to see our new Casita and it’s pretty nice although we have some work to do on the outside. We’ve been to dinners,played Boci ball, learned some ballroom dances,went to super bowl pigout, and I went to the bead show with some of the ladies. That was overwhelming with so many beads,but I was able to still buy some can’t do without beads. Yesterday the 9th it was my birthday so Sam and I went to see friends in Tucson. We went to movies and saw Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson which was pretty good. After the movie I wanted ribs for dinner so made it to Chili’s. It was a full day and we got back to Benson around 7p.m. that night. Today it’s raining so I got caught up on some much needed laundry. Glad that’s done. Bye for now!

Quartzsite Jan. 2010

We left for Quartzsite on the 2nd Jan and arrived at TJ’S Corner for the month. I wasn’t feeling good since we left Park Sierra on the 26th Dec. The first week did go too bad and we were able to go the skp’s happy hour and got to see lots of old friends.Here’s everyone pigging out.

While at the camp the sunsets are beautiful.

After this it was all down hill for me. I was going to give Sam a 70th birthday party but ended up canceling. I got terribly sick running a temp at 103, dehydrated, and anemic as well has kidney a count very high. Sam ended taking  me to Parker Hospital where I ended up for 4 days.After getting out of the hospital I stayed in Rv until the 30th and was finally able to get outside. Yeah,feeling almost normal again.I was sorry I couldn’t visit with all our friends and be a part of the festivities this month but there’s always next year.On the 1st we will head to Benson.

Happy New Year Jan. 2010

What a great day to start the New Year.On the bus at 630 a.m. to go to see the Rose Parade. This was on my bucket list and it didn’t disappoint us. What a beautiful day to see all the great floats. A lot of hard work and love goes into the making of these floats and the flowers were beautiful. This float was the theme of the parade,A Cut Above The Rest.

Next came the Salute to the Bands supported by Farmer’s Ins.

Here’s Jack’s Samba Carnival

                     

Inline Skaters

Magnificent Tales of Health/Kaiser Permanente

Barnyard Aces

Look Ma No Hands

After the parade we went to view all the floats and the flowers were beautiful. Here’s some up close.   

We had a great time and I hope someday all of you will get a chance to see all the The Tournament Of Roses festivities at least once.

Dec.31,2009 New Year’s Eve

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.This evening we had a catered dinner and a party afterwards. Although we celebrated on New York time we had a good time.The food was great and we got to celebrate with our fellow Escapees. Ike brought in some music and we even got people up dancing.We have to catch our bus tomorrow at 6a.m. for the Rose Parade so this is why we celebrated on New York time.Our fearless leaders.

 

Jim,Lisa,Brenda and Dave      Ike and Vickie Jensen                                                             Brenda and Vickie dancing

We all had a great New Year’s Eve and it was lots of fun.

Wednesday Dec.30,2009 Bandfest

   Today we were up on the bus early and headed to see  the building of the floats. Anyone can help decorate these floats. A lot of time goes into to these floats and it’s amazing how all the little seeds and painting and flowers come together.

After the viewing it had to begun to rain,and we were to go to the Bandsfest in an outside stadium at Pasadena City College. There were 2 busloads of us and most of the people on the second bus didn’t want to sit in the rain and watch the Bands so those staying got on our bus and the rest on the second bus went back to camp.We came to see everything and the rain was just showers on and off and we used black garbage bags to cover us.We enjoyed the bands and had a great time. There was a band from Japan that was exceptional.   

December 2009 Wrap Up

We spent most of December in Coarsegold at Park Sierra and even had some snow.The Christmas holidays were spent in Sacramento with our kids and  we had a great holiday with family and friends. The next day after Christmas we left P ark Sierra and headed out for   the Rose parade hop. We were greeted by our hosts Dave and Brenda Neil and Jim and Lisa Koca on Sunday. After arrival we met the others at happy hour and had a catered dinner. Tuesday we caught our bus and we were transported to the the Equestfest. The Equestfest is all about the horses and riders in the Rose Parade. We watched the riders and horses go through their drills,demonstrations,trick riding and roping. It’s the wild west brought to life.

After the equestfest we went to the Crystal Cathedral and saw The Glory of Christmas. This was a place I have always wanted to go and see. It was dark so we really didn’t see much of the outside but it was pretty on the inside. There were lots of animals coming on stage and the play was very good.This is a picture of the balcony.

On our way back to the bus I took a fall on a speed bump and got scratched up and bruised quite a bit. When we got back to the RV we didn’t have our keys and couldn’t get into the motorhome. Now what are we going to do? Everything was locked up tight. We tried some other rver’s keys but to no avail. I went to see if I could find a locksmith at 1030 p.m and Sam was finally able to pop the door open. After a long day we were ready to get to bed. All in all we had a great day except for the end of the day. Morale of the story make sure you have a hide a key.