Finally up to date and settling in!

 

 

Getting settled in - enjoying a Charger's WIN!

 

 

My new discovery - awesome Jalapeno Poppers with - what else - great Oregon Beer!

 

 

What is this?  We never see this here in the desert - well not too often.  This was about all it amounted to and everything was dry in about an hour - but it was nice while it lasted.

 

 

Yea!  Our first "guests" of this season - good friends Diane and Ray stop by on their way back to their Winter Home in San Diego.

 

 

While we were gone, a brand new Brew Pub opened.  We just had to go check it out!  Delicious Wasach Hoppin Jalapeno Cream Ale with their "the Wrecker" sandwich.  Pub Chips and large Curly Fries - absolutely yummy!  This was only half the order - it was a good thing we split the sandwich - it was enough for sure.  A combination of Brisket, Pork and smoked Sausage with Slaw - it is already on the list of things to do again and again and again.....

 

Now that this Blog is finally up to date, I have high hopes of keeping it that way.  We will see how that goes.  We had a wonderful Summer and are both looking forward to another terrific Winter here in our little piece of paradise!

 

 



September 2014

 

 

 

Return to Juniper's Reservoir - our favorite little fishing camp.  This is the beginning of our "trek" back to the Desert Southwest.

 

 

Lots of wild life to check out - even the cows are fun to watch.

 



 

Time of the year for the "round-up"!  This working cattle ranch does things the old fashioned way - on horseback!

 

 

Is this where they say "move 'em out"?  We thought that we were in the middle of their cattle drive, but the cows just went around us like we weren't there.  The Cowboys were fun to watch.

 

 

Opps!  An escapee!!!  This Cowboy had to go all the way around the resevoir to herd this runaway back into the fold.

 

 

Finally a fish!  With only two days to fish this trip, we were getting afraid of being skunked.

 

 

Fish number 2 - another Rainbow Trout.

 

 

Fish number 3 - yet another Rainbow Trout.  Things are looking up!

 

 

End of day 1 - count is Andy - 3 Rainbow Trout, Linda - ZERO!

 

Friends Diane and Ray join us for some fishing fun!

 

 

Linda finally got a fish!

 

 

Ray got a Catfish!  Was beginning to think no Cats were left - glad we were wrong.

 

 

Good friends having great times!

 

 

Another Trout for Linda!

 

And another Trout for Andy

 

 

Yada, Yada, Yada!

 

 

More Yada, Yada!  Didn't get a group picture this day, but the count was Andy = 3 Rainbow Trout, Linda = 2 Rainbow Trout, and Ray = 1 Catfish.

 

Fun and some good eating down the road.  Time to head out in the morning.  We really enjoyed spending time with Diane and Ray - just wish it had been longer!

 

 

 Back to our "overnight" site in beautiful Hawthorne Nevada - good pizza at the Old Nevada Pizza Company and a safe "free" place to park for the night.

 

 

 "Home" for the next three weeks.  Back in our great spot at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails RV park.

 

 

 We enjoyed an overnight stay by my (Linda's) Brother Lawrence.  Had a good time catching up during his short visit.

 

 

Gathering of some of our relatives while in Las Vegas.  Pictured is Cousin Clifford, Bill, Me, Toni, Andy, Cousin Carolyn, and Gloria.  Clifford and Gloria are Carolyn's parents, Bill is Carolyn's Husband, Toni is also a Cousin.  Bill and Carolyn are visiting from New York City, Clifford and Gloria are visiting from New Jersey and Toni lives in Las Vegas.

 

 

Pictures of more Cousins in Vegas.  Some visiting from Kentucky and California - and of course Jay and Lema who live in Vegas.

 

Lots of fun with family!

 

 

Home Sweet "Winter" Home!  After a long day, with a delightful stop in Lake Havasu City to visit friends, we arrived and got parked just at dark, so just pulled in on the "easy" side of the lot.  This morning the clean-up begins!  Nothing too bad, just mostly dirt.  Glad to be back in our beautiful Desert Southwest and looking forward to another wonderful Winter!

 

August 2014

 

 

 

Our new home for a week - Newberry RV Park in La Pine Oregon.  Our friends Diane and Ray have joined us.  Decided to try this park for a couple reasons - 1) it is closer to friends Nita & Ken, and 2) it is a good deal with the weekly rate that includes all hookups (50 amp), free Cable TV and free WiFi!

 

Had a great lunch and extra good beers at what we thought was the Cascade Brewing Company Lodge in Bend Oregon.  Wasn't the Lodge, but the meal and company was excellent all the same!

 

 

La Pine has some beautiful sunsets also!!!

 

 

Moving day again ... this time about 40 miles to the North to Redmond Oregon and the site of the FMCA "Family Reunion".  We are settled in and have a wonderful site for the next 6 days.  Looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and making some new ones.

 

 

Lots of motorhomes waiting to get parked!

  

 

The view out of our windshield - still some snow on the local mountains.

 

Our good friend Lew stopped by and we did a little pub hopping - ending up with some great pizza and beer.

 

 

Had a couple "soggy" days, then the weather turned back into beautiful!  Seems really strange because every time we have been here for a FMCA rally it has been all sun and hot at 100 degrees or more!  This was a pleasant change of pace.  Even had to pull out some long pants and jackets!!!!

 

 

This is our beautiful parking spot from the back - easy walking to just about everything going on.  There was a Tram that stopped near us and the Golf Carts were giving rides to everyone - so we had it pretty good at this rally!

 

Especially right across the street we had this wonderful little "2 Barrel" Brewery and Pub.  Easy to walk to - no "drinking and driving" for us!!!!

 



 

Lots of vendors - and this was just one of the buildings!!!

 

 

Friends Nita and Ken drove up for the day to enjoy the rally and a great lunch at the Wild Ride Brewing here in Redmond.

 

 

Andy was the winner of the Grand Prize from the "Visit Louisiana" booth.  Lots of great products to make many yummy meals!

 

 

 

With the rally over, we headed back South to La Pine.  We liked the Newberry RV park so much, we decided to return and stay put until the Labor Day Holiday was over.  Unfortunately, we found out too late that our 3 weekly stays would have paid for a whole month!  We will keep that in mind for next Summer.

 

 

Rains here too!!!  Guess that is why Oregon stays so green and beautiful.

 

 

Nita and Ken took us to the Lava River Cave - part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  We had seen most of the other parts, but had never stopped here.  It was beautiful.

 

 

None of us were able to make the trek down into the cave - So many stairs down and the same stairs back up, we decided to just enjoy the awesomeness from above.

 

 

Just about every corner of every town up North has these beautiful flowers - I sure wish I knew the secret of growing them like this.  I try in Yuma, but it just never works out like this!  The perfume from the flowers fill the air and it is wonderful......

 

 

We had a wonderful lunch with Nita and Ken at the Pine Tavern in Bend.  This is a very old, very nice restaurant.  We sat inside because this patio area was full - right on the Deschutes River at Mirror Pond - absolutely beautiful!

 

 

One last "gathering" while in the Central Oregon area - Nita and Ken hosted my "Gumbo & Beer" gathering.  Diane and Ray joined us for a wonderful afternoon of Gumbo and Beer from the Deschutes Brewery in Bend Oregon.