Yay! We finally found some warmer weather. We were tired of freezing, so we decided to head to Phoenix earlier than planned. We stayed at Dessert Shadows RV Park, a nice 55+ park with sites big enough for our RV and right next door to a Costco. Unfortunately, there was a dog in the park that thought our truck tire was a fire hydrant, so we put a sign up and he must be able to read because he stopped peeing on it after that. We had the RV and truck washed and waxed by some mobile detailers while we were there. Three guys spent 8 hours doing it all by hand. It turned out great and definitely needed it. We played a lot of pickleball between the court at the RV park, playing with Kim’s brother, Keith and Kim’s niece, Jada starting a new job at an indoor pickleball place. Kim unfortunately got her first pickleball injury, when David’s shot deflected off her paddle and gave her a nice shiner. We celebrated Keith’s birthday while we were there and of course it was at Chicken and Pickle (he is truly addicted to pickleball). We did do more than just play pickleball. Thanks to Kim’s sister-in-law, Jenn, we went out to some fabulous restaurants and craft cocktail places. BTW, Jenn makes the best popcorn and Kim kept emptying the bowl, every chance she got! We also bought ourselves electric bikes before Christmas. We used them a few times but are really looking forward to getting out on some more rides. David did get his first RV park ticket when he read the sign incorrectly and parked the motorcycle in 2-hour (not 24-hour) parking far too long. Turns out that David’s friend from high school lives in the Phoenix area, so he got a chance to catch up with Brett and Cindy. He and his wife spent some time at the RV and then treated David to a wonderful dinner at their house. Oh! For those of you that followed the canoe saga, it is hanging from the ceiling in my brother’s office. It is truly a work of art!

Christmas… what a wonderful time we had with Kim’s family! Jenn and Keith hosted on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day, we went to Jerry’s (Jenn’s father) house. We had amazing food, played some games, opened presents and spent quality time with family. It was great to catch up with the kids (adults now) and it was great watching the cousins bond. Kim’s Dad and his girlfriend, Bette, were there from Southern California as well and joined in the fun. The highlight was that both of Kim’s daughters made the trip to Phoenix to spend Christmas with us. We really appreciated the long travel days they endured to get there. Although we thought for sure we would get in trouble with the RV park again after Kim and her daughters got a little (or very) loud late at night on Christmas Eve out in Brianna’s van. It is always a great time when the three of them are together. 

New Years… off to Las Vegas we go. Can you think of a better place to spend it? We stayed at Las Vegas RV Resort which is about 6 miles from the strip and not in one of the best neighborhoods, but they did have good security at the park. We went to Margaritaville for their New Years party. What a great venue; open bar, heavy h’ordourves, music, dancing, firework show and all while overlooking the strip. We had a wonderful time and spent the night at the Flamingo Hotel, so we didn’t have to worry about getting back to the RV.

We took in some shows while we were there. Menopause the Musical was a great show, although David laughed a lot more than Kim, ;-). We went to dinner at Sparrow and Wolf and then to The Comedy Cellar for our anniversary. Glad we did not sit in front because those folks always take a beating from the comedians. We got tickets several months ago for the Luke Bryan concert. It was so much fun! Excellent show in a smaller venue than your typical concert and the stage lights and effects were amazing. The last show was Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil. It was good music and the performers did some amazing tricks. The plan was for the slot machines to cover our expenditures, but alas, they took more than they gave back. We also got a chance to catch up with Beth, one of our friends from Washington, who now lives in Las Vegas. We do want to say that the people watching in Vegas is second to none and not always in a good way. The last thing we did before leaving NV was go to Hoover Dam. We had a damn good tour where we saw the dam powerplant, the dam tunnels, the dam spillways and then flattened a dam penny in the dam gift shop. It was a dam fine day!

Off to Bullhead City next…