OK, it's been awhile seen I've blogged. So to catch you up to our travels I will buzz through a few states. Texas, Amarillo - we only stopped for 3 days but saw a lot. I did not know they had a version of a mini Grand Canyon in Texas. Palo Duro Canyon. Beautiful and you can drive down into the canyon in your own vehicle, none of this donkey on a cliff thing! Many pull offs and areas to see the different flora/fawna of the area. It took about 2 hours to view it all but a beautiful sunny day. They have their own pet longhorns in a fenced in area by the entrance. Cadillac Ranch - been there forever but they have spray cans available so you can leave your own mark on the vehicles. All 4 of our kids now have their name on a caddy.
Jack Sisemore RV museum which is hidden within a huge RV dealership. The owner has his own personal collection of the history of RVing and also quite a few one of a kind motorcycles on display. He is in the process of adding on. We toured the Happy Max RV from the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. Even met the owner, Jack Sisemore. He is the co-founder of Keystone RV manufacturing. A big name in travel trailers. We also stopped and ate lunch at the Big Texan. Known for it's 72 ounce steak deal. If you eat the whole steak in an hour, it's free. Not too many can handle 4 1/2 pounds of meat. Man vs Food from the Food Network - Adam Richman did it. Not us, we got the 6 ounce lunch deal.
A few day stop on the West side of Tucson Arizona just to break up our travels. We plan on spending the month of February in Tucson so got a "must see" list going for our return. We did check out the weekend Flea Market - no purchases. We also drove the loop through the Saguaro National Park.
Being from Wisconsin, did not have a clue about cactus or the info about the desert area. Got quite an education at the Visitors Center and know 10x more then we did before, which was zero. First off that Saguaro is pronounced "swaro". They knew we were from out of town from how badly we botched the pronounciation. Lots of hiking and trails in the park. Great area for hiking, just watch your step and DON'T touch the cactus. Randy really loved the Saguaro's, but hugging not allowed either.
Sun City Arizona, which is a Northwest subdivision of Phoenix was the next stop. We fell in love with this area. Clean, well groomed area. Lots of activities and super nice people. They have multiple community buildings that offer swimming, tennis, pickle ball, bowling, billiards, movies, and classes for woodworking, jewelry making, ceramics, photography, quilting, stain glass and much more. The crafty side of me was in love. Randy got a personal tour of their metals shop. We will definitely be back here again, actually planning on spending the month of April in the Phoenix area.
Las Vegas for 2 weeks over Christmas was a weird feeling of choices but it worked out well. We found a great church in the area and went to their Sunday services and also Christmas Eve. Always nice to connect with a community. Being in the "city of lights" really lacked the lights. The RV park had more lit RV's then the people of Las Vegas decorated their homes. We popped up our 2foot pre-lit tree, external lights, garland, and our stockings. We walked down "the strip" a number of times to check out the Christmas decor and the casino's. We were able to go to the National Finals Rodeo event on it's last night. The best of the best rodeo people competing for the title World Champion.
It was an exciting night. Charlie Daniels preformed during a break in the rodeo.Harrah's - awesome, family friendly show. We also had to check out a few of our favorite cable show shops.
Pawn Stars on the History channel- pawn shop in downtown LV. Just like it looks on TV. They kicked us out because they were getting ready to film an episode. Didn't see any of the owners of the show but the security guard said they weren't very friendly people so forget about getting a high 5. We drove by Rick's Restoration which is also on the History channel - really neat buildings but gated off from the public. Lastly, we drove to check out ATM (Acrylic Tank Manufacturing) or known as Tanked on the Animal Channel. They make unique one-of-a-kind themed fish tanks. We were in Henderson Nevada and saw their massive snow globe fish tank made for the Henderson Christmas Celebration, then a few days later when we went to the ATM shop, there it was. Went through their store and we could watch them working through a chain link fence. As we were watching out came 3 of their known workers that are on the show:
Redneck, Frankie, and Heather the co-owner's wife. She was so sweet. Stopped and talked with us and even told us we could hang around because they were going to be filming an episode. We had to get going because of our tickets for the Shark Reef, but otherwise that would have been really neat to see a filming. We also drove to Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas. Very pretty area and changes as the sun/clouds move in the sky. They have wild donkeys and mountain goats but we did not see any, while we were in the area.
Las Vegas Speedway has a drive thru lighting display for Christmas. 2 1/2 miles of lights in and around the Speedway. The adrenaline built being at the Nascar track but Randy held back and drove really slow so I could see all the lights. It was really hard being away from Wisconsin and all our family/friends for Christmas but seeing all the lights helped to make it feel more like Christmas. Our temporary church family helped a lot too but nothing like being home for Christmas. We also went to the Cowboy Christmas sale and watched a Horse Whisperer. Many displays and a lot of western wear and decor for sale. While in Vegas we saw the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, Secret Garden, and Mac King comedian/magician at Harrah's. It was an excellent show.
Jack Sisemore RV museum which is hidden within a huge RV dealership. The owner has his own personal collection of the history of RVing and also quite a few one of a kind motorcycles on display. He is in the process of adding on. We toured the Happy Max RV from the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. Even met the owner, Jack Sisemore. He is the co-founder of Keystone RV manufacturing. A big name in travel trailers. We also stopped and ate lunch at the Big Texan. Known for it's 72 ounce steak deal. If you eat the whole steak in an hour, it's free. Not too many can handle 4 1/2 pounds of meat. Man vs Food from the Food Network - Adam Richman did it. Not us, we got the 6 ounce lunch deal.
Onto Roswell New Mexico. Much larger town then we figured and our lovely "lady in the box" AKA GPS took up right through downtown instead of the less busy and non-stop bypass. I really have to have a talk with her! We toured the Alien Museum and various Alien stores. They really use the alien theme big time. The McDonald's is in the shape of a cylindrical space ship. Green aliens greet you all throughout town. I love the history factor more then the tourist stuff but it was very interesting. The day we went to leave we woke up to snow. It just keeps following us! 
Being from Wisconsin, did not have a clue about cactus or the info about the desert area. Got quite an education at the Visitors Center and know 10x more then we did before, which was zero. First off that Saguaro is pronounced "swaro". They knew we were from out of town from how badly we botched the pronounciation. Lots of hiking and trails in the park. Great area for hiking, just watch your step and DON'T touch the cactus. Randy really loved the Saguaro's, but hugging not allowed either. 
Sun City Arizona, which is a Northwest subdivision of Phoenix was the next stop. We fell in love with this area. Clean, well groomed area. Lots of activities and super nice people. They have multiple community buildings that offer swimming, tennis, pickle ball, bowling, billiards, movies, and classes for woodworking, jewelry making, ceramics, photography, quilting, stain glass and much more. The crafty side of me was in love. Randy got a personal tour of their metals shop. We will definitely be back here again, actually planning on spending the month of April in the Phoenix area. 
Las Vegas for 2 weeks over Christmas was a weird feeling of choices but it worked out well. We found a great church in the area and went to their Sunday services and also Christmas Eve. Always nice to connect with a community. Being in the "city of lights" really lacked the lights. The RV park had more lit RV's then the people of Las Vegas decorated their homes. We popped up our 2foot pre-lit tree, external lights, garland, and our stockings. We walked down "the strip" a number of times to check out the Christmas decor and the casino's. We were able to go to the National Finals Rodeo event on it's last night. The best of the best rodeo people competing for the title World Champion. 
It was an exciting night. Charlie Daniels preformed during a break in the rodeo.Harrah's - awesome, family friendly show. We also had to check out a few of our favorite cable show shops.
Pawn Stars on the History channel- pawn shop in downtown LV. Just like it looks on TV. They kicked us out because they were getting ready to film an episode. Didn't see any of the owners of the show but the security guard said they weren't very friendly people so forget about getting a high 5. We drove by Rick's Restoration which is also on the History channel - really neat buildings but gated off from the public. Lastly, we drove to check out ATM (Acrylic Tank Manufacturing) or known as Tanked on the Animal Channel. They make unique one-of-a-kind themed fish tanks. We were in Henderson Nevada and saw their massive snow globe fish tank made for the Henderson Christmas Celebration, then a few days later when we went to the ATM shop, there it was. Went through their store and we could watch them working through a chain link fence. As we were watching out came 3 of their known workers that are on the show: 
Redneck, Frankie, and Heather the co-owner's wife. She was so sweet. Stopped and talked with us and even told us we could hang around because they were going to be filming an episode. We had to get going because of our tickets for the Shark Reef, but otherwise that would have been really neat to see a filming. We also drove to Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas. Very pretty area and changes as the sun/clouds move in the sky. They have wild donkeys and mountain goats but we did not see any, while we were in the area. 
Las Vegas Speedway has a drive thru lighting display for Christmas. 2 1/2 miles of lights in and around the Speedway. The adrenaline built being at the Nascar track but Randy held back and drove really slow so I could see all the lights. It was really hard being away from Wisconsin and all our family/friends for Christmas but seeing all the lights helped to make it feel more like Christmas. Our temporary church family helped a lot too but nothing like being home for Christmas. We also went to the Cowboy Christmas sale and watched a Horse Whisperer. Many displays and a lot of western wear and decor for sale. While in Vegas we saw the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, Secret Garden, and Mac King comedian/magician at Harrah's. It was an excellent show.
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