Scottsdale to El Paso!

On Sunday, January 27th we left Las Vegas and and made our way to Phoenix, Arizona.  The campground  there wasn't that great, but it provided a place to park the car so we could go up to Scottsdale on Friday.  My cousin Ron and his family live in Scottsdale, and own a bowling alley there (the only one in town!), and we had a wonderful time visiting with Ron, Karen, and Izzy.  

 They have a beautiful home, and the kids really enjoyed the bowling. unfortunately we only had Friday and Saturday, as we had to leave Phoenix on Sunday to move on to Tucson.









On Sunday, while we were driving down to Tucson, we saw a wonderful site!  About a dozen hot air balloons taking off and sailing through the air not far from where we were driving!

In Tucson we stayed at the Lazydays campground, which also just happens to be a very large RV dealership!  No, don't worry, we didn't buy anything -- yet!  :-)  We stayed there a few days, and then moved on to another town called Benson.  In Benson we stayed at a very nice campground with a lot going for it -- it even had a small observatory, with nightly shows!  Unfortunately, after one night we knew we couldn't stay.  The campground was just one block from a major railroad track, and the trains came all night long, about 30 minutes apart, and blew their whistles all the way through town!  We were supposed to stay 4 nights, but left after 2!  We continued on to El Paso, to a nice campground that had a tennis court for the kids to play on.  They had a great time, and we enjoyed the quiet at night!!

We stayed a week in El Paso, and enjoyed the are we stayed in.  They even had a pool that the kids had a chance to swim in! Mario and I had a lovely dinner out for Valentine's Day not far from the campground. We left El Paso on Friday, the 15th, and headed to New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns.  More on that next time!

It's Vegas, baby!

We went to Las Vegas on January 23rd, for a couple of nights to spread out in a hotel.  We got a great rate at the NYNY Hotel, and really enjoyed the place.  Blackjack wasn't very kind to me, but I wasn't there to gamble, and I didn't lose much.  One of the kids' favorite things was the large Lady Liberty made entirely of JellyBelly jellybeans!

 The hotel looked kind of like the Manhattan Skyline from the outside, and the inside was a series of different  "buildings", differentiated by each one's bank of elevators.  It was very hard to tell which building you were in from the outside.  Our rooms were around the back.  The kids discussed going on the roller coaster - which weaves in and out of all the buildings and outside as well, with a few loops worked in, but they decided against it.  Maybe it was the way Mario and I said, "Not a Chance!!" to us going with them!!

On Thursday afternoon the kids and I went across the street to the Coca-Cola store and the M&M store.  Genny, as always, was up for a pose! 



We stayed two more days at the KOA in Las Vegas, which is at Circus Circus, and on Saturday we went over to the Bellagio.  The fountains were really amazing, I think I could have stayed there all day watching them!  The kids had other ideas, they wanted to see the inside...

The chocolate fountain was another favorite, I think the kids liked it even more than the water fountain!

Genny and I loved the Crystal horse, it was beautiful!  They had a garden inside too, that was inspired by the Chinese New Year.  This year is the year of the Snake, which is the same as the year I was born.

 

 That's all for now, next up is Arizona, and a stop in Flagstaff to spend the day with my cousin Ron!