Elvis is in the Building

Our friends Lin and Lynn invited us to the Elvis Expo this weekend. Seems they have a good friend, Barry, who entertains people by impersonating Elvis and he was in this weekend's gathering of the "Elvis-es". Yes, many, many Elvis-es.....from young Elvis, to the a bit older and overweight Elvis; all competing against one another to be the Best Elvis of 2011. There were colorful sports coats and ornate jumpsuits, accessorized by lots of gold jewelery. They performed on stage for us, singing their hearts out, gyrating and wiggling to and fro for top prize. Some were really good and some were--well let's hope they don't give up their day job. On top of the all the impersonators, there were several vendors with wares to sell. Want to guess what they all had in common--yep Elvis themed items.

The Expo is 3 days, we only attended Saturday and by the end of the day we were feeling a little Elvis-ed out---overdosed on Elvis--no need to see Elvis again for a while--yeah DONE! Although, I'll have to say it was fun in a strange way and a very entertaining day with friends. Elvis may have not left the building but we did.

The Main Event--WinterBlast

We came to Lake Havasu for the Western Pyrotechnics Convention and Fireworks Show, more commonly known as WinterBlast. It has been held President’s Day Weekend, annually since 1990 and last four days. This event is produced by a non-profit group of firework professionals and hobbyist who join together to promote their shared interest. Each year WinterBlast attracts tourist and visitors into the community for a weekend of fireworks and fun.

Here's just a few minutes of what we saw--enjoy the video thanks to Judy via her phone.

If you have never been to a Winter Blast, you can’t know what you’re missing. Winter Blast is the premier pyrotechnic event in the winter and is hard to describe in words. It is a firework extravaganza, like no other firework display. It is an exciting event that feels like you a watching the grand finale over and over. We had a blast--no pun intended.

Ed's Birthday Bash or is that Duane????

Boomers are a very fun group of people--all of us RV'ers, some of us full-timers, some part-timers and some are some-timers, but we can be an odd bunch at times. You never know what new adventure, game, story or event we might put together.

That's Ed..err..Duane in the Black coat and hat.

Take Ed's Birthday Bash, for one thing his name is not Ed, it's Duane. He doesn't care what you call him, as long as you join him in the fun. Seems a few years back his wife Betty decided to celebrate his birthday during WinterBlast and invited all Boomers in the area to come to the party. They would provide the hot dog roast and a cake. But when she went to the store to get a cake, there was none to be had. Well, except for that one in the back that no one picked up because the poor man passed before they could celebrate his birthday. I mean it was already inscribed with "Happy Birthday", so what if it said to Ed, the lady was willing to sell it to Betty for 1/2 price--gee what's a girl to do??? And being a Boomer we all know that less is best, unless of course it's FREE! And from that day on the wording on the cake remains the same, we all sing happy birthday Ed and then there is that other song we sing to him..you know the one...A horse is a horse of course, of course unless he's Mr. Ed:)

Betty makes sure we don't forget the words!

More Boondocking with Boomers

Frank slid behind the wheel of the motor home to travel north 150 miles on US 95. Our good friends Lin and Lynn Ford traveled closely behind us in their "home on wheels". We all arrived around 4:30 pm at our destination "the Steps", just south of Lake Havasu City. Where we were warmly greeted by boomer friends and backed into our boondocking site over looking Lake Havasu in the distance.

Lynn and Linda Ford

The London Bridge-Lake Havasu

Friday found the Fords and us visiting Lake Havasu City, home to the world famous London Bridge which crosses a 930 ft long man-made canal that leads from Lake Havasu (on the Colorado River) to Thompson Bay. It was bought for US $2.5 million by Robert McCulloch, founder of Lake Havasu City from the City of London when the bridge was replaced in 1968 because it as the ditty exclaims it was "falling down". The bridge was disassembled, each stone marked, then everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City and reassembled for another US $7 million. Reconstruction began on September 23, 1968 and on October 10, 1971, the bridge was dedicated. Prior to the arrival of the bridge, the land upon which the bridge was placed was a peninsula. A large dredge was used to carve a one-mile channel, removing over two million cubic yards of rock and earth in the construction phase. Water was then diverted from the lake, under the bridge and then back into the lake through Thompson Bay.

An interesting piece of trivia, the London Bridge is the second most visited tourist attraction in Arizona, behind only the Grand Canyon.

A Run for the Border

 With Mexico only seven miles south of Yuma, thousands of visitors head to Los Algodones for prescription drugs, eyeglasses, dental procedures, not to mention food, drink, souvenirs and liquor. The violence that has plagued other border towns has not been a problem in Algodones, so seniors flock here to get the needed services that they are unable to afford in the US. It has one of the heaviest concentration of physicians, pharmacies, dentists and opticians of any four-block area on the planet. It certainly makes it helpful that the currency of choice is the American dollar and English is almost universally spoken.

 So today Jenny, Dan, Fran, Bill, Frank and I traveled south of the border down Mexico way, to shop and eat shrimp tacos. We brought back yummy bakery goods, a few bottles of alcohol and a trinket or two.




 Perhaps a few margaritas as well were on our agenda, because we were in Mexico after all.

Tour with Farm Smart

Hey, not everything is all fun and games...sometimes there are great learning experiences as well. As was the schedule for today. Bea and Ken Marler suggested we do something different and reserved our seats on the University of California Desert Research Smart Farm Tour. Ken drove the 5 of us 75 miles west to El Centro, CA to participate in this program for winter visitors, also known as the "Lettuce Bowl" of America.

It included a narrated farm tour via hay bale seats on a open air tram pulled by a John Deer tractor, educational presentation on how the farms vegetables are grown, harvested, shipped and food safety is handled. We were encouraged to pick the winter vegetables in the fields we stopped at, and to take the "fruits (or in our case veggies) of our labor" home in the ample bags they supplied.

We brought home brocolli, beets, lettuce, cabbage, radishes and other salad makings. On top of all of that we enjoyed live musical entertainment, snacks, taste-testing, lunch, ice cream sundies, a chance to win door prizes and giveaways. It was quite a learning experience and one we would recommend whole heartly for anyone in this area in January or February.

Ladies Luncheon at Julieanna's

Jan, Jenny & Sharon

 These three styling ladies arrived promptly at 11:00 am to pick me up and take me on a special outing. Twelve of us met for a Ladies Luncheon at Julieanna's that was organized by Nancy (she is on the right side of the table, 2nd from the end). This is a wonderful restaurant with absolutely delightful food. It is rated as one of the top 10 dining spots in Yuma and is often the place to go to celebrate an special event.

Julieanna's is a cheerful and colorful oasis hidden in a tropical atmosphere with live Macaws and great ambiance. The perfect place to do "girl talk" while having some fabulous food to boot.