Home, Sweet Home

Firstly I must apologize for my tardiness at posting the final episode of our winter adventure - I can blame camera/computer troubles, but mainly I just got lazy!
We are home, safe & sound, but I will outline our last couple of weeks.

We crossed into the U.S. March 22, a painless process, but sad to leave Mexico. One final Mexican novelty - a "Mexican zebra" - a genuine entrepreneur had painted his burro, hoping for tips from visitors wishing a photo, of course we contributed!

We spent a couple of days in Yuma, ran into old friends from our hockey parent days, shopped at the huge Arizona Market, did some much needed cleaning of the RV. Next stop Quartzite for some rock hounding & unfortunately a bit of a fall for me. A sprained thumb & a good scar on my arm, but we consider ourselves lucky as nothing broken & otherwise no injuries, scorpion or snake bites the rest of the trip!

We stopped in Parker, Arizona for the first time, a beautiful area along the Colorado River, surrounded by interesting mountainous terrain. We did a scenic drive across the Parker Dam dodging burros (dozens of them everywhere), saw a unique golf course with gravel fairways, & marveled at the houses perched on the river banks.

Onward to Bullhead City, Az. which is right across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. We set up in a lovely RV park for a week, using a handy coupon - cost of only $90 for the week! Still green grass, flowers blooming & warm & we both enjoyed the pool & the hot tub. We had a good visit with old friends Mary & Gary, of course a few buffets, some gambling ( my best "jackpot" was $80) & an interesting tour of the Riverside Casinos car museum.

We did a day trip to Grapevine Canyon, site of native Indian petroglyphs set amongst huge rock piles. The road into the area was called Christmas Tree Pass & lo & behold there were many, many trees along the way decorated with Christmas ornaments & tinsel!

A new bird for our list - the roadrunner, we had a friendly one come & visit in the RV park. We purchased our own "bird" a wind spinner that we will set up at home & on our travels.

We left Bullhead City April 4, drove straight thru Vegas & headed for home. We ran into snow flurries here & there, but never any on the road, thankfully. We crossed the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho, enjoyed the "big sky" in Montana & at a rest stop chased 4 wild turkeys until one started chasing Robin! At the same rest stop we read the plaque about the Montana missile field - 50 minuteman missiles underground clustered near the Canadian border, presumably aimed at Russia & only removed 8 years ago. A bit  frightening!

We crossed the border into Canada, took less than 10 minutes, then stopped in Vulcan. This is the site of the SS Enterprise & the Trek Station, pretty cool since I am a bit of a Star Trek fan. We made it home, sweet, home from Great Falls in one day - the horse to the barn thing!

We were home only 2 days, a visit with Shane & Sarah, then off to see Adam, Jen, Emma & Ty. The little ones have grown & are so much fun, it was sad to head home. We caught up with Scott & are now settling in to our new life here. You know it's Alberta because Robin has been shovelling snow, in long pants for only a few days though, back in shorts today.

Our next adventure will take us on an Alaskan cruise - already booked for May - still Living the Dream!