2018 has flown by. Updates on my blog have been sorely lacking. It started with the demise of my much loved camera of 14 years resulting in NO photos. I was reconciled to a future with no photos and no blog.
I did a little research for a replacement camera and I was so confused. They were expensive and when I would read about them they seemed difficult to use. The learning curve looked huge.
My old beloved Sony was so familiar, so easy to use and I really loved some of the photos from it.
Then a miracle happened. On my birthday Kevin, Kim, Cynthia and Scott gave me a wonderful birthday present.
A Canon Power Shot that amazingly was not too intimidating and not long and I was snapping away.
I am learning more and more about its features.
The only real drawback I found was that I couldn't get it set up wirelessly to download photos to my computer. Solution found.....old school resolution. I bought a $4.99 cable to hook the camera to the computer. Nothing beats the old fashioned way.
So it is time to get back into the routine of chronicling our time on the road.
We arrived back in Mesa Arizona mid September and squoze back into our spot in Good Life RV Resort. Walt started a search for a car for me while we are stationary so we could each go our own ways and look at this cute little Mustang he found for me. So far not many warm, sunny Arizona days to have the top down but I am sure we will get our share.
In October our friends Ginger and Frosty came for a visit and we went to the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum.
Frosty loves anything that flies and I am always surprised at how much I learn as we tag along looking at flying machines.
Walt and Frosty both flew and worked on planes when they were in the Navy and it is fun to listen to them talk about "the old days."
This Museum is a working hangar and staffed by volunteers that share their stories and so much history.
You can actually climb aboard some of the planes. Walking through this World War II bomber made me admire those men that faced so much danger. And beyond the danger was the discomfort they experienced. These planes did not have seats for all of the crew and some of the positions required that they lay prone on the floor of the plane. Others had to straddle equipment for the duration of the flight. There was no heat so they had to wear cumbersome flight suits to prevent hypothermia and frostbite. Not only were they courageous they were exposed to a lot of discomfort.
You can even buy a ticket for a flight in one of the 7 or so planes. Maybe another time for Frosty and Walt. Ginger and I didn't think it would be on our wish list.
All in all a fun way to spend a day. The visit with Frosty and Ginger also included some fall baseball games and lots of delicious food. We always have such a good time.
Turn about is fair play so we took a December trip to Las Vegas to spend a few days with Frosty in Ginger in a city that was full of the holiday spirit.
One day we were headed to The Mob Museum and saw these horses all decked out for the holidays. We asked about them and found that they had been part of a charity event and were waiting patiently for their riders while they were having a little refreshment.
Then it was on to The Mob Museum. Can I say "Very Interesting?"
The Museum is housed in the original Las Vegas U.S. Post Office and Courthouse that was built in 1933. The Post Office was on the ground floor and the Courthouse was on the upper floors.
Locating the Mob Museum in this building is very appropriate. The courthouse was the setting for one of the famed Kefauver Committee hearings. On November 15, 1950, the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, led by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, heard testimony in the courtroom on the second floor. The Kefauver hearings, held in fourteen different cities, ultimately exposed much of the seedy underbelly of organized crime across America, particularly in Las Vegas. A lot of pretty unsavory stuff started coming out. Amazingly I can remember my parents watching the hearings on TV and talking about it. Well, not just my parents. My Dad bought the first TV in town and my nose was very much out of joint at all the people coming to MY house and watching MY TV.
True stories of Mob history are brought to life in interesting ways. You get taken from the birth of the Mob to today’s headlines. You get to see the shadows and the whispers about G-Men and Made Men. Whether you like it or not, this is American history.
The Museum chronicles the Mob's involvement in illegal activities such as gambling, drugs, prostitution or bootlegging and the efforts of the law enforcement to counteract and eliminate those criminal operations.
Visitors are able to view some uniquely disturbing, otherwise rarely accessible material such as the photographs of victims of the most famous murders credited to the Mafia. These are quite graphic in nature, because they show the actual corpses of the deceased as well as pictures and short biographies of the most popular and notorious gangster personalities.
The museum also acquired the brick wall where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place. In 1929 on Valentine's Day seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang were made to line up in front of this wall and were shot. No proof but it is assumed that they were shot by Al Capone's South Side Gang.
Law enforcement efforts to bring the Mobs under control used forensic science and investigative techniques. It is a fight that is still going on today.
John Gotti probably said this in the 80's and it is even more true today. Most of the success in bringing down the Mob has been information not firearms and much of that information has come from wiretapping and planted bugs.
While the "Movie Like" days of the Mob are over the fight still goes on to bring organized crime under control. A very interesting and educational day. Thank you Ginger and Frosty for taking us to this journey through time.
Another outing took us to Ethel M's Chocolates and Cactus Garden.
The three-acre garden is illuminated with more than one million sparkling lights.
The Chocolate Shop is a feast for the tongue and the garden is a feast for the eyes.
It is free to wander through at your own pace.
This Cactus Garden is Nevada's largest and one of the world's largest collections of its kind.
Can you imagine decorating and un-decorating these prickly specimens?
Forrest Mars Sr. (Mars Candy Bars was founded by his father), founded Ethel M Chocolates in 1981 after he retired from Mars. He named it after his Mother. In 1988 it was sold to Mars Inc. but it continues to make the original gourmet chocolates. I think better than See's but a little pricier. I guess you get what you pay for.
Between this and our visit to the Bellagio that I wrote about in my Christmas posting we were really treated to the Christmas Spirit.
There was more chocolate at the Bellagio. This we did not sample because we couldn't find our way into the world's largest chocolate fountain.
Thank you friends for a terrific December visit.
Looking forward to our adventures in 2019 and grateful for 2018.