Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Geezer IX - The Trip to Flagstaff

It’s about an 11 hour drive from our home to Flagstaff, but as we usually do we decided to do it in a leisurely way and take three days.  It has been our custom since our working days when heading to the Southwest to spend our first night in Tehachapi, CA.  It’s only a three hour drive from our home, but it made for a quick getaway after work.  It’s no longer necessary, but we still do it as one of our favorite barbecue places is in Tehachapi.  The Red House BBQ not only has great ribs, but also very tasty side dishes.
 

After a great dinner and good night’s sleep, we were off to our next stop, which was Harrah’s Casino in Laughlin, NV.  It was a little longer drive, but still just a little more than four hours so we got in around 2:00.  We always get comped rooms and food and we enjoy gambling there so it is a good spot to stop for us.  We checked in and found our room wasn’t ready so we spent some time gambling.  We tired of that so we walked outside and watched the activity on the Colorado River, where many of the hotels are the hotels are located.  We checked again and our room still wasn’t ready so we relaxed for a while and had some snacks in the Diamond Lounge until our room was finally ready.  It was worth the wait as we were once again given a suite to stay in, but instead of a view of the river our only view was the front of the hotel and the distant mountains.  It really didn’t matter since we were only there overnight.
 

We went down to have an early dinner since we hadn’t eaten anything except for some snacks since breakfast.  Last time we were at Harrah’s in Laughlin we had eaten at the new Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho so we went there again.  We had a great dinner and then spent most of the rest of the evening gambling.  Val had her ups and downs, but ended up losing her gambling money, but I did better.  I usually have terrible luck in Laughlin, but I finally broke the curse, thanks to a nice hit on a dollar slot machine; I actually left with a profit.

The drive from Laughlin to Flagstaff was only three hours and since we couldn’t get into our rental house until four, we slept in.  After getting up and packed we decided to have a big breakfast in the buffet and not eat again until dinner.  The buffet was OK, but not great, but we did get filled up and it was free so the price was right.



Except for a surprising amount of traffic around Kingman, AZ the drive to Flagstaff was an easy one and we arrived around 2:00 and headed to the grocery store to buy supplies before going the rental house.  After getting groceries it was just after 3:00 so we called the owner of the house and he said we could get in early so hooray for that!  We easily found the house and while I unloaded the car, Val started preparations for dinner.  Our dinner theme this year is our favorite foods from our childhood so tonight we are having hot dogs, hamburgers and potato salad.  I had gotten a recipe for potato salad from my cousin Cheryl in Michigan that her mother used to make that I really liked, so that was what Val was working on.



Jack and Steph pulled in about a half hour after we did so I helped them unload their car.   John and Greg are flying in this year so they won’t be here until around noon tomorrow.  After catching up for a while, it was time to start the barbecue and start grilling the hamburgers and hot dogs.  Dinner was great; we rarely eat hot dogs so they really hit the spot and the potato salad tasted really good and reminded me of my childhood in Michigan.



After dinner it was more talk and catching up before we called it a night.  The house we are in is very nice and although close to town, it borders on the national forest.  It is very quiet at night so we should get a good night’s sleep.  We all are looking forward to John and Greg’s arrival tomorrow.

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