Final entry for Kleinbub road trip to Florida, 2012

Well, one last entry from our long and tiring road trip to Florida.

We traveled 6248 miles from Santa Monica to Clearwater FL and back in 27 days. We passed through 11 states (some more than once). We visited 6 capitols and 2 National Parks. We ate at 5 Waffle Houses and one Huddle House (a Waffle House wannabee). We also celebrated 4 birthdays. We had delightful visits with my sister, Dee Curran and her daughter, Colleen; with my niece, Christy Dombroski - her husband and 3 sons, and with my friend Hildie Matheis and many of her friends. The rest of the time it was just Don, me, and our dog Mickey. But, we got along just fine and had a wonderful trip. I hope you have enjoyed sharing it with us.

Thursday, November 1, 2012 – All Saints Day otherwise known as Dios de la Muerta

We had a nice quiet day in Laughlin. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast at the Riverside Casino. After watching the ducks in the River and looking for fish, we headed over to the Premium Outlet Mall. We checked our email and spent a couple of hours shopping. A lot of my favorite shops are gone – business is really down, but I still managed to find some things to buy. We decided to stay and watch the 2:30 movie, “Frankenweinie”. It was really cute. Then we headed for the Avi Casino for their buffet dinner, another gastronomic extravaganza!

Then it was back to the campground to watch “Farscape” on our computer and collapse. We leave tomorrow and hope to be home by late afternoon, so this may be my last entry until our next trip. Thank you for staying with me!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - Happy Halloween!

I have been enjoying wearing my Halloween jewelry off and on during this trip. I decided to bring mainly orange and black to wear, so it has been fun and today is my last day to get decked out. I have been surprised that not too many places seem to be decorating for Halloween. Our waitress this morning was wearing orange, and one of them had sprongy ears on.

We started our trip by getting back on I-40 and driving through Flagstaff AZ. I found out that the town is named for an actual flagstaff that was installed in the late 1800s as a landmark for travelers heading for California. I wonder where it went? We got off the Interstate to drive through Flagstaff on historic route 66. I don’t believe we have ever done that, we usually go around on the Interstate. It is a smaller and quieter town than I had imagined. We saw a lot of older buildings and businesses. The vintage train depot has been turned into a visitor center, but we didn’t stop to look at it.

The rest of the trip to Laughlin was rather mundane! We saw lots of sand, desert plants, and interesting craggy hills and mountains. Mt. Humphries, outside of Flagstaff, is the highest point in Arizona – over 12,000 feet high.

We arrived in Laughlin around noon. We went to the Riverside Campground and got a lovely spot on the third tier (which gives us a good view of the town and the Colorado River). We even have a tree in our backyard! The weather is lovely and balmy. We spent the rest of the day doing laundry, taking showers, resting and eating. Yummy, yummy!