Wednesday and Thursday, December 24 and 25, 2014 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

After our usual start Wednesday morning, we decided to get outside for a walk. We stopped at Bob and Sue's place and chatted with them for a few minutes and then carried on, walking a loop around back to our place. We also stopped at Rob and Peggy's and had a nice chat with them as well.

We had passed a string of geocaches on our way home from our Diablo Pass ride the other day...so Steve and I thought we'd head out on our quads to get them. So we changed into our riding clothes, packed a lunch and extra water in my quad cargo box...and we were off. It was about 10:30.

We took the trail from La Posa South to La Posa North, went west crossing the highway into La Posa West to Tyson Wash...and then headed north up the wash to...well, I don't know the name of the gravel road, but it cut over to Boyer Road. 

We took a bit of a side trail looking for a geocache but determined that it was actually accessed off the main road and was hidden somewhere on the golf course...we'll leave this one for another time as there were a few golfers on the course.

The golf course is on both sides of the road...

To speed things up we are leap frogging one another to each cache...

I had to walk down into a gully to find this one...

There I go...zooming by to find our next geocache...

The "Quarry Quest" string of geocaches, hidden a couple of years ago by Bob and Sue, ended at the Sunset Marble Mine entrance. I'm down there trying to find the last cache...

We turned around and thought we'd go look for a couple of other geocaches in the area.

Steve is across from me on another hill...I'm looking for a cache hidden up there, but under which rock?!

Steve taking in the beautiful views waiting for me...

... and my pencil...we both lost pencils today...

There is another string of geocaches along a trail not far from where we are but they are going to have to wait for another day...it's going on 3:00...time to head home...

We got home just before 4:00...another great day out on our quads...and a great way to spend Christmas Eve day!

We spent a quiet Christmas Eve watching the final few episodes of Homeland that we had downloaded.

The wind woke us up in the wee hours of Thursday morning...1:50 a.m. to be precise! There hadn't been a strong wind warning in the forecast so we hadn't worried about putting the sunshade and awning away...sheesh! So there we are outside at 2:00 a.m. removing the sunshade and putting in the awning in the blustery conditions. The stars were amazing though!

With that done, we were back in bed, waking up at a much more reasonable hour...Merry Christmas everyone! This is a very different Christmas for us...the first time we have not spent the Season back home with family enjoying our traditional Christmas time together. However, traditions change...time to make new ones! We miss everyone back home, though. Friends here at La Posa are wonderful and have certainly helped fill the void.

Shortly before 9:00 we headed over to Art and Jan's where we had been invited over for breakfast omelettes. Fred is the omelette maker...Sue giving him a Merry Christmas hug...

Fred cooking, Teri, Jan and Sue...I'm the first one to eat...

Art, Vince, Sue...with Bob checking off the items he wants in his omelette...

Jan and Teri...

Art also made waffles for anyone wanting one...

 " Sue said I had to have one"...

The omelettes and waffles were delicious...thanks so much guys!

We spent the rest of the morning on Skype calls with family...really miss this little guy!

But it's so great having technology that allows us to see and talk to him! We had a great chat with Rob and Angie...and then Chris and Angela (their first Christmas together as a married couple)...and then Nadine and Mike (Steve's sister and brother-in-law)...then Steve's Dad...and finally, Steve called his good friend, Ken, in Cochrane, Alberta. We had had Skype calls with two of my brothers (Dennis and Don) earlier in the week...and since Boxing Day was a traditional get together day at my younger brother's place, I'm hoping to connect with Dwight tomorrow.

With it so windy and blustery outside, we spent the afternoon relaxing inside reading...until it was time to head down to Bob and Sue's for turkey dinner. Steve took this picture from outside their place...you can hardly see the distant mountains because of the dust!

Our hosts, Bob and Sue...

Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, carrots, salad, deviled eggs and cranberry sauce...a fabulous feast!

Bob and Sue managed to get a table long enough inside their fifth-wheel so all 9 of us could enjoy a sit-down Christmas Dinner. From left to right...Sue, Bob, Vince, Art, Jan, Teri, Fred, me and Steve (unfortunately those at the far end of the table got a little washed out due to the sunshine streaming in through the windows)...

Jan baked pies for dessert...pumpkin, cherry and homemade mincemeat! Decisions, decisions!

After an absolutely delicious meal, we sat chatting for awhile and then called it an evening...we'd had a lovely Christmas Day...thanks to our Quartzsite friends for including us in their festivities!