Check this section for updated comments, personal opinion, web pictures, and recent family events.
Come back often, I usually update it monthly...scroll down to see the entries back to the first of this year
(to see previous years' entries, click HERE).
December, 2024
Here we are at the end of 2024, not a bad year for us.
We stayed at the Hotel Republic in San Diego after a grueling 8 1/2 hour drive through the deadly freeways of Southern California. The hotel was great and our first stop was at the bar, which had great appetizers and Manhattan drinks. We stayed 2 nights, checking out specific sites in the area - especially the USS Midway, which Jim's dad served on back in the day. The 3rd night we stayed at Harrah's Southern California Casino and had a great time.
We did travel to Las Vegas once this month, staying at Harrah's. We had a great dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House the first night (the stuffed chicken breast was awesome) and had a great meal at Bobby's Burgers - both in Harrah's. It was a fun stay and we went all over Las Vegas to shop, get Jim's birthday freebies, and won a bit of money on the side.
We drove down to Phoenix to spend a couple of days with Mike, Paula, and the grandkids for Christmas.
We did stay one night at Harrah's Laughlin because of a special drawing, but we didn't win.
That's it for 2024, it was a good one for us - Mary got a new knee, we made a killing on the casinos, and we both celebrated our 70th birthday.
November, 2024
November was a little slower month for us, with a wine pickup in Sedona and doctor's appointment for Mary's knee in Tempe.
Since we had to travel down to Tempe for Mary's doctor appointment, we decided to do a quick overnight stop in Sedona to pick up some wine. We stayed at the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde for one night then headed to Tempe for her appointment. We stayed the night in the Phoenix area and headed back the next day.
We traveled to Las Vegas for our monthly trip and stayed at the Paris Hotel. The first night we had a great dinner at Hugo's Cellar (Fremont Street), where they give each woman a long stemmed rose (very romantic). The next night we enjoyed dinner at Gordon Ramsey's Burger restaurant in Planet Hollywood.
For Thanksgiving we traveled to Phoenix to have dinner with part of the family. During the drive there a rock put a sizeable crack in our windshield and we were lucky enough to get an appointment for the day after Thanksgiving so we could drive back home without a huge crack!
Well, one month to go in this year and it's just going by too fast for us.
October, 2024
October was another busy travel month for us, between Houston and Las Vegas we spent a fair amount of time away from home.
We attended the AESA (AE Sailors Association) reunion in Houston Texas this month. The AESA includes sailors that served on a number of 'auxiliary' ships (ammunition, supply, refueling, etc), including the first ship assignment Jim had in the Navy (USS Mount Baker AE-34). It was a nice reunion, not a city I need to visit again :-), but a nice time with some old friends.
5 days after returning home we headed to Sedona for another wine pickup and then south to Phoenix to celebrate our oldest son's birthday and to visit with the grandkids.
The rest of the 3 road trips ended up at Paris Las Vegas, where we gambled a bit and enjoyed some great meals (Bootlegger's, Bugsey & Meyer's, Maggiano's, and Martha Stewarts The Bedford).
All in all, we spent 12 days out of the month on the road.
September, 2024
This month includes a significant amount of travel for us. It starts with a few of our regular gambling trips, then a 7-day cruise on one of Carnival's newest ships, the Firenze. Of course, one of the main reasons for the cruise is Mary's 70th birthday!
Starting off the month of September we stayed at the Tropicana Laughlin one night in order to participate in a giveaway event, Mary won $300 in FREE PLAY that night. A few weeks later we stayed at Paris Las Vegas, to kick off Mary's birthday with a dinner at Ferraro's (a very nice Italian Restaurant off the strip) and PF Chang's the following night (appetizers on the patio).
3 days later we drove to Yorba Linda to spend the night before our cruise on the Carnival Firenze. The cruise started the day before Mary's birthday and was a very impressive experience. We both had a great time with stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas.
In Puerto Vallarta we took an excursion around the city and ended up in a villa in the mountains outside of town. Here we enjoyed the experience of making our own salsa in a real molcajete and then snacked on chicken tostadas and enchiladas.
The next day we stopped in Mazatlan where we took another excursion around the city and had lunch near the Catedral Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción (the main religious building in the historical center of town). We enjoyed awesome sights near the beaches and downtown areas.
The next day we were in Cabo San Lucas and walked from the pier to Cabo Wabo to have our traditional lunch (we've been here at least 5 or 6 times now, always a treat for us). Mary bought a t-shirt and we walked back to the pier to end our day here.
During the 7-day cruise, Mary was treated to 4 birthday celebrations in the dining areas. Our first night we had dinner at Il Viaggio, a high end Italian Restaurant. The second night is was 555 Steakhouse for another great meal. The other nights we dined in the Main Dining Room and the meals were great.
So, are we going to slow down now??? No way, after 3 days at home we took off for Houston (but that is a story for next month's WLOG).
August, 2024
Back with a full month of traveling.
We took a number of trips this month, from our regular stops in Las Vegas and Laughlin to our anniversary celebration in Sedona to a short visit with Mary's Aunt and Cousins in Waxahachie Texas (suburb of Dallas).
For our 51st Wedding Anniversary we stayed a couple of nights in Sedona and enjoyed the sights and then had dinner at Dahl and Deluca.
A week later we visited the grandkids in Gilbert, always a fun time seeing the littles and their parents.
A week later we flew to Dallas Love Field to visit Mary's Aunt Fannie and Cousins Darryl & Ellen. They took great care of us and even took us to downtown Ft. Worth to the old Stockyards.
And a week later we stayed at Harrah's Laughlin one night to visit with our neighbor from California and have dinner at The Range, then spent 2 days in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel and Casino for some fun gambling and a great meal at Gordon Ramsay's Steak House.
It was a bit of travel this month but we'll ramp up for more next month!
July, 2024
An emotional month for the family...
On July 9 Mary lost her sister. She was battling a number of illnesses, but the conditions she was living in and lack of treatment took it's toll. We were able to say our final goodbye's on July 15 and was able to spend some time with her daughter and Mary's brother that evening and the next morning (in Las Vegas).
We also had a regular trip to Las Vegas already planned for the following week and stayed at the Paris Hotel and Casino, where we had another great dinner at The Bedford (Martha Stewart's restaurant there).
We also stayed over night at the Tropicana Laughlin, they have a wheel drawing promotion that we have been participating in so thought we'd spend the night instead of driving back home afterwards.
June, 2024
Oh, boy, did we put some miles on the car this month!
We were in the Phoenix area every weekend in June, as well as a 2 night stay in Las Vegas. Mary had a couple of post-surgery appointments with her doctor and we visited grand children, what a treat.
Mary's knee is coming along great, so much better than her left one (replaced 6 years ago). Not sure what made the difference, but we sure are happy with the progress.
We stayed at Harrah's Las Vegas for 2 nights, both of us had competing offers so we decided to get 2 different rooms so we could each benefit from the offers. While we were there, we enjoyed dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House (absolutely wonderful dinner) and the next night it was appetizers at the Yard House on Linq Lane.
Since Mary had 2 different post-op appointments (4 weeks apart) this month, we decided to stay at Harrah's Ak-Chin in Maricopa for each stay. The property is a little bit out of the way but the rooms and meals were comp'ed so that made up for it. Not a bad property, the slots and video poker was a little tight but Mary did pretty good.
We had one of our granddaughters stay with us here in Kingman for a week and later that month we had a long awaited visit with another granddaughter, such a great time.
After all the travel (5 round trips to Phoenix - 1 round trip to Las Vegas) we are looking forward to staying a little more local this month, but we do have a few large adventures planned for later this year.
Stay Tuned!
May, 2024
May was a pretty interesting month, including some travel and Mary's 2nd knee replacement operation.
Mary returned from Reno on the 1st of the month, her last bowling tournament before her knee surgery.
The following weekend we stayed one night in Laughlin to meet up with a friend from California and had a great dinner at The Range Steak House at Harrah's Laughlin.
The next day we drove to Las Vegas and stayed at the Paris Hotel/Casino for a tier multiplier event and I even earned some FREE play from the casino (just for being there). We had dinner at the Vanderpump Restaurant at Paris LV and was not very impressed with the service, the food was ok though (but way over the top overpriced).
We celebrated Mother's Day with a wonderful brunch at Mattina's (a local Italian Restaurant) with dinner up in the mountains at the Hualapai Resort. This was a very tough day for me since it was the first Mother's Day since my mom passed away, I was thinking of her all day.
Then came Mary's surgery, we drove down to Tempe a day early to prepare for the event and her surgery was in the morning on the 16th. Everything went very well and she was able to go home on the 17th. Dr Amber Randall was the surgeon and did a fantastic job, Tempe St. Luke's Hospital was a very good place for the event.
This finished our activities in May, June however is another story...more to come!
April, 2024
Here we are, April is now history and we are continuing to burn the Vacation Days before Mary's knee surgery.
We enjoyed a total of 3 overnight stays in Laughlin this month, thanks to a bunch of offers and special events going on at Harrah's and Tropicana. Mary won big at one of the giveaways at Harrah's and we ended up having a great dinner at The Range Steak house that night.
Our Las Vegas stay this month was a busy one. We stayed at the Paris Hotel again and enjoyed an excellent dinner at The Bedford by Martha Stewart (and even got to see her at the restaurant the next evening). We also did something that we've not done before, used a Tier Match offer at the Fontainebleau to get a Players Card there and ended up with a total of $250 in dinner credits (she also has $150 spa credit, so I guess we're going to have to stay there sometime in the future). So that night we ate at Don's Prime at the Fontainebleau and had an excellent dinner - Mary had the chicken and I had my first Dry Aged Prime Wagyu New York Steak (it was awesome and cut like a filet). The Fontainebleau is one of the newest Casino/Hotels to open in Las Vegas and it is very high end. She even did well in the casino!
Mary had her pre-op appointment with the knee doctor in Tempe and we stayed overnight since it was an afternoon appointment and she had a lot of stuff to take care of (between the surgeon and the hospital). We were able to visit with Mike and Paula and the grandkids for a little bit before calling it a night.
Mary finished the month off with a trip to Reno for a National Bowling Tournament, and spent a couple of nights there with her bowling buddies.
May - here we come!!!
March, 2024
March (and April) are becoming busier that I anticipated. We enjoyed Spring Training in the Phoenix area for the first time since the Pandemic and had a great time. Mary is also getting ready to get her other knee replaced so there's been a ton of doctor appointments and other side issues to take care of. But, as usual, we enjoyed traveling all month and getting more travel in before she slows down a bit in May.
We stayed at the Cliff Castle Casino Hotel at the beginning of the month, it is located near Sedona (one of our favorite Arizona destinations) We were able to cash in on a number of FREE play options and gift giveaways, as well as enjoy the local atmosphere.
We stayed overnight at Harrah's Laughlin one night, they were having a 10X multiplier and we wanted to take advantage of that. We ate at Harrah's Range Steak House (on their dime) with Mary's brother and it was pretty good this time (they are hit and miss).
The second full week of March we spent in the Phoenix area to enjoy Spring Training Baseball. We had tickets to 5 games but was rained out of one, first time that's happened to us. It was a lot of fun and brought back many good memories of enjoying baseball in the park. While we were there Mary had a pre-pre-op appointment with her knee surgeon and scheduled her knee replacement for May 16th. She's been suffering with the pain but is ready to put it behind her. We also got to visit with Mike, Paula, and the Grandkids for a great spaghetti and meatball dinner that Friday night.
After Spring Training, we headed to Sedona for some leisure time and a wine delivery/pickup. The weather was great and it was very relaxing. We ate dinner at the new Merkin Vineyard Hilltop Trattoria in Cottonwood, if you are ever in the area you MUST stop here for lunch, appetizers, or dinner. Sunday we hiked all over downtown Sedona (shopping) and then headed to Page Springs to pick up Mary's wine order as well as enjoyed dinner in their Wine Club room. The people here are so nice and the wine is great.
We did travel to Las Vegas once in March, stayed at the Paris Hotel. I was able to score reservations (a few months ago) at Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen and it was an awesome dinner. Very pricey, but the casino paid for it and it was very enjoyable. The next night Mary hit a sizeable jackpot at her favorite slot machine, she was pretty happy! After that, we ate dinner/appetizers at Gordon Ramsay's Pub and it was the first time eating a Scotch Egg, which was very tasty to me.
January, 2024
Here it is, a New Year. Boy, did 2023 go by fast or what?!?
We ended the year by having a beautiful dinner at Garibaldi's (downtown Kingman) and then headed home to watch the ball drop in N.Y.
January was certainly a busy month. We continue to travel often and since we did so well last year at the casinos (winnings, tier status, comp earnings) I suspect there will be no slow down on that front.
Mary & I stayed at the casinos in Laughlin 3 times during the month of January. Lots of offers at the beginning of the year and they comp all our stays (including meals) so it's hard to turn them down.
We drove over to the Central Coast and stayed in Pismo Beach a couple of days, to attend the Celebration of Life for a good friend/co-worker and his wife.
We stayed near Sedona a couple of nights for our quarterly wine pickup at Page Springs Cellars and got to enjoy lunch at the new Merkin Hilltop Winery and Trattoria in Cottonwood (if you are ever in the area you MUST stop here) as well as dinner at Dahl and Diluca (a great Italian restaurant in Sedona).
We also stayed at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino for 2 nights and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Capo's Speakeasy and Restaurant, which is quite the experience. Very authentic feel and the italian food was to die for.
February, 2024
February turned into a rather busy month for us, some cross-country travel and a number of stays in Las Vegas (more tier building bonus opportunities).
We started the month by saying goodbye to Karen Polywacz, Mary's brother Joe's companion for over 20 years. It was very sad to see her go but we know that she's no longer suffering and now thriving in a much better place. We Love you Karen.
This month we stayed at the Flamingo Las Vegas (this place is really in decline) and twice at the Paris Hotel/Casino, which is becoming our favorite in Las Vegas. While at the Flamingo we enjoyed appetizers at the Yard House (just out on Linq Lane) and the next night a spectacular dinner at Bobby Flay's Amalfi Restaurant (at Caesar's Palace). When we stayed at Paris, we had dinner at Gordon Ramsey's Steak House - since this was our second time there I didn't get the Beef Wellington but tried the Pan Seared Salmon - what a treat that was!
We flew to Florida the 3rd weekend of February to say goodbye to my mom, who passed away May 29, 2023. Her wishes were to have her ashes spread in the St. John's River near her home with her late husband Don (they both fished there quite often). We were very happy and honored to be there and engage in her last request - just sad that no one else from the family deemed it necessary to show up.
Yes, we stayed at Harrah's Laughlin once in February for another Tier Credit multiplier and I did exceptionally well, getting lots of credits and making money in the process. Mary just made her normal contributions to the fund. We did enjoy dinner at The Range Steak House at Harrah's but they are starting to lose their luster and the dinner isn't quite as high-end as it used to be (sad to see).
Once we came back from Florida we actually stayed at our house for a couple of weeks, what a treat.
January, 2024
Here it is, a New Year. Boy, did 2023 go by fast or what?!?
We ended the year by having a beautiful dinner at Garibaldi's (downtown Kingman) and then headed home to watch the ball drop in N.Y.
January was certainly a busy month. We continue to travel often and since we did so well last year at the casinos (winnings, tier status, comp earnings) I suspect there will be no slow down on that front.
Mary & I stayed at the casinos in Laughlin 3 times during the month of January. Lots of offers at the beginning of the year and they comp all our stays (including meals) so it's hard to turn them down.
We drove over to the Central Coast and stayed in Pismo Beach a couple of days, to attend the Celebration of Life for a good friend/co-worker and his wife.
We stayed near Sedona a couple of nights for our quarterly wine pickup at Page Springs Cellars and got to enjoy lunch at the new Merkin Hilltop Winery and Trattoria in Cottonwood (if you are ever in the area you MUST stop here) as well as dinner at Dahl and Diluca (a great Italian restaurant in Sedona).
We also stayed at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino for 2 nights and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Capo's Speakeasy and Restaurant, which is quite the experience. Very authentic feel and the italian food was to die for.
