Winter Blast With The Boomers

We love attending Winter Blast in Lake Havasu City. Every February the Western Pyrotechnic Association displays fireworks in a 4-night show that tops all fireworks shows I’ve ever seen.

We boondocked about 10 miles south of Sara Park, where the fireworks are, in an area called The Steps with the Boomers and other friends. Over 100 RVs were parked here. We chose a fairly level spot with friends Jan & Bill Mains and Gloria & Frank King parked near us.

Here’s our view.

As you can see, The Steps got the name from the terraced multi-levels on the side of the hills. I believe the area was created by a housing developer who either ran out of money or hope (or both) early in the project.

It’s a popular entrance to back country for 4-wheelers.

Some of our friends parked waaaaaay up on the highest step, barely visible until you look at the zoomed pic.

Most of them have RZRs or other ATVs and spent a lot of time riding in the hills, although we went up the hill the first evening for happy hour with them, and several of them stopped by our motorhome to say Hi. We had seen all of them in Quartzsite also, so we spent most of our time with the Boomers.

I shared lots of laughs with women friends.

The guys were fun, too.

Don told the group a little about the 2013 Boomers’ plans for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October, and Bob & Molly Pinner talked about Escapade.

In the desert, there’s plenty of room for big rigs.

And you don’t even have to have a rig! There are no restrictions, anyone can stay here for any length of time, and there are no rules except for common courtesy, which most people follow.

An annual event held during this time is “Ed’s Birthday Party.” It’s really Duane’s birthday, but several years ago when Betty tried to buy a cake for him, the bakery didn’t have time to make a special cake. But they had one on sale for half price because it said “Happy Birthday, Ed” but Ed’s family no longer wanted it because Ed had died. So the tradition began and is continued every year. It’s a great excuse for Boomers to have hot dogs (provided by Betty & Duane) and potluck dishes on the side. This year, we also celebrated Bill’s and Becky’s birthdays, too.

We took a group picture with the Boomers banner.

And Betty led the singing of “Ode to Ed” instead of “Happy Birthday” (but we also sang that)!

Don was nursing a cold for a good part of our time here, but he did finally feel well enough to attend one night of the fireworks – Saturday, the best and biggest show. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset prior to the show.

Tickets are sold prior to show time for the lucky winner to start the show by lighting a wall of 1 million firecrackers. Something went wrong, and the big bang occurred before the drawing! OOOPS!!

Later, the name was drawn and the winner got to shoot off a canon instead.

The show was indeed spectacular. Here are a few shots I took, but mostly I just enjoyed looking up without a camera in front of my face.

Sorry about the telephone pole in some of these shots. I wasn’t able to crop it out of all of them.

When we left The Steps, we spent almost a week in Tucson, taking care of doctor appointments and a bit of shopping. We are now in El Paso, TX, the first time we’ve been out of Arizona since last October. We’re sitting out a strong wind-and-dust storm that would NOT have been fun (or safe) to drive a high-profile RV through. I’m getting caught up on Mexican food (can I ever catch up?) and Don got his BBQ fix last night when we went to Rudy’s for Texas barbecue. When will we start that diet?