Once a River Rat Always a River Rat

Once a River Rat Always a River Rat

Have you ever had a place that just going there makes you smile and like nothing in the world could ever change how happy this place makes you feel? I have a place like that; it may seem a little odd that I love this place as much as I do, but one of my favorite places in the entire world is Parker, Arizona. This town on the Colorado River where the California border meets Arizona is my happy place. To most people it might seem like just another pass through town, to stop and get gas and eat on a road trip but this city in the middle of the desert is so much more than just that. It’s home to Blue Water Casino, the Parker 425, the Desert Bar, and for awhile my river house. 

I grew up going there, and I loved every minute of being a river rat. Some of my best memories as a child were in Parker with my family and friends. I can remember going on the boat with my family, floating the river, learning how to wakeboard, begging my mom to buy me wedge flip flops from River Rats, collecting rocks in the desert with my dad and sister, falling off of the golf cart cause my dad hit a bump too fast, doing donuts in the Rhino with Uncle Gary, riding my quad in the winter every chance I got, going to the Desert Bar in the Truggy, burning bushes with Avalon in the middle of the desert, or even watching my dad from a helicopter race his trophy truck at the Parker 425.

Parker is filled with so many happy memories for me, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to have my river house back again. So I have decided that I’m going to start saving up now to buy a river place of my own… well, or I might just beg my dad for a new river house until he says yes… really whichever one gets me a river house the fastest is the plan that I will be going with… until then I guess I will just cherish the memories I have there and visit whenever I can… I don’t think I ever really got over the fact that we sold the river house and my mom always jokes that I’ll need therapy because of it. But like it was a really sad day when my parents told my sister and I that they had sold the Parker house and that Dad had already packed it up. To make things worse, we didn’t go back and visit for awhile. 

When we finally did go back, it was weird to see how much Parker had changed but still stayed the same. They had added in a Walmart, taken out Badenoch’s, closed Kahuna’s, taken out the area we used to ride our quads, and moved our favorite Mexican restaurant, but while things had changed it was still the place I knew and loved… It’s safe to say that Parker will always be my favorite place to go. 

SHARE: