Busy but Fun! On our way to Arkansas! Columbus day weekend with family and friends :)

 It's been a fun, busy two weeks. 

October 3rd we went to Michael Hohl Subuaru to see if we could get me a new Forester Subaru. The numbers worked and I/we have a new car that's not too big, but has enough room for the trips we take. I am in love with it! 

We left yesterday for Arkansas to visit our son Bryan, daughter in law Cheryl and my sister Wendy who moved to Heber Springs, Arkansas last April. 

We did 580 miles yesterday and spent the night in Williams, AZ. Tonight after 540 miles we are in Tucumcari, NM at a cute remodeled Route 66 motel. We should be at Bryan's on Saturday early afternoon. 😁 It's a quick trip, hopefully longer in April 2026. 

October 4th we went to the Outhouse Races in Virginia City. We talked John and Karen into meeting us there and spending the night. We stayed at the Silver Queen Hotel, supposed to be the most haunted in VC. Ken and I had the room where way back when a prostitute killed herself. No ghosts appeared unfortunately. Karen definitely didn't want anything that haunted so they had room 4. No ghosts either. Darn. But a really good time was had by all of us! Good food, great friends and good drinks LOL. 

The next week was spent getting ready for company on the Columbus Day weekend. WE ended up with Russell, Lori, John, Andrea, Mason, Chloe, Diane, Jesse and Michael coming to spend the weekend with us. Adam was able to get Monday off so he came Sunday night. It was a great time for all of us! Friday night we had friends Randi, Joel, Mark and Ross stop over for a visit. It was a party all weekend long LOL Nice that we had accommodations between everything we have. Monday most left and Adam stayed till Wednesday morning when we left. 

We're both so glad everyone wanted to come out and spend time with us. My heart is full and thankful! 💙

One afternoon we went to the range that's
about a mile or so from our house. 

I loved watching Russell, he is such a good teacher! 

Sometime during that week we met Adam in Minden and had lunch together after he bought himself a new 2025 Tacoma truck TRO model.

Adam and his new truck, he's a happy camper!
He and I went for a ride in the BLM, that's the
top two pictures! OH oh I think they're the same. 

Tomorrow's goal is Henryetta, Oklahoma and then pull into Bryan's house

early afternoon. Enjoying Happy Hour now! Hope you are too. :) 

Another week gone! Carson City, Reno, Fall comes to the outdoor kitchen :)

 Well, another week has flown by and now we're into October! Just too hard to believe! 

Last week we got some stuff delivered for the outdoor kitchen. I told Ken it feels like Christmas with the deliveries except we have to spend the money too! LOL..

Got some new shades for the addition. Keeps sun out
and helps with the heat from the wood stove too. 

Replaced the two shades on the front and bought one for the
open side. 4 new ones total. Love our little conversation
area. A new outdoor fireplace was gotten too. Too 
many hot fires in our old one, it rusted through the 
bottom. Just needs to be put together. 

                        

Sunday, of course 

Ken wanted some lunch meat quesadillas as a change up and
they were good! 

Did some Fall decorating

Tuesday we had appointments in Carson City so we took two vehicles. First appointment was to drop off my car for its 30,000 mile service. Wanted to get that done before we leave for Arkansas on the 14th. 

Ken's truck got all new tires and two for the side by side too. We ran to Reno and Total Wine then to lunch at Miguels courtesy of Bryan and Cheryl. Thanks kids, it was oh so yummy! 

Ken didn't know he was in the picture 😄

The biggest burrito ever! Stuffed with all kinds of
goodies! 

Ken's enchilada and chile Arellano were delicious too! 

Tomorrow we're headed for Carson City to test drive a new Forester Subaru.

If the numbers work we'll  probably come home with a new car for me. 

We'll see. We love the Crosstrek, but it's a little small for some of our trips.

Looks like rain this afternoon so Ken's out there washing my car 😂 

Happy Birthday to Ken's sister Diane! 

Stole this from FB. John, Jesse, Andrea, Lori and Russell will be here Columbus
Day weekend. The other two are Marty and Terrance 💙

Time to get this posted and finish up a few things. Have a great rest of 

the day! 

Our 53rd Anniversary, Leaving Bear Lake, City of Rocks, South Fork Recreation Area and then home! :) Aaron's all settled in :)

 We certainly enjoyed our time at Bear Lake State Park, Utah! I can see that becoming a yearly destination! 

Monday the 15th we took a little ride to Garden City, Utah, a very nice touristy town. We had decided that if we found a Mexican Restaurant we'd treat ourselves to lunch. We found Cafe Saber and it was delicious. Huge portions and a nice atmosphere. 

Way too much food, but ohh so yummy! 

Tuesday was our 53rd wedding anniversary. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that lunch is always bologna sandwiches! They were delicious by the lake. 

How we started the celebration of 53 years! 

Wednesday morning we left after taking our time to get ready. A beautiful drive we had to City of Rocks National Preserve. We had been there one other time when the grandkids were younger and they loved it. Figured we'd see it one more time in our lifetime. 

Beautiful Bear Lake from the top of the mountain! 

Beautiful City of Rocks, Idaho 

The camping spots that are in some of the rocks were way too small for us. We ended up turning around, but the views were spectacular. We headed down to their other campground to check it out. Very nice, but reservation only. Use the QR reader and get online or call, but we were too late for that. Anyway, frustrating for us so we decided to head for their small visitor center. 

We had a lovely night there until Ken went out to the truck and found a $60.00 ticket on the windshield. There was a sign that said No Camping with a picture of a tent crossed out. We see those at highway rest areas but we can overnight three. We didn't actually see that sign until that morning. Nothing that said No overnight parking though. Well, good morning from Idaho! 

Ken went into the visitor center and paid the girl. $61.80 as they charge for using your credit card. He did tell her they need a sign that says, No overnight parking. She agreed and said she'd tell her supervisor. Yeah, right!

Off we went towards Elko, NV. We were headed for the South Fork Recreation Area about 20 miles from there. There were a lot of campers again but we found a spot we could have had for two nights, but with all the bugs we were anxious to get going the next morning. 

Friday about 1630 we pulled into the driveway and just unloaded what was needed before heading next door to see Karen and hairy kids. They were so happy to see us. 💖

Saturday we spent here at home unloading and enjoying some college football  Ken barbecued some delicious burgers with some of our Conder Ranch beef. 

Had our first fire in the outdoor kitchen as we were out 
there about 0630 to enjoy some coffee and get ready for
pregame 😀

To close out the evening, a nice fire and a good beer 
in our favorite glass ever! 💕

Sunday, of course was Champagne Sunday. Had some BLT's for lunch. Later in the afternoon Ken cooked some delicious chicken and ribs on the Pit Boss. YUMMY. 

During the course of the day it was hard to pull myself away from the Charlie Kirk memorial. 😭

Monday we had to go to Gardnerville to pick up a prescription for me. Then to Carson City for some groceries at Walmart . Then we stopped at Discount Tires so Ken could get a quote on new tires for the Tundra $$$ and two new tires for the side by side $$. Yep, an expensive stop. They all should be in next week so we'll head that way then. A nice linner at Betsy's and then home. 

Today was divide and conquer. I spent a few hours in the Mansion getting it all cleaned up and Ken did his thing around here. There's several things he needs to repair on the Mansion. It's 5 years old now, so you know things are falling apart. Next he'll put on his RV repair hat. 😂

Russell and Lori got Aaron all settled in at UCSB. Bitter sweet for Russell and Lori, as they are now empty nesters! 

Aaron's apartment building 

Taking a load in...

Another one..

I love when Owen wears this shirt to support his cousin Jacob! 💙

Well, there you go. I give daily bloggers a lot of credit as even on vacation I can't find time to blog. Home is worse LOL. 

Happy Hour with my sweetie. Have a wonderful evening! 

Cave Lake State Park, Truck stop, Bear Lake State Park Utah :)

 We left home on Wednesday, September 10th heading for Cave Lake, NV. We've been there several times and love it. We got there mid afternoon and the  place was packed! We checked out the lake and campground. Nope, so we headed to their other campground, Elk Flat. We were able to find a site that had one night we could camp. It was lovely. The next morning the people there pulled out and they had one night too that the spot would be empty. 

This mountain always let's us know we're almost to Cave Lake

Beautiful Cave Lake

Really nice campsites 

A few years back Nevada implented a reservation system for state parks. If the state park doesn't have electrical hookups with Ken's senior pass ($30.00 a year) we get to camp for free. If it has hookups it's $10.00 a night. Cave Lake has no hookups. The first site we stayed in the people never showed up and by the time we left on Friday they still hadn't showed up. The site stayed empty. Guess if they weren't  paying for the site they didn't bother to cancel. 1 big flaw! A lot of people came through the campground, but couldn't find a site and had to leave. Just not right. 

We hadn't made reservations thinking we wouldn't have a problem, but now we know. We had actually made contact with our friends Doug and Michelle, as they were traveling, but they were almost home so they weren't in our area then. Turned out it was a good thing, but we were hoping to get to see them. 

Friday morning we headed out with staying on the west side of Salt Lake City at a truck stop our destination. Sure didn't want to go through there with Friday traffic. 

We had a great night at the TA stop. 

Here we are in-between these two. They actually pulled in
long after we were sleeping. We didn't hear a thing!

Saturday we headed for Bear Valley State Park near Garden City, Utah and the Idaho border. We were here 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. Enjoying it again! 💗

All along Nevada highways the sagebrush is in full bloom! 

Utah is one of my favorite states as its so beautiful. 

How we started our Champagne Sunday at Bear Lake 💖

Our first time making pizza in our oven. It did great just took
about 3 times longer (30min) then home. That's ok we 
had no plans. 😀 It was worth the wait! 

Bear Lake State Park has full hookups, bathrooms with showers,
huge sites, green grass $40.00 a night and no reservations. 
There's a lot of people here, but plenty of good sites still
available! 

We thought we'd stay 2 nights but it looks like it'll be 4 before moving on.

Today we're taking a drive to Garden City, Utah just to check it out. 😊

Wednesday we'll head west and start the drive home. Our first stop is City of Rocks in Idaho. 

Have a wonderful day! 💖