Our 54th Anniversary trip. Friends at Wilson Canyon. Champagne Sunday and more.

Last Tuesday, September 15th we left home with "The Mansion" and headed over to Bridgeport, CA about an hour and a half away from here. Bridgeport is in the Eastern Sierras and absolutely beautiful! One of our most favorite places to camp. 

We were able to find a site at Crags Campground,  a National Forest Service Campground.  No hook ups but beautiful big sites. They do have pit toilets, water and dumpsters. Prices have gone up $30.00 a night but with the National Parks senior pass it's only $15.00 for us older folks. 

Had our lunch and then enjoyed the afternoon in the shadows of beauty. 

Beautiful Twin Lakes back here. 

We had some smoke from the Yosemite Fire. 
Made for a pretty sunset 

Wednesday morning when we woke up we were celebrating 54 years of marriage. We had decided to take a drive to June Lake, CA about 35 miles south of Bridgeport. We wanted to check out some of the NFS campgrounds there. 

I made our lunches, loaded up some adult beverages and we headed out! Had a lovely drive and checked them out. We've stayed a couple of times there but probably won't other than one campground. Sites are just too close together. 

From the overlook on HWY 395 overlooking Mono Lake

Mono Lake, CA 

Once we did that we decided to check out June Lake Brewing Company. It was a great day for it! They don't serve wine but they had a hard seltzer and it was pretty good. Ken of course had 2 of the IPA's. 

They have outside or inside seating along with
a food truck that's always there. Thought
there floor was cool, pennies under the floor
coating! Some nickels and dimes but mostly
pennies and a lot of them! :)

Once we finished there we decided it was time to find a lunch picnic spot. After all bologna sandwiches were waiting! A yearly tradition since that was our first dinner after getting married earlier in the day. OH so good! Even better after all these years. Yes, we could afford to go out for lunch but this is better. Takes us back to where it all started. 

Top two pictures are of the June Lake Loop.
Ken's at our picnic spot, just gorgeous 
mountains. It was too windy to have a real fire, 
but the Little Red Campfire did the trick. 😄

That night before bed Ken asked if I had brought champagne. No. V8 for

a Red Beer. No. Thursday morning we were at the little store about a mile away and got what we needed. Alot more expensive than if I would have brought from home, but what the heck?! 

We enjoyed our morning at the campsite and when it was time for lunch we thought we'd head for the lake and have it. Way too windy! So we came back to camp and enjoyed the meal. Guess what it was hahaha. Bologna is so good when you only have it once a year for a few lunches. 

Ken barbecued dinner for all three nights and made for yummy dinners. Gotta quit eating so good. 

Friday morning we had our coffees out by the fire pit and that made for a nice morning. We didn't mean to but we were ready to go by a little after 10. We were home by noon. We were able to get most of the trailer cleaned and emptied before heading next door for Happy Hour. 

Saturday morning we headed out to Wilson Canyon, NV. It's only about 30 minutes from here. a bunch of friends were out there to ride side by sides to Mt. Patterson. Not us, it's not made for our CanAm. Just to visit for a bit before they all left for the ride. 

Lots of money out there! I'm certain a good time was had by all! Loved the unique heater one group had. They actually had 2 of them. It was cold in the morning and evenings I'm sure. 

Well, you know what yesterday was, Champagne Sunday and what a nice day it was in the outdoor kitchen. 

I made homemade steak fries on the griddle and Ken
outdid himself with barbecued turkey burgers. All the
fixings and was so good! He helped John in the am,
so little later than normal. Worth the wait! 

We ended the night with a nice campfire! 

I was able to steal a few pics from FB 

Grandma Christina and Miss Avery 

Grand Nephew Owen all decked out in his Football uniform

Got this adorable picture of Jacob and Allissa this morning. He's getting ready to
deploy soon. Happy they have some time together now 💗

This cutie is grandson Aaron on the 
field at the Raiders game yesterday.

Well, that's about it for this blog. We've got lots of wind going on and about 80 degrees. Not bad temps. Have a great evening! 

Avery Grace is 4 months already! Sightseeing Durango, Lake Powell camping, Champagne Monday, Cedar City, Illipah and home!

 

This little cutie is 4 months old already. How time does fly! 💕💖

We rode the train in Durango on the 4th. It was a great, long day! The 5th we decided to play tourist and see historic downtown Durango. Not too historic other than it was shops in old buildings. Fine with us. LOL. We did do a little buying but not crazy. 

It was a really warm day. Lots of people doing the same thing we were and lots of bikers in town as they hold a yearly Labor Day Rally. 

The Strater Hotel, home of the Diamond Belle Saloon 

Oh so good! 

A beautiful place with real saloon gals serving us 

After shopping and looking around it was time to find some food! 

We found the La Hacienda. Oh so much food and so delicious! 

A good sized doggie bag went home with us! 

Once we were finished we headed back to the RV Park and sat outside until bedtime. 

Alpen Rose RV Park. Definitely would stay again!
The staff here was so nice and friendly. We got
a spot for the Midget and then we got the spot
next to us to park the truck. 2 for the price of one! 

Sunday morning it was time to head towards Page, AZ and Lake Powell. We were looking for Lone Rock campground and beach where we've stayed twice before. 

This is so sad. The first time we came here the rock was in water
deep enough for watercraft to be having fun. In 22 it was
out of the water but the water was close. Now it's at least 
1/8 of a mile away and grass is growing here. 

We had some beautiful views though

Awesome sunsets and sunrises! 

Since we were driving on Sunday we had Champagne Monday
😋

We got here on Sunday of Labor Day weekend, thinking it 
would be packed. It wasn't at all! 

Tuesday morning Ken suggested going to breakfast in town. The Ranch House Grill is where we went. Excellent food. Then later in the day we took a drive to town the long way. There's a really nice road out to the Marina and goes near the water. Beautiful! 

Instead of going home after that we stopped at Grand Canyon Brewery and Distillery. Pretty much a replica of the one in Williams, AZ. We thought we'd have one and then head to another brewery but this is the only one in town. So we had 1 more and headed back to camp. A very interesting place with delicious beer and wine. Full bar too if you want that. 

Wednesday morning we headed for Cedar City, Utah. Beautiful drive all the way and very little traffic which we like! 

The Highway can take you to Cedar Breaks National Monument which we did the last time we were that way. If you stay on the highway to Cedar City it still has beautiful views and mountains. We were on highway 89 and then turned on Highway 14. 

We arrived at the campground and realized it was where we stayed the last time. It was a KOA at that time. Now it's called Cedar City Resort. Resort is stretching it, but it worked for the night. Lots of locals living there. 

Thursday morning we headed for Ely, NV and Illipah Resorvoir about 35 miles west of there. We've stayed here many times and know what we're getting. It's free camping there. Lots of ATV 'ers there. It's about 1 1/2 miles off Highway 50 on a well maintained dirt road. 

The campground sits beautifully and has a nice fishing lake too. We didn't get down there this time. You can have a fire and barbecue with charcoal where state parks are not allowing it right now.  So we did both LOL. Campsites have windbreaks and picnic tables and covered shelters. There are dumpsters and pit toilets (which we didn't use).  The lake on the left is Cumins Lake just east of Ely and that's our lunch spot for the day. 

We had a really nice night and next morning then we headed for home. About a 5 hour drive and we were home by 1530. Unloaded some stuff and then over to John and Karen's for a short Happy Hour as John is working here now. So it was a "school night" for him. We continued Happy Hour in the outdoor kitchen for a bit. 

Love going but always nice to be home too. 

Today was spent doing laundry and getting the Midget cleaned up for the next time. 

Actually, the next time we're taking the Mansion over to Bridgeport, CA so Ken brought it over so we can get it loaded for Tuesday morning. Our 54th anniversary is next Wednesday so we want to be over that way. 

We want to take a drive to the June Lake Loop and pick out some good campsites there. So that'll be Wednesday. We'll be home on Friday. Not a long stay but that's ok. Home is good too. :)  

Cave Lake, NV, Goblin Valley State Park and Durango! :) Picture overload....

Monday morning we left for Cave Lake State Park outside of Ely, NV. We arrived around 1600 hours. We found us a camp spot and settled in. Unforuntely they were under a fire watch so we couldn't have a fire or a charcoal grill 😡 in order for Ken to barbecue. Luckily we had chicken he cooked the day before. 

Cave Lake State Park NV

This was our Happy Hour there

Tuesday morning we headed for Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. Our good friend Sue had always said we needed to stop there and we are so glad we did. We love Utah anyway and this was just another stop for us! 

This is the highway we like! Cave Lake to Utah..HIghway 50 from Cave Lake to Utah!

We had made reservations for 2 nights and glad we did. Reservations were  45 a night, which include the state park entrance fees. So 90 for the 2 nights. Beautiful sights and  they had bathrooms with showers if u needed them. A dump station is nearby. 

Our view from the campsite in Goblin Valley ! 

A cover in every site, guessing where the wind comes from 

Sweetie and the Midget.

A huge tent site!

Our view from camp

Another view! 

Goblin Valley! 

It is something to see at least one time in your life!

On our way to Hanksville to get ice and whatever

Our breakfast view on Wednesday

Blog went a little crazy and here are pictures of Silverton, Co. 
No control..

View from the train..Aspens staring to change 

Silverton, Co.

Lunch in Silverton, CO 

                                             I wish we had more time to spend there! Hopefully next time!

The view from the train... Uhhh if you notice we are very close 
to the edge. with the train..

                                                                  The Town is adorable! 

We were so close to the edge! I had to sit down a few times!

Some Pictures are out of order.  This started our morning on
Thursday before catching the train! 

On our way...

It was so beautiful!

We've been staying in a really nice RV park called Alpen Rose a few miles out of town. I'll get a few pics in the morning. People are so friendly here! It's pretty full as there's a bike rally in town this weekend! It's been a very busy time but oh so fun!

Time for bed..Tomorrow we head for Page, AZ and Lake Powell. A slow way home! Our next adventure? A little weekend for our real anniversary we hope!