Yerington to Arkansas and back! Happy Birthday Eric, Adam and Bryan!

Tuesday, April 14th we pulled into Bryan and Cheryl's place around 1500 hrs or so. Spent the afternoon visiting and Bryan barbecued some delicious hot dogs and hot links. 

Cheryl's flowers are really starting to bloom :)

Visiting in Arkansas 
Birthday boy today 53 years young!
How did that happen!!? 

Ken enjoying his beer on the front porch! :)

Bottom line, since it's 2 weeks plus later, I'm forgetting what all we did. LOL. I know Ken and I went to Searcy to see what we could find for Bryan's birthday which is today. 

Thursday we went to my sister Wendy's house and Ken and Bryan put together a crib for her grandchildren that will be in Arkansas shortly, Hoping so. They did a few other things for her, she and I visited. 

One night Bryan barbecued a delicious tri tip. He certainly knows what he's doing!  

Bryan prepping the delicious tri tip 

Saturday morning, we picked up Wendy and headed to Greers Ferry for breakfast. A very nice drive about 30 minutes away.  We went to Bentley's Restaurant. We've been there before for lunch.  We definitely won't be back for breakfast. You'd think in the heart of the south that they'd know how to make biscuits and gravy. They don't. The biscuits were good but the gravy OH NO! LOL. 

Saturday night I made all the fixings for Super Burritos. This was a favorite when our kids were growing up. We definitely enjoyed. Wendy came over too. Lots of goodbye hugs when she left as we were leaving Sunday morning.

Ken's plate, all the fixings for a Super Burrito but he ate his as an
El Sombrero open face..

My sister, Wendy 💖

We didn't know how we were going home, but Ken had said he'd like to see where my dad grew up. We were there in 1985 when we came out to Arkansas with my parents on our summer vacation. 

We left Bryan's about 1000 hrs on Sunday morning. Hugs all around and we'll see them again in the Fall. 

We headed towards Russellville and found Ball Hill Cemetery. My grandparents are buried there and a plaque for my daddy. There's lots of Maggards buried there (my grandmother's maiden name). I was there in 2008 with Bryan, Cheryl and Adam when we went to Kansas for my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. 

We found the graves pretty quickly and looked around the cemetery. A nice, quiet place. 

All his brothers and sisters pooled $$ and had this plaque
put next to his parents 💖 Daddy and mom are buried at the 
National Cemetery in Dixon, CA 

My Arkansas grandparents 

After leaving there we headed for Fort Douglas, Arkansas where my daddy grew up. He didn't leave his home place until he got drafted in 1942. A beautiful drive in the Ozarks. 

Luckily I saw the Fort Douglas Cemetery on the side of the road. We got out and looked around. I saw lot's of family names. There's a lot of Phillips family members buried there. 

The one way bridge on the way to Fort Douglas 

Big Piney Creek (where Daddy learned to swim) 

The cemeteries all have a beautiful covered area where
services are held 

Lots of Phillips are buried here

Daddy's cousin Annabelle. She lived back in the Ozarks in
a country cabin until she had to go to a nursing home. 
We visited  her home in 1970 and 1985. Boy could she whip
up the best fried potatoes I've ever had along with ham. 

We drove on hoping something would look familiar or there'd be signs telling us where we were. We looked for Signs pinpointing the old schoolhouse or something. There wasn't. :( Still, a gorgeous drive for us. 

We ended up spending the night in Van Buren, Arkansas, a first for us. 

After a good night's sleep we headed for Queen Wilhelmina State Park in the heart of the Ozarks. We were there back in 2012 or so and camped. This year was just for a beautiful drive to get us into Oklahoma. 

View from a beautiful road side rest...

At the roadside rest. WHY???!!! 💔

Queen Wilhelmina Lodge..

Arkansas River 

We spent the 20th near the Oklahoma /Texas border. Enjoyed the Best Western and its fabulous breakfast. Now they know how to make biscuits and gravy. 😍 I don't eat it very often, so when I splurge I want it yummy! 

We ended our drive at The Big Texan in Amarillo. A delicious linner and way too much! 

Chicken fried chicken! Huge and Delicious! Ken's meal

Fajita quesadilla, huge baked potato and a garden salad. Alot of this meal 
went to the next motel! 

Spent the night at La Quinta Mid City in Amarillo. A very nice remodeled motel for a very reasonable price. 

Wednesday night found us in Salida, Colorado. We stayed at the American Motor Inn a classic remodeled motel. We stayed there last April too. 

Every room is decorated a little differently, keeping with the
retro theme 

Before checking in we decided to check out old downtown Salida. We found  a brewery and had a beer. We only stayed for one, as that's all they have and I'm not a big beer person. Cute place though. 

The beautiful Arkansas River 

We walked the downtown and found a restaurant /bar and sat looking at the Arkansas River. Lovely.  A glass of wine for me and a beer for Ken then we checked in at the motel. 

Up in the morning, ready to continue our drive across Colorado and then into Utah. Two of our favorite states as the views are incredible! We hoped to make Salina, Utah and we did. Had a nice night at the Super 8 there. Another remodeled motel, the room was huge. 

Blue Mesa Reservoir looking really sad. First time we saw
it the lake was full really full. Last few years it's really going 
down. Colorado has had some sad winters lately. Still
a beautiful blue. 

Going up the mountain outside Green River, Utah. So
spectacular for miles and miles 

Friday morning I set the GPS for our home address. Ken thought we'd stay in Ely, NV but I knew different. We got to Ely about 1100 hrs. Way too early to stop as we've been there done that in Ely. If we were camping that'd be different. 

Pulled into our driveway at 1743. We unloaded a few things and then headed next door for Happy Hour with John and Karen. The pups were happy to see us too! 

Well, when I started this blog I thought I'd break it into two posts. Well, before I knew it I guess I forgot that's what I wanted to do! If you got this far, thanks for reading! 

Love going, but love having this place to come home to! Our most expensive gas was here in NV. $4.94 in Tonopah when we left. $4.84 in Ely, NV coming home. Cheapest was Bucc ee's Amarillo on the way there $3.22, OK border $3.15 coming home. 

Celebrated 2 birthdays in the time we were gone. 

Our middle son, Eric turned 51 on the 19th 

Grandson, Adam turned 27 on the 21st 

Today our oldest Bryan turns 53! Happy Birthday boys! 💙

Today we are home for Champagne Sunday! Last Sunday we were traveling the Ozarks. It's time to get this party started! Happy Sunday everyone! 🍸🥂🍔🍟

Leaving Yerington to Heber Springs, Arkansas, Grand Canyon Train

 Hello from Amarillo, Texas! We left Yerington on Tuesday, the 7th  heading for Arkansas. We knew we didn't want to rush this time as we didn't have to. 

We made it to Kingman, AZ and gave our friends Doug and Michelle a call to see if we could meet up on Wednesday for a late breakfast or early lunch. Turns out they left the same morning for a 2 month trip. Bummer, but we are happy for them. 

We touched base with our friends Tom and Deb to see if we could meet up somewhere, but this year it won't work. We're hoping for next year! :) 

Wednesday we only had a 123 mile trip to Williams AZ. We've always wanted to spend time in their downtown historic district and this time we could. 

Too early to check in to the motel so we headed for Grand Canyon Railway and picked up our tickets for the train for Thursday. 

Then we headed for the Grand Canyon Brewery. A  really nice place where they serve beer, wine, mixed drinks and some awesome food. We split a fajita quesadilla

 and it was delicious. 

So Yummy!

Grand Canyon Brewery! 

After that we walked the main street of Williams old town. I picked up a sign for the outdoor kitchen but after a few stores they were all the same junk. 

Love this town and it's patriotism! 

Historic Brewing Company! :) 

Downtown  Williams AZ

We rounded the corner to Historic Brewing where we hit happy hour. Honestly, not sure about that after the pricing. Still a nice place. 

Headed back to our room to check in. We were here last year, prices were great and so were accomadations.  

 After some relaxation we went across the street to the saloon and had a couple of drinks. A nice mix of tourists and locals. 

Longhorn Saloon, across the street from our motel 

Thursday was the trip to the Grand Canyon via the Grand Canyon Railway. A 2 1/2 hour trip up and same back with 4 hours at the Grand Canyon. WE've been many times before but it's a sight to see. We've never done the train ride, but has been on our bucket list. 

Train Robbery on the way back to Williams! :)

Would we do it again..No. But glad we did it once.  Johny Arizona our person on the train was awesome. He kept us entertained from beginning to end! A transplant from CA ( who isn't) he really seems to enjoy his job! 

Our view from our White Trash Lunch...lol

We got back to the motel and we were bushed! 

Friday morning we headed out towards Grants, NM. A nice drive! Not much to say about that. Quick stop at a Walmart and that's about it. We did stop at Applebees for Linner. Haven't been there in a long time, since before 2012. Not really impressed but Ken had an awesome chicken sandwich. Nancy just to let you know on the POS goodie they have on the table if  you look at that they have the $9.99/ 10.99 deal..burger, chicken sandwich, fries and a soda. They definitely don't advertise it. I only found it playing with that thing. So yes, they make it hard! 

Friday night we stayed in Grants at an old 66 route motel. It was being remodeled and cute as it could it be. The Southwest Motel.Of course because it's a 50's motel not many electric plugs. Would we stay there agiain? Yep. Gotta give it to the little guy trying to make a living and bring back the old times! :) 

Saturday we headed for Amarillo, TX. We're at the La Quinta recently remodeled and our room is awesome! Once we arrived unloaded   we headed for Bucees. Ken loves that place and spent a few dollars. Of course here you have to buy alcohol at a state liquor store, so we let Gemini find us one close by. LOL 

Sunday, of course is Champagne Sunday and since we were spending two nights why not? Ken was in the mood for a Bloody Mary which we picked up yesterday. We just enjoyed our day at the motel today.taking it easy. Tomorrow we head for Henryetta, OK and then Tuesday we should pull into Heber Springs!!

This morning in Amarillo! Our Champagne, Bloody Mary Sunday!
🥂🍺

                                   Have a wonderful Evening!