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. :)  

Illipah camping, Lunch in Milford Utah to Cedar City Utah

 

Senior Spotlight! 💙

 Thursday morning we left home around 1030.  We would have liked earlier but it was what it was. 

We decided to head out on Highway 50..The Loneliest Highway..hahaa. NOT! We've done 50 many (and I mean many) times over the years. Lots of trucks on this route now..but not as many as Highway 95. 

Great ride until Eureka when we were stopped by NHP and told to pull over because there was a wide load coming. After about 30 minutes of waiting I told Ken why don't I go in the trailer and make sandwiches.  We had a nice lunch, and of course the wide load came through during that time. 

This is the Tonka toy we waited for  LOL. 

The aspens were gorgeous! 

We continued on and ended up at Illipah Campground just outside of Ely. We love this place. It was actually the less crowded than we've ever seen it! We found a place and parked. Happy Hour happened after that when Ken started a fire! 

Happy Hour at Illipah 

The campfire was definitely needed!

Great spot for FREE! 

Lake Cumins outside Ely, Nevada 

At the entrance to Great Basin National Park

Dinner was easy as we had left over pork from home. Temps were cool, so   and after a while we went inside.

 The Illipah campground is a great place to be. Covers to protect you from the wind, fire pits, tables, and pit toilets. All for free! Tons of places for ATV's, Side by Sides Etc to ride! There's a reservoir for fishing etc too. 

We left there early morning after having coffee. It was about 0630 we left and went to Ely to get to gas. We got to Lake Cumins about 0730 where I made breakfast and we had showers. A beautiful place to be. It was 28 degrees at that time! Once we were finished we headed out, around 0900.   

A great drive down Highway 50 to 487 out of Great Basin area and then to Milford, Utah where we took on water, had lunch and stopped at the local grocery store to pick up ice.  They have a free dump, water and a campground that doesn't cost a thing.  No hook ups but a great place! 

The camping area in Milford, Utah 

Our lunch spot in Milford, UT

We left there not quite sure where we were going, but ended up at RJourneys RV Park in Cedar City Utah. Nice place, you can tell it used to be a KOA years ago by the shape fo the roof. $47.00 with full hook ups for the night. Last night was free, so averages out to a pretty cheap two days. 

Very busy, lots of Canadian plates too! 😁

 We're hoping to only go about 28 miles today to a NFS campground and then check out Cedar Breaks National Monument. We will see..otherwise we keep heading east. Our plan is to avoid the interstate as much as possible. 😀

Have a great Saturday! We're heading out! 😍