50 + Lazy Camping

  Hi, Today was a wonderful day for watching the deer at the Grand Mesa RV Park. The deer are probably mule deer. Mule deer are named for their ears, which are large like those of a mule. The mating season usually begins in the fall. The fawns are born in the spring and stay with their mothers during the summer and are weaned in the fall. Deer are social animal that travel, rest and sleep together as a family. The diet of these deer are shrubs, trees, grasses, beans, nuts and berries. They liked eating in this area behind our cabin. Deer can sleep with their eyes open. They will often make temporary "beds" which is usually flattened areas of grass or leaves. They tend to sleep early morning and afternoon.  While having coffee in the morning, 3 deer came within ~ 20 feet of me and just stood there watching me drink coffee from my red mug. I did not want to scare them off so a picture was forgone instead just enjoyed their company. LAZY CAMP/MICROWAVE MEAL: Pork chips and potat

  Hi, The morning views are so beautiful here at the cabin at Grand Mesa RV Park. Its a great place to unwind and enjoy a cup of coffee on the porch of cabin. We did take a short ride today on the Grand Mesa since the road is open now. A portion of it was closed a few days ago. If the weather permits we want to snow shoe with family this week. The Grand Mesa isn't just the largest flat top mountain in the world, its actually an extinct volcano that formed 10 million years ago. The Mesa receives heavy snowfall in the winter with accumulation of more than 300 inches typically.  A great sledding hill is the Old Mesa Creek Ski area which is known by locals as "Old Powderhorn". It is roughly 3 miles past Powderhorn Mountain Ski Resort. Parking is on the south side of the road.  Powderhorn Mountain Resort is a ski resort on the northern edge of Grand Mesa and just a little drive east of Grand Junction. They still have a lot of snow here! LAZY CAMP/MICROWAVE MEAL:  We grilled st

  Hi, We are in one of the cabins for 4 nights at the Grand Mesa RV Park. The address is 11674 Hwy 65, Mesa Co. They offer a year-round grocery, convenience store with diesel gasoline and propane. The Cabin rentals, showers and RV sites are also open year-round. Shane Pratt and Dena Newcomb-Pratt bought the Grand Mesa RV Park in mid-2017 Shane, Dena and Addison like living in Mesa and are so happy to be here. They will go out of their way to make your time here outstanding. One example of how they went out of their way was to provide a place on the patio for us to do a google meet with our family since WIFI is spotty in the cabins. They even turned on the heater so it would be nice and warm. We stayed in the cabin called Mustang. It has a queen size bed, chair and table. Its comfortably heated as desired.  The views from this resort are so pretty and peaceful. s Cooking is on an outside charcoal BBQ grill. The rule on cooking is no cooking in the cabins but they were OK for us to make

  Hi, We have been to Canyonlands North section but never to the South part until this trip.  Location of this section of Canyonlands can be accessed by Indian Creek Corridor Scenic Byway which is SR 211, 14 miles north of Monticello and west from US 191 . It ends at The Needles and passes Newspaper Rock Recreation Site. The Needles are rock pinnacles banded in red and white. Earths movement fractured the rock and then flowing, freezing and thawing water eroded it into today's jumbled terrain.  Arches, Puebloan architecture, petroglyphs and wildlife and be seen here. The Wooden Shoe Butte is just one of the many interesting natural sandstone arches in the park. The Needles campground has 26 sites and 3 group sites. Loop A is open year round. The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park offer a number of hiking trails through historically significant places. Some are family-friendly. Overnight backpacking trips are also possible. 15 Miles west of US 191 on State Route 211 is Ne

     Hi,  At first we thought Blanding was going to be a boring town but as we explored it, our minds were changed big time! There are so many things to do here.  The Edge of the Cedars State Park & Museum showcase ancestral Puebloan culture along with Native American.  The largest display  of Ancestral Puebloan ( Anasazi ) pottery in the area are here. The Park facilities include a short, paved interpretive trail area landscaped with native plants and outdoor sculptures. There is an authentic Puebloan village behind the museum. The address is 660 W 400 N, Blanding UT                        Dinosaur Museum is and accredited federal fossil repository, with a collection of life size dinosaur model, skeletons, fossilized dinosaur skin and three petrified trees. They also have movie memorabilia. The address is 745 S 200 W, Blanding UT.   Blanding Visitor Center is located at 12N Grayson Parkway, Blanding UT. They were very helpful and answered our questions about nearby attractions. Th

  Hi, Today we visited Natural Bridges National Monument. In 1883 Prospector Cass Hite wandered up White Canyon in search of gold and instead of gold he found three magnificent bridges that water had sculped from stone. This park was made possible by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908.This was Utah's first National Park System area.  Bridges View Drive leads to overlooks and trail heads. The paved , one way loop is nine miles long. The manes of the three natural bridges are Owachomo, Kachina & Sipapu. The entrance to Natural Bridges is at the end of  275, which is toughly 35 miles west of Blanding, UT on Hwy 95 There is a campground which is close to the visitor center. Campsites are among the juniper trees. We continued on further west on Hwy 95 which is also known as Bicentennial Highway Scenic Byway to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We crossed over the Hite Crossing Bridge. It is one of a kind in Utah standing out among the red rock and going over the Colorado R

  Hi,  We have been exploring Southeast Utah area this week. Four Corners Inn is our place of lodging due to its close proximity to the areas that we want to explore. Gooseneck State Park was the first place to see. This state park is the smallest one that we have ever seen but the entry fee is only $5.00. At this park you will see the twisting San Juan River more than 1000 feet below the overlook. It took millions of year for water to carve the deep cut canyon. The location is 25 miles west of Bluff UT. There are many primitive campsites throughout the park. Next we saw Forest Gump Hill which is on Hwy 163 before arriving at Monument Valley. In the movie Forest Gump, this is the spot that Forest quit his cross country run. The last thing we explored was the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  The red-sand desert region is on the Arizona-Utah border. The towering  sandstone buttes rise from 300 to 1000 feet above the valley. There is a very rough 17 mile loop drive going through the s

  Hi, Today we took a beautiful drive from Gunnison to Crested Butte Colorado via Hwy135. Crested Butte's main street, Elk Avenue was snow packed and beautiful with people out walking their dogs and enjoying the quiet winter town.      There aren't any corporate chain stores here, instead only locally owned Crested Butte shops. Each store looks uniquely different and all with mounds of snow around them and paths shoveled out to the door of the business. From what we read, there is a free town shuttle called the Mountain Express. If we decide to stay here a few days then we would check this transportation out. The ski resort is 3 miles from town. This would be a fun place to visit in the summer to see the wildflowers  it is known for and called the "Wildflower Capital of Colorado".⚘ We stayed in Gunnison back in the 70s and it has grown leap and bounds since then. Now there are approximately 44 places to eat, 5 RV parks/campgrounds, 12 lodging places and 5 easy trails.

Hi, We drove to Lake City through blowing snow on Hwy 149 which is the Silver Thread Scenic Byway. This two lane highway is maintained year round.  It was a pretty drive and we saw herds of elk and some deer along the way. Lake City is in the heart of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, about halfway between Gunnison and Creede. We had a car picnic at this Ice Park which is only one block south of historic downtown Lake City. Other Lake City activities include: Snowmobiling with over 100 miles of groomed trails that weave through the backcountry                           between Lake City and Creede. Back Country Snowshoeing on the Hinsdale Haute Rough which is a series of three yurts to stay            in overnight. Ice Climbing at the Ice Park. Ice Skating on a rink at Memorial Park which is operated during winter months. Many of Lake City's businesses will hibernate in the winter so the number to call to check on ones in operation is 970-944-2527. LAZY CAMPING OR MI

  Hi,  Between Montrose and Gunnison is The Curecanti National Recreation area and it is a series of 3 reservoirs: Blue Mesa, Crystal, and Morrow Point. The winter activities of this area includes ice fishing, cross-country skiing or snow shoeing. Strong winds make wind chill factors extreme so one must be prepared with the correct clothing and boots for this area. We saw ice fishing huts on the Blue Mesa and it made us want to watch the movie Grumpy Old Men. Most of the picnic areas have toilets but no running water. Going from west to east on Hwy 50, some of the pull off areas to stretch your legs are as follows: Cimarron visitor center (seasonal) East Cimarron Railroad exhibit Dillion pinnacles Windsurfing area Elk creek visitor center Dry creek Old Stevens Beaver creek Cooper ranch Neversink There are about 10 campgrounds in this recreation area.  Elk Creek Campground is open year round and is located at mile marker 142 on Highway 50. Know that there is running water mid  May to Se