I Hate Goodbyes But Meeting With Another Good Friend Helps

Helena, Mt and heading south - back to much warmer weather

I've always said I'm not a point A to point B traveler but that's kind of what I did coming back to Arizona. However, I did make a couple of really interesting stops along the way.

I went back to Helena for a couple of days to say goodbye to Judy and Don. I also wanted to do one more temple session before getting on the road.

I love this picture of Judy and her great grandson, Carter.

I really hate these goodbyes. They are so hard because you have no idea what the next year will bring for all of us. But I've been gone almost two months and it's time for me to go home. It's hot and miserable, but it's home.

So I left Montana and family behind and headed south. I spent the first night in Rexburg, ID and I was proud of myself the next morning. Last year when I left Rexburg I ended up going north instead of south. Had to go about ten miles before I could get turned around. (I seem to have this problem more often than I like.) This year I chose the right entrance ramp. 

I got hold of my very good friend, Janet, and made arrangements to meet her in Salt Lake. I may have taken the right ramp but I booked the wrong hotel. Last year we stayed at the Crystal Inn. Really liked the place so I booked it again, or so I thought. There is more than one Crystal Inn in SLC. I booked the one that was right downtown. I wanted the one that is in the West Valley.  

Janet was willing to brave the traffic and homeless people in that area, and pick me up so we could go to lunch and do some sight seeing. Janet grew up in the Salt Lake Valley and I lived there way back in 1968 to 1971 or so. So she took me around and showed me the places that no longer exist or are now something else. 

Janet and I worked together for many years at the IRS. One of my fondest memories is when we went to St. Louis for a training class and got to the ride to the top of the Arch. 

On Saturday we ran errands and then Janet took me to the "This Is The Place" monument.The Monument marks the location where, on July 24, 1847, Brigham Young first saw the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham has a vision shortly after the Latter-day Saints were exiled from Nauvoo, IL. In the vision, he saw the land where the Saints would settle and build their State of Deseret.

Brigham was very sick with Rocky Mountain spotted fever and was riding in the back of a wagon. After coming through Emigration Canyon, he asked to look out of the wagon. Those with him opened the canvas cover and propped him up so he could see the valley below them. He then said, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on."

 In 1917 a Boy Scout troop built a wooden marker identifying this spot. In 1921 the marker was replaced by a white stone obelisk. 

 

In 1937 sculptor Mahonri M. Young, a grandson of Brigham, was commissioned to design and create a new larger monument. In 1974, on the 100th anniversary of the pioneers entry into the valley, the new monument was erected.

The Mormon Battalion Monument

The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. 

I deliberately made the decision to spend Saturday night in SLC so I could get through the city Sunday morning when traffic was light. I really hate driving through city traffic. And I sailed right on through without any problems at all.