Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Change is Inevitable

Rexburg, ID – I don’t remember what the temps were but it was nice.

Many years ago in 1967 I finally graduated from high school and headed off to college in Rexburg, ID. At that time the college was called Ricks College. The registrar thought that the enrollment that year would be about 3000 students and was very surprised when it was well over 3400. This made Ricks the largest two year college in the nation.

I found this picture on the internet of the college back in 1967. I lived in the fourth dorm in the upper left hand corner of the picture.

ricks 1967 I thought it would be fun to revisit this site where I spent nine months of my youth. Yep. It only took me nine months to figure out that I did not want to go to college any longer. I was ready to move on someplace more exciting than this small town in Idaho.

I couldn’t find the population for the town back in 1967 but it was probably around 6000 people. Today the city has over 30,000 folks living there. It has changed just a bit.

In 2001 Ricks college became BYU-Idaho and went from a two year college to a four year university. The enrollment has also increased greatly – 2015 enrollment showed 16,738 students on campus and 17,979 students enrolled online.

The changes were rather overwhelming and I didn’t recognize anything and didn’t take any pictures. I found this picture, taken this year, online.

ricks 2015

We had planned on staying at Beaver Dick Park and it looked wonderful when we drove out there. But when we got out of the truck the bugs were horrendous. Millions of them flying everywhere. Those of you who know me, know I don’t do well with bugs. (And that’s an understatement) It looks like a fantastic place for only $5 a night.

But we made the decision to try and find an RV park which was a difficult chore. Wakeside RV Park didn’t return my call, Thompson RV Park is closed for the season and that left Sheffield RV Park. The owner was really nice but we will never stay there again. The sites are really crammed together and very difficult to get into. It was hard to tell what was road and what was a site. Definitely not our kind of park.

We had planned on staying two nights but one night was enough and we headed on down the road to Craters of the Moon.

14 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was what I call "sidewalk flies", since I most often see them in great clouds over the sidewalk. I think they're "midges", or something like that. We had an outbreak back in the spring, that seemed to go on forever, and then they were back again a couple weeks ago. Too cold now, they be dead. I don't have to keep my eyes closed when I go out the back door.

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  2. Bill's the same way about bugs. Finding RV parks is very difficult anymore. We are in one that is 3 years old. Free laundry--but they don't take credit cards or have any signage. Big huge concrete pull thru made Bill happy.

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  3. Ugh, bugs....not good! I'm eager to read about Craters of the Moon. We really enjoyed it and wish we had spent more time exploring.

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  4. It is annoying when RV parks don't return calls or emails. Sometimes I wonder how they fill up with RVs.

    Terry's nephew and his wife both graduated from BYU-Idaho.

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  5. I sure wouldn't know the pictures of the town thenand now were the same place. I liked the campground at Craters of the Moon, but I stayed near the top and in a tent. I don't remember where the RV's were parket. It's an amazing place and I hope you enjoy it.

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  6. I stayed for a week in a private campground outside of Craters of the Moon. Can't remember the name of it, but they gave you a free breakfast at their restaurant.

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  7. Sometimes you never know what you are in for until to arrive at a campground.
    We have been to quite a few in the last 9 years and most we will go back to, and some not for various reasons.
    Amazing how places change and grow over the years.

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  8. Whenever I returned to places I have lived, it never feels quite right anymore:( I guess that is where the expression "you can never go home again" comes from. It will never be the place you left again.

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  9. I have never heard of Ricks College, and it was the biggest in the nation...go figure. So glad you didn't stay at college because someone told you you had to. Your life would have been miserable.
    The difference in the college is amazing. Of course, color makes everything look better.

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  10. You might have liked it better if it was as big than as now. I only made it through a year and a third of college, but my life turned out pretty well. ;-D

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  11. You might have liked it better if it was as big than as now. I only made it through a year and a third of college, but my life turned out pretty well. ;-D

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  12. Isn't it amazing how the places of our youth have changed as much as we have?

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  13. Have yet to visit Craters, will have to do that sometime.

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Thanks for visiting today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a beautiful day.