Seeing the Sights While The Sun is Shining

Heber, UT   High 62  Low  47

We have had a chance to have lunch twice with our good friends, Carol and Doug. We keep meeting up with them all over the West. They are in Heber for a month before moving further south.

Skittlez has become a sightseeing dog in her old age. Scooter was always the one who wanted to hang her head out the window and Skitz didn’t like the wind in her face. Now she wants her window down all the time. Rocky Joe lays down in his bed as soon as he gets in the truck and doesn’t move until the truck stops.

We headed out to Midway, UT to the Heber Valley Artesian Cheese Store. Jim likes cheese and found one he wanted to try. He also knows that he doesn’t have to share with me.

 

However, for me (and Jim) we got a jar of Apple-Cinnamon-Rhubarb jam. They had some out for tasting and it was really good.

They also have their own ice cream. We shared a cone of their orange sherbet and it was delicious. I’d go back for another one of those if we had more time.

The pups were really thirsty and we had forgotten to bring a bottle of water with us, so we headed into downtown Midway and found this neat little place.

They gave Jim a glass of water for free and we were good to go.

Passed this beautiful barn and had to stop and read about its history.

The Tate Barn

In 1902, Francis Tate, an English emigrant, established a dairy farm on this site. The barn was constructed of local red pine. The barn was crushed by heavy snow in 1996 and reconstruction was completed in January of 2002 in time to be the entrance to the site of the Winter Olympics venue at Soldier Hollow.

We made one more stop but it’ll be a separate post because it has lots of great pictures.

Bridal Veil Falls

Heber, UT   High 61  Low 34

Finally got the laundry done this morning so we could do some exploring. Our first stop was the 607 foot tall Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon.

The Legend of the Falls

Many moons ago, an Indian named Norita and a brave from a rival tribe, named Grey Eagle met and fell in love. They planned to meet near a streamlet high on the mountainside and elope to a land far away from both their tribes. On that fateful night, instead of her lover, Norita was confronted by braves from her own tribe. Fearing her lover had been destroyed she leaped from the high ledges.

Mother Nature was touched by her wild beauty, and she caught up Norita's streaming tresses and made from them a Bridal Veil of falling water. From her flowing gown an alter was formed on the face of the mountain. Then her spirit was sent out as a mist, causing a green carpet to spread over the mountainside.

The intruders fled while her saddened lover stood and gazed down at the strange yet beautiful transformation. His grief was more than he could bear, so out of compassion for his sorrow, Mother Nature molded his massive frames into the mountain and stretched his mighty shoulders high into the heavens like silent sentinels to guard over his loved one. His cries of anguish were softened into love calls to whisper forever.

The leaves are starting to get dressed in their fall colors.

The Provo River

We also drove up to Sundance Resort. I have always had a crush on Robert Redford especially as the Sundance Kid. We drove past the resort and up into the Uinta Forest. Uinta is a Native American word meaning "pine tree" or "pine forest". It’s a beautiful drive for the passenger but not for the driver. The road is really narrow and curvy. You pray you don’t meet someone coming down in an area where you can’t move over far enough to let them pass.

We turned around and came back down the mountain to the resort. Took a tour of the parking lot which was packed with vehicles. Too many people for me so we left. I took this picture from the internet.

This is one of those “been there, done it” for me.

We Didn’t Leave The Snow Behind

Heber, UT   High 55  Low 32

We left Shelley, ID really early Sunday morning – 6:30 a.m. We wanted to get to Heber, UT in time for Jim to watch his NASCAR.

We had beautiful cloud formations all along the Wasatch Front in Utah.

We had hoped for a beautiful travel day and it wasn’t too bad until we started through Weber Canyon. And then it started to snow and snow and snow. At times it was hard to see the car in front of us. We were sure happy to finally arrive in Heber.

One of the interesting things we saw in the canyon is a geological formation known as Devil’s Slide. The slide is composed of two parallel slabs of limestone about 20 feet apart, 40 feet high and about 200 feet long.

This first picture is from the Library of Congress and is a Photochrom print taken in 1898.

This is the picture I took as we drove by.

We are camped at the fairgrounds – full hookups for $15 a night. But with all the snow it was nothing but mud in all the sites. Both of us had to get out galoshes in order to unhitch. We did find some gravel rather than mud for the pups to use.

It looked like a Christmas card with all the snow that was falling but it was wet and cold. Even Skitz and RJ had their winter sweaters on.

(There is no way I could get both of them to look at me at the same time.)

Over the Pass

Dillon, MT  High 37  Low 35

This journey out of Montana brings back memories of when we first started full timing. I retired the third of January and we took off on January 22, 2009 ahead of a winter storm. I was still in a wheelchair from a broken ankle and ruptured Achilles tendon.

This was our rig back then. All 72 feet of us.

Back in 2009 we only went as far as Bozeman, MT that first day and since it was so cold we spent the night in a hotel room. We have since learned how to cope (sort of) with the cold and stay in our Bungalow.

This is the road outside of Dillon back in 2009.

These are the pictures I took today when we left Dillon.

Gypsy – these pictures are for you. Enjoy.

Clark Canyon Reservoir

And this is what the other side of Monida Pass looked like this morning as we came into Idaho.

We are settled for the night at North Bingham County RV Park near Shelley, ID. The sun is shining and it is 44 degrees which feels wonderful.

The Reunion Is Over and Time to Move on

Billings, MT – Still the same

Dillon, MT  - High 37  Low 35

After our nap we headed back to the hotel for the class pictures and an excellent dinner. I didn’t take any pictures that night but here are a couple that others have posted. Don’t have the class picture yet so I’ll post it when it shows up.

Just one big problem with this whole reunion thing. We didn’t get home until 11:30 p.m. That is really late for us and since we had to get up for church at 8:30, it took us two days to recover. But such a good time.

The next couple of days were spent catching up with good friends, Tracy and Jeff, and Judy and Gary. We also went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with the kids, Todd and Michaela, one more time.

Sure do love those two.

This was the sky over the Olive Garden. Looks like rain to me.

We had originally thought we were going to Yellowstone Park this week-end. We were going to leave Friday because we had reservations in the park on Saturday for four nights. Mother Nature decided to change those plans for us when she dumped snow on the park. Our little Bungalow is definitely not made for cold weather so we needed to head south.

Snow on those mountains.

Only one problem. Before we ran into the snow problem, we had called and requested our mail be sent to the kids’ house. It wasn’t going to show up until Thursday. Thursday morning we hitched up, dumped and filled the fresh water tank and then about 11:30 we were able to pick up our mail and head down the highway.

One of the many smaller fires that had to be dealt with this summer.

The Yellowstone River

Spent the night at a small campground in Whitehall, MT. It was cold and rainy but not snowing. We came over Bozeman Pass and this it what it looked like.

This is what it looks like today from the web cam.

Today we decided to go an additional 55 miles to Dillon, MT and wait for the sun to come out tomorrow. It snowed on us but there was no accumulation. Here in Dillon it isn’t snowing but it sure is cold. 37 degrees.

Waiting for the Earth to Move: The 1890 Ghost Dance

Billings, MT  Same as yesterday

We made arrangements to meet up with classmates on Saturday morning. I really wanted to go see the Ghost Dance exhibit at the Yellowstone County Museum. So a group of us headed up to the museum by the airport.

Larry Williams donated his Collection to the museum and it is the largest exhibit of Ghost Dance objects on display in the world.

I took sooo many pictures but I’m only including a few in this post.

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement developed in 1890 by a Northern Paiute spiritual leader known as Wovoka. As the movement spread, the various tribes modified its ceremonies according to their own mythology and traditions.

All Ghost Dancers looked toward the fulfillment of three promises, made in a vision to Wovoka by the messiah:

♦ Some cataclysmic event, ranging from a flood to volcanic eruptions, would destroy the earth, which would then be remade as a paradise.

♦ Buffalo and other game driven away by white men would return in great numbers.

♦ The dancers’ ancestors would be resurrected and live with them in the new paradise.

These are two of the Sioux warrior drums.

The Ghost Dance would take place at night for five or six nights in a row. The dance is open to all with no restrictions as to age or sex. All danced in a big circle, holding hands or draping their arms over each other’s shoulders, shuffling from side to side as the circle revolved.

The Ghost Dance artifacts are in a display area that has curtains separating it from the rest of the museum because some traditionalists are not comfortable viewing objects related to religious ceremonies. The special display case contains pipe stems, bowls and bags. In some tribes, women are not allowed to view sacred pipes.

The museum has other wonderful exhibits.

The Natives used dogs to haul their belongings.

Headdress made with Eagle feathers.

And then there is Charlie and Russell, a dicephalous Black Angus calf born in February 1949. This occurs when identical twins fail to fully separate. The calf only lived a day and a half.

‘

Did you know that branding originated in Egypt? You just never know what you’re going to learn.

After the museum we headed out for lunch.

Mike (our class president), Wanda and her sister Bev.

Maggie’s husband Mike and Jim

Maggie, Nancy and Carol

After lunch we decided there was just enough time for a quick nap before we needed to be back for class pictures and our dinner.

Rain, Glorious Rain and Snow

Billings, MT  High 51  Low 42

It started raining on Friday and didn’t take a break until late Sunday. Everybody was doing a happy happy rain dance. No lightning with this rain, just a continuous soaking rain. There is snow in the mountains. That means that the firefighters may be able to get ahead of all the forest fires happening in Montana. The fires aren’t out yet and it may be another month of wet and colder weather to finally end this fire season. But the smoke is gone and we can all breathe again.

RJ and Skitz are both ready for the rain.

Skitz is not impressed and keeps stepping on the front of it.

My 50th Class Reunion started on Friday with everybody getting together at the Residence Inn for snacks and drinks. It was so much fun to see everybody and catch up on their lives. We had around 36 classmates along with their spouses and friends.

Lynn and Nina were two of the great committee members. Nina made this frame which turned out to be a major hit with everybody. We have our own FB group and there must be 50 pictures or more with folks posing with the frame.

Renee is another committee member and Wanda showed up to see if she could help us out.

Then the crowds started to arrive.

Sandee, Wanda and Mark were all born within 24 hours of each other.

Sandee, Me, Wanda (behind me), Lynn and Linda.

There are so many pictures but I’m not posting any more. I can go look at the pictures on FB and enjoy them that way.

Jim and I can’t keep up with lots of the classmates so we went home and fell into bed. Have plans with some of the classmates for tomorrow.