Cascade to Orofino, Idaho

I got a nice pix of early morning clouds in the mountains this morning on my short walk. 
This is a yurt, which you can rent in this campground. The campground also has some cabins to rent. 

Then we drove down to the little swap meet just down the road from our campground and scoped it out.  I bought 2 books (like I needed more books).  Then we gassed up and headed north again.  This is beautiful country.  Miles of beautiful green mountains, and we followed another rushing river with big drops. The little town of McCall has a lake right at its edge. 

We did pass through the town of Lucile, but I didn't have the camera ready for the sign.  For all the great pix I have taken, I have missed a zillion other beautiful sights.  We stopped for lunch right by the river where another stream or creek (or river) came in, and there was a waterfall just spraying water as it bounced over the rocks.  These pix do not do it justice.  

Found another rock Brenda would like.

The mountains on the side of this scenic highway are breathtaking.  Joe wants to know why there are not any trees on them, though.

We saw 5 deer along the railroad track across the river, one was a little fawn, about knee-high to its mamma.  Didn't get any pix of them, unfortunately.

We camped in Orofino (after a long drive of 177 miles today), right on this Payette River we have been following for hours.  Here's the guys enjoying happy hour while the womenfolk slave away in their kitchens.

Tomorrow we are heading to Couer d'Alene if we can find a campground with vacancies and wait out the holiday as we look around the area.  There's a lot to see there, including a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) museum, and my dad served in the CCCs in that area in 1938, I believe. 

Delco to Cascade, Idaho

We had to hook up in the rain this morning, but it stopped after about an hour.  Then rained again off and on as we continued north.  I got my laundry done this morning before we left so we have clean clothes for a few days again. 

This is how we travel - 55 mph, Joe with his morning soda (which he graciously shares with me) and my lilacs.  RVing is great!

We drove through miles of beautiful farm country in southern Idaho, which Joe really enjoys.  Can't take the boy out of the country.  Then we got into the Idaho mountains.  We passed another elk farm, which I missed (I was changing the "exhausted" battery in the camera).  We saw 2 elk farms around Zion Nat'l Park, as well as a buffalo farm.  There are also some windmill farms along this highway (I-84).  Missed a herd of antelope too that Dave and Mazie saw.  We were leading today but Dave (in the middle) seemed to have the eye for animals.  I told our group that I thought an antelope would have to be standing in the middle of the highway with a red hat on for me to see it today.  However, when we stopped for lunch at a rest stop, I spotted 2 antelope on the ridge above, and Dave saw a third one which I did get to see.  I don't know how many times I have said "Oh, WOW," on this trip so far, but it is a lot.  This is really beautiful country.  See the windmills in the distance in the pix below.  I think you can click on the pix and enlarge it, but I don't (know that for sure. 

We drove through Boise and took Hwy 55 to Cascade where we are spending the night.  We drove for about 25 miles along side the Payette River, which was bouncing and rushing over rocks and around boulders.  We saw 3 kayakers on this river, and I can't imagine how they found their way through the rocks.  We traveled about 210 miles yesterday, and 245 today, so we've picked up the pace.  Probably have to take a day off soon.

This campground has a "carver" who teaches people how to make totem poles, and there are beautiful totem poles scattered throughout.  Here's a few.  Tiffany -- the Santa one is for you.  John and Bridgette -- the whale is for you.  BTW, these are not for sale, so you only get these pix.

From Utah to Idaho

Thursday, May 27 -- Today was a travel day, so I took an early morning walk to say goodbye to this lovely campground.  I caught the sun hitting the mountaintop, so I tried to capture it.

Paul and Carol left us today to head toward their home in Northern California.  We got on the road about 10:00, after Marilyn cooked a group breakfast of biscuits and gravy (Brenda, eat your heart out), eggs, and the trimmings, and we said our goodbyes.  Joe called his mother yesterday to get her address (I was going to send her something and forgot to take my address book with me), and she informed him that she still lived in the same place, they hadn't sent her to the nursing home yet.  Gotta love Lucille!  Oh, Jeff, I wanted you to know we put the fuzzy sheets back on the bed this week.  It's been a little chilly.

We drove past the northern edge of the great Salt Lake and headed into Idaho.  There was a fire across the lake, but we didn't hear what it was. You can see the smoke in the pix.  We didn't get very close to the lake, so I did not get a good pix. 

We did see a few deer grazing along the side of the road after we got into Idaho.  There is a lot of pasture fields in this area, and the hillside is dotted with sheep and cattle.  It is very pretty to drive through.
As we headed out of Utah and into Idaho (finally), we had some sprinkles from time to time, and after we got camped for the night at Delco, Idaho, it showered pretty good.  We are about 200 yards from the Snake River.  Dave has been having trouble with his foot and ankle ever since we left, and today it was really hurting him, so he was cripping around all day.  After we set up camp, Marilyn checked out his foot and we all went with him to a clinic nearby (he was thrilled with all our help).  After x-rays, it was determined that he had another flare-up of gout, which he has a history of.  So he has more medicine, and hopefully will improve greatly in the next day or two.   The pix below is the Snake River and rain clouds.

Here is our campsite, in another very nice park.  And it has lilacs!  Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow.  Since it is the holiday weekend, we might have trouble finding camping spots.  We will wait to see how Dave is, and what the weather forecast is.  This would not be a bad place to stay put, and it even has a private fishing pond that we could use.

Salt Lake City

I forgot to mention yesterday that we passed a beautiful waterfall on that Provo Canyon Road.  I didn't get a pix because I didn't know it was coming, and for some reason, Joe chose not to slam on the brakes!   

Well, today was a day of Excellent Adventures.  First we took the dinghies and drove into SLC to the Mormon Temple Square.  What a magnificent place.  We toured the visitor centers and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir building, as well as other buildings on the grounds.  It was all very beautiful.  There is a gold angel between the first two spires on the left, if you are able to see it. 

Next we went to a classic car museum.  Collins and Paul are old car buffs (you can decide whether "old" means cars or Collins and Paul).  It was not in a fancy building but the guy did have quite a collection.  Then we drove to the Sweet Candy Factory, where we had a tour and free samples.  Due to federal regulations, we had to remove all jewelry and wear hairnets (which might have been an improvement on our bad hair days). 

We concluded our day with a trip to the Brigham Canyon to the Kennecott Copper Mine, the largest open pit mine in the country.  It is over 2 1/2 miles across and 1/2 mile deep, and is the deepest human-made excavation on earth.  It is visible on Google Earth, and has yielded over 17 million tons of copper, more than any other mine in history.  Plus, we saw 2 antelope on the way in, 2 cow elk on the way out, and another antelope (may have been the same one, but that was a couple hours earlier, so it gets counted again).  It was a truly excellent day!

We are leaving this beautiful camp site tomorrow and heading north -- don't know if we will get out of Utah or not.  But we are moving.

Jordanelle State Park

Tuesday, May 25.  After my morning walk, when Paul walked his dog up on the ridge and spooked a couple deer, which jumped the path and joined 4 other deer, we drove into the little town of Manti to look around.

  Life is good -- the lilacs are in bloom in Utah!








Manti has a beautiful Mormon temple and is a very pretty little town.

Then we headed up the road, with a quick stop at WalMart in the next town.  We had a quick lunch along the road, in a valley between the snow-covered mountains.  OMG, is Utah beautiful!  As we sat there in such beauty, I did give a thought to all our Arizona family and friends who are probably suffering in the 100 degree heat by now. 

I thought I would take a picture of the road ahead, but around every corner seemed to be an even better view, so I will post a few pictures of "the road ahead."

You can imagine what a chore it is to drive for hours (maybe 3) with this scenery (actually, Joe does have a hard time keeping his eyes on the road).  We drove through Provo, which is in a beautiful setting at the base of the mountain.

then through Provo Canyon (gorgeous) and on to Jordanelle State Park, which is absolutely beautiful too. ( I need to find some more adjectives, or get out of this state), where we set up camp for 2 nights.

We got in about 130 miles today.  We've been on the road for 8 days now and are only in Utah -- we know we need to start putting in some miles or we will never get to Alaska.  But not tomorrow.  Tomorrow we are doing Salt Lake City.

Monday, May 24.  We have been on our trip for a week now, and it has exceeded any expectations we had.  We are having a wonderful time, seeing nature's beauty at its best.

Today, it was snowing when I got up, just a little ground cover in the grass, but I did take a 30-minute walk in the snow.

Then we packed up and moved down the road, to Manti, Utah for the night.  We drove up Hwy 89, had lunch next to a fast-moving river, and saw scenery too lovely to describe.  Brenda, we are all mindful of our rock boxes.  Here's Dave with a new find for you.

Who knew Southern Utah was so beautiful.  Two mule deer crossed the road in front of us, and we looked at snow-covered mountains all day, including from our campground tonight.  We saw 3 marmots playing in the field across from the campground.  Tomorrow we head to Salt Lake City, and hope to visit an open copper mine and a candy factory, among other things.  We did laundry in town this afternoon, and hit the grocery store for a few supplies.  Here's a few pix of our drive today.

Here's our little foursome camped at Manti.  Cathy, happy birthday tomorrow, and thanks so much for making this blog possible. 

Bryce Canyon National Park

Sunday, May 23.  We woke up to a cold morning, 27 degrees, and a frozen water hose.  Fortunately, we had water in our holding tank, so we were fine.  The wind just beat us up all day long, but we toured Bryce Canyon National Park today.  Another awesome national park, completely different from Zion.  It has lots of rock formations (called hoodoos). Dixie, did you know you were named after a national forest? 

  I sorted out a few pix from the 120 today, but there is no way a camera lens can capture the beauty before us.  We saw 5 pronghorn antelope inside the park, and another 6 outside the park, and a grouse, so that was a good day for animal viewing.

Checked on Bridgette this morning, and she got to her house about 9:00 a.m. Utah time, safe and sound. This is called the Natural Bridge.

T

Both Zion and Bryce are unbelievably beautiful, as is the North Rim.  I would recommend this trip for a vacation to everyone.