25 May -- Provo Trip/Visit

I decided not to be in a hurry to get on the road. I was up early, exercised, and cleaned my bathroom.  Sister Bews was up a little after 8am (early for her). We headed out the door around 9:30am. Elder Eubanks had given us directions on how to go the back way to Provo. He said it was much prettier drive and less traffic.

We took 84 out of Ogden and drove along the Weber River. A beautiful drive, saw a couple of old cogers--who turned out to be younger than me--fishing on the banks. We then got on 80 and turned off toward Park City. That is all very pretty country along 40 to Heber City.

Ate lunch in Heber City and played tourists. Checked out the tabernacle there and a statue that caught our interest. We have been attracted to tabernacles since being in Utah. Maybe because we didn't realize there were so many or how important they were to developing communities.



We headed out out of Heber City on 40 looking for our turn off to go through Provo Canyon on 189. When we had driven past Strawberry Reservoir and Soldier Creek Recreation Area, I thought the terrain was looking for like eastern Utah and less like the Provo area should. I felt like we were on our way to Price, Utah. So I turned around and we headed back to Heber.

Sure enough, we had missed the turn off at the edge of town. We finally headed down 189 through Provo Canyon. As we passed Deer Creek Reservoir, we saw people out on kitesurfing.

It was close between 2pm and 3pm when we arrived in Provo, a little later than I had planned. We stopped at the Provo Cemetery so I could flowers on Jonah' grave, my grandson. Then went to do a little site seeing.

Provo has a fantastic library that is also part of the Brigham Young Academy building (historic site).  Unfortunately, we couldn't check out any books. Across the street is the Provo City tabernacle, new site of the Provo City Temple. The tabernacle had a terrible fire a few years back. The church is now restoring it and making it a temple. Next we stopped at the University Mall in Orem, then headed home.

future Provo City Temple

 Turned out to be a longer trip and day that I had originally planned. Oh, well. I'm always up for an adventure.

18 May -- Star Valley, Wyoming

Wyoming Road Trip

The day started out wet and stayed that way most of the day. I wasn't about to let a little bit of rain stop me.   After living in Seattle for 10+ years, I could handle rain. We picked up Brekke around 8am and headed up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake.  As we got higher up in elevation snow began mixing in with the rain.  Luckily it didn't last. We headed north along Bear Lake and met up with a large group of cyclists out racing. There were two groups:  the professionals and the regulars. They had a motorcyclist also following along who helped the traffic to get around the pack of cyclists.

We stopped in Paris, Idaho, at the site of a very old tabernacle then in Montpelier, Idaho,at the Oregon Trail museum. They had a lovely quilt display. We didn't take the time to go through the official tour.  Besides they wanted $10 per person. Maybe another time when I have budgeted for it.

Intermittent Springs AKA cold water geyser

I think it was around 11am when we arrived in Star Valley. We met Brekke's parents at the Afton Library. They wanted to show us the sites. They took us up to Intermittent Spring in Swift Creek Canyon. It is a cold water geyser. Because of the rain and the melting snow pack, it wasn't easy to see the fluctuation in the flow. The spring stops and starts it flow at several minute intervals throughout the day. It was a dirt road drive to the spot where you can hike in to the falls, an easy hike. The spring is the water source for the town.

artisan well

The fields in Star Valley are watered by artisan wells. They have to put restricters on the wells for the fields because the pressure coming out is so high. There where a couple wells that the pipe was sent veritcal and the water allowed to spew out in winter. It made a huge icicle that had a blue tinge to it. Star Valley is very beautiful, but a bit isolated by the mountains around it in winter.

By late afternoon we headed back to Logan a different way than we came. We headed toward Preston, Idaho, when we left Montpelier. We drove through a lot of forested area before getting to the farm country. We seemed to be driving away from the rain on the way back to Logan.

Trivia:  Maverik gas started in Afton and appears to still have its headquarters here.

Elkhorn Arch

12 May -- HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY :->

Shhhh, don't tell the Mission President.

I went ATVing yesterday! :-> The Thursday, Friday, and full time missionaries were invited to the Lucherini's for a barbeque yesterday  afternoon.  It was their way of saying goodbye.  They complete their service mission May 28th (my one year anniversary), then they start their Indonesia Jakarta Mission in August as full time missionaries.  The Lucherini's live on a 300 acre farm outside Preston, Idaho.  The farm belongs to Sister Lucherini's family and they "play" at farming.  It is where she was raised.  Elder Lucherini was a pharmaceutical representative before he retired.  Living on a farm can has its unique hazardous as dangerous as living in the city.  As a child, she was told not to go past the barn during hunting season.  Kind of like telling your kids not to play in the streets in the city.

MOTHER'S DAY

Carolyn sent me a neat case and stylus for my iPod. Jeanne and family sent me a picture, window gels, and Fire Chief Car Legos which I have been admiring.  What a fun Mother's Day! I also got to teach CTR3.