Gypsy & The Navigator

Arizona Here We Come..........Is It Cool Yet?

We are on our way back to Arizona.  Call us crazy........it is still triple digits there.

A short stop over in southern Utah was both beautiful and coolly comfortable.

No matter how often we are in southern Utah the loveliness of the red cliffs still amazes us. 

We spent 2 nights in Kanab and the memories of all the amazing places we explored from there made me want to do it all over again.   We can keep that in mind.

A bright blue morning found us on the road again.

We had never been on this particular portion of Highway 89 before.  When we had wanted to take this route before the road was closed for a landslide repair so it was fun to see some new sights.

So many red sandstone formations kept the drive interesting.

We usually only drive 4 or 5 hours each trip but the 6+ hour drive got us into Mesa in time to get set up with plenty of daylight. We were excited to be back to see the family but the heat is still over 100 most days.  At night it is getting down in the 70's so we will survive.  

 

We think we will like out little spot in Good Life RV Resort in Mesa.

We have a little back yard with some bushes and palms growing.

With a few more trips to the nursery and the weather cooling down we should have plenty of flowers to hold me for the winter.

One of our first outings was to an Arizona Diamondbacks game.

No one can say that Walt is "a fair weather fan."  No matter how bad they are doing (and believe me they are doing BAD) he follows them.  Wherever we are he watches them on MLB or listens on the radio.

He grumbles and groans and gets really angry at coaches and managers. The players usually get off unless he thinks they are horribly overpaid.  But he is always a fan. 

We have been able to attend many volleyball games.  That is granddaughter, Lyndsee, on the right at a school game.

Grandson Logan returning a shot at his Club Volleyball tournament.

Granddaughter Samantha plays too.  Volleyball is the game of choice it seems. 

We have gotten to spend time with little Kristi and Brooke.  Love the energy they have.  I wonder if those two missing front teeth will need to be on the Christmas wish list. 

We have been able to enjoy some of those spectacular Arizona sunsets. 

There is always something blooming.  I think we will have a really nice 6 months in Arizona.  Stay tuned for upcoming adventures.

 

A Class Reunion............Full Of Friends And Memories.

Walt's Class of 1961 held their 55th reunion at the event center at the Hotel in Fort Hall.

Nice facility that is new in the area.

 

Walt enjoyed seeing classmates and the dinner was delicious.......mushroom chicken and prime rib. 

The committee  did a great job.  There were games to play.......no Walt didn't win. 

A little dancing to YMCA complete with hats. 


  So happy to spend more time with Steve and Sandy.  If Steve would have known how long it had been since I had been on the dance floor he wouldn't have asked me to join him for the jitterbug contest.  But his amazing skill glossed over my two left feet and we won.  Thanks Steve. 

A blast from the past to spend time with Frosty and Ginger.  Ginger was responsible for introducing me to Walt and the rest is history as they say.  A delightful evening was spent at the reunion.

But the fun had just begun.  It was the opening of the Eastern Idaho State Fair.  Happily friends Margo and Everett arrived after the reunion so we got to spend the rest of the week-end with them too. (Different class than Walt.) So bright and early Ginger, Frosty, Margo, Everett, Walt and I headed to the Blackfoot Fair Parade. 

This is the fair mascot and their 2016 theme was Eat, Drink and Be Happy.  

It was a fun parade filled with normal parade participants like the Blackfoot High cheerleaders.

Of course, there were sports teams.

Ginger and I remembered the year we rode on the Charm Beauty School float in formals with our hair in rainbows of color.

We lamented the fact that there was a noticeable absence of good old fashioned floats.  Where was the chicken wire filled with crepe paper, napkins and the like?  That was the best part.........spending hours putting that float together.

We were impressed by the Shoshone -Bannock participation and all the positive changes for the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

They even have their own schools on the reservation now.  They used to have to come into Blackfoot to attend school. 

A special cheer for the Idaho Power truck driven by one of the class of 1961 members.

Then just like in days past it was on to the fair.

Oh my, more fair food than I have ever seen.

Lots of animals to see.

What clean and tidy sheep.  Good job 4H'ers.

My favorites.  The horses.  There were all shapes, sizes and colors to see.

The young folks showing off their skills.

Ginger chose the RV she liked the best but she had left her checkbook in the car!

The night finished off with a delicious dinner at Garcia's in Idaho Falls.  So much laughter that my sides hurt.  What special people! 

Without these two Walt and I would have never met.  Thanks Ginger and Frosty.  

Another day was spent at the horse races at the fair with Margo and Everett and some lovely ladies from Everett's family.

Most of the races were the regular type of horse races.  Walt was the one who picked the winners this day.  My theory of names or colors was upset by him finding the winning jockey of the day.

We were introduced to the most fun horse races ever.

Indian Relay Races give edge-of-your-seat excitement.

The race starts on the track with a standing start. Racers first make one lap around the track then change horses twice in front of the grandstands.

Indian relay is America’s oldest sport. It dates back over 400 years to when the horse was first re-introduced to the native cultures of the America’s.

Wow!  What fun and look at the elation when you win.

We had such a fun time in our week at Blackfoot.  We even got to spend time with Walt's brother Jack and wife Carolyn.  So nice to see them doing well.  Nothing better than friends and family.

 From Blackfoot our route was south on I15 to Provo, UT.

Cloudy skies kept it cool and comfortable.

Our stop in Provo gave us the opportunity to have dinner with this amazing young lady.  Brianna is a sophomore at BYU and is enjoying school and her work as a coach for tumbling classes.  Yes, we are proud grandparents.   Now it is time to head back to Arizona for the winter.  

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

 

 

 

 

 

A Trip Along The Lost River Range

Another stay at a Mountain View RV Park.  This one in Arco, ID that lays claim to fame that it was the first town to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power.

A trip down memory lane for Walt as we headed north on Highway 93 toward Challis.

This is the country he hunted and fished in when he was a kid.

 This is Mackay Reservoir and Walt remembers staying at a cabin for a week with a bunch of friends when he was about 12.  The parents dropped them off and they had a great time on their own for that week.  Apparently cooking fish was not their strong suit.

The Lost River Range of mountains is part of the Rockies and they are magnificent with peaks from 11,000 to over 12,000 feet.

It is Idaho's highest mountain range.

The range is sedimentary rock on an earthquake fault.  Steep canyons fan out from the mountain tops.

The range is primitive and little explored.

There is farming in the valley irrigated by the Big and Little Lost Rivers.  The reason they are "Lost" is because they vanish into the Snake River Aquifer. 

Copper mining was a way of life in these mountains from about 1879 to 1929.  

The scenery reminds me of old western movies. 

Nearing Challis the valley narrows and the road winds through lava cliffs.

We crossed the Salmon River.  Running calm and quiet here.

This is Mount Borah.  It is Idaho's highest mountain at 12,662 feet.

Climbing the peak is recommended only for very experienced hikers.

In 1983 on October 28th at 8:06 a.m. a 6.9 magnitude earthquake centered at Borah Peak shook the state of Idaho.  Two children in Challis were killed while walking to school.

Mount Borah rose about 1 foot and the Lost River Valley in that vicinity dropped about 8 feet.

It created this "scarp" that extends for 21 miles.  A scarp is an offset on the ground surface where one side of an earthquake fault has moved vertically with respect to the other.

We were living in Boise when the earthquake happened and I have a vivid memory of that frightening morning.  Our house was shaking with light fixtures swinging leaving me rattled as well.

What I did not remember hearing about was the water.  New springs and craters, called sand boils, erupted in the valley.  It was the largest deluge of water ever recorded after an earthquake in the United States.  They say some 400 billion gallons gushed forth. 

We are always finding tumble down houses along the road and commenting that "there's our fixer-upper."  This one is an upper echelon possibility.  Look at how good that roof looks.  

I had to include the sign we saw along the roadside in Mackay.  This Vet was selling crude wood carvings and seems to have a clear set of priorities.

What a beautiful day and such a pretty drive with time for Walt to remember the fun he had in this lovely part of Idaho. 

Leaving Arco we continued on to stay in Fort Hall (near Blackfoot) for a week.

Back in potato country where Walt was born and raised.

His folks potato farm was bordered by the Snake River on one side.

This is the house that he grew up in.  Very different than when he lived there.  It had no attached garage and now it has beautiful siding and a pretty new roof.

The huge cottonwood trees in the front yard are gone. 

This is where I lived when I met Walt.  On the lower right where the car is.  That was December 1963 and the apartment building was brand new. What I think is funny is that it looks the same.  

Yes, it does look the same.  This photo was taken in October of 1963.  Has it never been painted since then?  If it was where did they find the 60's color paint? 

This poor beat up dilapidated house was where I lived when we got married.  It was such a nice house then.  Makes me sad at what it has become.

 We did some exploring around the area.  We knew we were in Pocatello by the Idaho State Bengal footprints on the street.  

A delightful afternoon was spent in Idaho Falls along the Snake River.

Years ago it was pretty but they have done extensive landscaping and now it is spectacular. 

The Idaho Falls Friendship Garden was built in 2014. 

The work was done by hundreds of volunteers. 

In the 1980's a new relationship and cultural exchange between Idaho Falls and its sister city, Tokai, Japan began.

The relationship with it's sister city inspired the Japanese themed garden.

Idaho Falls was named for the natural rapids along the river.

Around 1900 the construction of a retaining wall for a hydroelectric power plant enhanced the rapids into falls.

The critters that live/grow along the riverbelt made us smile.

This ferocious bear came complete with a scary mouthful of teeth.

They have some of the most unique benches along the riverbelt.

This one was the best.  Walt finally got to take that horseback ride he was wanting. 

Idaho Falls is a place worth exploring.

Our day concluded with dinner and LOTS of visiting at this beautiful home with Steve and Sandy.  Their house and yard could be in a magazine.  So much fun for Walt to talk with Steve about old times and for us to catch up new happenings with them.  They have hospitality extraordinaire. 

Beautiful animals at their house.  Some are alive and some are not.  Perfect evening with friends as a start for a week-end filled with friends and fun.

"True friends are like bright sunflowers that never fade away, even over distance and time."  

Marie Williams Johnstone

 

 

 

 

There Is A Lot To Like In Boise

Coming to Boise is a bit like coming home.

Another stay at Mt. View RV Park by the airport.  Pretty noisy with the freeway and airport nearby but it doesn't bother us and it is nice and clean and convenient to places we like to go. 

And there are flowers! 

Time to locate some more of the places we have lived in.  This was the first house we lived in when we first came to Boise in 1968.  Home of the killer cat that took down the living room drapes when we left her alone for a week-end. 

Some are in a better state of repair than others. 

 

Went by the High School that Kevin and Cynthia attended.  There are some new buildings and new sports fields but the main portion remains the same.  

Sandy Point Beach at Lucky Peak is really nice now.  It was OK 30 years ago but much nicer now.

 On hot summer days this was THE place to be.

Nice to see Lucky Peak Lake is full. 

The first couple of days we were in Boise the smoke was in the air making for pastel colored skies but breezes came up and cleared the air for the rest of our visit. 

We spent a nice afternoon walking around downtown Boise.  Boise is a city under construction. The signs of growth are everywhere.  

They have kept some of the old.  The Idanha Hotel has been here since 1901.  She has lost some of her luster but she is still here. 
 

Freak Alley has only been here since 2002.  

Public Art that changes frequently. 

It began with a painting of a single alley doorway and now extends from the alley itself to a gravel parking lot. 

Boise has plenty of oddball cultural traditions of its own.

In 1960, Boise was a small city, with a population of barely 34,000.  It has exploded over the past fifty-some years to about 215,000—over 615,000 if you count the entire Boise Metropolitan Area.

Boise is good at repurposing.  The Mode was a high end department store until the 90's.

Boiseans are pleasant and friendly with a sense of humor.

 This amazing building is JUMP.  Jack's Urban Meeting Place is a not-for-profit, interactive creative center and community gathering place in the heart of downtown Boise. 

I think that Boise is a "stand out" city.  Always growing, always beautiful and always something to do. 

Atop this lush green hill once stood the J.R. Simplot home. The billionaire Simplot had donated the house and property to the state of Idaho in 2004 to be used as a governors house.  However the state determined the property was too expensive to maintain.  The property was returned to the Simplot family (Mr. Simplot died in 2008) and the house was demolished but the family plans to keep the huge flag flying and keep the massive hill green. 

As we came down Bogus Basin Road from Simplot hill we passed the house we lived in when Kevin was born.  It is there somewhere behind the trees.  

The highlight of a Boise trip is visiting with Larry and Julie Tueller.  They are two of our very favorite people.  So fun, full of life and very interesting to visit with.  They have a beautiful home with a yard that turns me green with envy.  We love hearing about their great family and their love and kindness is such an example to us.  

The week in Boise came to an end and we were on the road again.

First stop Craters of the Moon National Monument.

We haven't spent time here since the early 70's.  

The craters of the Craters of the Moon are of volcanic origin. No meteorite impacts here.

In the 70's there were no paths like this to follow.  Kevin and Cynthia happily ran across the flows wherever they wanted.  Unrestricted access resulted in extensive damage to the area and paths were put in and now you must stay on the paths.

 

There is a mysterious beauty in these lava lands.  This is called the "Triple Twist" tree and tests take of it show it showed it to be at least 1,350 years old. The tree began growing after the last eruption, so the lava flow around it must be at least 1,350 years old.  There are photos of the tree in the 1950's and it was alive then.

There are several different kinds of lava.  This is pahoehoe lava.  Pahoehoe means ropy in Hawaiian.  It looks like stretched taffy.

This was my favorite.  Blue Dragon lava.  The photo does not do it justice.  In the sunlight it is intensely blue.  The blue color comes from a thin outer layer of lava that contains titanium magnetite crystals. These abundant crystals reflect the blue light. 

 

Most geologists agree that volcanic activity seen on the surface today began at Craters of the Moon about 15,000 years ago. Since then, there have been eight periods of volcanic activity. Each period lasted from a few years to a few hundred years.

These monoliths are part of a crater wall that after the explosion were carried along on top of the lava flow and deposited at their new location. 

The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles.
 

NASA's Apollo Astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, Eugene Cernan, and Joe Engle learned basic volcanic geology here in 1969 as they prepared for their moon missions. 

All plants and animals that live in and around Craters of the Moon are under great environmental stress due to constant dry winds and heat-absorbing black lavas that tend to quickly sap water from living things.

This is a cinder cone where climbing is allowed.  The black soil on and around cinder cones does not hold moisture for long, making it difficult for plants to establish themselves so it remains bare. 

There are lots of lava tubes and caves.  Walt can remember exploring tubes and caves as a kid in the lave fields near his home.  Just lowering a rope and in you go. 

Luckily the day was pleasant and only in the high 70's because the heat can be brutal with all these black rocks.

Craters of the Moon is a dormant rather than an extinct volcanic area. The volcanoes here are not dead, only sleeping. Indications of impending eruptions -- earthquakes, the opening of steam vents, and ground swelling -- have not occurred recently. However, geologists believe that the area will become active within the next 1,000 years.  Opinions vary on that!  Some I read said they feel it will happen in the next 100 years.  Another rugged Idaho place that here feels like stepping into another world. 

We love rugged out of the way places.  They offer their own sense of beauty and adventure. 

" I think it's my adventure, my trip, my journey and I guess my attitude is, let the chips fall where they may."  

Leonard Nimoy