The Wasatch also had a bit of snow, but I couldn't get a good shot of it. I did get this picture close to Cedar City, UT. There was quite a bit of snow more south than we thought there would be, but it made for a really pretty drive.
The canyon just south of St. George is actually in Arizona and the rock formations are really pretty. This canyon follows the Virgin River after it comes out of Zion National Park and before it flows into Lake Meade.
This picture actually shows a bit of the Virgin River. It's pretty muddy along here so it's not very pretty, but it is a bit of water, rare in these parts.
Yes, twelve miles out of Las Vegas we could see snow on the mountains in the distance! We could see it from Vegas too, but with all the buildings and traffic, this made a better picture.
Before the concert, we went out to dinner a a buffet in the Flamingo. We sat right next to a window and this was our view of the courtyard. Pretty cool. (Notice the fish in the water, too.)
Vegas at night is pretty spectacular. I took this picture from the parking garage next to the Flamingo right after the concert. It was a really good concert with lots of good songs.
Believe it or not, this is a picture of the new bridge over the Colorado at Hoover Dam. You can't even tell how high you are and if you're not paying attention, you can't even tell you're going over a bridge.
When we got to Kingman, we stopped and had lunch with a cousin of Howard's, who he hasn't seen for a long time. Then we rolled into Phoenix and got set up at Desert's Edge RV Park again. I had to get a picture of this little bird at our campsite. I've never seen a red bird except for cardinals in the south and midwest. Looks a bit like a cardinal, but I can't tell. We'll be here until the end of the month when we head east. Been a good trip so far with good visits with Brian and Grayson.
We went shopping at Target in Twin Falls and you have to sit on the big red ball when you go shopping at Target in Twin Falls! We have had so much fun visiting with our grandkids while here in Burley. I even got to go to ballet practice for both Kate and Claire and that was a real treat!
We spent most of the day on Monday making applesauce. Kate was a real help to her Grandpa. They had a good time making the sauce and visiting while Jenn and I quartered and cooked the apples and processed the applesauce. It was a very busy day, but a good day too!
I have been so proud of myself -- I remembered to take some pictures. Hopefully I'll remember on Saturday when Karson gets baptized! The weather definitely has turned -- very Fall-like weather the past few days. Time to head south!
If you look really hard you can see Mt. Hoot in the background with Willamette Falls in the foreground. This is really near Oregon City at the end of the Oregon Trail. It's a beautiful falls, but we're a bit prejudice -- we really like the Portland area. We had a great visit, visiting cousins on both sides Dave & Kaylene & kids on my Mom's side, Beth & John & kids & sibs on my Dad's side and my Aunt Sally, Mom's youngest sister, who had just moved to Vancouver, WA. What a good visit!
We had a really good visit with my Aunt Sally and got to help her get a bit settled in her cute, new house in Vancouver. It was fun to go shopping and share meals with her and Dave's family.
This was taken from Bonneville Point just south of Boise. We could barely see some of the really tall buildings downtown from this point. It is said that this is the point where early trappers named the valley "The Trees" or Boise. The desert was pretty dry, but there is beauty in the desert -- even in the Fall.
This picture was also taken at Bonneville Point a bit more east toward Idaho City. There was a storm coming in so there were shadows over the desert.
This is the marker for the Oregon Trail just west of Bonneville Point. After looking at barren desert for so long, early pioneers were very happy to see trees again and Ft. Boise so they could resupply some of their stock before traveling over the Blue Mountains in Oregon.
This marker is on the eastern edge of Boise. The markers were placed in the early 1920s by a gentleman from Oregon who had traveled the Oregon Trail and felt it was being forgotten. He traveled the entire trail and was instrumental in placing markers along the trail.
Sage brush and flowers even in September. We even felt a few raindrops while hiking in this area. The park overlooks the Boise River in east Boise and there is another park just across Hwy 21 from this one. I love looking up landmarks along the Oregon Trail. When you travel across the west you really get a respect for the early pioneers who traveled this route. What we do in an hour (at 60 mph) what they did in 5-6 days! And lots of times the scenery doesn't change much in the hour traveled. We had a good afternoon exploring the desert and looking at the markers and just enjoying the smell of sage and the feel of the desert. We're in Burley now until October 9 when we'll head down to Phoenix for a few weeks. We had a really good visit in Boise with my sisters and Trish & John's families. I have really cool siblings!!!
The first stop on our trip to Vancouver, BC was to visit Leavenworth, WA. We got in lots of shopping in all the little shops and we had a good German lunch in one of the restaurants in the town. It was a beautiful sunny day so the mountains were pretty spectacular. On our way back to the RV Park, we stopped in Cashmere and went through the Applets & Cotlets factory (and of course we came away with some candy!)
From the Leavenworth we drove up to Winthrop to camp for the night. One our way to Winthrop we stopped in Bridgeport and visited with Howard's Aunt Becky, who just celebrated her 96th birthday. After a night in Winthrop, we drove over the North Cascade Highway. WOW! We were having trouble with the coach (bad fuel so we had no power except in 1st gear!) It was frustrating for Howard, but while going uphill we would slow down to about 20 mph so I got some great pictures! We actually drove up the mountain in this picture (you can see the diagonal cut for the road along the lower side of the mountain. It wasn't too bad, only a 7% grade, but really pretty.
We stopped at this lake towards the summit. It is that beautiful aqua color like the lakes in Jasper and Banff Canada. We just looked for a long time at the beauty of the area. The 90 mile drive was well worth the delay in time and frustration in how the coach was preforming.
After a two day stop in Bellingham so we could stock up and get the coach fixed, we arrived in Vancouver, BC on August 27. We did very little driving while we were in Vancouver. We rode the skytrain into Vancouver from the RV Park everyday that we went into the city. Of course I didn't get a picture of a train, but they were pretty cool. We also rode around the city on these trolleys for two days, one was red and the other was blue.
The Canada Center was our landmark for about everything while we were in Vancouver. The Trolly, the sky train, the sea bus, and the Harbour Tour all left from this vicinity. It is a beautiful structure and well worth a visit.
This is a picture of the Sea Bus. It took us over to North Vancouver. They go both directions and are very quiet and very smooth sailing.
This little ferry was not so much! It held only 12 people and bobbed in the water across the little inlet from Stanley Park to Granville Market. We had great fun in Granville Market with lunch at the Bridges restaurant and lots of fun shopping.
The other boat we went on was this little paddle wheeler. We went for a harbor tour thanks to Janice. It was a fun trip around Vancouver Harbor. Lots of boats coming in and out and sea planes taking off and landing and of course the ferries crossing every 10 minutes or so. A very busy place.
This is the Capilano Suspension Bridge and yes, we did go across--TWICE! You had to get your sea legs to walk across, but the view was really beautiful. It's quite a deep gorge and a beautiful area. Brian and Janice were married in a little area adjacent to the bridge.
They were actually married on the overlook to the cliff walk. This walk wasn't as bad as the bridge because it doesn't move as you walk, but it is actually higher over the gorge than the suspension bridge so you can really see down into the canyon. It was a beautiful setting. We had perfect weather (especially after clouds and rain all week!) And the wedding was really cool with the pastor speaking in both Korean and English. Afterward we had dinner and dancing at a little building right across from the park. We had a wonderful time in Vancouver: touring, getting to meet Janice's parents and sisters, and being able to celebrate a very special day with Brian and Janice and Grayson. Now we are in the Portland area and ready to enjoy this area and visiting with family in the area.
We drove up to Moscow last Sunday afternoon for dinner with Noel & Judy and Gail & Dan. I took this shot at the top of the hill just as you round the corner and can see Moscow with Moscow Mountains behind. We noticed Moscow is growing, the sign at the city limits reads 23,000 population! That's up by 5,000 since we moved!!!!!
Driving back to Lewiston the sky was so pretty and the Palouse is getting on her harvest colors so I had to take a shot. This is the Moser's farm about half way between Moscow and Genesee.
We had to stop at the top of Lewiston hill with such a beautiful sunset over the L-C Valley! It really was a beautiful sunset. You can even see a bit of the confluence of the Snake and the Clearwater Rivers. On a clear day, you can see a bit of Hell's Canyon from this hill.
This was taken from the same location as the picture above, but this one I'm looking back towards the Palouse and the beautiful cloud!
I decided to try "fussy cutting" a cathedral window hot pad. My Aunt Sally is moving into a new house and she loves birds so this was an experiment with her in mind.
Yesterday we drove to Kamiah to visit Loriann. We had a good visit with her and got to go out to dinner in Kamiah. We left Kamiah about 7 p.m., just about when the canyon goes into shadow. (This is a phenomenon that we miss in Florida!! When the sun goes behind the mountains, but it's a long time until sunset.) You can tell the sun is still up because it's still shining up on the tops of the mountains. This is also an unusual river in Idaho -- very few rapids! There was an article in the paper that said Idaho has more white water than any other state and the state that comes in second has more than 1000 miles less than Idaho. 
I took this shot as we were going across Red Wolf Crossing Bridge in Clarkston at about 8:30 pm. During our 1 1/2 hour drive from Kamiah to Clarkston we never had the sun in our eyes, but we didn't start to see the sunset until we were almost to Clarkston. What a beautiful drive, the Clearwater River looked like a jewel with the light reflecting on it. We have really enjoyed our visit to Idaho this summer and revisiting many of our favorite places and some new places too. I was speaking to a visitor the other day who said that she thought Idaho was the best kept secret in the nation and we were really smart to keep it that way.
We celebrated Dorothy's birthday last night so I had to get a picture of her with her three handsome sons, Clyde, Howard, and Jerry. We had a really good time and a good visit.
