Here's how the last two days of our vacation panned out...
Thursday:
We got up early in the day to bid farewell to Kate's folks and siblings, who had to be on the road earlier than me and Kate. They all had places they needed to be by the evening and so tried to get out quite early. As I mentioned, we did get up to see them off. Then Kate and I had a more leisurely emptying of the hotel and left the place around mid-morning.
On our way out of town, we first stopped off at Sun Valley specifically to visit the Chocolate Foundry for some treats for our friends and co-workers. This shop is located in a charming shopping center that surrounds a small, green park-like area.
Afterwards, we headed south out of the Sun Valley area. We took a detour east to drive by the Craters of the Moon National Monument. This area is a wide expanse of relatively "young" (geologically speaking) lava flows. The place springs up on you suddenly as you drive up to it. One moment, we're in the open road and the next...bang! Red-black rock as far as you can see.
Take a look:
These pictures were taken just along the road - unforunately We hit some major road construction for a ten-mile stretch around the visitor center so we didn't stop. (This construction was such that we needed a leader car to take us through the three-mile, one-lane stretch!) The Monument supposedly has more to see, as well as hikes, caves, and tours. But we bypassed all that. Instead we continued on through Idaho, noting the many cattle ranches, hay fields, potato plants, and beet plants that we passed.
Soon we arrived in our next detour destination - Aberdeen, Idaho. This little town of just over 1,000 people was were Kate spent a chunk of her early childhood. It was neat to see her gasp as she remembered one or another feature as we wandered through the town. She even found the house that she and her family lived in almost twenty years ago!
Here's some shots of the town:
We stopped at the Cardinal Thriftway for a quick lunch from the deli before continuing on.
While Kate took over the driving...
...I played navigator and studied the atlas for things that might be fun to stop and see on our way down to Springville, Utah. We toyed with visiting some of the sights available in Salt Lake City as we passed through on our way south, but then we realized that given the hour of the day, by the time we reached any of these possible places, the said sights would probably be closed. Plus, we liked the idea of just getting to the hotel and having a quiet evening to relax.
We did note some interesting traffic, like this truck (one of two) delivering some kind of radioactive materials. (Spent uranium rods?)
I also noted (after I took over the driving) that the traffic around and through Salt Lake City became busy again. I was forced to recall my driving skills from cruising through the busy times of Denver as I manuevered my way through. We even got caught in a good old-fashioned bottleneck where a closed lane due to construction met with a fast merging on-ramp. Yikes!
But we made it through and finally got to our hotel in Springville.
By this time, all we felt like doing is having dinner so we stopped by the Cracker Barrel for a delicious meal (roast beef for me and a grilled chicken sandwich for Kate).
And now we've retired to our room to shower and call it a (relatively) early night. We were supposed to meet with Kate's college friend Heather in Snowmass, Colorado around seven in the evening.
Friday:
Unfortunately, we received an e-mail from Heather that morning telling us that she was fighting a serious bug and that a visit probably wouldn't be a good idea. Kate and I discussed our options and decided that with at least one stop along the way, we would press on toward home.
(BTW - Heather, if you're reading this, we hope you're feeling better!!)
I have to say again...Utah is a pretty state. Have a look at a couple of pics from our drive:
As we headed down US-6, we stopped in the town of Price, Utah. While we were taking our stretch/bathroom break we noticed the Prehistoric Museum. Since we weren't in a rush, we decided to stop in and visit. It was a quaint little institution that acquires most of its collection of dinosaur bones from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. (Dinosaurs are apparently a big thing in Utah!) We only stayed a short while but enjoyed the visit.
Although I did have a near-miss with a hungry critter during the visit... ;-)
We followed US-6 until it joined with I-70 and made the one stop that took us this direction: Arches National Park. (If we hadn't decided to go this route, we could have been home in Fort Collins quicker by taking I-80 through Wyoming.) I have to say, Arches was cool! It's huge and covered in crazy red rock formations.
Here's a few highlights:
Sadly, we didn't see all of the park. Between the latest of the afternoon and the intense heat, we chose to cut our visit short so as to get back on the road ASAP. He made a brief stop in Moab for lunch at a local pizza/italian place.
Then it was back to I-70 by way of the scenic route that followed the Colorado River along the outskirts of the park. Here are some pictures of that:
It was exciting to cross the state border into Colorado around sunset. Kate and I started to feel like we were practically home.
Bad idea. :-) The trek down I-70 through the dark turns through the mountains and resort towns seemed to take forever, plus it looked like the mountains had gotten more than a little rain so the road was wet in places too. We crawled along I-70...but when we finally saw the lights of Denver, I felt my adrenaline kick up. NOW we were almost home!
We finally pulled into our parking lot at around 2:30 in the morning. (!!) We were so exhausted that we barely had the energy to drag our duffel bags and other stuff into the house before collapsing.
Saturday:
Thankfully, there was nothing pressing that we needed to worry about today so we were able to sleep in. Tomorrow, we're planning on meeting with some friends for dinner and kibbitzing.
All in all, a right enjoyable vacation! Kate and I do feel rested and at ease after a week off from our usual grind. On Monday we jump back into the mix of things - with her going back to work and me beginning the Fall semester at CSU.
Oh, joy. :-)
Thanks as always for reading and I hope you're having a good day.
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