This summer Gaye and I took a trip across the western USA. In 23 days we traveled 6000 miles across six states and one Canadian province. Our journey took us from blazing hot Mesa, Arizona through Utah and into Idaho then further North into Montana and Canada. We ventured East across Montana into the Badlands of South Dakota. We followed the Oregon Trail across Wyoming and the Mormon route into Salt Lake, arriving in time for the celebration of the emigration into that once-desolate valley. And we visited seven state and national parks in the US and Canada.
It was my goal to provide one picture for each day of our travels as a summary that would not be lengthy. I have discovered that this will not be possible. We often visited several significant places in a single day. However, I still have the daunting task of providing less than 50 pictures from the more than 2000 that Gaye and I took. The narrations will be brief so as to not bore you too often.
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Day 1 - Friday, July 3, 2009 - Travel from Mesa, Arizona to Montpelier, Idaho
We drove a rental car, a 2009 Chevy Malibu, that we thoroughly enjoyed and hauled a couple of bicycles with us which we used regularly along with hiking and walking to be sure that we were getting our exercise each day.
Day 2 - Saturday, July 4, 2009 - Bear Lake Fourth of July Festival
We drove over to Paris and watched the parade, enjoyed a pretty good concert in the Paris Tabernacle, had raspberry shakes to celebrate raspberry days and drove out to the wildlife refuge to see the birds. We went through Dingle, which amused Gaye for several days.
Day 3 - Sunday, July 5, 2009 - Montpelier, Idaho
We spent the day in church and recovering from the last two days. We made the trip of a thousand miles to Montpelier in one day, in 16 hours. When we arrived it was pouring rain.
Day 4 - Monday, July 6, 2009 - Travel from Montpelier to Butte, MT then to WhiteFish, MT
After we arrived at Whitefish and got settled in our condo, we headed through Whitefish and on to Hungry Horse where we saw "My Ball and Chain". They used to use these 8-ton balls to clear forest land by hooking each end to a good-sized tractor and rolling over everything. The trees would come down with the roots pulled up so that no stumps were left needing to be pulled out later. They could clear land at the rate that a man could walk. Pretty impressive.
Day 5 - Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - Glacier National Park
The day that we spent in Glacier National park with Drew and Bethany was
soooooo cool. I really did limit the number of pictures but there was so much that was really magnificent that I kind of over did this day.
The pictures for this day are not in order and are actually closer to backwards as the events really transpired.
Us at the bridge over the last falls.
Just another beautiful face - cliff face. (oh, my)
The second of the three falls . We hiked into see these falls. It was a great hike and had a deer encounter along the trail.
The bridge over the river at the first falls.
The first falls.
The view back from Logan's Pass.
Gaye holds up the glacier. (It wasn't carrying any cash so she came away empty-handed. -gasp!)
As we stopped near Logan's Pass we saw a mother mountain goat and her kid on the trail. As you can see, she still has not lost her winter coat in July!
Drew and Beth.
Rich and Drew.
Entering the park.
Day 6 - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - Hike Big Mountain near WhiteFish
Somebody decided that we should hike big mountain. They figured it would be easier going down than up. So we took the ski lift to the top of Big Mountain for the seven mile hike to the bottom.
I have to tell you that hiking down is
not the same as hiking up nor is it easier. And all those muscles were screaming at me for the next three days!
Gaye makes the decision to take a break and sit while the rest of us wandered around the peak to snap pictures of the view.
Drew and Bethany pause on the trail.
At the look out point we stop to have a snack and a peek at the view below us. I think that we were probably about half way down the mountain at this point.
The Whitefish valley below us.
We pause to admire the Buffalo flowers along the hillside.
You know, I could have bicycled down this mountain and saved my muscles a lot of grief . . . if I didn't biff big time somewhere.
Day 7 - Thursday, July 9, 2009 - Travel from WhiteFish to Banff, Alberta, Canada
As we traveled from Whitefish, Montana to
Banff, Alberta I stopped to admire the scenery with the railroad running along the river beneath the sandy bluffs.
What a wonderful view as we drove through Banff National Forest in Alberta, Canada.
Fishing and site-seeing, anyone?
The mountains are so rugged and the clouds are so low that it seems like they reach right up to the heavens. No wonder the Native Americans and the Jews used the mountain tops as sacred places.
Maybe we could make a movie called "A Road Runs Through It". We might not even need Robert Redford to make it a hit. :)
Day 8 - Friday, July 10, 2009 - Lake Louise, Lake Moraine and the 10 Sisters
We left Banff about 7:00 AM to visit Lakes Louise and Moraine. It was chilly - at least to we thin-blooded Arizonans and apparently to the clouds and mountains along the way. The clouds were barely up and floating but they made the mountains look magnificent.
Another one I just
had to add here.
Lake Louise is this perfect alpine setting. It reminded me very much of when I lived in Switzerland.
The Ten Sisters are ten mountains that surround Lake Moraine and, as can be seen, are covered in glaciers of various sizes. It makes for a gorgeous setting.
I just
had to put one more picture here. This is Lake Moraine and a few of the Ten Sisters.
Day 9 - Saturday, July 11, 2009 - Travel from Banff back to Butte through Cardston
This is a shot from Tunnel Mountain on the east side of Banff looking west into Banff National Park.
We are leaving Banff and heading south to Butte. This is the road toward Cardston.
In Cardston, Alberta we caught a quick view of the Mormon temple there. This seems like a sleepy little cattle town and is better known for its rodeo and then, on a hill appears this majestic looking building. It is pretty awesome.
As we passed through Helena I had to stop and get some shots of this majestic cathedral.
I had often heard of the term but never actually seen one until I caught this actual photo of a . . . Helena Hand-Basket (gasp!)
Amy Stagnoli, our friend and Gaye's co-worker, made arrangements for us to stay at her uncle's cabin near Butte. It was a wonderful place on the river and he met us and we had diner and breakfast together at his favorite place. We will have to try Amy's favorite place just down the road the next time we are in town.
Day 10 -Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Butte Folk Festival
We had to rush back from Canada so that we wouldn't miss this National Folk Festival totally and we caught the last day of it and wished that we had been able to squeeze in another day or two of it. it was phenomenal! We began at the top of the festival since that was the best available parking (and we didn't really know where we were going anyway) and worked our way down to the other end.
It is only proper that, Butte having been a mining town, that such a festival would be located under the mining rigs.
The flowers were in lushious blooms all around us and it was very enjoyable just to view the scenery.
Much of the music was Celtic, Arcadian or western. There was food to eat (buy) as well as merchandise being sold.
My favorite artist was a man named Jeff Little. His group was called the Jeff Little Trio and he had someone playing the guitar and someone playing the bass fiddle. He also had a couple of guest players sit in for a tune or two, one who played the banjo and another who was also a noted guitar player.
His piano playing was just amazing. It made you want to not just tap your foot while listening but to jump up and start dancing - and several people did just that after they got past the shock of how good he plays.
This is Jeff Little doing a little (no pun intended) of his music. If you want to hear more oof his music or buy his CDs, go to
Jeff Little's web site. Here are also a couple of YouTube shots of him playing a couple of pieces:
Orange Blossom Special and at the
American Folk Festival where he had to improvise while the guitarist replaces a broken string!
Day 11 - Monday, July 13, 2009 - Butte
We actually went out with Beth's family to go boating but by the time we got to the lake it was beginning to rain and blow. So we all piled into the truck and Bill showed us around the area and some of the projects that he is working on. As we were driving it actually began to snow on us.
When we got back into town the weather had cleared up (of course) so I took some shots of Our Lady of the Rockies, a humongous statue of the virgin Mary which is located at the east end of Butte.
Day 12 - Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - Virginia City and Nevada City
We took a day trip over to Virginia city which was, at one time in Montana's history, the state capitol. Nor it is a touristy ghost town that is not even on the freeway to somewhere. It was an interesting place to visit.
Just down the road is Nevada City which is much less touristy and much more interesting. It was once a mining town and has ninety buildings which have been moved nearer the town center and have been restored. There is also a train depot with a narrow gauge train that runs between Nevada City and Virginia City as well as a standard gauge rail with a steam engine that was being worked on while we were there. Gaye and I sit here at the depot in Nevada City.
Drew and his
fiancee, Bethany Berg, are here in the train yard.
Day 13 - Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - Travel from Butte to South Dakota
On our way from Butte, across the expanse of Montana, we made a stop at the Little Big Horn, the location of Custer's last stand.
It is a solemn place where the national forest service has tried to represent both the US Calvary and the native Americans appropriately.
In the top photograph one can see the grave marker of George Custer (in black) with the many other men who died during this battle and could be identified. Their markers are white. An attempt has been made to place the markers in the locations where the men fell during this battle.
Notice the sweeping panorama with the trees below, where 8000 warriors were camped. This was the force that fought against Custer's 2500 men. And to add insult to injury, the US Troops usually had inferior weapons to that of the native American warriors.
This second photo is at this same location and is in recognition of those native Americans who fought for what the US government had promised but could not guarantee once gold was discovered in the Black hills to the south.
Day 14 - Thursday, July 16, 2009 - Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse
The visit to Mount Rushmore was an outstanding adventure. You come around a corner in the road and there is in full size. The pictures will never do justice to the size of this monument.
While there we also visited the work shop of the sculptor and heard his story, saw his models and discovered the "extended version" of the vision that he had for this monument. But his death and a World War curtailed those dreams and forced the conclusion of this mighty project.
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a publicly-funded project, meaning that there is no government funding support because the sculptor and his family want the people to control this project. It is felt that far too often, and perhaps more so with the Native American story, the government has controlled how the story is told. The original sculptor has passed away. He had 10 children and all but one or two have taken up the project. It has been going on for some 48 years. To give you some indication of the enormity of this project, the Mt. Rushmore sculptures could fit in the space between the mountain face of Crazy Horse to the cleared rock to the left of the face.
In keystone, near Mt Rushmore, we stopped for some food (and ice cream). This statue was in front of one of the stores and I just had to take a less-than-reverent pose with the man, Mr. Lincoln.
Day 15 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - Travel to Casper, Wyoming
As we were attempting to leave South Dakota, I think we made a wrong yet fortuitous turn which took us through Custer State park a second time. As we were traveling through, Gaye was making comments regarding the lack of buffalo like, "I think they have entered the witness protection program" or "Perhaps they are dressed as Antelope today." Suddenly we spot a herd of the beasts in a meadow and, of course, there is nowhere to pull off of the road to observe and take pictures. A couple of hills and curves further down the road I am finally able to stop. Since the road had curved, the location of the buffalo was only a hundred yards or so ove a couple of rises. As I exited the car with my camera, Gaye is following while quickly entering panic mode. By the time we locate the "witness protection" suspects she is in full blown panic attack and certain that we will soon be Darwin Award recipients as they circle us and cut us off from our vehicle. But note: this picture is on 7X zoom. We are in no danger of anything worse that stepping in meadow muffins. :)
This is Devil's Gate, a distinct location along the Oregon Trail that marked how far down the trail they were. It is 375 miles from Salt Lake City and also the location of the famous Willy and Martin handcart company disasters. These two companies of pioneers pulling hand carts for their speed and low cost, started late in the spring and were caught at this location by early snows. When word got back to Brigham Young, he sent people and provisions out immediately to rescue these unfortunate land travelers.
Independence Rock was also along the Oregon Trail. It is actually located about twenty miles before Devil's Gate. It was named Independence Rock because it was the point that you should be to before the 4th of July if you were going to be sure that you would not get snowed in along the way. There are also some inscriptions that travelers over the years have carved into the rock.
Day 16 - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Travel the Oregon Trail back to Montpelier, IDSorry, but once again I could not give just one picture of this beautiful country that we were passing through. and these were just ones that I had to pick to not force you to spend weeks looking at our pictures. These are the Grand Tetons in western Wyoming.
Day 17 - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - Montpelier again
Sunday we went to church and had a quiet day at the house. We read, played games and generally rested up from our vacation before it continued in earnest.
Day 18 - Monday, July 20, 2009 - Montpelier Pickleville Theater
In the morning we went to the Oregon Trail Museum in Montpelier, since the Oregon Trail continues right along the main highway through town. They have a wonderful tour back through time and great visual and audio displays about how it was to travel the Trail back in the 1870's from the guns and supplies to the wagons and critters.
Mom and Dad took us down to Garden City at the southern end of Bear Lake to see a melodrama in the Pickleville Theater. The featured play was "The Hanging of El Bandito" and was hilariously entertaining. They also served dinner before hand and we were amused by the "Palace of Necessity", as the restrooms were labeled.
Day 19 - Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - Fishing
We took a day to go fishing at the reservoir east of town some twenty miles. It was a lovely day spent mostly biking by me further on up the canyon to see what was on the other side of the mountain. It took me 30 minutes to ride up the canyon and 10 minutes to ride back.
At that point, Mom and Gaye, who were doing the fishing, were done since the fish were not biting. We moved on down to the lower reservoir and I spent my time baiting Gaye's hook and removing the fish that she caught. I guess that Dad was doing some of that for Mom, too.
Day 20 - Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - Soda Springs
We took a drive to Soda Springs in the afternoon. Some years back the community decided to tap these natural hot springs to heat a community pool. However, the effect of turning this water loose was that that it changed the timing of Old Faithful in Yellowstone. So, to restore the damage that was done, they capped the springs allowing only a minimal flow during most of the day and turning it loose to give its potential once an hour, thus restoring Old Faithful to its faithfulness . . . or something like that.
Day 21 - Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Travel Fort Bridger to Salt Lake along the Mormon Trail
As we traveled across southern Wyoming following the route of the Oregon Trail we made a stop at Fort Bridger. This was originally a mountain man and pioneer trading post established by Jim Bridger. Jim eventually sold the fort to the Mormons who maintained it as a support for Mormon and other pioneers crossing the expanse of this country. This first picture is what the fort looked like when purchased by Brigham Young. They made improvements and expanded the fort. However, when Johnson's Army was sent to take control of the territory of Utah, the Mormons, having had enough of government assistance in Missouri, burned the fort so that
it could not be used by the Army and abandoned it. This stone wall is all that remains of the fort that was burned. The Army eventually rebuilt the fort with officers quarters, a school, laundry, barracks, Quartermaster store and many other buildings.
One of our favorite surprises was finding this, at first, shocking book in the book store. "The Donner Party Cookbook" is a very humorous title to the idea of how to organize parties where wild game is served with fresh edible plants.
Day 22 - Friday, July 24, 2009 - Salt Lake City
You can't visit Salt Lake City without seeing the Salt Lake temple which took 40 years to build. It used to be the tallest building in Salt Lake and could be seen for miles around but the age of high-rise office buildings has taken it's toll and now it is difficult to get any picture without buildings in the background.
While in Salt Lake we were privileged to find an art show going on in the conference center. We had visited the Church History museum, which, among many other things, had the church art contest winners from last year. The docent informed us that the top 200 entries from this year were being displayed in the Conference center.
This particular piece, though not the most striking, caught my attention. It was not even the most interesting piece. It depicts a pioneer woman and her baby in the worn out clothing resulting from a trek across this nation. In the icy winter weather she is looking toward heaven for her strength to go on. Part of the painting's description reads, "
...the price we paid to become acquainted with God." It made me wonder what price I would pay in dedication and suffering to become more closely acquainted with God.
Day 23 - Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Travel Home to Mesa, Arizona
We traveled the back roads of Utah on the return trip to see what we had been missing by taking I-15 for all these years. One of the great sites we had been missing materialized as we entered the valley of Manti, Utah and could see the Mormon temple sitting on the hill. This was one of the first temples completed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the west, along with the one in St. George, being completed even before the Salt Lake temple.
One person viewing my photos asked me what the "castle" was. It does look much like a castle.
This picture of Bryce Canyon in southern Utah is looking out across the valley with the "Hoodoos" in their various shades of amber and rust in the foreground. Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon but the erosion of a chain of mountains.
As with many places we visited, we were told that these will not continue to last and be available to generations to come due to their continued erosion.
As we continued south from Page Arizona, the highway leads you out over the edge of the mountains before descending into the deserts of the Navajo reservation. On this day the clouds were churning and the rains were pouring themselves into the arroyos of the high desert.
First we took the kids (without parents - mine or theirs) to the Tucson Zoo. It is the perfect size for young children . . . and old people like us! When I lost Noah at one point, this two-year-old said, "You stick with me, Opah," and he took my hand and lead me off to see some new critter! That made us laugh :)
Next we were off to meet the kids for some kid time at the Children's Museum on Sixth Ave., north of 22nd St. That was loads of fun. Noah was my buddy again and we played in the train room and had to see the dinosaurs. He was scared spit-less by the T-rex but he had to watch it move and open it's mouth anyway. We rang the bells and ran the lights and sirens on the fire engine and police motorcycle. They shopped in the Mercado and climbed the kids rock wall. They drew, painted, ran the submarine and a dozen other hands-on activities.
It was hard for the kids to leave the museum but we finally convinced them with the promise of ice cream. So, off to Austin's we went. When Gaye and I were young married, we used to take the kids to Austin's for good report cards, when it was still on Broadway close to the U of A, still small and crowded, and still owned by the Austin family. The kids loved it - and then crashed big time. They were home and in bed by 6 PM. Ben and Jenn were happy to have an evening to themselves.
