Boise, ID

Mountain View RV Park

Whoville !?

Made it to Boise! It rained off and on all day--Indian car wash;-0 The terrain was "humpy bumpy" mountains in Utah. Just sort of little mountains with red earth covered with green grass. Pretty but very different from all of the other mountains we have seen. Again lost on Owen who is red/green color blind. Once in Idaho the terrain changed again. Acres of farm land, fields as far as the eye could see. Lots of irrigation going on even with the light rain. Many signs for dust storm areas. We crossed the Snake River, two or three times actually. I keep forgetting to mention that the speed limit has been 75mph with stretches in UT that were 80! Carole you would be in heaven;-) We haven't had any tolls since we left MA. The roads are in pretty good shape, it does vary but most are good. Road construction every where. Not many pictures today. Camp site pictures and one of "Whoville", at least that is what it looked like to me when we drove by it. Didn't see Cindy Loohoo or the Grinch but it isn't Christmas time either. We'll be here over the weekend then off to OR on Monday. Sunset tonight is at 9:30pm. Hard to adjust for us Easterners. Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads.

Ogden, UT

Inside a "MASH" jeep.
GRRR

Presidential plane and the plane that Owen's brother-in-law, Jack flew.

Went to the Hill Aerospace Museum today. Pretty interesting place. Two full hangars and many more out side on the grounds. Because it is affiliated with Hill AFB there were plenty of cute young men and women running around. There was a retirement party going on so there were more than usual, fatigues and dress blues but they still looked like babies. Won't bore you with many pictures. Owen loves airplanes so we have many pictures to pick from. Nice displays of the Code Talkers which included an audio of the Navajo language and of the women pilots. Off to Idaho tomorrow. Plan on the Boise area.

Ogden, UT

Long day in the truck today, 6 hours. We dodged thunder storms all the way. We did run through one but for the most part the day was dry with very black clouds to the east or west of us. We are now heading north and will spend the next couple of days here in Ogden. Nothing special planned. This campground is ok. Many kids and dogs. It does have a pool and picnic tables. Not much of a view just other campers and noise baffles. The calendar is heading toward July but there is still plenty of snow and ice on these mountains, the Twin Mountains, with elevation close to 12000 feet. Most of the ride today was on level ground through huge farms or pastures. Lots of purple sage, I could even smell it during one sprinkle.

Zion National Park, UT--the hike

On the trail. Cactus in bloom and a lizard.

The big pay off. Two different views at the top of the ridge half way through the hike. Still had to do the return trip. Lots of juniper trees (gin anyone?) and pinyon pines. Had a picnic at the bottom of the trail. So very peaceful, the only sound was the chirping birds.

We could see ice/snow on one of the peaks in the distance. This was up around the 6000 foot elevation the snowy peak was higher. It was pretty windy but still warm. It was classed as a moderate hike. Most was fairly easy but there were some "mountain goat" type areas. Really got the heart beating with the elevation and steepness of the trail. It was great to be outside.

Zion National Park, UT

Lighter color is where a 'chunk' fell off. Dark line is from a waterfall and the trees above it is a hidden valley.

Pictures won't begin to do justice to the scenery in Zion. Every time we thought it couldn't get any better...it did. Just an amazing place. We went to the Kolob Canyon part of the park. It is supposed to be the most spectacular and the least visited. It is a 6 mile road with unbelievable views. We did have a sprinkle when we got to the end of the road but then it cleared up and we went for a 1.5 mile hike. Zion is almost 150,000 acres so we saw a very small section. It is like the Grand Canyon except you look up to the top rather down to the bottom.

Leeds, UT

Local wild cat, Puma ?

More pics of the canyon we drove through.

Las Vegas speed way.

We loved the plate on this RV. The owner actually grew up in NH but has lived in the Colorado since the Korean War. He still has a daughter that lives in S Portland.

Leeds, UT

Note giant aloe plant. View out of the window.

Another travel day another mountain to climb. Today wasn't too bad. Went through a canyon rather than up a mountain. A picture to try to show the walls of the canyon. I prefer the wide open space rather than this closed in canyon. We are at a really nice campground, Leeds RV Park. Lots of trees and grass and we have a picnic table! Went for a nice walk and found a horse pasture with many horses and a colt. Great view out of the window this time. Saw a rental RV with a picture of Portland Head Light on it this morning. It was parked on side of us and it took a few minutes to realize what the picture was. Didn't get to talk to the young family that was in it. Hope to go to Zion National Park tomorrow. Right now the weather prediction is for rain so we will see what happens.

Hoover Dam--Boulder City, NV

Lake Mead is losing water. The white on the rocks is where the water level should be. Marina and beach area of the Lake.

A closer look at the support for the new bridge over the dam. Just the key stone left to do and then the road bed.

Boulder City--Hoover Dam--NV

Today we went to Hoover Dam. Big changes from the last time we were here. The new roadway and bridge are in the final stages. Security check points are in place. Today was close to 90. I don't care if it is a dry heat, it is still hot! After walking into AZ and then back to NV we headed to a local casino. Guess who HAD to stop? For once I actually won and he didn't. I ended up ahead and a certain other person has a big L on his forehead. He will try to convince you it is for Lolar but we know different;-) The next to last picture is the view of Lake Mead from the road just beyond our camp site. The last one is the speed limit sign on the camp ground.

Boulder City, NV

A couple more pics of the road to NV. More pics of our "home" in the Canyon Trail RV Park. The best part of this is sleeping in the same bed every night. It really is home.

View out of our door what I see right now.