The BEST road trip ever!

I just got back from a terrific road trip with Julina.  After traveling to Indiana and California and Utah already, it would seem ANOTHER road trip so soon after would be anything but terrific.  However, breaking up the driving to Utah into two days both ways really made all the difference.  It allowed us to take more breaks and side-trips.  And, we didn’t arrive at our destination completely exhausted from a 22-hour haul. 

We left on Wednesday, the 27^th and took the I-70 route.  We had learned of an interesting rock formation just south of Oakley, KS and, despite the 115 (?!?!?) degree temperatures, we took the 20-mile detour to check out Monument Rocks. 

As you can see, they are in the middle of nowhere off a gravel road.  No services.  No explanatory signs.  And it was SOOOOO hot and windy so we didn’t linger long.  They were pretty neat, though.

We stayed the night with my niece, Kendra, in the Denver area.  Loved her four children and their two-half-grown kittens.  We left early Thursday morning with the plan to eat breakfast at the first rest-stop we found.  It happened to be at a “welcome center” at Red Rocks (which I learned later is a well-known concert venue in the Denver area).  

As we pulled into the parking lot, look who was going to be performing that night!  

Security personnel prevented us from lingering so, as we munched on our travel breakfast in the car, 

we listened to Alan Jackson tunes Julina had on her i-pod.

I had forgotten how beautiful I-70 is through the Rockies!  We stopped at a rest-stop that actually had a raft-launch/beach on the Colorado River that was running parallel to the interstate.  Here is Julina checking it out.

Nearby was a small mountain stream that fed into the river and it was so inviting, 

I just had to get my feet wet.

The beauty became more stark and barren the farther west we traveled and, by the time we crossed the line into Utah, it was a whole lot of nothing all the way to the connect with I-15.  We chose to take that route – rather than cut up north at Green River through Price – because we wanted to visit Cove Fort, a church historic site from pioneer days.  Brigham Young sent Ira Hinckley (Gordon’s grandfather) to built the outpost for the purpose of hosting  stage coaches and maintaining a telegraph.  

Brigham Young stayed there whenever he traveled to St. George.

This is Julina and me in the center of Cove Fort.  

From  Cove Fort, it was just a few hours from Provo and our destination.  

We drove past one of the many fires plaguing that state.  

Check out the poor visibility due to the smoke.

It was nice to finally arrive at Ryan and Kirsti’s place.  

Here they are in front of their quintessential  Provo married-student apartment.  

Julina and I slept on our own air mattress in their second bedroom and were very comfortable. 

Friday was a trip to Deseret Industries to look for lady-blazers for me to wear on Sundays.  Found four!  We had lunch at Malawi’s – the pizza place where Kirsti works – and devoured delicious GLUTEN-FREE pizzas!  They even had GF dessert pizzas!  We chose berries and cream with fresh strawberries and raspberries.  YUM!  Then, in the afternoon, it was Jamilyn’s wedding in the Oquirrh Mountain temple.

Jamilyn, Brad, and Kason

 Here are Julina, Kirsti, and Ryan. 

The reception was in the backyard of the beautiful home where Jami had an apartment in the basement.  There was somewhat of a breeze but the temperatures were perfect.  It was a lovely event.

Here are Jesse and Jeremy Davies - what handsome men my nephews are!  

Jesse looks like a cop, doesn't he?  (he actually is)

 

The Julis

Kirsti had to work on Saturday and Ryan had chores but the Julis and I drove down to attend the Manti Temple.  

It is a magnificent building crafted by those 1800’s pioneers!  We enjoyed a delicious lunch in the temple cafeteria and then drove back up to Provo – passing by evidence of the Utah fires:  smoke plumes on the east and charred hills on the west.  After supper, we three enjoyed watching Mirror Mirror at the two-dollar theater in Provo and then said farewell to my sister.  She was staying at Jami’s place to care for Kason while Jami and Brad were on their honeymoon. 

Sunday, we attended meetings with Kirsti and Ryan in their mega-meetinghouse which was built specifically for the demands of the hundreds of student-wards at BYU.  It had two full-size chapels and two Relief Society rooms and tons of classrooms on three levels.   Ryan’s church calling is to coordinate the cleaning.  Yikes – that is a huge job.  Kirsti is the chorister and she also plays the piano for Relief Society most of the time.  We were invited to dinner with Ryan’s family and had a delicious meal and a great visit before heading up to stay the night at Dave and Dale’s in Holliday.  The skies of Utah Valley were hazy with fire smoke and it makes the coloring in the Merrill photo a bit sepia, don't you think?

We took an early start Monday morning to begin our drive back east.  That day’s side trip was to Martin’s Cove, about 45 miles north of Rawlins, WY.  This was where the handcart pioneers meet with disastrous winter weather and many lost their lives. 

We really did NOT push this handcart - it was too hot - but we look the part, don't we?

This is a shot of Martin's Cove in the distance with the Sweetwater River in the foreground.

We spent the night at a lovely bed and breakfast in Cheyenne, WY.  Peggy and Harold were our hosts and their home was full of beautiful antiques and Native American artifacts.  The bed was wonderful and the breakfast Tuesday morning was gourmet AND gluten-free, thanks to the efforts of Harold.

Tuesday we traveled across Nebraska and made a stop at yet another church history site – Winter Quarters in Omaha.  We took a short tour of the visitor’s center and the pioneer cemetery and then made the 6:00 temple session.  

Juli and I in front of the visitor's center.

This is a shot of the pioneer cemetery.  The temple is just to the south.

another shot of the Winter Quarter's temple

Omaha is about five hours from Columbia so we still had a bit of a drive to get home.  But, thanks to Juli’s i-pod and LOTS of podcasts, we were able to stave off sleepiness and pull into Columbia at 1:40 am on the 4th of July.  We slept in that day and then poor Julina had to continue another seven hours on to Lafayette.  We didn't even go to fireworks that night - too HOT here - but we watched Return of the King instead.

Whew!  I am done.

  

  

.