2009 trip chapter 6

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CORRECTION: One error I didn't see till after I published the entry on Zion Park. The three patriachs were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not Joseph.



5-22-09 Our only full day in Springville we decided to go to Utah Lake State Park. It was a very pretty little park on the east side of the largest fresh water lake in Utah, but not as big as Salt Lake. We looked around the park campground it had water and electric but we had already checked in for two nights so we had no intention of moving. As we looked arround the park we saw the water skier with the snow covered mountain in the background. Further arround the bay a lady was standing on the dock with a pretty little sun dress on but I wasn't willing to give up my jacket. After leaving the park we went in to Provo to find a visitor center we had seen a sign for. When we found it and asked what we should make sure not to miss they told us about Bridal Veil Falls just a little north of town. They said it was a short walk from parking but the walk was easy. They were right and the falls were very pretty. They had also recommended another place but we were tired and decided to go home.









5-23-09 We left Springville on my sister Sandy's birthday and started for Hill AFB just north of Salt Lake City. As we traveled we passed the place the Visitor Center told us about and found it was closer to Salt Lake than Provo. We had time but didn't stop since we wanted to do laundry when we got to camp.








5-24-09 We attended church on base today. It was just over 2 blocks away but we drove since it was raining. We've already seen more bad weather this year than on our whole trip last year, but the sun did come out about sunset and looked beautiful on the snow on top of the mountain. With weather and chores we did very little else today or tomorrow..


5-26-09 We went to Antelope Island today. I had told Durham about it since Ron and I had been there in 05. There were some changes like the water in the Salt Lake was down a lot and most of the buffalo were probably in the calving grounds which are not visible from any of the roads. It was still neat looking arround the old ranch and driving around the island. We saw a small herd of Buffalo, probably all males and a few wolves, but the baby owl in a tree was the neatest. (The picture of the owl needs to be fairly large to appreciate it so I didn't include it in the blog.) We had lunch on the beach before returning to the base.




5-27-09 We planned today to go look arround Salt Lake City. Since we planned to just walk arround we took Max which turned out to be a mistake. As we entered the temple square we found we could have him with us but had to carry him and of course we could not take him in buildings. We took him back to the car, it wasn't real warm and the car was in the shade. We decided to check out the conference center across the street since they told us we could see the whole city from the roof which was part of the tour. The conference center was really interesting. It had an auditorium which could seat 24.000 people with no columns or obstructions to the view. There was a lot of art work and statues/figurines but the most interesting was the roof where they had a fountain that across the roof and down the front of the building and recycled back up to the roof. They also had flower guardens and full grown trees. After we took Max back to camp we decided to check out the base museum. We took a route to get to the museum that would show us some of where we would be going in the coach when we left. It took longer than we expected and we got there just 30 minutes before it closed so we didn't see much before we were chased out.


5-28-09 We spent most of the day resting and getting ready to move on, not a very exciting day.




5-29-09 As we traveled from Hill into Wyoming we stopped at a visitor center which was different than any we've been to before. It was also a local park withh a small herd of buffalo which had recently calved. When we got inside there was a display with a stuffed bear and elk. The elk had lived in the park and when it died the locals had it stuffed and displayed where they could continue to visit it. There was some interesting landscape on the way to Rock Springs where we spent the night but we are getting rather ready to be out of the mountains. After we got settled in camp we went for a drive through an area that was supposed to have 2500 wild horses. It was about 25 miles of rough dirt roads and we only saw 3 horses.







5-30-09 We had spent the night at Rock Springs because it was as close as we could find to half way between Hill AFB in Utah and Cheyenne Wyoming where we were headed. We planned to spend a few days in Cheyenne then drop down to Denver to visit Durham's nephew. We had been seeing signs along the way saying when flashing return to the nearest city. We figured the weather must get really bad along this part of I-80 in winter. Well we were surprised to learn that it must still be winter. When we reached Larami we were turned back and the cars coming west were covered with snow. We tried unsuccessfully to find out what to expect so we found the local Wal-Mart and spent the night in the parking lot.

5-31-09 We had discussed where to go to church this morning but when we realized we didn't have enough water to bathe or even wash up propperly we thought we may be able to make it over the mountain to Cheyenne and attend church there. The weather was nice this morning but predicted to get bad later in the day so we got on the road the earliest we have all trip. As we neared the top of the mountain we saw the snow that had closed the road yesterday. We also saw a lot of Prong Horn Antelope along the way. We were neither fealing very good when we got to F.E. Warren AFB so we got settled and tried to rest.

6-1-09 We neither felt well this morning so we went to the base clinic but they couldn't see us and recommended an urgent care center in town. We went and found Durham had pneumonia. I just had a sinus infection. We were both given prescriptions and Durham was told to go home and stay in bed or he would be put in the hospital. He must be feeling really bad because he actually stayed either in bed or on the sofa. I guess we'll be here for a while Durham is supposed to stay in bed for a week. I went to the office and extended our stay to 6-8-09.



Max: " Something is not quite right here but I love this place. When Mom takes me for walks there are so many great smells but Daddy never comes any more. Daddy gets up late and mostly lays around all day. Sometimes Mom takes big baskets and leaves for a long time. I keep watching for her and eventually she comes back. She says something about laundry when she leaves but daddy doesn't take me where she is like he used to. I hope things get back to normal soon. I've been feeling so much better and have so much more energy but we the only place we go is to this little building where Mom and Daddy go in and leave me in the car, then we go to Wal-Mart and they come out with little bags and we go home and they lay down. The last time they went there Mom walked me then let me go in the little building where Daddy had been a long time. There were some very nice ladies but I couldn't see Daddy anywhere. I hope things get back to normal soon. "



6-3-09 Durham had a bad night last night so we decided to take him back to the urgent care today. They decided to give him an IV with some meds in it and another prescription. He still has to stay in bed or on the sofa. We get very poor TV reception here but one thing that helps make it bearable is all the wildlife wandering arround. Especially the Prong horns one herd of 25 to 30 walked within 50 to 100 feet of the front of the coach during one of the sunny breaks in the rain we have been having.


We will be hanging on here till Monday 6-8-09 when we hope to move to Nebraska where we may get down to an altitude where we can breath a little better. We still want to try to get to Denver but need a break from the mountains before we try it.

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Photos

Utah Lake
Utah Lake State Park was a pretty park along the east side of the lake. We were wearing jackets while locals were sking and wearing sun dresses.

Wedding Veil Falls
Wedding Veil Falls is also near Provo. There was a small park with a short walk to the falls.

View from campground
We stayed at Hill AFB FamCamp up near Salt Lake City. Just east of the base is a line of mountains much higher than the valley Salt Lake is in.

Fielding Garr Ranch
When the Mormons moved to Salt Lake a member named Fielding Garr started a ranch on Antelope Island out in the salt lake.

Temple Square looking toward conference center
There were thousands of beautiful flowers in the Temple Square.

Temple Square from Conference Center Roof
The view from the roof was almost as amazing as the conference center and roof garden.

wild horses
There are supposedly 2500 wild horses arround Rock Springs Utah. These are the only 3 we saw on a 25 mile drive through their area.

Snow Fences
There were snow fences all along I - 80 in Wyoming but this set near the rest area there were more than in most places.

Snow along I-80
We were trying to make Cheyenne May 30 when we were stopped and returned to Larami. The cars coming off the mountain were covered with snow.

Prong Horn Antelope herd
This is a very small part of this herd that passed in front of the coach one day when the sun came out. I went out to the picnic table and one came within 15 feet of me.

Comments

[Charlotte]

Remembering
Have thoroughly enjoyed reliving our trips out to the canyonlands, Wyoming, etc. through your blogs. Hope you are both well by now. Thanks for sharing.