Joe&#39;s &amp; Julia&#39;s Adventures

Click on various state labels to see pictures & accounts of previous trips

Utah-Montana Trip - On the Road

This rest stop in Oregon had an exercise area for horses. If I were a horse traveling across country, I'm sure I would appreciate this. According to this article, there are several others in Oregon.

Zillah, Washington - apple crates wait to be filled (middle left of picture)

Click here to read about Zillah's connection to the Teapot Dome scandal during the Harding administration. Next time we go by, we're going to stop to see the teapot.

Washington apples on their way to you

Fall colors - the only place we saw red was in the Cascade Mountains. Yellow and golds were in Utah, Oregon, and Montana.

Posts on our Utah-Montana Trip

Click on various state labels to see pictures & accounts of previous trips

Utah-Montana Trip - Granddaughter's Birthday

We went to Salt Lake City to help our granddaughter celebrate her birthday. We don't post pictures of our younger grandchildren on this public blog so you'll just have to take our word for it - she's adorable.

Posts on our Utah-Montana Trip

Click on various state labels to see pictures & accounts of previous trips

Utah-Montana Trip - Salt Lake City

We marveled at the flowers that were still beautiful the beginning of October

When Joe was a child, he saw movie theater ads for Marigold Dairy. Marigolds were on the sides of the trucks. Ever since then marigolds have been Joe's favorite flower.

Interesting patterns reflected on Nordstrom's walls in downtown Salt Lake City

Interesting rooflines - Assembly Hall & Salt Lake Temple

Public art in downtown Salt Lake City - West Temple near Temple Square

The installations were on top of tall poles

Posts on our Utah-Montana Trip

Click on various state labels to see pictures & accounts of previous trips

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Utah-Montana Trip - Snake River Canyon

Since we moved to Kirkland, we've driven to Salt Lake City a number of times.

Part of Idaho looks like this - for miles and miles and miles. We decided to stop for gas and lunch at Twin Falls, Idaho. We thought the services would be just off the freeway as they usually are. But they weren't. We drove several miles, through the same kind of terrain. We would have turned around if there had been a place to do so. I'm very glad we kept driving. What beauty awaited us!

We approached a bridge and could tell the terrain was changing. The earth fell away to reveal a breathtaking canyon. We drove over the bridge into town, got lunch, filled up with gas and got on the road again. After we crossed the bridge we pulled over to get a better look at this amazing sight - the Snake River Canyon.

Perrine Bridge - the only place in the country that allows BASE jumping year round without a permit. BASE jumpers leap from fixed objects and use parachutes to break their falls. This bridge is 486 feet above the Snake River.

Evel Knievel made an unsuccessful attempt to leap the mile wide chasm in 1974. His parachute opened early and he floated to the bottom of the canyon. The ramp he used is still visible. We don't have a picture of the ramp because we didn't know this interesting tidbit when we were there.

Posts on our Utah-Montana Trip

Click on various state labels to see pictures & accounts of previous trips

Monday, October 29, 2012

Utah-Montana Trip - Geiser Grand Hotel

Geiser Grand Hotel -Baker City, Oregon

We discovered this wonderful old hotel several summers ago when we were making our grand western tour (before we moved to Kirkland). Originally opened in 1889, the hotel operated until the late 1960s. After it closed, it fell into disrepair and was 30 days from demolition when a group of local citizens bought the place and spent seven million dollars to restore it to its original grandeur.

While we were eating dinner, I noticed the name of the hotel reflected on the wall of the lobby. Look closely and you can see "Geiser Grand" in the arched window over the entrance door. The shadow disappeared as the sunlight shifted.

looking down at dining room from second floor

looking up to the second floor from the dining room

Beautiful crystal chandeliers throughout the hotel,

including one in each of the 30 guest rooms

More about Baker City & the Geiser Grand Hotel here; from a previous trip

Posts on our Utah-Montana Trip