Lander, Wyoming: Day 2 of Labor Day Weekend Trip

This morning we woke up and went to church in Rawlins, then hit the road for Lander to the northwest. It was an overcast day but we managed to take lots of photographs and here are some beautiful shots of landscape, a covered wagon from a bathroom stop, the bathroom stall wall (I just love the rocks embedded in it) and some granite that I have samples of in my own house from other roadtrips. It was another fun day! Tomorrow we will see more of Wyoming and then head home.

Yellow Flowers

Sunset in Wyoming

Vedauwoo Rocks

Wyoming Weekend

Some people drive for miles in order to reach a destination. Grady and I drive because we just love the road trip itself. It is the journey and not the destination that we find is most important. We take long drives once we reach a central hotel--in this case, Rawlins, Wyoming--and use a reputable guide book to explore the scenic byways and dirt roads and historic sites and just----ohhhhhh--scenery! Rocks! Mountains! Prairie dogs and golden eagles and Western bluebirds and even today, a crane! Unfortunately my camera does not respond quickly enough to most of the wildlife shots but there is an antelope in one of my pictures,with him crossing the road in full splendor. Grady patiently parks the car while I find treasure troves of rocks--today it was some sparkly white, translucent rocks (probably some kind of marble), and some pinkish quartz and big chunks of unidentifable gems that make me feel richer than any diamond miner. I have rocks now in every room of the house. Last night I appreciated a rest stop that had the booth walls decorated with rocks embedded in concrete. What a great idea! Anyway, here are some of our pictures. One of them was at Vedauwoo Rocks, right outside of Cheyenne and a state park where the girls, Aunt Sara and I had stopped about twelve years ago on an earlier Western roadtrip. Hannah and Becky and Sara and I had climbed on some beautiful rocks for a couple of hours as a break from cross-country driving. I had forgotten the name of the place until we stopped there today. Vadauwoo means "earth born" and was a sacred place for the Arapaho peoples.

Boney Rules

Boney is our pet horse. Actually, he is a stuffed Appaloosa but we spend a lot of time with him every day as he pontificates and becomes colorful with all kinds of opinons on EVERYTHING. He is a scientist, with special interests in cosmology and astrophysics (we watched all of Deep Space 9 and Star Trek Voyager together; currently we are watching Steven Hawkings: THE UNIVERSE); he is a swimmer (he swims the English Channel in a variety of ways); he's a great psychotherapist (he lets us talk, talk, talk and he listens, listens, listens--then he has something interesting to say!). He makes us laugh and he enhances our enjoyment of life, keeping our hearts happy when we have had a bad day and sharing the good moments with us as well. Here is an artist's rendition of our dear friend. (painted by Grady,of course).

Bertha Engler

My mom was 13 when she moved out of the bustling Lee home of the 1930 depression years (when times were really hard) and became a housekeeper/gardener,etc for Bertha Engler, who lived in Helvitia, West Virginia. She loved "Miss Bertha", who was a school teacher by profession and who loved books and the outdoors. Mama got lots of her own personal interests from this time with Miss Bertha. Mama gave me a cookbook that had been Miss Bertha's and I use it quite often even now, the Amy Vanderbelt's Complete Cookbook, copyright 1961. She always spoke highly of her mentor and guardian and so when my sister Linda sent a photo of Miss Bertha when she was young, I was so happy! Hopefully this picture will show up on this blog posting so you can see, too.

Family History

If you are wondering what I have been doing lately, it is lots and lots and lots of family history research. This week I have spent over 30 hours and have found great new information! The Family History Center in Salt Lake is absolutely wonderful, especially since I discovered the card catalog for the place, and since I also began using Heritage Quest for census look-ups. (Thanks to Louise, who just left on Thursday morning.) Speaking of Louise, we had a fantastic time visiting and eating out together. (hurray for Coachman's). She is really a fun person! And Katie is moved into her new place in Provo. School starts for her and for Jennifer at BYU on Tuesday, Sept. 2. (Although the dance part of school started for Jen this past Monday--long days from 8 am to 10 pm each day--they have a program in --is it late September?). Paul is back as a senior at Utah State in Logan and starts this Monday (Grady is moving him in today--hence, I am able to do more family history research). And Beth is also back in school on Monday, at Fairmont State, pursuing a nursing degree. She was very excited today because she paid all her tuition and fees and has a great schedule lined up. She is also continuing to work at US Cellular 29 hrs a week (and they are reimbursing her for all her college money spent). This coming week I have a doctor's appointment (finally) and hopefully Dr. Christensen will schedule me for a hysterectomy soon (before I perform one myself I am getting so desperate!). I also have an appointment with a career counsellor for IHC, to steer me in the right direction hopefully. After my surgery I would like to go back to school or at least move forward with IHC in a more fulfilling direction.

Hutchings Museum

Katie and I went to the Hutchings Museum here in Lehi. It was really fun. It is a great natural history museum, and originally the site of the town jail was in part of the building. There were exhibits on World Wars I and II, the wild West, birds and mammals, fossils, clothes, old schools and school rules, an old organ and musical inventions, and rocks, rocks, rocks. I loved the rocks! We also enjoyed getting into the jail, the bank vault (Katie is partly behind the vault door in the photo), and trying on old hats. The little girls who were helping the museum lady that collected our money and welcomed us inside showed us the private room with the live birds: peregrine falcons with masks on (they looked dead until one moved and Katie gasped in surprise); great horned owl and screech owls, a cockatoo or some huge white plumed bird that talked a lot, etc. They were part of a travelling exhibit and somehow were in a back room today at the museum. We had a nice time. Then Katie treated us to Wendy's afterwards. We have had a fun time this week.

Katie at Willow Park

Katie Golden is visiting us this week and we are having a great time. Today was my day off so we went to see a matinee at the theatre (Kevin Costner in Swing Vote) and that was fun. Then we went walking at Black Willow Park. Here are some photos from our walk. And tonight we are cooking smothered pork chops, and Katie got all the stuff to make a fancy cake. Yummmmmm!!!

Chickens Crossing the Road

This morning on my bike ride a group of 4 hens crossed the street by a neighbor's house. By the time I could get a photo taken, 3 of them had disappeared into the hedge but one white chicken remained. Here is a photo. Last night I wished I had a camera handy because on my way to the library I saw a little old man and woman in a horse drawn carriage rolling down our street. It was a beautiful evening and it was fun to see remnants from the early 1900's still in Lehi.