Figure 8 Trip

Last Wednesday, the 15th, we left Aurora heading for Boise. We headed up I-25 and picked up I-80 about two hours later. The weather was clear with a breeze blowing out of the west. All the wind-powered electricity generators we saw along the way were spinning nicely. We had a late lunch in Rock Springs and continued on to Ogden, UT where we spent the night.

We left sort of late Thursday due to a big breakfast at the motel. We headed up I-15 and split off to I-84, heading in the general direction of Twin Falls, ID. It's hard to believe that we once made Twin Falls from Aurora in one day. I recall back then arriving around sunset. We stopped in Twin Falls for lunch at a place called Idaho Joe's, five miles off I-84 but less than a mile from US 30, a scenic route along the Snake River valley, one we drove on our earlier visit to the area. Boise was an easy drive after lunch. We noted the expanse of land where a very old lava flow was evident along the road and through the fields. There was also a lot of irrigated farming (grass, alfalfa and corn) along the way.

We hadn't been in Boise long when we got a call from Bill saying all the significant players were at Barb's house, and pizza was on the table. Directions given we drove over and met the bride and groom and their families. Oh, did I forget to mention that we were in Boise for Jake and Barb's wedding? Jake is Bill's son. We have known Bill and Jake's mom, Judi, for a little more than 40 years now and felt it would be a good thing for Fran (and me too) to make the event after the lousy year we've had up till now. After pizza and a lot of catching up we volunteered to drive Judi to her hotel in downtown Boise.

The drive to the hotel was pretty uneventful. Then we had to get back to our hotel, a few miles away on I-84. We were trapped in a one-way grid we didn't know about beforehand, and the street I wanted to take out of town was one-way in. We wandered around a bit before stumbling on a street Fran spotted which took us back to I-84 an exit away from the one with our hotel. Adding to the confusion was the construction on the highway with temporary exit routings for these two exits. What a pain! But we made it back with no further troubles.

Friday we followed Bill and company (brother Terry, daughter Camille, and friend Jim) to the Table Rock Brewery on the fringe of downtown for lunch, where we again met Judi and her brother Rocky and his wife Helen. Oddly, Fran and I were the only ones to order a beer; everyone else had soda, iced tea or water. I naturally had the IPA and ho doggies! did it have a kick with an IBU rating of over 100. For comparison, Dry Dock's IPA (very tasty and my favorite) has an IBU rating of 65. Lunch conversation was lively and lots of fun. Rocky announced he had a poem authored by his mom to read after the ceremony. This was met with groans by all who know her -- she specializes in limericks. Someone produced Jake's schedule for the evening (six pages covering everything) and after a bit of discussion decided it could be read in the "pass the mic" period.

We returned to the hotel along a much more orderly route than the previous night (we'd found the "out" street corresponding to the "in" on a phone book map) for a short rest before heading right back with our good clothes to help set up the site, the penthouse (roof) of the C W Moore building. Tables and chairs were being set up when we arrived, so we jumped right in. Tables got covered, the covers got bound and nice little centerpieces of sand, shells and glass drops and candles were positioned. As this was in progress, Jake's brother Kelly (known better to us as Gus) was setting up the sound system and balancing the levels of the mics and the keyboard to be used by the soloist, Jake's preacher's wife. The setup complete we got to relax a little bit before getting into our nice clothes.

Jake and Barb's invitation said to "dress comfortable". When questioned by e-mail he said jeans and a buttoned shirt were perfectly OK. Fran and I had our doubts and brought along a skirt and knit top for her and slacks and short-sleeved dress shirt for me, just in case. That turned out to be a good call as we watched the set-uppers appearing one by one in slacks, good shirts and dresses.

At 6:30 the bride was escorted down the aisle by her son to meet her daughter and Jake on the stage. The officiant was Jake's uncle-in-law, a pastor from Washington. You wedding lovers out there have to forgive me, but oh, how that man could talk. I was capturing the ceremony on a small video camera and was becoming more and more concerned that I wouldn't get it all in spite of fresh batteries. The ceremony was complete after about 25 minutes, and the camera went on to get more action at the reception and along the road later.

The party was catered by the Goodwood Barbecue Company. The food was excellent! The meat had just the right smokey-ness to it and a lovely, spicy sauce. There was much more than the meat, but it didn't register long with me. There was something for everyone's taste and diet.

When everyone had been sated, Jake and Barb made a few announcements and thank yous. "Pass the mic" started. People who have known Jake or Barb stood to give their individual blessings and praise that they were finally together. Then Rocky rose to read the poem. Though done in the rhythm of "There was a lady from Nantucket...", it was a lovely little two stanza piece that was well received. (The reading is here on Youtube.)

Then, there was Bingo! What a novel idea, and a departure from the dreaded dancing so many people manage to avoid. Three games were played for prizes donated by the bride and groom. The third game was most notable. It was a blackout game which of course seemed to go on forever. Fran and I were playing four or five cards each and were getting so close (I had two cards with two spaces open) when both Rocky and Bill (was this a rigged game?) both stood up with Bingo. Both were winners of an indivisible prize, a barbecue tool kit. Rocky relinquished his claim to the prize to Bill who then gave it to Camille.

With that, guests started departing. After most had gone I got back into my daily wear to help with the tear-down. A couple people were concerned that Fran was looking rather tired and told me to take her back to the hotel. We couldn't leave without saying our goodbyes to everyone we knew, and as we were heading for the elevator we heard someone shout "We're done. Jake says to leave it as it is now."

We saw Bill, Jim and Camille briefly the next morning at breakfast (they were headed out to breakfast with Judi at her hotel). I'm sorry now that I didn't have the foresight to stay another day just to hang out with everyone, but...

We were soon on the road heading for Rexburg, ID. We did take a small side trip along US 30 on the way. I highly recommend it if you're in the area. We again had lunch at Idaho Joe's in Twin Falls before reconnecting with the interstate. Why'd I book Rexburg? Beats me. I guess because I was unable to book anything inside Yellowstone NP, I thought the towns immediately outside, like West Yellowstone, would be similarly unavailable. That turned out not to be the case as we passed through. As it was, Rexburg was a nice little town, though lacking a gas station anywhere near the exit we stayed at and a church for Fran. That we found in the second town up the highway, St. Anthony. Having the time, we drove there to locate it. Just wandering around I came withing three blocks of it but didn't see it because of the trees along the street. Fran had me stop as we passed the fire station with a couple guys talking hear their private trucks. Directions given it was easy to find.

The next morning I dropped Fran off and went looking for a sand dunes recreational area we'd seen signs for at the St. Anthony exit, about 12 miles outside of town. They're not as extensive as the Sand Dunes National Monument (or is it National Park) in Colorado, but they sure do get their use by the ATV set.

With church obligations met we headed up the road and had lunch in West Yellowstone. As noted before, I think we could have found a place there for the night rather than Rexburg, and it would have saved over an hour of road time getting into the park. Fran's been through a couple times in the past with the girls, but I haven't. I figured this trip would be my chance. It turned out to be pretty much a rip-snorter of a drive through stopping at the various thermal sites between the west entrance and the south entrance. The area around Old Faithful had changed so much as to be unrecognizable to Fran. We got into a huge parking lot and then couldn't find the geyser's location on our own. The next eruption time was over an hour later, give or take 20 minutes, so we headed out having seen a number of other smaller, more continuously active geysers along the way.

Exiting Yellowstone we headed immediately into Grand Tetons National Park. It was getting late into the afternoon and the mountains were becoming back-lit but they were still stunning. Iconic pictures I don't have, but I do have pictures of iconic mountains. After the park we passed through Jackson on the way to Pinedale, WY. Jackson, to me, was a horror show. Sort of like a drive-thru Vail or Breckenridge. Not my cup of tea.

I hadn't booked anything in Pinedale. After grazing the AAA tour book we simply drove up to a motel and asked for a room. They had one at a reasonable rate (these days) and we took it. Hunting season was starting and the town was filling up. We were lucky. It was a nice place and a good little town in the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming.

The next day we followed US 191 down through Rock Springs and Green River to Vernal UT. Had I paid more attention to the map, I'd have chosen another road out of Green River to see the Flaming Gorge area -- US 191 doesn't see the gorge until you cross the dam.

Vernal was a lovely, open town with outrageously blooming flower pots all along the highway. I've never seen such an extensive display of flowers. It was quite lovely, and not the artsy-fartsy town I'd been expecting.

We made Steamboat Springs in time for dinner At one point west of Craig that didn't look probable. We were climbing a grade when a trucker coming down flashing his headlights three times. We thought it was a waring of a radar trap ahead. That wasn't the case. Less than five miles ahead we encountered a herd of sheep a couple hundred strong on the road being driven by two horse-mounted shepherds with four dog assistants(who knew yellow labs did this?) It took a few minutes to avoid the critters before proceeding.

In the Springs we ate at a 'cue joint on the main drag, which like so many other towns streets on the trip was under construction. Really, I've never seen so much road construction on a single trip, anywhere, in all my years. The food was again excellent. From there we drove on home, getting in a little after 10pm. Fran had the rougher part of the drive, from Rabbit Ears Pass to Silverthorne -- dark two-lane roads just at and after dusk with drivers who knew the roads where she didn't. Pushy buggers! We just missed a rain storm which looked to be over the Fraser River drainage as we approached Kittridge, thus the drive through Silverthorne rather than Winter Park.

It was a longish trip with lots and lots of driving. We were surprised a couple of times along the way with gas consumption readings from the car of over 55 mpg. Next year, I think we'll head through the southwest again.