April travels

 

1. April was fun, our road trip covered a lot of country and we encountered all kinds of weather. We enjoyed every minute of it.  I took hundreds of pictures but I promise not to bore you with too many of them.  What we enjoyed the most was the family we visited, wish we could be with all of you more often.   

         Before we left Oregon, we took a quick trip down to Roads End to see our       new roof.  It looks good and hopefully it will keep out the rain for next decade or two.    

 Now we need to promise our selves to go down and enjoy the house more often.  You can help by coming to see us at the beach.  We are counting on you to come.

California here we come.  I love California, especially when you stay a way from the densely populated areas with heavy traffic problems.  We like the quiet by-ways.

We travelled through the Mt. Shasta area to our first stop at Burney Falls 

Beautiful falls, we hiked along the path to view them, the weather was not what  we were expecting but we found a table in some weak sunshine and ate our lunch.

Next we attempted to drive through Lassen Park.  The roads were closed because of deep snow drifts.

The park had cleared a path up to the visitors center.  We took the long road around the park.  If you have the opportunity it would be an interesting park to visit in the summer time.

The next morning we  took a beautiful drive along the Feather river canyon to Oroville.  Oroville is a charming little town.  It is like taking a step back in time, to visit the early days of settlement in California, gold mining and now Olives.  The sun caught up with us and we climbed a tower to see the view of the town and country side.

  

We drove hard through  the central valley and searched for a hotel in Bakersfield.   We found an hotel with the same name as the one we had made reservations in but it turned out to be the wrong hotel.  They took us in and we went across the street for a dried up hamburger at Burger King.  Bakersfield is not the sleepy little town I remember from the sixties.

The next morning we drove along the old route 66 to Needles California and down the east side of Lake Havasu.  After a long drive through the Desert  we reached Phoenix  and Uncle Brent’s  house. We had a good time visiting with all the Family.

     

We visited with Robin and family, Chayce at ASU, Brent and JoEllen, and Ron and Afton. We love being with family.

Chayce gave us a tour of the ASU campus and his home away from home, we sure loved spending some time with him.  Thanks for showing us around Chayce.

We talked Brent and JoEllen into going up to Sedona with us. I think I could live in Sedona in the winter and spring. It is a lovely place.

Back on 66 we visited the Petrified Forest and the painted desert.

 

 

The scenic highway dipped into New Mexico and through Navajo country.  I was the navigator and missed the turn off to the Canyon De Chelly.  I doubt if we will be back this way, maybe I can see it in the next life.   We enjoyed this part of the trip, the area is dry but filled with  colorful hills,rocks and lots of pines.

That evening we drove into Bluff Utah.  Dad having read the “The Undaunted” was very interested in this “Hole in the Rock area”.  We were fortunate and found a visitor center and heard more of the story.  I’m still  wondering why the settlers were sent there.        

We spent the night in Blanding, and spent the next couple of days visiting the parks in south east Utah.

We enjoyed the Bridges Nation monuments and wondered how the pioneers got thru this area.

Wish we had more time and strength  to hike around these bridges, they were amazing.

Once again when we observed the rough terrain in this area it was hard to believe the

bluff saints driving their wagons across this land.

Here is the beginning of Lake Powell .

I couldn’t pass this brave little paint brush with out taking a picture.

At Capital Reef park we admired more colorful rocks and cliffs.

I loved this old willow planted by some early pioneers.   Wouldn’t it be the perfect tree to build a tree house in?

Our next stop was in Manti, while Dad took some pictures I took in an Endowment session.  What a beautiful temple, inside and out.  A gentleman was kind and took me for a little tour in the temple.  I got to see the beautiful spiral staircases.   I was pleased to see this temple because it is the temple where my grandfather and grandmother were married many years ago.

We stopped at Snow College for a short visit with Alex, he was busy studying for his finals.  He drove us to Subway for an early dinner. Before we left he packed some of his duffle in our car.  Glad we were able to spend some time with you.

   

At last we arrived in South Jordan.  All the Utah cousin spent some time showing off for each other on the trampoline.  We have some talented back flippers.

Here is the Candy Man surrounded by some of his adoring fans.  Great job Devin.  I wish you could all have heard him belt out his songs.   We loved “Willie Wonka”

That brings us to end of April.   I will report on the rest of our adventures in our May blog.  That should be coming up soon.  

Love to all of you.    Grandpa and Grandma.