Trip South October 2014 - Salt Lake City

We began our trip south in a mad rush this year which left me feeling a bit disorganized.  So far, we haven't missed anything vital, but it's always a bit troubling to leave in a hurry. Even though we had been planning the trip for a month, we waited until we had word that our Washington building permit was approved before we left.  Since we had been waiting since July for that day, we didn't want to leave if we had some minor detail that still needed us to hand carry some paper to the County.  On our last trip to the County Jennifer assured us that our application was complete, approved, and ready for "copying" - which takes another 24 hours.  We took it on faith that we could leave and ended up leaving after 1 p.m.  (We usually leave around 5 or 6 a.m. when we travel.)

My camera quit working before we even got to Stevens Pass, so the first pictures of the trip were done with my tablet and I can't figure out how to transfer them to the computer. But we had a really nice although short visit with Tony, Tina, Sara, and Jesse in Eastern Washington where we stopped for the first night. 

So the pictures on our trip log start after we left Tonasket and stopped in Wenatchee at Costco for a new camera.  First picture - the mighty Columbia River at Vantage.

Second stop:  Salt Lake City to see Cameron, Anne, Gavin and Marcus.

Anne's uncle, Robert, grows an interesting variety of pumpkins every year and then hosts a party for the grandkids to decorate and take home.

 

The kids got lots of adult help decorating their pumpkins. 

Siblings debating the BBQ of bratwurst. 

 

Mom helped - or was she just trying to keep warm around the campfire?

Marcus found a truck to play with while the bigger kids decorated pumpkins.



On to Iowa - where we saw miles of windmills as the sun rose to blind us for several hours as we traveled due East.

 

Our Annual Migration

This year we took the "Northern Route" on our trip south.  That involved going north first to see the kids in Eastern Washington.  We got there the day of the first frost of the year, so we helped a little bit in the harvest of a gigantic crop of tomatoes.

We all helped, but Tony and Tina did the majority of the work while we amused ourselves feeding overripe tomatoes and squash to the chickens.

In the end, we had gathered a whole box of green tomatoes to let ripen over the next few months

and another box of red tomatoes for salsa and canning immediately.

We headed south from Tonasket, following the Columbia River

from Vantage to Tri-Cities, enjoying sites of fishermen on the river and lots of vineyards and orchards between the road and the river.

and amber waves of grain where the river was too far for irrigation.

As we neared Boise, we could see that we were going to get some real weather to travel through:

For nearly a hundred miles, we were under the storm, with driving rain and high winds.  Colder on the other side of the front.

We even saw some fresh snow on the mountains.

Next stop:  Salt Lake City - Gavin was happy to see us!

Marcus wasn't too sure about us at first, but warmed up after awhile.

Gavin and I helped his Mom, Anne, move plants in her flower beds while Ron and Cam watched the Husky game, so we all had a great afternoon.

On to Iowa, where Ron has two brothers.  We had a great visit with them also - lots of poker for the guys and dice games for all of us while we caught up on family news.

Ron and I spent one morning helping Dale repair one of his fences.
We were back into 80's during the day, so we worked in the morning while it was relatively cool and breezy.

Dale had done some preliminary work clearing away weeds.  He and Ron discussed the plan first.

Then we started digging holes and packing dirt around posts and nailing up the wire.

We finished the whole line in about two hours and then headed back to play some more cards and dice.

We were happy to be back in the land of low gas prices - this was the lowest we found in Missouri.

It got warmer and warmer as we left Missouri, traveled through Illinois, and then into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.  It was downright hot when we arrived back at the Georgia house on Friday afternoon.  We turned the A/C on, I got the TV's hooked up, and worked my internet trapline - we can tackle the poke trees and assorted other weeds tomorrow!  Good to be back in the balmy air of Southwest Georgia!

Visiting Family - Salt Lake City

Anne and Gavin - Gavin wasn't feeling very good, and seemed to be on a mission to keep Cam and Anne awake 24 hours a day.

Cameron and Gavin having a nap.

Sylvia and Alex took us on a tour of Red Butte Gardens.  Salt Lake City is a beautiful place - especially in the spring.  All of the early bulbs and most of the flowering trees were blooming.  We had a gorgeous sunny day to wander through the spectacular gardens.

So many daffodils - so many shapes and colors - interesting new varieties I hadn't seen before too.

A natural stream flows through the park, forming a waterfall just before the amphitheater.  

Lots of play areas for kids - these snakes shoot water from their mouths to form a fountain play area.

One of my favorite areas - a whole section dedicated to medicinal herbs and plants.