Vernal–Walking with the Dinosaurs

This is still a Utah adventure but the title is getting boring so I’ll drop it. We arrived in Vernal Saturday afternoon. Our campsite is right in town. Not nearly as nice as the one on Heber but it serves the purpose, is quiet, and is convenient to what we want to do.

First we went to the Utah Field House of Natural History. They have a lot of reconstructed dinosaurs and loads of information about all the periods and ages and so on. If I was a student of these things it would all have been very interesting. But as it was, it made a good introduction to the rest of the day.

Things like this greeted you as you entered. Notice the tail way back there to the right.

 

Things like this greeted you outdoors. These are three of the wild creatures they managed to capture.

Then it was off to see the bones. This is (actually, was) the site of an actual archeological dig. They call this the Wall of Bones.

Up close they look like this. There are hundreds and hundreds of these on the rock face.

Up even closer they look like this

All this is housed in this building. Because of limited parking, they transport you up in a shuttle.

An interested side note is that Joyce remembers stopping at a place like when she was a little girl traveling with her family from Oregon to visit relatives in Nebraska. Then it was a pole barn and they were actually digging out bones. A guide told us it was probably this place.

So why are all these bones here? According to legend – no, I mean according to the scientists, this was once laying flat. It was a stream bed where animals would go to drink. But a drought came and the stream dried up. The animals died, decayed and left their bones. Eventually the stream began to flow again and the current scattered their bones. There are no complete skeletons here. In some places you can see some leg bones almost connected to each other, or several sections of vertebrae together. There are so many bones in this whole area they decided to leave these for people to see – and none of them are unique.

The rocks are so different around here they are hard to describe. A picture will have to do. At the right of this picture is the Green River (yes, it is brown). This is a take-out point for rafters.

I am going to  break this post into two because I’m afraid it won’t upload if I put too much into it. So keep reading. The adventure continues.

The Flaming Gorge

This continues the Vernal experience. Today we drove up to the Flaming Gorge Dam and then on to Red Canyon Overlook. It was a beautiful drive with lots of steep ups and steep downs. I’m glad I wasn’t towing although we met a few people who were.

Vernal is way out there somewhere in the distance. This is on the way up.

The Flaming Gorge Dam is on the Green River and was completed in 1964. The reservoir is 91 miles long going back up into Wyoming.

These are pictures from the Red Canyon Overlook. At this point the canyon is about 4,000 feet wide and 1,700 feet deep. It was named “Flaming Gorge” by John Wesley Powell in 1869 who navigated the river. He was not the first, but was an early explorer in the region. He used this name because of the red rock on the sides of the canyon.

They recently reintroduced Bighorn Sheep into the area. These are very young.

And now it will be off to Moab and Arches and other exciting things. I really get a sense of God’s greatness as I view all these things. It’s not hard to see God in this unique creation.

Blessings.

A Utah Adventure–Homestead Crater

The fun continues. That sounds hedonistic doesn’t it? I simply mean that we are indeed having an enjoyable experience. We didn’t leave the beautiful Heber Valley as soon as we expected. While basking in the hot tub Friday evening another couple told us of an interesting place just a few miles away. Called the Homestead Crater, it is a hot spring within a dome.

The entire property is an exclusive, upscale resort but you can swim in the crater or take scuba diving lessons if you want. I didn’t swim – it looked kind of boring and the water was only 90 degrees. Pictures are not the best but this gives you an idea.

The description says it is a “55-foot high, 400-foot travertine dome.” You can hike to the top and look down. The contraption over the hole is a walkway so you you can actually walk over it. In the 1990s they dug a 110-foot tunnel from the side so you can walk in (rather than rappelling down from the top!) It is all very unique so we felt we needed to see it.

At 12:10 we were off to Vernal and the dinosaurs. We made it a 3-hour trip although it isn’t really that far. Nice day. Nice driving. By the way, the weather has been fantastic – warm but not hot, a few clouds, cool nights. Traffic has been light so there hasn’t been a lot of other vehicles to contend with. Nice.

Blessings.

A Utah Adventure–Getting There, Part 2

Heber City, Utah. That’s where we are. If you don’t know where it is, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either until I discovered it had an excursion train called the Heber Valley Railroad. It is south of I-80 and east of Salt Lake City. But more about that later.

When last we met we were in Elko, Nevada. Wednesday morning we drove 9 miles back west to visit the California Trail Interpretive Center. Most of the wagon trains went through this point. If fact they told us a lot of I-80 is on the old wagon road. The Oregon Trail split off before reaching this point.

The Center is very well done with lots to see and hear and touch. The dioramas were were compelling like this one where they are trying to persuade their dying ox to get up and move.

It was hard to imagine the hardships and uncertainty these pioneers experienced. Four percent of them perished on the way (2% would have died anyway even if they had stayed home). Imagine coming upon this vast expanse of white salt in front of you. It took days to cross and often they got stuck in boggy places where it tired the all-ready tired oxen?

This what we saw and only took about 45 minutes to cross the salt flats. This is the area of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

We crossed into Utah but it was getting close to evening rush hour in Salt Lake City and that didn’t seem like a good time to hit their freeways. We found this “real fancy” RV spot behind a motel for the night.

The next morning we traveled through Salt Lake City and on over the Wasatch Mountains. This was on I-80 so they weren’t steep. In my last post I mentioned going up a very steep hill in northern Nevada. Joyce took this picture out the pickup window. The road is the diagonal line going up the side of the hill. I figured it to be a 10% grade.

Anyway we landed at Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber about 1:00 Thursday. It is VERY nice. One side is less than a year old and the side we are on has only been open one week. And not very expensive as RV sites go.

Our first side trip was a drive up Provo Canyon to Utah’s version of Bridal Veil Falls.

There is a pool at the base with about a hundred large Brown Trout. For 25 cents you can buy food to feed them. No wonder they are so big! We met a guy today who said he saw a bear there yesterday – after we were there.

Joyce is fascinated with the mountains around here. They are rugged, steep, and still snow capped.

This is Mt. Timpanogos. One of the highest (maybe the highest) in Utah.

Today it was ride the train and then do a little housekeeping around the homestead. I was hoping we would get the old steam engine to pull us but it is still being converted from coal to oil. Something about being ecofriendly.

All in all it was a nice 2-hour ride along Deer Creek Reservoir and back.

Except for the train robbery!

But he and his companion seemed more interested finding the strong box than finding our wallets. Whew!

Tomorrow we are on our way to Vernal and the dinosaurs. Blessings.

 

A Utah Adventure–Getting There, Part 1

Monday dawned bright and inviting. It had been a hectic few days. Ginger’s place of employment celebrating 25 years Friday evening; the Church’s dinner/auction Saturday evening; Mother’s day Sunday; visiting some people including Eunice and her family; all the while packing the RV and getting it and the pickup ready for the road. But is was done. What a great day to begin our trip to Utah and the 5 National Parks plus other places along the way. We planned to get underway by 9:00 and actually made it out the driveway at 8:45. Perfect!

Twenty-seven miles up Highway 22 Joyce asked so innocently, “Did you get your computer in?” Computer? Ohhhhhhh noooooo. Well, did I really need it? I could check e-mail on my phone. I could do a little research on places to see on my phone – to some extent. But I could not blog and I had promised you my loyal followers lots of words and pictures. So I found a place to leave Joyce and the RV and made a quick 54-mile round trip back to the house. And THEN we were off. Our intended destination for day one was Summer Lake Hot Springs down in the south central part of Oregon. This map shows our journey even though you can’t see the words very well.

After crossing the Cascade Mountains we arrived at Bend and Highway 97. Then south to Highway 31 just south of LaPine. Summer Lake Hot Springs is on that road. I circled it in yellow. More about that later. From 31 it was down Highway 395 to 140 just north of Lakeview. From there we followed 140 into Nevada to Highway 95 and down to Winnemucca on I-80. That was an interesting section. Some of the road was good, some narrow, no guardrails, some steep (one 4-mile grade was very steep), and some a little rough. I don’t recommend it for RVs. But we made it okay. This was a part of Oregon I had never seen. I’m still not sure I’ve seen it because there isn’t a lot to see. It is high dessert with plateaus, depressions, alkalie flats, a few trees, a couple creeks, and lots of sagebrush. I’m glad we did it – once! The map above shows Bend in the upper left and Winnemucca in the lower right.

Summer Lake Hot Springs was an interesting place. This is the wonderful, well-weathered and occasionally maintained sign which greeted us at the highway. It gives you some idea of what is to come.

Right down there is an RV Park, a hot spring pool, and some semblence of civilization.

Yes! They do have a hot spring pool. It is inside this building. Built about 1920.

In back of the building are three of these cute little “soaking pools.” All in all, not too bad. They had a funky little shower building with a shower every bit as good as the high enders (but more rustic).

So we parked right in there and enjoyed the good life for a night. Then it was hit the road at 9:00 the next morning.

The trip over 140 was tiring and even though I’m not fond of freeways I admit it was nice to reach I-80. We dieseled up in Winnemucca at a Flying J. Interesting experience. A couple ladies in the RV diesel lane locked themselves out of their pickup so that lane was closed until a locksmith arrived. I had to do a loopdy-loop in the parking lot and use the other lane. Then the pump decided not to work and I had to go inside and leave my credit card so they could start the devise from there. It worked and 40 minutes later we were on our way.

It was then east on I-80 to Elko, Nevada. We are camped at the Iron Horse RV Resort. Nice. Tomorrow is a little sight seeing around here and then on our way east.

Silver Falls State Park

The 5th wheel needed a shakedown cruise so we took it up to Silver Falls State Park for an overnighters. Everything worked fine and I even hiked a couple miles. The thing about hiking along the creek from one falls to the next is that the trail is DOWN there. Wonderful. Beautiful. Really nice hike. Then comes the UP part. Hiking up out of the canyon I thought I would die. But I made it alive.

The Park is only about 25 miles from our house but it was the perfect destination – beautiful scenery and not very far away. The weather was a little rainy when we left home but the next day was nice. When we got back to town we went to the church parking lot to wash the awning. I don’t have room at home to roll it out so we did it at the church. This also included the slide we I could wash the topper. It was fine but we worked hard for an hour or so to get it done.

So here are some pictures.

Just after walking under South Falls.

This is my selfie with Lower South Falls in the background.

Joyce on the trail to North Falls.

We are going on a trip soon so come back often for current updates and fascinating photos.

 

Here’s a great book

Happy Thanksgiving! I say this now so I don’t forget later. We will be here for Thanksgiving. Nothing special, just us, and that’s okay.

I’ve been reading a very interesting book. It’s an international intrigue novel. The author is Davis Bunn. I read another of his books a few months ago and wanted to catch this as soon as I could. The other book was Rare Earth. This one is Straight of Hormuz. The main character is Marc Royce, an undercover agent for the United States but in an unofficial capacity. In this venture he finds himself trying to stop the possibility of the world going to war. Much to his surprise he is joined by Kitra, his love-interest from Rare Earth. This puts both of them in the awkward position of sorting out their feelings for each other while they try to solve the mystery. Through all this Marc has to stay alive, keep Kitra alive, oppose his superiors, find the contraband, and save the world. He handles it nicely.

The great thing about Davis Bunn’s books is that the dialogue is rated PG. You are not assaulted on each page with pulpy four letter words and gratuitous sex. There is an undercurrent of Christian thought without being preachy and it gives you a few things to chew on.

I recommend it to you. It can be purchased on Amazon or downloaded to your Kindle. It just hit the market.

Good reading.

I think winter is NOT here yet

That title is in contrast to the title of the last post. In September we were dumped on by the rains of autumn. A typhoon that hit Japan or China jumped into the polar jet stream and headed back to the northwest. It was loaded with rain!!! The weatherman told us it was coming and I had reason to expect a flooded patio. Here’s the long story.

A few weeks earlier we had a few minutes of hard rain and the downspout by the corner of the patio overflowed at the ground level where it goes into the pipe that carries the water to the street. That pipe is called a foundation drain. Water invaded the patio and we had to rescue rugs and other stuff we didn’t want to get wet. I thought this was just because of so much water all at once; an anomaly. It would drain normal rain but backed up in a downpour. But now we are supposed to get a monsoon. I heard they had sandbags available at Home Depot so I went down and filled a dozen. We built a dam and dug a trench and the rains came down. And the floods came up. The downspout spouted water like it did before but the sandbags helped – there was definitely a lot more water on the outside of the dike than on the inside. Well, something is wrong in the drain; it will have to be corrected.

Four or five days later we got a break in the weather so I took off the downspout. A hose down the pipe and into the foundation drain didn’t seem to indicate a blockage. The drain goes about two feet, turns a corner and picks up another downspout. There is a shrub at the corner and I thought maybe the roots had invaded the drain. So I dug up the corner. Nope. All was well.

I removed the downspout at that spot. All looked well. A hose pushed upstream seemed to indicate no problem. But pushed downstream, well… the water didn’t seem to flow as well as it should. The drain goes along the back of the house, turns another corner, picks up another downspout and heads to the street. I took that downspout off. Downstream, no problem. Upstream? The hose would only go a few inches.

Now I have to explain that there is a chain link fence going around the back yard. At this corner of the house there is a gate. Next to the house and very near the corner is a galvanized pipe going into the ground as a post for the latch side of the gate. In fact you can bring the latch down and put a padlock on it. The hose going up the drain seemed to end at about the place where the post went down. Now you’re thinking what I’m thinking, right? Surely no one would put a post into the drain. Would they?

Well, there was nothing left to do but dig up the post. It was encased in a big hunk of concrete and it left a large hole. Finally it came free and brought up a piece of pipe with it. And there it was – the post right through the elbow at the corner of the foundation drain. A little water could pass by but a huge torrent would back up. I could not believe anyone would do that.

My opinion of the workmanship? On the charitable side it was total ignorance. A couple guys said, “Sure we can put up a fence. It can’t be very hard, can it.” At the other extreme it was total malfeasance. A couple guys said, “Oops, there’s a pipe down there. Quick, cover it up before anyone sees it.”

A five dollar elbow from Home Depot, filling in my holes, replacing the downspouts and all is well again. But I saw it.

Then October came. Nice weather. Joyce and I took a vacation. Well, now really? Can a retired person go on vacation? Isn’t all of life a vacation? Uhhh, no comment. Anyway, we went to Belknap Hot Springs, up Highway 26 a little east of McKenzie Bridge. It is one of our favorite places and all we did was laze around, read, sleep, and soak in the hot pool. Like this…

Ahh, nice!

The Lodge. Some rooms upstairs, RV spaces to the right and more behind me up on a second level. The pool is on the other side of the Lodge. To right of the lodge is a bridge over the McKenzie River leading to the source of the hot water and on to a beautiful area for weddings, tent camping a cabin or two.

Our RV sitting on the bank of the river. We were there four days – it rained two and was beautiful for two. The rain didn’t bother us. We still hit the pool and otherwise read and slept. Oh yes, I did a little writing.

We’re on the other side of the river and that white spec way over there to the left is our RV.

Just a little stroll in the woods. The leaves were changing color and it was beautiful. We don’t have the massive forests of changing color like some parts of the US but what we have is sure nice.

After the September rains we have had almost two weeks of sunshine. And the newspaper says there is at least 10 days more. We have been using this time to get things done around the farm in preparation for when winter comes – and it will come. Joyce and I spent parts of several days getting the RV ready for a long winter’s nap. It is now washed, waxed, and it’s water pipes have been blown out. This week we will cover it and look forward to next spring!

Speaking of changing colors. Our neighborhood has a few small trees that change color but around the corner there are lots of huge trees with lots of leaves.

The red tree to the right is in front of our house. It is the odd ball of the neighborhood. It doesn’t loose it’s leaves until next spring. They are usually green, turn red in the autumn, then die but hang on until the new leaves force them off in the spring.

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It appears to be some kind of oak but I don’t know what kind.

Blessings.