Out and about

June 10 – I made a dozen apple muffins with streusel topping this morning.  They were a bit crumbly but pretty tasty with our ham, fruit and an egg for Bill.  I took a couple to Sue and Hank, our neighbors and co-workers.

We decided yesterday that today we would drive the Mesa Falls loop.  I put rugs in the

See the rainbow?

washer and we tidied up and got ready to go.  It's about 15 miles south to the turn off of the Mesa Falls Loop road and it’s not too far from there to the Upper Falls, first stop.  Our National Parks pass got us in for free since we’re old people, and we got parked.  You can go down to the falls viewing area by steps or a wood planked walkway that loops back around.  We did the stairs, being the exercise conscious people that we are. The falls were beautiful.  Forceful rushing waters with the sun in the right place creating a stunning rainbow in the mist of the falls.  The Upper Falls is 114 feet tall, as high as a 10 story building.  At its peak, over 2.5 billion gallon of water pour over it each day.

You can barely see the rainbow

After taking a number of photos we started heading back up towards the visitor center and there was a couple with a bucket and a long picker and Bill asked what they were doing.  Well, they were volunteers on trash duty, but the amazing part is once she and I got to talking and the guys got to talking, we discovered they are Tom and Nancy Leonard, formerly of Apopka, FL and members of the Golden Triangle Good Sam club.  He helped at all the Samborees with the outdoor games.  They volunteered at this campground in 2014 and ended up buying a house that year and moving out the next summer.  So they know people from our camping club, the people we work for here and some that we work with.  We plan to get with them for lunch one day while we’re here.

Lower Falls

From the Upper Falls we drove about a mile to the Lower Falls.  Not quite as spectacular but so deeply carved into the valley, the Lower Falls are very impressive on their own.  There was a older man there who told us he takes his boat down the steep cliff side at the base of the falls and fly fishes on down the river and how great the fishing is.

We completed the loop driving up and down the mountain and across the river in a tiny junction called Warm River.  From there we hit farm country.  I stopped to get a photo of the Tetons and the field of

Nice field

some kind of plant of all lavender flowers was so pretty.  We later saw fields of potatoes and other hay crops before entering the town of Ashton, where we stopped for lunch.  Lunch was good, just a huge ½ sandwich with a salad for me and a grilled chicken sandwich with fries for Bill.  You get a “free” scoop of vanilla ice cream with lunch, so that was icing on the cake!

The next detour took us to the Island Park

Dam.  We didn’t see the dam but we saw the reservoir the dam made.  They had 3 docks and the boat ramp.  There were some boats on the water and the backdrop of the mountain was nice.  Time to head home.

Bill went and mowed grass (on his day off) and I cleaned up some old email, made some phone calls, and worked on my journal and blog.  I had taken out an assortment of meats to grill and as luck would be, the wind kicked up making it impossible to grill.  Out came George and a few pieces at a time I grill brats, burgers and chicken.  That should cover us for at least two more meals.  I had 2 ears of corn left and that went perfect with the broccoli slaw.  There was a piece of jello pie left that we shared.

Then it’s back to the computer and start planning where we want to go while we’re here and once we leave!