oops- last photo from Caldwell

Paul and Lorraine in Caldwell home- and, will post more of Seville, if we see her tomorrow. Deb

May 23 -25 - on to Caldwell

Monday morning in American Falls, where after basically relaxing with Marita and Neil we took our leave to drive over to Caldwell, which is just west of Boise:

                                              Neil                       Marita              Neal
On the way to Caldwell we stopped briefly at Shoshone Falls on the Snake River - in the rain- and enjoyed the views

 We then arrived in Caldwell where we have really enjoyed visiting both with Paul ( Neal's brother), Lorraine- and their daughter, Brenda, and son in law, Ben, and daughter, Seville, who live nearby and run a restruant in nearby Middleton. 

                                                                  Seville, Ivory, and Brenda

                                                 lorraine and Ivory, again
Today, Wednesday, we went up to their land/cabin in High Valley, about 2 hours away. It was a cool but otherwise pretty nice day and it was really beatiful up there. We filled up their water botlles at an Artesian Spring on the way:

                                                                     Paul at the well
Paul is planning to build a real log cabin himself, and is collecting the proper wood, etc at the site. Meanwhile he has built a small cabin to use when they are there:

 

                    A Man with His Dog---Neal!
Lorraine and I walked the property- saw lots of Trillium in bloom:

                         another view of the cabin from down the hill

 Above is Neal and Paul unloading and storing some wood that they brought up today.
We left to come home in the late afternoon- with excellent timing, as it is now pouring down rain. We are enjoying another evening at home with Paul and Lorraine, and seeing his plans for his log cabin, which he is envisioning as a 12 sided cabin!  Not sure whether we will catch anothe glimpse of Brenda,Ben,and Seville- perhaps tomorrow AM- I hope  so.
We have really enjoyed this trip- reconnecting with our family out here. It has been great to have a few days with both families in Idaho.Tomorrow we fly home to DC, so this is the end of our travel blog for now. Hope you have enjoyed. Love to you all- Deb and Neal.

May 22 in American Falls

Really this was a day of rest, we really just hung out at Marita and Neil's. We all went to church in the morning, and had the opportunity to hear Marita play the organ and also to hear her play with Neil and another woman whiile they sang a piece for the service. That was really nice, as I haven't had a chance to hear either of them for years.  Otherwise, we sat around and talked, rested, etc.  Neal got to go meet with a professor at Idaho State University about his ideas about nuclear energy in the early evening. Neil ( Marita's Neil) and I used the time to have a lovely walk up to the top of the hill behind their home and enjoy the spring flowers, and the evening view:

and a bit later, at sunset - taken from the door of door out of the front of their home - view from the living room -

Beautiful and peaceful here -- We move on to Caldwell tomorrow, so more then. Love, Deb  and Neal

On to Idaho - May 19-21

We started out briskly on May 19 with a 10 AM flight from Phoenix to Denver, then a change to Boise, to be there by 1 pm- then drive over to American Falls, a 3 hour drive. Or so we thought. Bad weather in Denver delayed us enough that we missed the flight to Boise, and did not get out of Denver until 7pm, then to Boise at 9 pm. But, no luggage. Drove on to American Falls, and arrived at 12:30 AM- fell into bed and, amazingly, luggage arrived at 7:30 AM the next day!!!  :)

First, we have to talk about Marita ( Neal's sister) and Neil's new home that they have built, using many previously used supplies, and very interesting, green design. Also, as Neil is allergic to many components of plastics, glues, etc-- they have been especially careful about this with building products. The house is built on a hill, partially into the hill, with a southern exposure and good use of solar energy. They used the grainary sides for ceilings in the house. Marita/ Neil found on KSM.com kitchen cabinets made of steel - that are a beautiful yellow- enough cabinets for their kitchen, laundry room, garage, and more- with sinks, cook top, etc - for amazingly little money. Below are some pictures of the home

view from living room toward laundry and kitchen above
and now kitchen - with Teresa ( Neil and Marita's daughter) and Neal -

the dining room/ living room -

And, the outside -

a direct front on view- note the ceiling that you can see through the top windows -

other views -

The smaller adjacent building will be a garage and then a 2 bedroom suite on the second floor- We all made it up to the 2nd floor, but the cat was thinking about it

And some views from the top of the house-

The garden, someday- with Nebie-

 We spent most of May 20 driving down to Paradise, Utah ( near Logan) to visit Marita/Neil's son, Eric and wife Tamie. She made a wonderful lunch for us- main course was Elk Lasagna, very yummy and a first for N. and me.  Tamie is a master taxidermist - has won numerous prizes -and then we went for a wonderful long walk up their canyon.  Some photos of the scenery and of Eric/ Tamie and Tamie's work:

 By the time that we got home, we were done in, as we had actually driven for about 6 hours in total!

May 21, we woke up and found that we had a beautiful, sunny day, which was also warmer - both of which we enjoyed a lot. We had lunch at the Inn run by a family friend that was really fabulous and we enjoyed hearing stories about various friends, etc as we talked with the owner, Esther. -

 Esther and her husband are amazing- running this restruant and occ bed and breakfast- they are in their 80s. One special attribute of the restruant is it is reservation only, and you have to decide on your menu when you make the reservation. Worked very well.
We spent the afternoon at Marita and Neil's farm/ old home --checking out the wetlands - where Neil has done reserach

Their old home is on the American Falls Reservoir, and we enjoyed walking around the shore back up to their old house-- saw a lot of birds, and great scenery -

As we were close to the house, we found that some cows had gone through the wire fence and were in a field  of wheat ( Neil/Marita rent it out), --so we then spent some time herding the cows back ( I claim no credit) and fixing the fence ( small credit to me/ N) - and we called the owner of the cows, who came immediately to help. All was well.

We then found the Great Horned Owl and  her baby that are living in the tree behind their house - see below the immature owl -

And a quick view of their old home-

We had a great afternoon-with a little extra excitement -- and then went back to their home for a relaxing evening, great meal, and lively discussions. More tomorrow.... Love, Deb/ Neal

New Travels- Arizona, and then Idaho - first Arizona- May 15-19

After a brief sojourn at home in D.C of only 12 days, we have taken off again, this time to visit several relatives in the West. We started by an early morning flight on May 15 to Phoenix, where we were to meet up with Sarah and Amber for 3 days of camping. As they could not meet us until 5 pm, and we got there at 10 am, we smartly had reserved a room at a Holiday Inn Express, and we slept. Best $100 we ever spent. Sarah and Amber arrived as planned, and we stuffed everything into the car to set off camping-- very tight packing- fortunately only driving about 2.5 hours:

  We arrived at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and  set up camp , had dinner and went to bed- in the dark- so no photos. It was cold ( in 40s at night) and windy. In fact, if we had one word that would come to mind about our few days it would be- Windy.
Beautiful campsite-- and we were sucessfull in being in a National Monument, with very few people, and so it was very peaceful and quiet.

pancakes for breakfast, coutersy of Sarah and Amber, who brought all of the food -- and a tent for Neal and me!!
Then we went off on an ambitious hike- more ambitious than we thought. We drove to the trail head at 8500 feet and set off to climb up to the ridge at 10,500 feet- then walk along the ridge and back down a differtent canyon. Off we go -

Some extra fun for some of us -

Then we started finding snow on the trail

 It wasn't too deep at this point...and there were a few other obstacles to contend with ( I did not give S. permission to take this!)

more snow-

We thought of going back, but decided to trudge on-- and kept up a good attitude:

 We did make it to the ridge!

From then on the hiking was much better - level or downhill and almost no snow-none that we could not walk around. We went through beautiful aspen groves -

Some of us got tired and took a rest:

We did finally make it back down- all 2000  feet elevation and 6.8 miles -- tired but happy. Sarah and Amber made a great dinner of Indian Food that night - and Neal opened our wine most professionally ( we remembered almost every needed utensil, but not all...)

After a warmer night- but still windy - we awoke to another beautiful day. We were served a superb breakfast -

We decided to be a little bit less ambitious today- so we explored the Sunset Crater Volcano park, short hikes- etc.

Remeber - Windy-- we decided to go into Flagstaff for lunch, some connectivity, and bridge- and spent the afternoon playing bridge and using the internet in a very toleratnt cafe. Also warm in there! Then, back to campsite, had a great dinner, and off to bed, wondering if it would rain, as predicted, and how hard ( as Deb and Neal's borrowed tent was purported to rain proof in light but not heavy rain!.
Well,it did rain, but lightly- so we stayed dry. We got up pretty early- and it was only drizzlinig, and cool ( about 40), and so we had breakfast and struck camp early -

  After some discussion about whether to drive up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and back -upon getting the weather report at the local visitor center that it was rainy there, we voted for some local siteseeing and then on to Flagstaff again for lunch, and to Phoenix.
We lucked out and it was pretty nice in the morning while we visited the Wapatki National Monument, which was just north of Sunset Crater. Very interesting. This site was inhabited about 1000-1200 AD.

Then it was off to Flagsstaff,where we did have a fabulous lunch at a restruant that Amber knew, and then drove home-- during which time it rained, hailed and snowed -almost all the way to Phoneix. It was even rainy in Phonix off/on. We checked back into the Holiday Inn Express where we luxuriated in showers and real beds and then went off to another great meal at another restruant that Amber knew and then off to bed.
So, as you can see, despite a bit cooler weather than planned, wind,snow- we had a wonderful time camping. We were most grateful to Sarah and Amber for putting together all of the food, and camping gear - all we had had to  bring was our sleeping bags and air mattress.  We had some adventures together and good times. Sad to leave, but it was time - -so they drove back to Tuscon and we flew off to Idaho---  but that will be the next blog entry. For now- All love and cheers to you. Deb and Neal