~ 10-day road trip to Utah: part 1

As if you weren't already sick of all my photos and long posts...

get ready for photo OVERLOAD!

From June 20th through the 29th we went on a very fun, 

10-day road trip 

across Oregon, the SW corner of Idaho, and all the way down through Utah on our way to the 

Pugmire Family reunion near 

Zion National Park.

(this is will be my one and only comment that it's Called ZION, not ZION'S. I understand the confusion with Zion's Bank, Zion's Mercantile, etc, but the park is singular, people! lol...)

There weren't very many windsurfers out on the Columbia Gorge when we passed through, so I don't have a better photo than this one. (Usually there are HUNDREDS of people windsurfing and kite-boarding-- a spectacular sight. The river flows west and the wind blows east along the Columbia Gorge, so it's one of the best places in the world for these sports.)

Miscellaneous photos that I couldn't resist taking along the way through gorgeous countryside in Oregon and Idaho. (we spent the first night in Mountain Home, Idaho, just east of Boise.)

Although I am bummed that even though I saw many, many 

gorgeous old barns, 

I didn't get any good shots of them. I am a freak for old, beautiful barns and they simply went by too fast. Jonathan got pretty used to me suddenly gasping and then immediately sighing, "ohhhhh... wow. SO beautiful...!"

Too bad this has the glare from the windshield on it. I like it.

I always think, "What must it be like to live out here? Who were the different people who have lived here through the years? Who built this house and these barns? What kind of lives did they live?" 

SO. PRETTY.

Sorry if I sound like a snob, but we refuse to "plug our kids in." (TV, iPods, etc.) As a result they are a delight to travel with. We can actually drive and talk in peace-- as in, have meaningful conversations with each other and with them. (one of our favorite things about road trips.) AND, we can go to restaurants and have strangers compliment us on our children's behavior ("they're better behaved than my own grandchildren!" is a common theme). They read. Or color. Or enjoy and remark on the scenery. 

We did bring our iPod, but the only things we listened to were:

John Bytheway talks

hymns set to acoustic guitar (Michael Dowdle rocks)

Hugh Nibley's book on CD: "Approaching Zion"

Henry B. Eyring's book on CD: "To Draw Closer To God"

And yes, we did listen to a couple of the better Miley Cyrus songs. 

Who can resist "The Climb"?! ;)

Caleb is reading "Captain Underpants" and Kizi is reading the first book in the original "Little House On the Prairie" series, called "Little House in the Big Woods." They are my old books from when I was little!! *sniff!*

Um... I think we may have some weather. 

We drove right into and through this lovely storm. This photo was taken while the windshield wipers were going Mock 9 and still couldn't keep up. And then the hail and lighting and thunder started. I was grateful we started our trip with a prayer for safety and protection! It got a little hairy, but we made it through just fine. 

The temperature plummeted with all that hail. And then, pretty as you please, the clouds parted and the sun re-emerged just like nothing had ever happened. 

"Storm? What storm? I certainly have no idea what you are talking about. Hmphf."

We spent the first night on the road in Mountain Home, Idaho, and went to church (on Father's Day) there the next morning. Then of course we had to go through beautiful Cache Valley and Logan. 

We parked by the temple, and, trying to keep the Sabbath day as reverent as we could while on a road trip, we walked down the street from the temple to a pretty little park and enjoyed the scenery.

I thought this park was just lovely.

The view from the park.

The beautiful old Logan temple, where Jonathan received his endowments. We have a long family history of Pugmires from the Logan/Bear lake area. We felt the tug of roots there, I have to say. And while we normally don't listen to the radio at all, we turned it on at Caleb's urging after we heard a storm warning on the radio at a gas-station bathroom. I literally shed a few tears when I realized that in Logan Utah, you can turn on the radio on a Sunday and hear lovely, reverent church music. ON THE RADIO! What a novel concept. It's a beautiful place, and even though they get a lot of snow... it would be a great place to live.