LDS Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah

After the Book Signing in Emporia, KS, on Saturday, June 26, we went on to Goodland, KS, to stay overnight. Then, we went west toward Denver, took the I-470 outer beltway (not a Tollway, though the signs say it is... ) and north on I-25 to Cheyenne. I'll post a photo from there, later.

West to Rock Springs, Wyoming, for the night. Into Salt Lake City on Monday, by way of the King's English Bookstore, and to the Plaza Hotel.

Today, Tuesday, we are in the Library. Here we were arriving this morning - we exchanged taking photos with another family, in the photo below.

We spent the morning on the second floor with the microfilm, seeking hidden treasures, for our genealogy and family history research. Found a few things. After lunch at the snack room, we went to the third floor to check out some books. Now we're back on the second floor, Nancy is looking at some more films. I'm writing this, after checking the other film I wanted to see - nothing useful.

For as congested as the city is, the accommodations and ease of getting around to where we need to go is quite nice. Having a great time.

It is another very good day!  ;-)

Very hot two weeks in June

The last week or so has been very hot, in mid-to-upper 90s. Had a short spell of rain, last weekend, but since has been very hot. Have been out for one long and several short walks, in the early evening - still hot.

Getting ready to head for Emporia Book Signing on Saturday, leave here on Friday, then on out to Salt Lake City for a few days of genealogy work at the LDS Library, then down to Annette and Larry's on Boulder Mountain, for 4th of July weekend. Arrion, Ben and Alex and Kaylee will be there, as well. Will be there the first half of July.

It was another very good "HOT" day!  ;-)

Back in Hollister

We returned to Hollister Thursday evening after two days of 600 miles + for two days... 1270 miles in the two days, across I-70; clear across both Colorado and Kansas.

Great visit in Utah, but still feel most at home in the Mid-West! Interesting!

Back to Utah in July! Planning already well underway... Grandkids will be there, this time. Another experience to look forward to...

After some nice Springtime rain, this morning, It will be a very nice day, back home!  ;-)

Entrada Program on Wildflowers

Entrada Program on Wildflowers

[Saturday night, June 5, 2010]

The Speaker was Deborah J. Clark, Author of "Wildflowers, Capital Reed," a field guide

Annette and Larry already had their autographed copy of the field guide. Nancy had her copy and both Thomas O. Clark and Deborah J. Clark autographed it after the program. Tom was the photographer.

The Entrada President introduced the program, mentioned upcoming events, and introduced the speaker.

This is Deborah, before she started showing slides of flowers and explaining the diversity of the geology of the area that spawns the diversity of the flowers in the area. She also mentioned a number of flowers that are only found in Wayne County and around Capital Reef National Park.

There was a very good group in attendance; here is our side.

Here is the other side. Deborah is signing a book, at left. Coffee shop to right.

Tom signing books, as well.

Annette and Nancy among those outside afterwards.

A little publicity for our hosts, the Robber's Roost Bookstore!

It was another very good day!  ;-)

Aztec Ruins, NW New Mexico

We visited here on our way to Utah, after visiting the Salmon Ruins, on May 25. We really like this site, the last time we visited, and enjoyed it again, this time. It was also nice that our Eagle Pass covered the cost of visiting this National Monument.

One reason we like this site is that you walk out the back of the visitor center, and there are the ruins. Here, Nancy is taking her first photo. Note the folks on top... we walked around to the right, and  you can see them in the next photo, as well.

Here, Nancy is in the center of the main site; note the folks up high, here on far left.

Just to the right of this photo is the big Kiva... really neat. First, Nancy inside.

And, looking to the left... a bit...

Outside, a nice retired reporter offered to take out photo, with the rest of the nearby ruins in the background. Thanks to hime!

Other side...

It was another very good day, yes it was!  ;-)

Cowboy Poetry Gathering-Entrada

Cowboy Poetry Gathering-Entrada

[This event was actually on May 29]

This is our second year of attendance at the Entrada Institute's Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Last year, due to weather, we met at the Bicknell Community Center. This year, it was the more traditional outside gathering at the Robber's Roost Bookstore. It was a bit chilly, but got better as time went by. Fun!

Here, Ray Conrad, the Cowboy Poet and Host, listens to one of the three student contest winners, after he read several of his distinctive poems. We got his book of poems, Fence Lines, for Christmas last year.

The next performers were Hal Cannon and Teresa Jordon, a married couple; he sang his stories, she spoke, sang and played the recorder. Excellent program segment.

We got eat first; here is the serving crew...

Here is one crowd shot - good crowd

Serving crew at my back left here. Bookstore, back right. In the crowd, far right, you can see gray sweater on Nancy.

From the right side of the photo, above - her you see Larry, Annette, my chair and Nancy in gray, along the back row. There were also some folks standing in the sun, back behind me, as I took this photo.

Annette took this one, above, with me in it, a little closer. She also, during the evening, took a couple of really good photos of a bird, up in a tree.

The Blue Sage Band returned this year. We really like them. Here is the lead singer.

And, the full band-we carry their CD in the car...

What a fun evening!!

It was a very good day!  ;-)

In and Around the House here in Utah

We are approaching the end of our two week visit with Annette and Larry in Utah. On this next to the last day before we head back to the midwest, I thought I would share some things that have become part of our everyday life, rather than the neat trips away from the house we've shared in recent days. [There will be posts each of the next three days, catching up on other activities during the two weeks here, that I have posted ahead.]

We keep track of the progress on the Wilson place, on the road going in and out, and from the east deck. Today, I could see two workmen going in and out!  ;-)

From the other end of the east deck, looking along the south side of the house, the purple Milkfetch is really blooming.

To the left, straight out south from the deck, here is a closer look at some flowers.

Moving to the west deck, north end, looking at Capital Reef over the parked vehicles.

From about the same place, looking to the west, up the drive in...

A little further left, I am so impressed with the red sandstone pieces that Larry and Annette have collected. The sidewalk work in progress has started along the house from the garage (beside the car, above, not seen) and will proceed around the west side.

Since the other day, Larry has added the darker mulch to the new areas, to slow the drying-retain moisture. Fun, fun! Looking good!  ;-)

Finally, another photo of one of the hummingbirds, from the south end of the west deck. There are several that fly about very fast. They regularly stop at each of the three feeders. Here I waited until one stopped, at the left. Beautiful!!

It is another great day!  ;-)

Visit to the Bristlecone Pines

Visit to the Bristlecone Pines

Today we drove up on a nearby mountain to see the Bristlecone Pines, a set of trees may be a thousand years old or more. Here is a typical example:

We had driven west through Bicknell, and here is the view up to where we were, perhaps on that flat area just under the peak, just to the right of the puffy cloud behind the peak, perhaps close to 8000 feet.

From on top, looking down into Rabbit Valley. To the right you can see the town of Lyman, and beyond that, the county seat of Wayne County, Loa. The little early town of Fremont is just out of this photo to the right.

A few hundred feet behind this, and looking to the left, we are looking back at Boulder Mountain, and if you know where to look, you can see the road up to Annette and Larry's house, right of center.

The road directly in front goes down to service a spring that supplies water to Bicknell, the town directly below, just a bit to the right. Turning around from here, the next photo shows the end of the road into this area (we did use the 4 wheel drive, a bit, on the way up).

Back to the "signal tree" - Annette took this photo of Nancy and I just to the right of that tree. The other interesting part of this photo, is to look at the snow, just to the left of Nancy's hat - that is Hilgard mountain, where we were stopped by the snow a couple of days back!

One nice part of this area, is there is enough flat area that Nancy could walk around a bit, without getting too winded, even at the high altitude. She was careful and did well. Here she and Annette looking out into Rabbit Valley, and you can see some of the other area around us.

The "walking around" area was also a good example of the delicate nature of the sandy soil. Scattered about, were little clumps of vegetation - here one of them was blooming; little white flowers. We tried not to step on them.

After a bit, we got out the chairs, each found a spot, and took the time to sketch, write or whatever seemed the right thing to do, individually. Here are the four spots - I took this photo, so my chair is empty.

Here I am, sketching the tree in my sketch book.

Nancy had been sketching, but here is composing a neat poem she shared with us.

Annette sketched, Larry made entries in his hiking journal. On the way out, we made one stop, to take a photo of some red Indian Paint Brush by a rock.

Another very nice day, all around.  ;-)

Capital Reef Visitor Center and more

The Visitor Center at Capital Reef National Park is always worth a visit, so we decided to stop by this morning. It was very busy, which is good news for the local economy.

Here is Nancy for her June 2010 appearance:

I decided to take a couple of interior photos today, here is the first; nice wall display.

This is standing about the same place, showing the people in the shop over the nice topographical map of Capital Reef National Park.

Yesterday, going through some photos looking for something else, I came across these two photos of our first visit to Capital Reef National Park, in 1964 - 46 years ago, Annette...:

And, the second one...  ;-)

Memories.... Annette and Allison with Nancy

Back to today, we drove back into Torrey, and ate sandwiches at Slacker's Burger Joint:

Finally, driving back through Teasdale, noticed this little old store... not used for a while, it appears...

It was a very good day!  ;-)