Swan Valley Idaho

Next on my journey, I got to drive up to Swan Valley, Idaho with Boo. We stayed there with Richard for 2 weeks...and wish it could have been longer. I had to get home to Provo, because my old roommate Bonni was coming from Kaua'i to stay at our house for 10 days.

Swan Valley is beautiful. We'd never been there before. We stayed not far from the Snake River and just 5 minutes from Lake Palisades. We went fishing with Clint and Darcy, and Richard caught a fish that kinda freaked Boo out. It was almost dark, and Richard stood in the water w/his bare feet and legs and almost froze them off before he caught his trout.

We got to see a lot of beautiful country. Wendy and I drove up to Jackson Hole for my first time, and we ate at a cool place and got some sunglasses and stuff. It's a cute town. Darcy and I went to Lake Palisades and hung out on the dock. Her and Boo went swimming and had a blast. This is where Boo began dock diving...he absolutely loves it! He loved playing fetch in the water with Darcy. We also went photo hunting....and found some beautiful places to photograph, like this haunted house a few miles down the road.

Wendy and I drove up to Driggs and Victor with the kids to check out the towns....they look alot like the Heber Valley and we saw the magnificent Teton Mountain Range. We ate dinner at an Irish Pub that Richard and I like. It was fun to explore the towns and visit the cool little shops. I got Boo a stuffed whistling birdy at the general store that he loves to play with. A while later when we were home, there was a birdy in our trees...whistling the same tune. I think Boo thought it was just me mimiccing his toy. :-)

Richard and I got to drive 45 minutes north and go through the Rexburg, Idaho temple. What a beautiful temple! That town has grown a ton! Some of you have seen the book I made and got published of Swan Valley photos with poetry. I chose this place to publish my first book about....because of it's magnificence! I'm having a blast making videos and doing projects with my photography! Definitely fun projects to work on when we're on the road.

Coming Up........

Next on our tour is Swan Valley, Idaho, Apache Junction, Arizona, San Francisco, CA, and Hawaii, though Richard has been traveling to Washington, New Mexico, Petaluma, CA, and Sacramento, CA, but for now....I've posted this video in Hawaii at the PCC for Jasmine on Oahu. ALOHA!

PCC

My Little Stonehenge ..... In Provo Canyon

I got to be home for a while! Woohoo! On the way up Provo Canyon to Sundance.

It was wonderful to be home for a while! I attended some fun ward activities and my buddies who are the ward activities planners asked me to be their photographer. It was quite fun. I won't post those photos for the sake of privacy. Coming up....Apache Junction, Arizona (in the Phoenix valley), San Francisco, December in Hawaii... I will post another clip of hawaii for now....so my brothers can see the big wave surfers on the North Shore of Oahu. Love you guys! (my brothers...not the surfers).

Back Home in Provo

Spring, this little guy hung out in my tree all day.

I think this is Springville...on the way to Provo

After a time in Tehachapi, we came home to Utah for a few weeks before Richard went on the road again. Whenever I see my mountain range, I feel in awe, and at home. I love Provo! It's beautiful here. It was so great to be back in our ward here and see our friends and family! It just feels so good to home when you're on the road a lot!

We drove up to Park City, and had dinner with my brothers. We went shooting on the west side of Utah Lake with some friends We got to shoot some really cool 45s and an AK47, and an Israeli Assault Rifle. We love to be among our friends at home, and fortunately for us we travel on the road with friends, too.

Tehachapi, California elevation 5500

Alas, back to So Cal, but not by the beach. We left Isleton in January and headed south on the 5 for Tehachapi, California where my old roommate Bonni is from. I'd heard cool things about it, and I got to see if they are true. Yes. We arrived in Tehachapi blanketed by the previous night's snow storm. It seemed as if we might as well have been arriving back in Provo, Utah where our home is. It was beautiful! Boo hadn't seen the snow in a while, and went a little crazy for it when we let him out of the truck! I think he thought we were home in Utah.

We made our home in Indian Hills Ranch which is about 5500 feet high. That's approx. 1000 feet higher than Provo. Tehachapi is a very spread out high mountain valley. It is up in the mountain range between Lancaster and Bakersfield. The downside, there is not a Target or Wal Mart, only a KMart. It definitely has a smalltown feel. Boo and I went hiking up the hills, and it was a little difficult to breath at that altitude.

Almost every house has dogs in their yard. I gather that Tehachapians are a dog loving people. We saw deer and elk quite a bit. People were very friendly at church, and I even met some people who grew up with Bonni. It was cool to see the famous train that makes a 360 degree loop. Richard took me to the Apple Shed for a romantic Valentines Dinner. I guess that’s where the old train station was pretty interesting story… http://www.appleshedonline.com/aboutus/

Tehachapi is a charming, beautiful town! Richard and I both felt at home there, and entertained the possibility of moving there someday. However, neither of us are enticed by California's politics or the current economic situation there. I think we'll keep our home in Utah!

Isleton, California on the Sacramento Delta

So we finally make it to Isleton. This place is a trip! We stayed on the Sacramento Delta (Sacramento River) across the bridge from Rio Vista. This is largely an agricultural town, but the loop on the Delta where we stayed is where tons of people congregate spring-fall to vacation on the river. It is a few miles long with many resorts along the levy road. Some people live there, and some even live on their boats.

The Delta is very resorty – which I kinda liked. It was a little like being on vacation year round, just with less people (and more rain). Also, it reminded me of the vacation spot that Baby’s family went to in the movie Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze.

The only thing I didn’t like, is that we lived below the levy (so below the river) and we had a lot of rain, and lost power for 3 days. Our cool neighbor Kevin hooked us up to his generator so we didn’t have to suffer too long. What a kind guy (Also Richard’s boss). There was some flooding, and I didn’t like the feeling that we may be stuck if the river overflowed or the levy broke, because there was no other way out, accept that skinny levy road.

I attended a lunch group with the ladies from church at the country club, and it was a blast getting to know them for the short time we were there. We ran into some old friends in Lodi, met some new friends (shout out), and had some good times. I give a shout out to them and say, “Hey, wassup?” If I’ve said it once, then I’ve said it a thousand times… this world is a small place. I really have seen the six degrees of separation.

My brother was with us for our first few weeks in Isleton. We’d already viewed the entire first several seasons of Grey’s Anatomy when he visited me in Utah – he’s the one who got me hooked on Grey’s, so we had to find other things to do in the middle of nowhere. We took lots of photos and played ping pong in the clubhouse while doing our laundry. He is wack at ping pong…why didn’t I know this before? Hmm. Thanks Bro for staking out with us.

We drove to Stockton and Lodi for shopping and movies. Richard worked across another bridge in Antioch (towards Concord) at the power plant. Richard took my brother and I to The Lighthouse, a cool fancy restaurant on the Delta, for my birthday. I had the best salmon dish (with green olives)…yum! Thanks Honey. We also got to see the lighted boat parade which runs every Christmas. The Isletonaires dress up their boats as Christmas icons, like a Halloween costume party for boats. I have to say the docks are pretty wobbly with a tripod and camera pack.

When we took my brother to the airport in Sacramento, Richard and I got to go to Old Town in Sacramento. While that is a really cool place, never eat at an all you can eat pasta/pizza buffet if it cost less than $10/person. We made that mistake (because a guy was passing out coupons. HELLO! First clue! Besides, there are plenty of cute bistros and restaurants in Old Town.