The Rest of July...

 I should have known when there was an opening for a colonoscopy first thing on the 25th of July, that no one else wanted to spend the holiday, July 24th, on a clear liquids juice fast prepping for the procedure.  Ha! Oh well, I did and of course the worst part was on the evening of the 24th.  This necessitated us driving back to SL that afternoon.  However, everything went well the next morning.  Even though I was a bit tired from the anesthesia, Steve willingly drove me out to the Parade of Homes brunch about an hour later.  We had brunch and viewed 7 or 8 model homes nearby.  By then I really was tired, so we went home.

The next day while Steve worked, Tiffany, Abigail, Korinne and Wendy joined me for a fiesta lunch at another Parade of Homes site.

  The girls had a great time eating fancy ice concoctions, pizza and mini donuts.  Except for the musicians, there wasn't really anything "fiesta" about it.  Then we all toured the new model homes .

We squeezed in a trip to Winco to get food for the upcoming weekend and a trip to Shopko to use a coupon we had for Abigail's school clothes.  Korinne benefitted from the excursion too.

Thursday morning, we were lucky enough to have a short opportunity to June, Will, Korinne and Abigail to the zoo as Taylor had a Dr. appointment and Jen was prepping for her big zoning final.  We had just enough time to see quite a bit of the zoo and ride the carousel.

June really loved being with her big, girl cousins.  We got there early before it got too hot.

We enjoyed our brief visit tot he zoo but I needed to get to a closing so we bid the animals farewell.

 Taylor worked to put one of his bikes together in the Murray garage.  Fortunately he had Jen's help.

 We discovered throughout their visit in UT that Will loves hot dogs and spaghetti.  He's a hot dog smile.

 Saturday morning was the beginning of our reunion-like day.  Heather's family drove down early from ID.  Aaron and Taylor did some cycling.

 Jen passed off her foot zoning certification on Heather.

 The kids helped me pick beans, tomatoes and zucchini in the garden.

                                              Abigail found our very first big ripe tomato.

 Steve cut up watermelon and Tif and I made hoagie sandwiches, etc. for lunch.  These watermelon boys loved eating the generous red portions of watermelon off the rind.

 We had an enjoyable lunch together and before we rushed out the door to attend the play.

 Grandma Ann had given us all tickets to attend The Music Man at the Ellen Eccles Theatre as a Christmas gift in advance.  Thanks to her generosity, we had this mini-reunion day with Tiff, Heather, Hilary and Taylor's families all together for a few hours.  Of course, we missed McKay and Libbie's families.

 A lot of us really enjoyed the experience.  Adam stayed home with AJ who was too young.  Taylor and Aaron took several of the younger kids home at intermission.  Half of a play was enough for some ofthem.

That evening the neighbors invited us over to roast marshmallows for s'mores in their fire pit.  While Heather and Aaron drove to SL to pick up Brinley from her humanitarian trip in Mexico, the rest of the group enjoyed the evening across the street.

 The next morning was Sunday, July 30, our 47th wedding anniversary.  Steve and I were assigned to talk in sacrament meeting so we all went to church together.  It was a very sweet tender mercy to me to have so many of our family members together in church on our anniversary.  Thanks to everyone for the support.

After church, Hilary's family left for Layton to hear Adam's nephew talk before leaving on his mission.  Heather's family left for ID.  Taylor's family loaded up and headed to Mackay.  Tiffany, Abigail, Steve and I weren't far behind as we joined them in Mackay too.
We haven't been there for about 20 years.  It was a real nostalgic experience.  It was so gracious of Brent and Kathy to drive up and spend the evening with us.

Upon arriving, we immediately had to explore the place and check out the sheep camp and old storage cabins that have occupied the place for so many years.

                        Even the old blazer is locked up in the log garage.  Steve almost got it started.

 Brent and Kathy have put in a sprinkler system and planted grass so the trees and grass around the place are nice and green.  It isn't nearly as dusty as it used to be.  They have made things very nice.  June, Steve's mom, would be happy.  She always wanted things to be green and worked hard at dragging the hose around but couldn't ever quite get the results she wanted.

Most everyone enjoyed a little target practice.  Mackay is the place for shooting.

And playing in the creek which is really just an irrigation ditch.

 That evening, we took a drive to Wild Horse Canyon and took a hike up to the waterfalls.  It was a beautiful evening and a perfect way to enjoy the beauties of nature that God has provided.

The next morning Brent and Kathy left pretty early to get back to Blackfoot to watch their grandkids show their 4-H sheep.

We explored the old buildings a little more.  Tif found old books in the old sleeping trailer, but was disappointed that there wasn't anything good.

 We had the old bacon, eggs, and pancake breakfast that was Grandma June's tradition.

We decided to drive over to the old homestead place where Steve worked on the ranch during the summer months starting in 3rd grade.  When we got there, we discovered that the house where his uncle lived had been torn down but Kathy said she thought the old cabin where they stayed was still standing so Steve drove around another way and finally found the area.  There were a group of new houses and some big new buildings.  Steve knocked on the door of the first house and the manager of the newly built operation, Clear Springs Foods, answered the door.  When Steve told him that he used to live in the cabin up the hill, he became totally willingly to show us around.

 He and his wife escorted us up to the old cabin.  Except for the front porch, it is pretty much the same as when they lived there.  Of course, the old wood stove had been removed but the walls were still whitewashed the way Steve's mother fixed it up.  He said that she worked hard to make it nice with cute curtains on the windows, etc.

 There was a spring nearby the cabin where they got their water and kept their food cool in a small springhouse built over it.  The big earthquake,Borah Peak Earthquake that hit Mackay in 1983 at 6.9 on the Richter scale changed the course of the spring and some of the hillside area was also changed.  The entire valley dropped 9 feet. Steve eagerly told us how things used to be.

 The manager of Spring Creek showed us how the spring was changed and how they now direct the water to use it in the operation of growing trout, fertilizing and harvesting eggs.  They then ship the eggs to Buhl where they grow the fish to be used in restaurants all over the country.  The temperature of the spring water at 48 degrees is perfect for producing the eggs.  The company has owned 30 of the original ranch acres for about a year and a half.  They produce millions of eggs and fish each year.
Below the kids are touching the spring water at their first opportunity.

 The manager gave us a thorough tour of the egg operation.  They allowed the kids to touch the water, feed the fish and even hold the fish.

 Below each of the kids is allowed to hold the huge trout from which they will extract the eggs.

 They showed them the eggs and allowed them to taste them.  Fish eggs are a delicacy to many people.

 Most of the kids declined to taste them but I was adventurous.  They were kind of salty.  They would have tasted better on a cracker.  Can anyone say caviar?

 After our nice tour, we stopped by the local fish hatchery.  It was nothing in comparison to the nice operation we had just toured.  A dead mouse was the highlight of this experience.

 After a little more time relaxing around Kathy's trailer, Taylor and Jen decided to head back to CV so they could observe the professional bike race early the next morning.  Tif, Abigail, Steve and I stayed over one more night.

Tuesday morning, August 1st, we packed up, cleaned up and headed out to explore Trail Creek Pass that led over the mountain to Sun Valley.

 It was a very beautiful drive on the gravel mountain pass.  Tiffany had never been to Sun Valley.

 Now she has driven through the town and observed the high end shops and hotels where the wealthy tourists love to vacation.  Here is a photo we took at the potty stop.  We drove pas the small airport where the small jets deliver their owners and saw a few small towns that dot the landscape.

 Our next destination was Craters of the Moon national monument.  It was created by the lava flow from two volcanoes in the area.  The astronauts who went to the moon trained on this terrain.  It is a very interesting site to see.

 We saw a movie in the visitor's center and hiked around a bit.  I especially liked looking down into the crater of this small volcano.

We loved the opportunity to see the Mackay area again after so many years plus the added bonus of visiting the Craters of the Moon. Thanks, Taylor for initiating this side trip.