Monday, January 19, 2009

Idaho Flashback

Idaho Falls Temple

It has been close to two years now since we lived in Idaho Falls. We moved up in 2005 and made our way back to Utah in 2007. It seems like so long ago! I thought I would do a quick flashback to our days in Idaho, since nothing too exciting is going on right now for us to blog about!

Remembering Idaho Falls:


What a quaint town! We passed this sign every time we drove out to Kelly Canyon for a day of hiking, climbing, or picking out Christmas trees.

Speaking of Christmas trees, one great thing about Idaho was we got to go cut down our own tree. Our vaulted ceilings in the living room allowed for maximum height, and we found a great 11 ft. tree to fill the space.

I'm embarrassed to admit that we haven't had a Christmas tree since being back in Utah. Picking a tree out of a stack leaning against the side of a building is just not the same as spending a day hiking through the woods for the perfect tree.

Another thing I miss about living in Idaho is our home. We were so lucky to have a great house to live in and house projects to keep us busy. Spencer finished part of the basement while we lived there and we worked in the backyard a lot. On the bright side, we don't have a huge north-facing driveway to shovel in the winter anymore!


Spencer did such a great job finishing the basement! We did all the work ourselves, except for laying the carpet.


I'm sure Jack misses having such a big backyard to run around in.


For some reason, we did a lot more rock climbing when we lived in Idaho than we do here in Utah. Hopefully this next summer we'll be able to get out and climb a little more.

This is a shot of me climbing at Paramount, which is a little spot up Kelly Canyon. We climbed here a couple times, but usually drove down to Pocatello and climbed at Ross Park.

Of course, there are plenty of things we DO NOT miss about Idaho! Here are the top five:

5.
Fashion Selection - Clothing stores always seemed to have a really odd selection of clothes. Even chain stores, like The GAP, had a very different selection of clothes compared to stores down in SLC.

4.
Slow Drivers - I don't know why, but everything is a lot slower up there, from driving to checking out at the grocery store. And for some reason, most of the cars on the road are either full-size pick-ups or Buicks.

3. Lack of Snowplows - Now this one has always been a mystery to me. Since winter in Idaho Falls lasts about 9 months of the year, you'd think they would have some sort of snowplow system worked out. Instead, each time it snowed they would wait until traffic had packed down all the snow, and then they would come around and throw red rocky sand over everything. Very strange and annoying! Speaking of never-ending winters, that brings me to ...

2. COLD!! Winter starts in October, and it doesn't get above freezing again until May. They actually had to cancel school a couple times because it was so cold, kids' faces would freeze if they tried to go outside! To make matters worse, the extreme cold was almost always accompanied by the number one thing I will NOT miss about Idaho...

1. The Wind - It is always there, blowing hair in my face, whipping the petals off of flowers, sending dust tornados and tumbleweeds racing across fields, blowing out the flame of our gas grill. If there ever was a non-windy day, we celebrated. Unfortunately, those celebrations were few and far between!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Winter Hike

Today is Saturday, my second-to-last day of winter vacation before going back to school. With overnight snowfall and a clear blue sky this morning, it was the perfect day for a winter hike!

Spencer and I both slept in until about 9:00 a.m. and lounged around until 11:00, when we decided to go for our hike. As soon as we started getting ready, Jack immediately began to whine! This always happens when he knows we're about to do something fun. He whined for a couple of minutes before I grabbed the camera and recorded some of the excitement.



It turned out to be the perfect day. The air was cold, but the snow was so fresh and sparkly! We drove up Millcreek Canyon and were lucky to find a parking spot. It seemed we weren't the only ones with this idea! Luckily, we only passed a few people on the trail we were on. Here are some pictures of our hike along the Pipeline Trail.



The sky was so blue!


Much of the trail looked like this. Everything was covered with fresh white snow.


Here is Jack, sporting his new doggy backpack that Spencer got him for Christmas. He carried four bottles of water for us and a dish for his water to be poured into.


Sunglasses were a MUST in this bright winter wonderland!