NO PLACE LIKE HOME, NO PLACE LIKE HOME . . .

Mike picked me up at the door of our Rexburg motel at 6:30 a.m. in a torrential downpour. In the morning darkness, we huddled to examine a map. Mike's original route involved geocaching on back roads, but weather warnings were in effect for the passes. "I think we should just go to I-15 and drive on home," said Mike. "What do you think?"

"Yes," I agreed sedately.

"YES! WOO-HOO! GOIN' HOME!" said the inner self.

"We'll get home in good time and then we'll watch the election results this evening," added Mike.

The weather out of Rexburg was especially bad -- rain that looked like it could deteriorate to snow. As we approached the summit of the first pass, it was snowing in earnest and visibility was poor. We were glad when that dissipated. We had rain off and on all the way home. We were passing through Missoula before 11:00 MST and arrived at the Clarkston house at 2:30 PST. We unpacked the car and reviewed the mail. At this writing a cheery fire perks along in our little stove, television is on, Nellie is curled up on her pillow. Frozen leftovers will serve for dinner.

It feels as though we left in summer and returned in winter. In fact, autumn just showed us how variable she can be. It was a good trip -- good to see family in their homes and good to be back to our own home and routine. With love, KW

HOMEWARD BOUND

I'm so excited! We'll arrive at the Clarkston house today. We left the Mile High Warnock's house about 4:30 a.m., being as quiet as we could so as not to awaken the household. Tough to do, especially with the dogs watching us. It was 61 and windy driving out of Denver. Mike's northward route took us through the Poudre Canyon and nearing the summit we came into snow and icy conditions at 28 degrees.

"I hope you make it home," said brother Chuck while watching the Weather Channel one evening. "The trouble with travel at this time of year is that you never know about the weather," observed Kelly's grandfather. Well, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful fall in which to see the sights in Utah. It seemed so strange when we occasionally came upon signs "closed for the winter." It's easy to see how the pioneers got caught in storms.

We spent the night in Rexburg where it has rained rather heavily. After breakfast we'll head toward Missoula, then take Hwy 12 to our valley. Breakfast is ready. Later . . .

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

I fell behind with the blog. Sometimes we have to live life instead of writing about it. Also, no amount of words or photos can do justice to the spectacular scenery of Bryce, Zion, and the north rim of the Grand Canyon and all the surrounding area, which is so different from our home territory. Here's a review of highlights:

On Saturday, Oct. 25, we left Clint's house in Hagerman and drove to Chuck and Joanne Walrath's home in Ivins (St. George), Utah. We had time to detour into Nevada so that Mike could add a few Nevada geocaches to his list.

On Sunday, Oct. 26, Mike and I toured both Zion and Bryce National Parks. Chuck and Joanne had church but graciously allowed us to leave Nellie at their house since pets are not allowed on tour buses and most trails. It was a full day for us; we left Ivins about 9:00 a.m. and returned just before 9:00 p.m. The day involved a lot of driving as well as sight-seeing. We agreed we could only hope for an overview. [The photo on the left was taken in Zion; the one on the right is me trudging a trail in Bryce to the parking lot.]

The weather has been unseasonably warm. Morning temps in Ivins were in the 40s but the afternoons were very warm – in the 80s. I put on my sweatshirt in the morning, knowing full well I would need a T-shirt in the afternoon. However, I failed to put it in the car, and by noon I was uncomfortably warm. So, we stopped at a gift shop where I rummaged through a rack of clearance shirts and bought one with a modest-looking medallion on the front. I forgot to look at the back which carried the phrase, "I totally dominated the narrows at Zion National Park." "You did not!" said brother Chuck.

The next day, Monday, Oct. 27, Chuck and Joanne drove us to the north rim of the Grand Canyon – again another full day. Nellie rode along in the back and we left her in the van when pets were not allowed. We found a couple of geocaches in Arizona and walked some trails for scenic overlooks.

Tuesday, the 28^th, Chuck and I scanned family photos and copied the file to discs. Our focus was the Stinson-Sanders branch of our tree, our Grandmother Nina Mae Portfors' side of the family. I was grateful to accomplish this task as well as to have this day when we didn't drive anywhere. Mike took Nellie and went geocaching, then made a short bicycle tour of the area around the Walrath's location. Joanne took me to Michael's where I found some craft items I couldn't find in the LC Valley. Wednesday morning we said good-bye to the Walrath's and began our trek to the Mile High Warnock's.

I shared only a fraction of our pictures here -- those I thought would interest you most. It's a large post and I hope it configures itself well when I publish it.

VISITS: MILO & CLINT

We arrived at Milo and Billie's in Boise at 3:30 yesterday, just as T. was driving up to the house with Mason. Perfect timing! T. is a senior at Borah High this year and helps her parents by picking up the boys at their respective schools. As soon as Gage and Milo were home, we went to find a couple of geo-chaches -- what else? When Billie was home from work, we went out to dinner and had a very nice visit. We left that family and drove on to Clint's in Hagerman, arriving about 9:20 p.m.

Through a misunderstanding, Clint had prepared dinner for us. We were just sorry that he had rushed home after working in American Falls all week to fix dinner. Well, we had the leftover shrimp fajitas for lunch and a delicious "veggie pizza a la Clinton" for dinner. He has learned to make pizza from scratch because he didn't like buying it. He's a good cook and expanding his culinary abilities.

Clint works four 10-hour shifts per week so has Fridays off. We enjoyed spending the day with him. Mike took us to three geo-caches in the immediate area, and Clint explained the sites. We also drove into Gooding so that Clint could do some banking and picked up a few groceries. It was a quiet, restful afternoon.

We drove through some beautiful fall foliage between Lewiston and Boise. The tamarak yellows amongst the evergreen conifers were outstanding, not to mention the gullies and draws filled with vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges. It's beginning to look like fall in the Lewis-Clark Valley, but when I opened the car door at Clint's, the chilly air smelled like autumn -- dry leaves. [In this photo I'm enjoying the fall colors on the Malad River near Clint's house.]

Tomorrow: on to Ivins, Utah, to visit Chuck (my brother) and Joanne Walrath. We expect it to take 9-10 hours. Chuck said they would have supper for us. KW