willsfamilyacres

State 6 – Idaho

Idaho is a beautiful state, filled with rivers and mountains. Originally the plan was to just drive through, but a change in schedule had  us stay the night in Pocatello.

We stopped for dinner at Portneuf Brewery, great beer and food.

We had our second beer flight of the day, the first being at Wasatch Brewery in SLC. Splitting a flight is perfect for us. Eric likes lagers and pilsners, I like IPAs and stouts, and we both like ales.

Our hotel was one of the nicest Holiday Inns we’ve stayed at. It was atop of a hill with a panoramic view of the city. It must be beautiful in the winter as well, with snow covered mountains.

After leaving the hotel we headed over to the Idaho Potato Museum. They were under renovations, so things were in a bit of a disarray, but they waived the admission fee. They had a selfie stand in front of the museum which we put to good use.

Two of the states we hit were by way of Four Corners, Arizona and Colorado. Seeing as I was raised in Arizona, and we lived there for 10 years together, I don’t feel too bad about the short visit. We have future plans to hit Colorado on one of our football trips, so we’re covered there as well.

States 3&4 – Arizona and Colorado

My first attempt was a bit of a fail. Although technically by being in the center I was in all four states, it just didn’t accomplish what I was going for. Several people standing around yelled, “You’re only in 2 States”. I quickly corrected and Eric snapped another photo .

State 5 – Utah

Southern Utah was incredible. It is similar to New Mexico with beautiful rock formations.

This area is also known for its mining. The train tracks went straight from the mining operations straight through the mountainside.

Originally, we had planned to hit Arches National Park. We were going to stay in Moab and then drive through the next morning. We learned that Moab is a huge tourist attraction and there were way too many people and the hotels were outrageously expensive. Instead we decided to drive on through. Luckily, we passed an arch called “Wilson’s Arch”, which was right on the side of the road. Not only was it a really cool arch, but also completely free.

Another free stop on our trip was Gilgal Sculpture Garden. I found reviews for this one on RoadTrippers. It is in Central Salt Lake City, just a few blocks from Liberty Park. Even with the map, it took us a few minutes to find it. It is nestled into a neighborhood, with only a small entrance sandwiched between 2 houses.

Although it is known for being a sculpture garden, the flowers were enchanting, especially the Irises. I tried growing the variegated irises in my garden before without much luck. I don’t know if they like our heat.

The sculptures were a bit irreverent and definitely unlike any garden we’d been to before.

Joseph Smith – The LDS Church Founder as a Sphinx

A few weeks ago we took our first long vacation together in celebration of our 20th anniversary, later this year. We decided on a road trip, covering 13 western states, around 3900 miles, 9 days. It was an amazing whirlwind trip. Eric drove most of the time, which allowed me to take near 2000 photos!

State 1 – Texas

We started out in Austin and headed west. There isn’t much to see in West Texas. The highlights being  wind farms, vanilla wafers from Slaton Bakery, and some tasty burgers from Blue Sky in Lubbock.

State 2 – New Mexico

New Mexico is all about the rock formations. My favorite being Chimney Rock, which you pass outside Farmington on the way to Four Corners.

I took most pictures while driving, but sometimes the view was just too amazing and we pulled over for stationary shots.

We got our first views of snow, which would not be the last.

Billy the Kid Museum exceeded our expectations. Not only did we learn the history and see Billy the Kid’s rifle, but there was an extensive museum of artifacts and classic cars.

You can’t beat the Mexican food in New Mexico, yum! I dream about this stuff.

I do my best to rotate crops and always assume I will remember from one year to the next. I do a pretty good job, but I don’t think I’m completely accurate. I figured it was better to actually store this someplace. Usually I do snap peas and pole beans along the long skinny bed in the front, but I figured why not rotate this year to share that wonderful nitrogen.

We have had a very rainy spring, so the plants are suffering from fungus. I am getting a ton of tomatoes and green beans. The peppers look pretty good, especially the jalapenos. I’ve lost most of the squash. I made the mistake of putting the butternut squash in the same bed as the zucchini, never again! Eating tons of tasty potatoes, but very few onions.

Daylilies from Diana at Sharing Nature’s Garden.

My favorite wildflower, Mexican Hat

Samantha Lantana

Roses – Round 2

I really need a Central Texas wildflower book. No idea what these are called.