10/2/2021. Salt Lake/Park City Utah

For the last week Sandy and I have been exploring the Salt Lake City area.  We checked out:

• Deer Valley Ski Resort where our daughter Andrea was a Ski Instructor a couple years ago
• Antelope Island where we put our hands in the Great Salt Lake.  By the way, the water level it is 40% down.  We had to walk a 1/2 mile from the Sandy Beach to get to the current water line
• Strawberry Reservoir
• Silver Lake which is at 8730’, was 35 degrees, and snowing while we were there
• Drove the Big Cottonwood pass to get to the city of Sandy, Utah
• Bonneville Salt Flats
• Utah’s Olympic Village where we saw 10 -13 year old future Olympic hopefuls practicing their ski jumping, flips, twirls, into a swimming pool off the jumps
• Attended a Pipe Organ Recital at the Mormon Tabernacle.

In addition we were able to visit with friends Don & Kim Gaither that previously lived we our hometown of Medina, Ohio and have moved to the Salt Lake area.  Kim and Sandy were both Girl Scout leaders together is time gone by.  Together we did some hiking, picnicking, and catching up.  Turns out Don is an avid Fly fisherman and I appreciated him giving me some Fly Fishing lessons and going over the gear needed.     

Also as luck would have it, this past week was the height of the leaf peeping season here so we got some great pictures.

Attached are some pictures from the past week:

9/22/2021. Ruby Mountains, Elko Nevada

Sandy and I are now camped in Elko Nevada.  Elko is known for its Gold Mines, Ruby Mountains, Pasty (which is a pie that miners take into the mines), Cowboys (which Sandy is excited about), Annual Cowboy Poetry event, California Trail, Railroad, and Casinos.  

The Ruby Mountains are gorgeous and only about 20 miles out of town.  We drove the Lamoille Canyon Scenic 12 mile road.  It is part of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.  At the end of the 12 mile road we hiked 2 miles up to 9200’.  Hiking at this elevation is nothing to sneeze at as the air is much thinner than what us Ohio Flat-Landers are used to. 

We stopped at the local pasty bakery and purchased:

 1 - Meat/Potato Pasty

1 - Meat/Mushroom Pasty

1 - Chicken/Rice Pasty

1 - Small Blueberry Pie

1 - Small Rhubarb Pie

Boy were they good.  Each Pasty is like a meal in its own wrapped in a dough pastry.  Yumm.

We also drove into the downtown Elko which is the County Seat.  The town square has a Casino, Railroad display, Court House, and other western stores.

9/17/2021. Playing in the “BIG SAND BOX”

 9/17/2021. Playing in the “BIG SAND BOX”

We are now in Mountain Home, Idaho (just south of Boise).  One of the things to do is sled ride down the sand dunes at Bruneau Dunes State Park. There, the sand dunes rise up to 470’.  Upon arrival we rented a sled from the park office for $15.  For $15 you get the sled for the day and wax to make the sled go faster.  Sandy and I then hiked up the dunes which was no easy feat considering the bottom of the dunes are at 2300’ above sea level.   It was a blast.  Sledding down the hill was great.  Climbing back up the hill to do it again was tough.  Shoes full of sand, sand sliding out from the bottom of your feet as you climbed, the steepness of the hills, and the elevation provided a good work out.  Also found that just the right amount of wax made for a quick sled.  To much wax bogged the sled down, to little wax slowed the decent.  I had sand everywhere from rolling off the sled (ears, hair, eyes, shoes, pockets etc…

One lesson we learned after my first ride is:

•  We climbed up close to the highest peak.
• The edge of the dune for our test run was close to 90 degrees straight down.  
• I waxed up the sled
• I jumped on sled, feet up, and grabbed the handles
• Sandy pushed me over the edge
• Wholly smokes, it was like sliding down an ice covered ski slope
• When I hit bottom I rolled 3 times
• WAY TO FAST FOR US!!!  Not interested in breaking any bones on this adventure

The lesson I learned was to look for a much larger angle of decent to allow for a better controlled slide :-)

Here are some of the pictures: