Pit Stop

We had so much fun on our vacation and it ended much too quickly.  During the long drive home we stopped to stretch our legs at one of our favorite stopping places:  Malad Gorge State Park, in Southern Idaho.

It is a 250 foot deep gorge, created by the Malad River, which is a tributary of the Snake River.  It runs right under I-84 and if you blink while driving over, you will miss it.  I love to stop here and walk over the steel bridge and look at the dizzying view.

This is the view to the southwest of the bridge:

And this is the view to the northeast of the bridge:

There is a play area at the park with old, metal toys--the kind made and installed waaaay back when I was a kid.  The kind that are usually taken out and replaced with plastic because they don't meet safety standards.  I love those kind of toys.

I was especially impressed with Daisy, the bucking dairy cow.  And Onion Ring, the enormous teenager, who could bend her to the ground in one direction,

and then the other.  It entertained me.

Meet Frankenfly

Hello, Frankenfly.

What sort of awful radioactive concoction were you fed which caused you to grow so freakishly large? And who stooped to this dastardly deed?

I hope you don't bite us and cause us to get super ripped and bestowed with super powers (and be called Fly Man or Fly Woman). Actually, some of the boys might like that.

Really, I'm just glad you are not in my house because then I would need to either remove you or kill you and I don't think I would handle either very well. And that might get embarrassing.

PS. Has anybody out there ever seen one of these or know what it is? It was close to an inch long!

The Bonneville Salt Flats

The Bonneville Salt Flats are an amazing natural feature in Utah, located less than two hours West of Salt Lake City. This was our first visit. Junior kept saying "It looks like snow!"

A few miles Northeast of Wendover is where the Bonneville Raceway or Speedway is located and we just happened to visit the day before "Speed Week" began so there were a lot of people setting up camp with their racing vehicles.

If you want to see some amazing pictures of this event, go here.

We decided to set some land speed records of our own.

Woo-weee! So speedy!

Look at that perfect formation on the way back.

I expected the salt to be dry like a sea of sand but it was actually damp. It stuck to our feet and car like salt mud. I don't know if that is normal for this place or not.

Uh oh, I think this guy ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Let's not be like him.

Below is a picture of something that we passed on our way to the Raceway. It startled and disturbed us greatly. It was right next to the freeway without warning or explanation; no freeway exits or anything. So on the way back, I asked Brandon to stop on the side of the freeway, scurry like a jackrabbit across the freeway to take some pictures and figure out what it was. I told him to look both ways very carefully because I would have felt awful had something happened to him. He kindly obliged.

Are you as confused as we were? Luckily, there was a sign with a brief explanation.

I think I would have called it "Giant Tennis Balls Skewered on a Giant Broken Roasting Stick".

Sorry, I guess I have no appreciation for random abstract art on the side of the freeway. Or maybe I have more appreciation than most. I mean, I was willing to break laws and risk my husband's life to get pictures of it. (Click here for more info about this sculpture.)

The boys really appreciated the mirages they saw on the road. They wanted me to take pictures of those, so I did (from inside the car).

More Tricks

Warning: the following images have been known to cause confusion and/or vexation in some situations and among some peoples and/or cultures in certain areas and/or climates depending on the air pressure, humidity, and/or velocity of their respective situations and/or states of mind.

Home, Sick

Today Junior and Buttermilk Sky stayed home from school because they have coughs.

This is what they've been up to: spoon tricks...







...and headless boy tricks.



Obviously, they don't feel too terrible.

Cold

See Junior.

See Junior walking barefoot in the snow.

See Junior eat snow.

See Junior's arms rise.



When Junior's arms rise it means he is cold.



Do you feel cold now, too?

A Reminder

Have you ever bought undershirts from Old Navy before? Well, if you haven't, then you have never seen the important reminders on the packages.

Thanks, Old Navy!

Happy Friday!