Well... this is where the deception for Rowan's 2nd birthday party began.
Idaho Falls.
My plan had always been to go to Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, continue thru Washington (hitting the western most point in the lower 48) to add to our monumental task of finding the eastern most point in Maine without inadvertantly entering Canada...then down the Washington and Oregon coasts (which I've heard are spectacular!)...and home!
This plan was delayed because a wise person explained to me that going to Rowan's birthday party was not neccessarily for Rowan but for my daughter (I can't believe how stupid and self centered I am on occassion), not neccessarily Rowan who in all likelyhood wouldn't remember if I was there or not, unless of course she saw pictures many years later!
Like any father I would do anything in my power to make my children happy, because they are the most precious people in the world to me and I love them both dearly.
The picture above is the view from our room at the Quality Inn (for the most part my 2nd favorite motel chain) in Idaho Falls.
When we check into any motel, the 1st question is always "do you take dogs"....Ruby always sat nervously in the car awaiting the decesion...a smile coming out of the door said that we had found a place for the night, no expression meant that we had to spend more time in the car trying to find one!  Not only did this Quality Inn take dogs, through a little flirting with the reservation girl we got this room for $89 (one of 2 with this view) and she waived the pet fee which runs anywhere from $10 to as high as $75!
I guess at 59 I've still got it...in Idaho Falls anyhow!

These are the Idaho Falls.  Thats the Snake River gushing over the falls...history alert!  history alert!...Lewis and Clark (remember the place we stayed at on the Missouri River?)...which was another place that they camped (those guys really got around!), followed the Snake down to the Columbia and eventually became the 1st group to traverse the country by land, to the Pacific.
All of the electricity for the city (big town?) of Idaho Falls is generated by the hydroelectric dam that you can kinda of see behind the rocks.  I wasn't so much impressed with the power of the falls (we saw a lot a lot more raw power when we were in the east) but the width!  These falls are probably a half mile across...comparable in width to the American Falls in Niagra!

Trying to take an "artsy" picture...I liked it!

The only people at the falls on the morning we were leaving for Salt Lake, was a group of Japanese tourists (non spoke English)...no other tourists American or otherwise, no locals using the surrounding walking trails for their morning workouts....nobody!
Just Ruby and her faithfull caregiver...Clay!
Probably because it was bone chillingly COLD!  It was 32 degrees walking out the door with sustained winds of 25 to 30 mph.  The wind chill was pegged at 20 degrees...this was the coldest weather that we had experienced since the Grand Canyon almost 2 months before...
I'm assuming that this group were on their way to Yellowstone and overnighted in Idaho Falls.
Fox Red English Labs apparently are in short supply in the Land of The Rising Sun with Ruby in greater photo demand than maybe even the falls...every single one of them wanted to have their picture taken with the Rubes...I should have charged 5 bucks a piece...probably would have paid for the previous nights stay!

I asked or in some way commuicated with a gentleman in this group to take a picture of Ruby and I...he had a similar camera to mine.
After he took our picture guess who took one of him in the same spot with the same 4 legged prop!
I have to say that as we traveled in the west taking in the many natural wonders that this country has to offer (many are only a long weekend out of LA), we found an overwhelming amount of foreign tourists compared to people from this country...apparently what we take for granted are big time travel destinations  for our world neighbors.
I don't know if this was  because when we took this trip kids were still in school and the vacation season really hadn't begun in earnest or if Americans have forgotten what a trove of treasures exist in this country...or maybe the tourists were only going to these places so they could write off their week long excursion to Vegas!
We really didn't run into many tourists at the historical spots on the east coast with the possible exception of the British (who were there in abundance)...most still licking their wounds that this country is no longer a Colony!
I say god bless them all!
WE NEED THEIR MONEY!!

As the surprise plan was being played out we continued traveling south using Interstate 15, picking it up in Idaho Falls on our way to Salt Lake...it had been one week since the rat poisoning incident, exactly one week before...this is Wednsday...the party Saturday...we had to cover a ton of ground in a hurry, but 1st it was important that I get Ruby's blood tested to see if the poison had gotten into her system, she also was beginning to smell and she badly needed a bath before the party.  Thus the mad drive from Bozeman to Salt Lake.
The 15 through eastern Idaho is beautiful following the western slope of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton mountains, through lush farmlands and some of the most gourgeous valleys that we have seen since New Hampshire and Vermont. I even marked a few (latitude/longitude) on the GPS as possible places to investigate as retirement areas...they were that beautiful!
Like I'll ever have the chance to retire!
Above are the Grand Tetons pictured from the side you never see in the promotional literature.

I always take multiple pictures of everthing and got this one and the next, back to back...coincidence?
Or just being on the road to long with a 4 legged female as opposed to one with 2?

I guess people get lonely in Pocatello too!
I think that by this point my sense of humor really took a dive!

Holt Arena...Idaho State University...Pocatello, Idaho.
I thought that the design of this building was really cool!
The only question being...how do you get a hot shot basketball player (ballers) from LA to go to Pocatello to play in this place.  I tried to get inside for a peek but security stopped me a few feet through the door.

This is dog doctor we ended with in Bountiful, Utah.  We ended up here due to help from my good friend Bob Davis and his sister who lives in Salt Lake...this was one of the few animal hospitals with the neccessary testing equipment to get a quick turnaround on Ruby's Lab lab results (I never get tired of that one!)

While Ruby was occupied with the Lab lab stuff and the all important bath, I had a few hours to kill, I decided to go into Salt Lake and see the original LDS Temple.
Downtown Salt Lake is beautiful, modern and maintains a strong sense of it's past...much like Boston only on a smaller scale.
My parents had taken our family here many years ago but I really don't remember it...either because I was too young or too old and cool to pay attention..I just don't remember!
The Temple itself and the surrounding grounds are stunning as is the multi-story office complex next door housing the people who run the church world wide.
I loved this picture because the statue reminded me of the importance of family and the joys (and heartaches) that come along with it....but most of all the joys!  To me the statues significance of the joining of hands while dancing reminds me that family is there for life and should never lose personal contact with one another no matter what the circumstances are!

Meet Abby!
Abby was assigned to Ruby by the Doctor to draw the blood and the bath (I should have tipped her for doing that!)...she (Ruby) was pretty bad...no bath since Houston.
Abby is another really sweet, personable young lady that we have had the great fortune of meeting on this journey!
I absolutely love the people in this country...why can't Californians more be like them and be you know...normal!

I'm sorry that I got so far behind on this but since returning home I've had a couple of personal matters that have preoccupied my time and thinking...after todays entry I'll still be 2 days behind plus I have a number of other occurrences that happened on the trip that I simply didn't have the time to explore while moving onward everyday...my guess is that I will be continuing this for the next month or so...maybe not everyday...gotta deal with reality again...so stay tuned!

I love this statue of Joseph and Emma Smith at the Mormon Temple.
I have been fortunate to have experienced deep love in my life 3 times...I feel blessed to have had these 3 women in my life as they have helped to shape me and to help me become a better person.. companion/lover/friend and hopefully lifelong partner...to a future special woman.
I also love this statue because of the love, tenderness and respect that comes to life here with Joseph and Emma.
I pray for the same.