 | Utah and Colorado |
In July 2020 I spent 10 days visiting two of my favorite places in the world, the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho and the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. I have been to both close to 10 times, first visiting them in the 1970s.
IDAHO
I find that few people visit Idaho, maybe because it seems a bit remote. My favorite part of Idaho is even a bit more remote, the Sawtooth Mountains. It ranks number 18 on My Favorite 50 Natural Places in the World list. The nearest town is Stanley, and that has only about 200 people. I never see many people there, which is good. The mountains are so-named because the center of the range has many very jagged peaks, the highest being 10,751 feet high. It is often cold there, even in summer. One morning this trip (July, remember) I found my car frosted over.
The first three photos were all taken from a bluff above Stanley (taken in October of 2009, so the snow made for better photos, except for the non-green grass).
Little Redfish Lake, about five miles from Stanley
Boat in the early morning fog on Redfish Lake
The Marlboro Man in his later years
Wheat and barley fields a bit east of Idaho Falls
Wyoming
One of the most common "earworm" songs (a song that is heard in one's head) I've had all my life is "Why, Oh Why, Did I Ever Leave Wyoming?" It was recorded in 1947 by Curly Gribbs, so we all heard it as kids. Anyhow, I've been to Wyoming so many times that the song has some real meaning to me. I visited it again in July 2020, mainly to get better photos of the Grand Tetons for the travel book I am writing. It will highlight my favorite 100 places in the world that I've visited, 50 each of natural places and man-made places. The Grand Tetons ranks 26th on the natural list. Nothing in Wisconsin makes either list, so I guess I wish that my ancestors, all from Poland, would have settled somewhere where I could live close to one of those hundred places.
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The Grand Tetons are relatively young mountains at 6-9 million years old.
This tiny church, built in 1925, is called The Chapel of The Transfiguration.
Grand Teton, at 13,775 feet
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, near the Utah border
The gas chamber at the historical Wyoming Territorial Prison in Kemmerer, WY
Independence Rock on the Oregon Trail in central Wyoming
Wagon ruts made by the pioneers in the 1800s are still clearly visible here.
Epilogue
The West always beckons me. So, on January 2nd I left for it again for a three-week trip (which is different from a vacation, which I never take). A friend and I will be visiting about 15 National Parks and Monuments, state parks, and other areas of beauty in Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Better, I figure, than getting arthritis in my thumbs from twiddling them.
The West always beckons me. So, on January 2nd I left for it again for a three-week trip (which is different from a vacation, which I never take). A friend and I will be visiting about 15 National Parks and Monuments, state parks, and other areas of beauty in Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Better, I figure, than getting arthritis in my thumbs from twiddling them.
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