Grandma’s journey took her across Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California. Ours included all of those states but California PLUS Wyoming and Montana. Hers lasted nearly a year. Ours, only two and a half weeks. Hers was limited to where there were railroads in the Western states. Ours was charted with Google Maps.
I made sure certain places Grandma mentioned were on our itinerary, too. Having been up and down the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies a million times (well, almost!), we chose to skip Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Those were “firsts” for Grandma back in 1913, but not for us. There is one thing I would love to see now that I know she saw it from the train – that’s the view from Tennessee Pass, but we’ll do it another time. There was just too much to see and do – we had to eliminate some.
We left our home early on Tuesday morning and drove to Mankato, Kansas where we “officially” began to follow Grandma. As I already mentioned, there is no depot there but I LOVE my photo of the tracks leading west from that North Central Kansas town.“All Aboard” Revisited – Part One
We drove on State highways across Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado which was a nice change from our normal route on the Interstate, and we stayed our first night with my niece and her family in Severance CO before heading Northwest. I left her with a copy of my book and she DEVOURED it.
Carina, my gorgeous niece, is pictured here with the book and the 1913 journal in which Grandma recorded her adventure. It did my heart good to have Carina share my excitement about generational storytelling. She devoured the book and was such a great hostess both before and after our trek to Idaho. Thanks Carina!
We had never seen the Great Salt Lake, so that was our first “sight-seeing” stop. We spent two nights at a great VRBO North of Salt Lake City (SLC) and while in Utah we met some new friends – Latte and Mocha – and caught up with family and a not-so-new friend of mine who lives in the area. Never a dull moment. We packed so much into our road trip.
Jim’s cousin, Nicholas, and his wife, Celeste, happened to be in SLC visiting his mom when we were there, so they met us in Bountiful and we had a great evening visiting and enjoying Mrs. Cavanaugh’s famous ice cream. Thanks, Nick, Celeste, and Sue, for driving North to save us from the congestion of “the city.” We could have driven there, but were thankful to not have to!
The next day, our side-trip was to Bear Lake on the border of SE Idaho and NE Utah and to the bank museum in Montpelier ID – the last bank robbed by Butch Cassidy and a fun piece of wild west history.
I had been to Bear Lake as a child, and wanted to go back. However I never imagined how blown away I would be by its beauty. OMGoodness, if you get a chance to go, please do. Bear Lake is just over 200′ deep at its deepest, yet the shores are very shallow so people wade out quite a ways but are only knee deep. It’s a popular recreation destination for good reason. The blue of the water – especially from a distance – is a breathtaking shade. Stunning! If only you could see it in person. It’s glorious!
I’ll share several pictures below. But first…let me tell you about a special reunion of two members of the West High School (Iowa City IA) Class of 1971. Bee and I lived in the North Liberty area but attended high school together in Iowa City. We reconnected online several years ago and stay in touch, but hadn’t seen each other for decades! What fun!
Bee and her husband, Regis, were good enough to save us the hassle of downtown SLC traffic, too. We met for dinner at a location near our VRBO and had a great time catching up, remembering, and becoming fast friends again. Our husbands had a lot in common, so they enjoyed the visit, too. What a blast to add to our adventure. Thanks, Bee and Regis, for meeting us!
The other “faces” in our adventure were a bit more furry! Two adorable goats lived just behind our apartment in our hosts’ backyard. Latte (brown) and Mocha (black) are known as The Coffee Goats; I’ll let you guess which one is dominant! Our hosts provided a container of animal crackers and encouraged their guests to feed the goats. Of course, the goats KNEW the routine, so whenever we opened our door, they came running. And…now I want a goat!
When we left Kaysville, UT our first stop was Antelope Island. We had to see the Great Salt Lake up close and personal, and thinking it’d just take a half hour or so, we decided to postpone breakfast until we headed out of the congested area. Mistake! Breakfast came along with lunch that day – at about 3pm! We went to Antelope Island not knowing what was there and were impressed.
I learned a lot about the Great Salt Lake (GSL) when writing Grandma’s book, but I learned even more after seeing it. It’s the largest inland body of salt water in the Western Hemisphere and covers a surface area ranging from 950 square miles (in 1963) to 2400 square miles (in 1873). At a median level, it’s less than 15′ deep with a maximum depth of 35′. With greater salinity than the oceans, this body of water is unique.
The desert borders it to the West, and the Wasatch Mountain range on the North, South, and East. Salt Lake City and the GSL are basically in the valley, and what a congested and busy valley it is!
A long two-lane land bridge (Davis County Causeway) serves as the entrance to Antelope Island, a 28,000+ acre State Park which is packed with natural resources and so much beauty (pics to follow). We nearly blew away on Buffalo Point, but we could see forever.
There are campgrounds and trails throughout the park. The Fielding Garr Ranch (established in 1848) offers a glimpse of western ranch history. There are free-roaming herds of bison, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope on the island as well as coyotes and waterfowl. We watched two cunning coyotes sneak up on two buffalo near the beach. Did they plan to attack or simply avoid being seen by the huge beasts – I don’t know – but it was fun to watch!
When Grandma was in SLC, she saw the Ringling Brothers Circus…we just saw some coyotes and buffalo! Oh well!
So….I’m curious. Did any of you guess the locations of the photos I posted in Part One? Here are the locations of those first four favorites:
The first picture was taken as we crossed the Causeway at the Great Salt Lake (described above).
The rocky outcropping is along the Interstate near Green River, Wyoming. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Shoshone Falls (near Twin Falls ID) was the focus in pic #3. Such a powerful waterfall.
And…the last picture I shared in Part One is of the Snake River, just West of Shoshone Falls.
But FIRST, here are my favorites of our time at Bear Lake (Jim and I at a lookout above Garden City; a deer on hillside; and three scenes of the lake):
And, some pics from the GSL and Antelope Island, too (notice the diverse terrain of marshes, mud flats, beaches, and rocky cliffs along with pastureland and sagebrush; bison herd grazing and snoozing on the hillside; two lone buffalo resting near the edge of the GSL) If you look close you may see the coyotes. I added a pic of Jim and I being blown away at the lookout on Antelope Island – why isn’t HIS hair blowing? It was so windy Shotgun was SCARED! And, do you see the blowing dust? That’s not steam – it’s either salt or dust blowing and it was constant! Incredible!
What’s YOUR favorite picture so far? I so wish you could have seen all these IN PERSON. My photos are great reminders, but there is NOTHING like seeing these scenes up close and personal.
Stay tuned because our next overnight destination was Nampa ID. Again, we stayed two nights. We visited Caldwell and Greenleaf (still distinctively Quaker communities where Grandma stayed), and we hiked across the dam at Lake Lowell (where Grandma and her cousins had a picnic). This lake provided (and still provides) irrigation water for area farmers – it was built just before Grandma visited Idaho.
I’ll tell you and show a picture of what was SPLATTERED along the highway in Southern Idaho – it was shocking! And, I’ll share an interesting crop we saw (unidentified, at the time) if fields. Then….I can’t wait to tell you about an impromptu mini-reunion of Ratcliffs!
It’s ALL I CAN DO to not FLOOD you with pictures and commentary of all we saw. OVERLOAD!!! There were so many GREAT places we visited, things we learned, and sights we saw. So many! We were so blessed to take this trip and I hope you’re enjoying tagging along. Stay tuned for Part Three, coming soon.
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