MOUNTAIN HOME, IDAHO

It was an easy drive from Park City, Utah to Mountain Home, Idaho.  Alan reminded us that the freeway through Salt Lake City would be hot, crowded and uneventful; that beginning our route by heading East on I-80 towards Ogden would provide a more scenic drive.  He was absolutely right.  The mountains were very scenic with amazing vistas.

We especially enjoyed the formation called The Devil's Slide, a twin projection of what appeared to be granite rock protruding perhaps 20 feet into the air, resembling a double spine cascading down the mountainside.

We were excited to stop and see our Niece and her family in Mountain Home. They had just finished a birthday party when we arrived.  This was the first time that Little Alice and Rosie had seen each other. They both hit it off and were inseparable the remainder of our visit.

It was great to be with this part of our family!  Carrie and David welcomed us and made us feel at home. We spent the evening visiting and catching up on things. George and Nolan, their two boys were out of town attending The Hawks baseball game when we arrived.  We slept in Nolan's Queen-sized bed and he bunked in with George on a spare bunk. The next morning we were sitting on the back deck in the cool of the morning sipping our second cup of coffee when Nolan came out. I thanked him for letting us sleep in his comfy bed.  I said it was so nice that we've decided to stay a while.  In a heartbeat he hung his head and said, "Awwww".

Today was Sunday.  We spruced up, packed our Sienna and went to church with them.  As the local preacher was out of state with family concerns, David had offered to preach this day.  We enjoyed his talk and felt good that we could be here on this particular date to hear him.

Following services we invited the family out to lunch at Cracker Barrel in Boise.  We had a great meal at one of our favorite stops.  We had fun buying the kids a little toy in the gift shop and snapping some family photos.

It was a sad time for Alice and Melody trying to say goodbye.  They had attached themselves so much in such a short time.

We left Boise in the early afternoon.  The closer we got to Portland, the more we wanted to forget about an overnight Campout somewhere and head home.  Well, that's exactly what we did after stopping for ice cream at the DQ.

It was great to drive into Portland and know we were finally home. We had a great trip that covered more than 6,200 miles.  But it was great seeing our Portland families again and feeling like we were really "home".