Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play... No Thanks

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play...

No Thanks

Tuesday

July 8, 2014

We got up early this morning and pretty much packed up. We got ourselves all ready to go for a hike. We went over to the restaurant to get some breakfast. It was 7:00 AM. Early for us. After we have ordered our coffee, Caroline noticed on the menu that there is an eleven mile float trip down the Snake River offered in the mornings at 7:30 AM and in the late afternoon. She says it would be fun. Well, George reads it and we’re off to get on board. I pay for our coffee that we did not drink and we race back to the room while George goes to lodge to get us on the list. After much rushing around, we got in the van and arrived just in time.

We were on the trip with a couple from New Jersey and a couple from Maryland. We had a twenty minute ride to the put in location. Soon we were off and floating down the Snake River. How beautiful floating on a river with majestic, snow covered mountains in the background!! I think we made a terrific decision….. hike up a mountain or float lazily down a river…. Yes, we’re smart. Our guide, Mark, had much experience and was very, very knowledgeable about the river and the Teton Mountains. He was quite the wild life spotter. We saw three different bald eagle nests and. They are so majestic. One nest had juveniles. Mother was there flapping her wings. We also saw some mule deer and some Canadian geese. The best part was the scenery and the cool temperatures.

Floating down the Snake River

Two adult eagles

Donna and Caroline

Oh I forgot to mention we had a disaster of sorts on Monday. Caroline’s cell phone stopped charging. It was not the fuse in car.  Now young people these days depend on their cell phone for life. Between that and the fuse going out earlier on the car, she was not a happy camper. I located a Verizon store in Jackson, WY and we headed there to see if we could get any help. They tried to charge it in the store and it did work with their charger. We then decided to purchase a new one. When they tried it out, it would not work. Good grief. We ended up getting a new phone. We were lucky that we were able to upgrade. All is good now.

We then packed up the van and started our drive to Idaho. We noticed right away how dry it was. In talking with locals they say it hadn’t rained in two years…I don’t know when they last had rain but, a truck going down a dirt road caused a major dust trail. I also noticed when I was driving, that the horizon seemed to be cloudy when in reality it was dust in the air.  Dust, sagebrush, dust, sagebrush. Today was a first for me. I rain over tumbleweed twice.

We stayed in the little town of Arco. I think it might be a good town to disappear in.

There were some tall cliffs behind the town. There were huge numbers painted all over the rock faces. We were told that graduating seniors went up and painted their class year. Said some of them hung down the side on a tire suspended by a rope. Ahh, the bravery/stupidity of youth. It's a tradition though. The earliest number I saw was '29.

Arco is a historic town in its own right. It is the first town in US to be completely powered electrically by atomic power. We went by the plant but they were closed. Geez I
was so disappointed.

Off to bed. Long day tomorrow.