Sunday, October 9, 2016

Next stop: Heber City

 Apparently, everything in Utah is a city!  Brigham City, Heber City (which is near Park City), and here we're passing through Salt Lake City!
 Pretty neat when your city has mountains as a backdrop!
 Still heading east on the 80 and looking down on either the 15 or 215, looking south.

 Pretty neat road, eh?
 Bill saw me processing this photo and wondered why, since it wasn't that pretty.  And I told him that's why!  Because this image sort of shows the gist of Heber City.  It's not what I expected!  There are certainly pretty parts of the Heber Valley and the surrounding mountains, but Heber City is much more city than I was prepared for!  Pretty big, built-up, crowded, busy...   
 Bill and I found a dog park on-line and took the dogs to check it out in neighboring Midway.  Unfortunately, the dog park was closed!  They were doing some kind of "remodeling" in it and had the gates locked!!  But there was a huge grass field/park that was part of the complex, and almost no one else around, so we let the dogs just run loose and play.  Better than nothing!  On the way back, I had to stop and photograph this super cute house I had seen while driving!  
 Doesn't it look like an above-ground version of a hobbit house or something?!

 I think this was part of some foo-foo housing development, but I liked their gates with all the cowboys lining the top!  Probably some huge ranch that was sold and turned into a money-maker, instead of a hay and beef maker...
 Beautiful valley.
 Somehow I'd gotten the idea that the mountains were much closer to the RV park, more prominent and more visible.  So I was really disappointed when we got there and the peaks were so small and far away!
 But with time and a more objective perspective now, it really was a very nice RV park...
Now Heber City, on the other hand, is still a city...  Too many people, too much stuff for our tastes...

And now...? Utah! Let's start with Brigham City...

On June 13th, we left Twin Falls, ID, and headed for Brigham City, UT...
 We drove by a lot of pretty agricultural land...


 combined with sage and grassland...
 and some wildly red wildflowers (pretty sure this is a cluster of scarlet gilia)!
 And now we're getting to some nice hills and...
 mountains?  (if you're tall enough to get snow, you must be a mountain!?)


 Sheepies.


 We had a good stay (other than my hip still being an issue) at the Golden Spike RV Park.  And we must have timed it right because we just missed (by one day) a really bad hailstorm!  I thought the scene of the owner's little dog helping him mow was so cute!!!  (and notice all the downed leaves from the last night's storm...!)
 Things that make you go hmmm...  When I saw these great clouds show up, I wondered if there was going to be another whopper of a storm - just for us!  But no, instead, it provided the most awesome sunset!!!  Just wait till you see the colorful clouds!
 Tractor watches the storm.
 I love stuff like this!
 And then the sun comes out and makes the mountains glow!
 Cool streaky sky!?!
 The storm clouds/lighting got me all hopped-up to go out and photograph, even if I was pretty limpy and slow getting around...  And I was really wishing I could position myself better, in some spot with great landscape and foreground.  But, given the situation, I felt lucky to be able to stand there on the side of a main thoroughfare and document the incredible sunset!  Mostly, I just shot upwards!  And no one ran me over, so it's good!  And I fed a lot of starving mosquitoes...





 I actually like this road shot.  Not exactly the nature scene, but has a road ever looked prettier?!  


 On the next day, I had hoped to go for a long drive and do some sight-seeing.  But I knew I couldn't sit there in that truck seat and do what needed doing (getting gas, etc.) for so many hours and not hate myself for it, probably within the first hour, let alone the fifth!!!  So I just drove around town and took a few shots...
An LDS temple.
The Box Elder Tabernacle.
 The angel Moroni, found on top of Mormon temples.
 Old downtown Brigham City.
 Box Elder County Courthouse.  (and sorry for the "moving" cars but this was an HDR - multiple image - shot, and those darn cars didn't stand still for me!)
 Always amazes me, the pretty, elegant old buildings you can still find scattered around.
 Hayes made a puppy friend...