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Labor Day Trip 2009
Pictures from our 17-day, 15-state, 5500-mile trip. We decided to go to the BYU/OU football game at the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium. As this is only a few miles from Jenner's home in Arlington, we had a really good double reason to go. We had wanted to drive to Texas ever since Jenner moved down there, but had never had the time off work to do that. We were able to visit all the places we have lived in the U.S. on this trip: Wichita Falls, TX (where Russell was born); Del Rio, TX (where Jenner was born); Alamogordo, NM; and Las Vegas, NV. We visited 2 new state capitals (SD and OK), and 3 new temples (Winter Quarters, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio). We also visited many pioneer, historical, and other interesting places. So here are a few highlights of our trip.
 Devil's Gate, Wyoming. It was just west of this location that the Willie & Martin Handcart companies were stranded. We saw lots of historical markers about the pioneer trails - and Layne was a walking, talking encyclopedia of pioneer knowledge!
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 Indepedence Rock, Wyoming. Just north of Devil's Gate. Many pioneers carved their names in this rock, and many are still legible today. We chickened out climbing the smooth west end, but did climb a little bit on the east end.
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 One view of the Ayers Arch near Douglas, Wyoming. This is the only natural bridge in the United States with water flowing underneath it.
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 View of the arch from the west. We did climb up on the arch as well. This little red rock canyon was well hidden in its desert surroundings.
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 Pioneer trail wagon ruts. The rock is so soft here, that the wagons created ruts in the rocks, some places up to 5 feet deep. Not quite that deep here, but still very impressive.
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 Can you see the face? Whether intentional or not, we got a giggle out of this face in a rock wall near a cache we stopped for at a historical marker near Ft. Laramie, Wyoming.
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 One of the buildings at Ft. Laramie, one of Layne's pioneer trail and military stops! This has been restored. It was the officer's quarters, called "Old Bedlam," guess it wasn't always so quiet in there!!
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 Not all the buildings have been restored, and some don't even exist any more at all.
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 Another natural arch, this one at a stop on the road to Mt. Rushmore. Only about 5 feet high, and obviously with no water running under it.
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 One of 3 "pigtail" bridges on US 16A coming from the southeast to Mt. Rushmore. The road "curls" over itself. We had just been on the bridge above the road before coming down the hill and going under the same bridge. Very interesting road!
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 Also on this road are 3 tunnels that were built while Mt. Rushmore was being built. They were surveyed and engineered so that each one frames Mt. Rushmore, 2 going up the road, and one coming down. Quite impressive!
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 No number of pictures you've seen of Mt. Rushmore prepare you for the sheer magnitude and power of this sight! The history of the making of it is also pretty incredible, as is the upkeep to prevent cracks and rock slides.
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 Original panels from the Berlin Wall, and tank traps from Checkpoint Charlie. These are at a city park in Rapid City, South Dakota.
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 Pierre, South Dakota, State Capitol Building
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 Thousand of acres of sunflowers all across South Dakota (and other states as well). This is for Grandma Hatch!
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 Couldn't resist a visit to Gettysburg - South Dakota that is - the one "Where the Battle Wasn't" ! ! There is also a mileage sign on the east side of town with miles to "Gettysburg, Pa" 1450 miles!
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 We had never seen cactus blossoms like this before. They were very pretty. This was at a little museum in Gettysburg. (The museum had an Indian Medicine Rock that had been moved when a dam was built.)
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 Almost our northernmost point on the trip. Sunrise in Ellendale, North Dakota, this statue of "The Ploughman" is in their little city park. (And there was a cache there for good measure!)
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 The Three Ota's. At the boundary marker for North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Not as grand as Four Corners, but a fun spot to be nevertheless.
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 We got to get "up close and personal" with one of the big windmills. The blades here in South Dakota were black, maybe to help prevent bird strikes. From the hill where this one was, we counted over 90 windmills, and there had been many more we could see. They stretched out in a line that was at least 30 miles long.
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 Paul Bunyan's "anchor" at Ortonville, Minnesota. This was "found" and recovered when a dam was being built for Big Stone Lake.
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 A little Wayside Chapel near Luverne, Minnesota. We passed a couple of these. There are actually pews inside (enough for about 7 people) and stained plastic windows - it was great! Total cost to build about $300!
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 The Winter Quarters Temple. This is just south of the Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery where many pioneers were buried during the Saints' stay there.
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 One of the stained glass panels on the east side of the temple, depicting the local landscape.
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 Kansas City, Missouri, skyline. While "she" steered us wrong a couple of times earlier, our Garmin Nuvi, "Sami" got us through a maze of freeway interchanges and highways through here without a single hitch.
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 Community of Christ (Reorganized Church) Temple in Independence, Missouri, just across the street from the temple lot dedicated by Joseph Smith. The actual temple lot is just a grass lot.
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 Liberty Jail, Liberty, Missouri. A very accurate, open reconstruction of the jail where Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and 3 other men were held during a bitter cold winter from December 1838 to April 1839. The cellar was not high enough for them to stand straight up in, especially one man who was 6'6". In 23 years, no one ever escaped from this jail.
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 Very interesting "headstones" in a cemetery in Lamar, Missouri. There were regular headstones as well. We're not sure if there was a time the cemetery required these "full plot" covers, or what, but they were different.
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 Rock overhand on road in northwest corner of Arkansas.
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 Lamp in window of little restaurant in Gravette, Arkansas. We had a great bowl of Steak and Potato soup here for lunch. Had to include this picture for my "Christmas Story" boys.
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 Oklahoma City State Capitol.
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 Oklahoma City Temple, just at dawn. The lights in the foyer went on just as we pulled into the parking lot.
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 Sheppard Air Force Base Hospital. This was about the only building on the base that we recognized. Lots of new buildings. A whole section of base housing was vacant, apparently waiting to be renovated or demolished, with several new housing areas built. There were all kinds of new training buildings. Fun to see some of the "no-stripe" airmen walking around!
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 Littlest skyscraper in the world in Wichita Falls, Texas.
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 Wichita Falls. One more "tier" below that you can't see in this picture. This is a restored waterfall, completed in 1987, so not there when we were there in 1974. It is very pretty, but unfortunately smelled swampy, like pollywogs and old moss.
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 Us in front of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It was really fun to be in a brand spankin' new stadium. Everything was so clean and nice!
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 The stadium was huge! So many people, and a sea of red!
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 We did it!!!! We won! The last touchdown was right down in front of us in the BYU endzone.
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 Charlie and Josh finding a "treasure" with Poppa.
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 San Antonio Temple, 8 Sep 2009
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 D'Hanis, Texas, storefronts and tree.
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 203A Hodge Street, Del Rio, Texas. This hadn't changed very much in the 32 years since we moved!
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 Pecos River Bridge. The first rail bridge here was the highest in the United States and dubbed the 8th wonder of the world in its time!
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 Three HUGE century plants at Fort Davis, Texas. This is in the "Texas Alps."
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 2543B Valencia Drive (now Valencia Loop), Holloman AFB, New Mexico. This hadn't changed much except that the tree in the front yard was missing!
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 Layne in front of "his" T-38, now on display at Holloman AFB.
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 Holloman Elementary School - Welcoming us back!!
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 Rocks in Texas Canyon, near Bisbee, Arizona. Perfect "cowboys and Indians" setting!!
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 Fence with ocotillo branches as slats! Some of them were growing! This was the fence between the lucky candle shrine and the restaurant where we had dinner.
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 Wishing Shrine in Old Tucson. Make a wish and light a candle. If the candle stays lit overnight your wish will come true. There were also little pieces of paper in the holes in the wall. |
 Gillespie Bridge, about 1/4 mile long, north of Gila Bend, Arizona
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 Gillespie Dam. The breach occurred in 1993 during a heavy flood season.
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 On Saturday morning while making breakfast, we found ourselves standing exactly alike - gave us quite a good laugh! How about it girls - do the other sisters do this?
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 Vulture Mine. The walkaround tour was very interesting. Too bad this gold wasn't real. The assay office is said to have about $600,000 in gold and silver in the stones it was built with.
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 Old stove in the camp store/kitchen.
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 No smoking zone!!!
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 Elephant cloud in Prescott Valley. It looked a LOT more like an elephant just a few minutes before this. By the time we got the camera it had changed.
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 Railroad cut through a hill west of Ash Fork. Just as we were leaving we saw a train coming. We got a personalized whistle blow by the engineer.
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 New bridge bypass at Hoover Dam. You can just see the cars on the road at the last hairpin curve eastbound to the dam underneath the west side of the new bridge. It is right above the old road at that point.
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 Last Air Force Base - Nellis. Layne's plane. He was the last crew chief on this plane before it was retired - no reflection on his maintenance abilities!!
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 Almost home - the red rocks north of St. George were a familiar site.
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 At Exit 100 - a Ranch Exit - we found a historical marker about the Parley P. Pratt expedition to Southern Utah in 1849. Lo and behold, there is Isaac B. Hatch. This was a fun find!
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