Visiting the Lee's

 Ever since moving to Utah, we have wanted to travel to Idaho Falls to visit our good friends, the Lee's. We finally made it up there earlier this month. We spent about three days with them before heading over to the Jackson Hole Wyoming and Grand Tetons area.

On the way up to Idaho, we decided to stop at the Hill Air Force Museum where we saw lots of war planes and helicopters.

I particularly liked this display of all of the dog tags of Utah's fallen military members who served in the Korea, Vietnam, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars up to May 2016. It was very sobering. I so appreciate those who sacrificed their lives for my freedoms.

After the air museum, we headed to Promontory point where the railway running from the East met the railway running from the West to complete the transcontinental railroad. This is where they drove in the "Golden Spike" to commemorate the finish of the railroad. We found it a lot more interesting than we thought it would be. They put on a demonstration with two replicated trains from that era - both were steam engines, but one was powered by coal and one was powered by wood. 

The coal powered train

The wood powered train

This is a twenty-star flag. We were told that nobody had an updated U.S. flag when they held the Golden Spike Ceremony, so they used what they had. It still flies at that site.

Once we got to Idaho Falls, we stayed with the Lee's and had a fun day with them at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. It is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. Here are some pictures I took while there. It is a pretty desolate looking area, but we had a good time.

Idaho Falls is a beautiful city, especially around the temple. We enjoyed the beautiful views there.

I was impressed with this beautiful monument and water feature 

in downtown Idaho Falls.

We really enjoyed visiting Idaho Falls. We drove from there over to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and also hit the Grand Tetons.

Iconic antler arches at a park in Jackson Hole

Grand Tetons

Cabin we stayed in at the Grand Tetons. Rustic, but that's what you would 

expect at a place like this.

We stopped in Logan to take a look at the Logan Temple. The grounds were closed, but we were able to get some pictures from outside the fence.

We found that early October was a good time for this trip. The temps were pretty ideal and the summer rush was over, for the most part.