Trudging Through Snow to Salt Lake City

 

I can hear it now, “What are you and Marcia thinking?”  Well, it is not as bad as it sounds, really it is not.  First, I have driven from Sacramento to or through Salt Lake City so many times I could not even begin to count them, and through all sorts of weather.  Second, we are only taking our HHR, not the motorhome.  Third, daughter Stephanie lives in Salt Lake, works in Park City, and if we don’t see her again now, we won’t see her until we return from Alaska sometime next year.  Yes, we have committed to go to Alaska…so the plan now is to leave Sacramento area right after Christmas and head down to Phoenix to visit a good friend of Marcia’s, then make our way along I-10 to Florida as weather permits.  Sometime after Easter, we will start to make our way north to Alaska.  So "NOW" is the time to make the trek east to Salt Lake City for a few days.

     

Above are pictures of Stephanie taken by my good friend Jana back in Arkansas for her “Senior Pictures” for high school.  The pictures were taken at the "Old Mill", which Marcia and I visited and blogged about earlier this year (The Old Mill -- seen in Gone with the Wind).  These pictures were taken about 7 years ago.  Below is this past May taken by me at Ryan’s graduation in Fayetteville Arkansas.  Just shows that even “Great Things” can get better with time.  

We plan to leave Saturday or Sunday….if Saturday we will only go to Reno, attend church in Reno on Sunday and head on from there.  If Sunday, we will leave after church and drive half way and finish it up on Monday.  We plan to see her after work Monday and Tuesday, but she “might” be able to take Tuesday off.  If not, then we will see her Wednesday before heading back to the Sacramento area.  All of this depends upon weather, and as of Friday night it has snowed in Utah, and will snow tomorrow….but by Monday we should have plenty of days of good weather to enjoy our short visit.

   

Here in the Sacramento area there are STILL flowers blooming!  It is mid-November, and flowers are still popping out….I sure don’t remember this happening when I lived here for my first 30+ years!

And Autumn is still in full force, as we see from today’s picture of mom and dad’s place.  As things are looking….Autumn in Sacramento might just last until December.

   

   

And yes, the Hummingbirds are still coming around, like this one coming in for a long feed.  He is one which I have shown before….the “Owner” of the feeder.  He chases all the others away except for a select few which he allows short visits to the feeder.  The other day I saw four or five Hummingbirds up in the huge tree that the squirrels play and feed in each day.  This little guy had his hands full, but eventually he chased them all away.  One or two had quick feeds at the feeder, but nothing lasted more than a second or two.  Of course, one does not have their camera with them with it is really needed.  Still have not caught a picture of the Woodpecker, or the Hawk.  Well, we have about six more weeks to go, still plenty of opportunities...and Skruffy and Bubba still have plenty of time to try to catch a Squirrel.  Below you can Skruffy's latest tactic...she sits under the front of the motorhome and waits until one of them comes down on the ground because another is hoarding the feeder.  Almost worked yesterday, Arny said....I have no idea what she would do if she ever got a hold of one...I am betting that she is not quick enough.  Before we leave I will try and get a picture of Bubba "stalking" them like a cat...