This weekend Bob, Marcie and I took advantage of the long weekend for Memorial Day by taking a couple extra days off and driving up to Idaho to visit his Grandma Malan, the only surviving grandparent either of us has left. We kicked off our journey on Saturday evening as soon as Bob was off work and began our drive to Idaho Falls where his Uncle Rick and Aunt Heidi live. We made a small pit stop in Draper to put flowers on my Grandma Graham's grave and another one in Pocatello for dinner (at Jack in the Box!) before making it to our final destination. We made great time, but we still didn't make it in before Rick and Heidi had gone to bed. Luckily Aunt Annette was there and still up with grandma so she let us in, gave us a tour and helped us settle in before the 5 of us sat around the living room talking about kids and stories of our childhoods.
 |
| Our road trip party |
The next morning Marcie and Annette cooked us breakfast before Bob, Marcie and I went into town to get a few odds and ends from Walmart that we forgot to pack. While in town we stopped at the park to look at the falls and take a nice relaxing walk together. While there we got to see all the geese and their babies as well as a large squirrel before heading back to the house. Luckily when we got back, Heidi was home from church and I finally got to meet the woman who's house I had just slept in! We visited for a while before packing grandma up in the car and making the drive to Rupert. Finally we made it to grandma's house. Grandma Malan spends a lot of time being shuffled to other people's houses so that someone can be with her in case of an emergency, so she was pretty happy to just be home and in her own bed! Bob gave me the tour of the farm and we found a cat and her shy little kittens in the back yard that we played with for a bit before we went to Burley (one town over) to the walmart for some flowers and food for grandma's house. After Bob made an amazing spaghetti dinner, his Uncle Kirt made a surprise entrance. We all visited and then settled in for the night, with big plans for the following days.
 |
| Idaho Falls, on the river side |
 |
| Bob and I at Idaho Falls |
 |
| Marcie and I at Idaho Falls |
 |
| All the baby geese |
 |
| Our favorite baby goose |
 |
| My hubby and I in front of the Falls |
 |
| Idaho Falls |
 |
| My hubby and I again in front of the falls |
 |
| Our squirrel friend |
 |
| The squirrel up in the tree |
 |
One of the cats wandering Grandma Malan's
yard. |
 |
| Grandma's house |
 |
You know your not at a Walmart in Utah when you see
Wine and fruity alcohol in the grocery area |
 |
| My cute hubby! |
On Monday, being Memorial Day, We all went to the graveyards to put flowers on various relatives graves. Grandma was having a hard time getting in and out of the car so Marcie, Bob and I went ahead and cleaned off all the graves and planted the flowers while grandma waited in the car rocking out to Sinatra and the Beatles. Afterward Grandma treated us to dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant in Burley. Not being a fan of Asian foods, I felt pretty luck that they had a grilled cheese and fries on the menu as well. All our running about had Grandma pretty tired at this point so we took her and Marcie home to rest, while Bob and I made the drive to Shoshone Falls (they call it the Niagara of the west) It was a gorgeous sight, and Bob and I enjoyed hiking around the small footpaths and sitting on the grassy hills people watching. Finally Bob and I headed back to grandma's house, bringing pizza back with us for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening playing with cats, watching TV, visiting and going through old picture albums and yearbooks we found at grandmas as well as looking at her seashell collections. Grandma loved that we were so intrigued with her shells that she allowed us to pick one of her big shells to take home with us. She also gave me a handkerchief, since I'm now one of her grand-daughters. I picked a beautiful lacy one that I plan on framing with a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Malan in the middle of.
 |
| Shoshone Falls |
 |
| Bob and I in front of Shoshone Falls |
 |
| Rainbow in front of Shoshone Falls |
 |
| Bob and I again with Shoshone Falls in the background |
 |
| Playing our part as newlyweds! |
Tuesday, Bob and I had an early morning since we had to drive to Boise to meet some friends of ours for lunch. It's about a 2-3 hour drive, so we left at 9:30. I'm a bit of a speed demon though, so even with a gas station break, we still got there in 2 hours. Unfortunately while driving I managed to spill coffee all down the front of my white shirt, so we had to stop at the mall to find a new shirt before going to lunch at Sizzler with Jack and Alice. Jack and Alice are a retired couple we met while on our honeymoon, and we took to each other right away and became fast friends. We haven't seen them since our honeymoon so it was so wonderful to just sit and talk over lunch! They were not a bit surprised that I spilled on myself since they saw me do that quite a bit in Mexico. After lunch, Bob and I spent some more time exploring the mall, the town hall and driving the streets of Boise. Finally we headed back to Grandma's, and picked up some Arby's on the way. After eating with Grandma and Marcie, we decided to take some pictures together, and get our stuff ready to leave the next day.
 |
| Jack and Alice |
 |
| Boise's Capital Building |
 |
| The beautiful ceiling of the capital building |
 |
| Bob and I in the capital building |
 |
| The legislature room |
 |
| Bob's going for a career in politics.... |
 |
| Idaho Senate room |
 |
| Marble columns at the Idaho Capital building |
 |
| The amazing flooring in the Capital building |
 |
I don't know if we were supposed to go up here, but
obviously we did anyway. This is the balcony overseeing the
Senate room. |
 |
Another shot of the outside of the Capital
building |
 |
The patches of trees we saw on our drive
from Boise back to Grandma's |
 |
| Marcie and Grandma Malan |
 |
| Grandma Malan getting a kiss from her daughter |
 |
| Marcie and I with Grandma Malan |
 |
| Bob and I with Grandma Malan |
Wednesday we woke up early, packed up the car, cleaned up the house and hit the road. We made a lunch pit stop at Subway on the way but other than that it was a straight shot taking Grandma back to Rick and Heidi's. After dropping her off, getting her settled, and saying our good-byes and thank yous we made our way down to Lava Hot Springs to soak in the mineral pools for a while and eat dinner at the little Main Street Cafe. Finally we made it back home. Our trip was wonderful, but we were very happy to sleep in our own bed, and cuddle all our animals! Too bad we had to return to work too!
 |
| Our view on the drive home |
 |
| Welcome home! |
