August Trip to California Part 2

After leaving St George at about 7 am, the sky was dark with rain clouds.  And we were going through this incredible Virgin River Canyon in the northwest corner of Arizona.

 

We are still on I-15 but are now in Nevada.

This scene is near Glendale, Nevada and Rt 169 south toward Lake Mead.

  I love the photo of this butte! 

This is a poor photo of the Las Vegas skyline as we pass at 60 miles per hour!  (Ha,Ha)

This scene is of Calico, California and the ghost town there.  It is near Barstow and I believe was a mining town.

This is the Calico Bunkhouse or a reproduction of one.  We did not go in to see the chost town because they wanted $14.00 for the two of us and we thought that was too much just to walk around old buildings there.

This is a beautiful Joshua tree that we saw.  They were prevalent from the time we drove into Nevada.

The next few photos are of scenes on I-15 south of Barstow and Victorville in California.

 

 

This is Lake Elsinore in California from the top of a winding mountain road known as Rt 74 which ran west from Sun City over to San Juan Capistrano. From San Juan Capistrano we would  head south on "the 5" (I-5) to San Clemente and Jim's brother's home.

The next few photos are of that winding road.  It was beautiful and the most direct route to San Clemente.

 

This house was built on the side of that montain.  I imagine they had a great view.

This proves that we did make it to the top of the mountain in our Jeep.

This couple, sitting on the rock enjoying the view of Lake Elsinore, made an interesting shot.

Many of the curves made us slow down a bit!

Phew, finally a straight road as we head to San Juan Capistrano.  Remember the story of the Swallows?

Part 1 Bike Ride on Rio Grande Trail, August 18, 2012

 This is the "group" of the "fast riders" heading north at the end of the Legacy trail toward the Rio Grande Trail.  Elder Dotson is in the orange then the Moberlys on the Tandem Recumbant and Jim on his bike.  This was in Farmington.

Marianne is by a vegetable stand where we picked up some free vegetables.  Ask me sometime about the story of us and our vegatables.

This merry-go-round was in the backyard of one house.  It was so unique that I had to get a photo!  I guess that by now you can tell that I am not out for speed on these trails!  "It's the journey, not the destination!"

These are wild sunflowers that grow all over the place here in the west.

This was such a pretty small barn and fence beside the trail.

This one field was fascinating!  There were tons of birds there just munching away on something.  We stayed and watched for awhile.

Next a flock of geese came in for the lunch-time snack!

Isn't this amazing!

 

These geese have their landing gear down!

This is me at one of the gates of the Rio Grande Trail.  And yes, those are bicycle shorts!  I need the padding there which they provide.

Part 2 of First Rio Grande Rails to Trails" August 18, 2012

 This section of the trail is in Clearfield, Utah

 Marianne is riding under one of the bridges.

 These were some pretty wildflowers that I had not seen on any other ride.

 Interesting sign alongside the trail, but it is always nice to know where the potty stops are!

 Another view of the trail north as we exit a bridge.

 There are always interesting things to see on the trail.  This nice little pond was a peaceful place for these two ladies to sit.

 At one point the trail ended at a RR track and we had to dismount the bikes, walk around some fences and cross the tracks.

 This is a pretty barn with a very neat orchard behind it.

 We made it all the way to Layton, Utah!

 This is Marianne beside the Layton sign.

 More pretty wildflowers which I had to photograph.  There is a yellowjacket on one of the blooms.

 Now you can see the yellowjacket.

 We rode up to Gentile Street in Layton.  This was the furthest that Marianne had ridden this year.

 Elder & Sister Moberly on their tandem recumbent bike.  They Caught up to us.

 Elder Richard Dotson also caught up to us at the same time.

 These were beautiful trumpet-like wildflowers on the side of the trail.

 This is a close-up of the trumpet like flower.

 This was a very neat little garage with a pretty cupalo on the roof.

 There was a whole field of this plant blooming, which looked like it was cultivated.  Maybe it is lavender?

 Jim is standing by one of the gates on the Rio Grande, which almost require us to dismount; they are so close together!  This is also the Kaysville sign.