Fifty-One Years Later, The Twin Falls Temple & The Snake River Canyon

We went to our "Murtaugh High School" class reunion (held on Friday evening and Saturday in Twin Falls, ID) this past weekend. Carma's sister Rita went with us. They combined the reunion for many class years (1945 - 1960) since the class sizes are all so small. That 15 year span included 240 graduates of MHS and there were over 90 of us who attended the reunion. Since we were the class of "59" we were some of the youngest in attendance. Imagine that!!






Their were 18 in our graduating class and 12 of them made it to the reunion - pretty good. So, here we are, the class of 1959, just 51 years out of high school. I won't try to identify anyone for you - you don't know any of them anyway. (Except for those who know our relatives - that's Linda Goodman in the yellow outfit.) Two of our classmates are deceased and one they could not locate. And, two that we double dated with all the time, who were our closest friends in high school, live nearby (Kimberly, for those who know the area) but had a granddaughter getting married in Utah on the same day so we didn't get to see them.


Anyway, it was fun catching up on old times. And confirmed my unalterable view, that growing up on a farm in Idaho it about as good as it gets. (And, as you can see, some age better than others.) We also stopped and visited with Aunt Marva, Uncle Dale, and Brian on our way - sorry, forgot to take pictures while there.

But, I took a picture of the new Twin Falls temple, which is very close to the Snake River Canyon and, like all the temples, a beautiful building.

Our motel in Twin Falls was also close to the canyon and something that was new (sometime in the last 50 years) is that there is a nice paved trail next to the Perrine Memorial Bridge along the Snake River Canyon, so I took a few pictures. Amazingly, after I put away my camera, I looked up and saw someone jump off the bridge. Fortunately, it was a paraglider and after dropping a couple hundred feet, his glider opened and he guided himself to a nice landing on the bank.

View (below) from under the bridge (west side) looking North.

View of the Snake River looking upstream (below).

Well, when I noticed a second person jump off the bridge, I grabbed my camera case and got my camera out just in time to zoom in just a bit before he landed. You can just see the top of his (red) paraglider just as he gets to the shore line to land. (The little red piece in the lower center of the picture). Anyway, I hadn't seen the bridge in many years and it was certainly the first time I ever saw somebody jump off. Apparently they let them do it on weekends when weather conditions are right. Fun!

Oh yes. One more thing. Carma and I have been married 47 years as of Sunday (yesterday)!
(And, if you don't know, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. I thinks the views of the bridge and the canyon are pretty nice.)

happy anniversary mom and dad!

I don't have a wedding picture, but I do have your high school graduation. So that will have to do.

47 years is a pretty big deal, after all.

Home Flowers and Bell Canyon Hike

We have had lots of nice comments on our yard this year so I took a couple pictures




And, I took a hike today up Bell Canyon:

This is lower Bell Canyon Reservoir

Bell Canyon Creek

Bell Canyon Falls: this is about a 3 mile hike with about a 1500 feet elevation change. It is fairly rugged - steep, and the trail is mostly rocks about a mile after you leave the lower reservoir. These falls are large, about 30 feet across and 150 feet high. You may have heard earlier this spring about the young couple (first date) who tried to cross the stream above the falls - they were running VERY high. He jumped across on some rocks, she tried, fell in, he grabbed her and she pulled him in. They both went over the falls. Somehow he survived (when you look at the falls I don't know how). She did not; they did not find her for 3 days - she had been pushed downstream and eventually they found her caught under a log. Sad - but the falls are beautiful.

View of the Salt Lake Valley from Bell Canyon Falls (elevation about 6600 feet)

Cliffs above the Bell Canyon Falls. You can also climb to upper Bells Canyon Reservoir, but it is an additional several miles AND about 3000 feet higher (9650 feet elevation).

Happy 33rd James !!

We love you and your wonderful (and expanding) family.