14 July 2024

On Sunday we attended church in Paris, Idaho. The church was next door to the Paris Tabernacle which was dedicated in 1888. Settlers gathered materials for 20 years before beginning construction on the sandstone tabernacle. We arrived in time to tour the tabernacle before church began.

Craftsmen finished the interior with white pine. The tabernacle has been lovingly maintained for over 130 years and is the pride of the community. The interior was decorated for a musical program held at the tabernacle on the 4th of July.

After church we visited Becky's parents in Pocatello and then met Sarah and Joe at the Haight Home in Oakley, Idaho. Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was born and grew up in this home. Currently the home is available as a vacation rental.

The owner has restored the home with comfortable antiques, honoring the history of the house while still making it livable/ Gibson tried out the old pump organ in the parlor.

Zina and Waylon also joined us. Waylon is an adorable 4 month old.

This is a photo of Zina and Waylon. He's small and strong.

Oakley is near several quartzite quarries and ships decorative rock all over the world. Some of the rock, like the pavers in this walkway, get used at home.

Oakley is also known for its historic houses. The town hosts a home show every other year. We enjoyed walking around and admiring the beautiful houses.

And these quaint bird houses.

Oakley used to have its own pioneer era tabernacle, but the tabernacle burnt down in 1965. Ironically, the site where the tabernacle used to be is now the location of the fire department.

On Monday we drove to the City of Rocks. This interesting geologic formation near the Idaho Utah border was created by two separate uplifts of granite. These pinnacles, the Twin Sisters, near the edge of City of Rocks show both types of granite. The sister on the left made from Green Creek Complex granite and is about 2.5 billion years old. The sister on the left is only about 26 million years old and is made of softer granite from the Almo Pluton. The younger sister will wear away before the older sister.

Cracks and joints in the rocks make them susceptible to weathering. Salt from the nearby Great Salt Lake playa and acidic plants combine with water to erode the granite into weird and wonderful shapes. We enjoyed exploring the landscape.

The rock formations defy gravity.

City of Rocks attracts rock climbers from around the world. The Green Creek Complex granite is speckled with large crystals that make excellent hand holds.

Other types of rocks have intruded into the Almo Pluton, forming dikes that cross the Pluton in distinctive stripes.

Here's a place where the water has worn a hole in the granite. 

We called this formation Hawk Rock before looking it up and learning that its official name is Hawk Rock. 

This is Window Arch.

We've seen arches made of sandstone in Utah. This arch is made of granite.

We stopped for lunch at the edge of a stand of Aspen trees. The grove provided shade, cooler temperatures and the opportunity to watch beautiful blue pinyon jays.

We learned more about the geology and history of the City of Rocks at the Visitors' Center.  One corner highlighted a woman named Clara Campbell who had a homestead in the area. The display caught Brandan's eye because it mentioned a man named John Hull.

Back home, Brandan learned that John Hull was the son of his great-great grandfather, William Gibson Hull, and the brother of his great-grandfather, Robert Hull. Homesteading in the City of Rocks was a hard life. After seven years, the family moved on, eventually settling in California.

We stopped in Albion for homemade ice cream. Clockwise from the top are chocolate, strawberry and cookies and cream.

Monday night we took another short walk around town and saw the very unusual sight of numerous owls flying between the trees. We saw up to six owls at a time, but there were probably more than a dozen. A few bats also flew past us as the sun set.

We drove home on Tuesday with greater appreciation for Southern Idaho. From the left are Gibson, Zina, Waylon, Joe, Becky and Brandan.

Here are the same people with Sarah swapped for Joe. We're thankful to the Hatches for a lovely visit.

Our friend, Stephanie, took her son to lacrosse camp at BYU and ran into Camden and Abe working at FSY. She sent us this fun photo.

Brandan and Becky enjoyed dinner and a play with friends on Friday night. From the left are Brandan, Becky, Brad, Erica, Greg and Angel.

We planted our new trees just before the current heat wave hit. We've had temperatures as high as 111 degrees. Brandan got some shade fabric to provide relief for our frizzled maple tree.

Abe sent a couple of photos from his week at FSY. Here he is with some of the youth.

Another FSY photo.

Abe and Camden have moved on to Redlands, California. Their next group of FSY will arrive Monday morning. In the meantime, they went to the Redlands temple Saturday night.