It 's All About Sheep

From Salt Lake City, we headed to Sun Valley. We planned to just chill out for a bit at the end of our road trip. Sun Valley is only 70 or so miles from Gooding--Jerry's birthplace--and we'd decided this was a good place to celebrate his birthday. There seemed to be a certain symmetry to ending our trip in this spot.

We were last in the Valley about 30 years ago. At that time, too, we were there to celebrate our anniversary and Jerry's birthday. On that trip, we had found Ketchum and Sun Valley completely shut down for the season. Almost no restaurants, galleries, or shops were open. We had the place essentially to ourselves--or at least that's how our 30-year memories see it.

It was clear, from the moment we pulled into town, that things had changed. Hailey and Ketchum have changed a lot, and things looked very busy in both towns, not to mention that there had been a tremendous amount of building.

The locals consider things to be slow in this in-between season, but restaurants and shops and galleries were open all over the place. A lot of them were having end-of-season sales, and the restaurant at our inn closed on the Saturday of our stay for 5 weeks. Everyone, of course, wants to be open at the onset of the holidays and the ski season.

Unbeknownst to us, we had arrived in town just in time for the 16th annual Trailing of the Sheep. Everything in town was focused on sheep. There was a fiber festival, with fiber artists and "celebrities" holding shows and teaching classes. Lamb was being featured at all area restaurants. National qualifying sheep dog trials were being held on Saturday and Sunday. There was a Sheep Folklife Fair on Saturday. And then, the grand finale on Sunday, the actual Trailing of the Sheep--when 1,700 sheep are brought down from summer pastures and paraded through Main Street Ketchum.

We hadn't planned this set of diversions, but decided to go with the sheep flow.

Friday was Jerry's birthday. It was a pretty low-key day. We spent most of the day reacquainting ourselves with the Valley--Ketchum, Sun Valley, Elkhorn, and Warm Springs. Very little looks like we remember it. But, growth or no, it's still an incredibly pretty area. As luck would have it, the fall color looked to be at its peak. And the weather was perfect. The aspens and birches and willows all shimmered in the sunlight, in shades of gold and rust.









After our preliminary explorations, we spent a little time in town doing some birthday shopping. We participated in an early evening gallery walk, then had a nice dinner in a very romantic Italian restaurant.

On Saturday, we headed off to the sheep dog trials in a canyon outside Hailey. We've never attended anything like this, but have seen snippets on TV. It was very interesting to watch, and we're now all the more amazed at what these crafty dogs are asked to do. Even with binoculars, we could barely see the group of 5 sheep at the end of the trial field. The dog was given a command to go get the sheep and to complete a series of tasks, all guided by the handler's whistles. Each dog has 10 minutes to complete its tasks. The crowd was clearly more knowledgeable than we. After a bit, we picked up on what was deserving of applause or the sighs when a dog did something that essentially eliminated it from the competition. Quite intriguing. And, my, those dogs are really something. They can run like the wind, and they can really "read" their sheep.











After spending some time at the trials, we moved on to the Folklife Fair, also in Hailey. It was packed with people, and we had to park a long ways away. Different groups were performing music and dancing throughout the day. All were representing cultures involved in shepherding. We had a Peruvian group, and some Basque dancers from Boise. There was also a group of Polish dancers from Chicago. A real highlight was a bagpipe and drum group from Boise.













We got to watch some sheep shearing. We ate a lamb sandwich from one of the food booths and wandered around looking at lots of wool items from different cultures and all sorts of things sheep related.




















There were some nicely restored Basque sheepherder wagons, which were fun to see. Jerry has always talked of his grandfather's early days in the Valley, when he lived in one of these wagons and tended sheep.









We had planned to leave fairly early Sunday and make it all the way home to Portland. But then we heard about the sheep parade, which, of course, wasn't scheduled until noon. After all, they have to get those 1,700 sheep down out of the hills, down Hwy. 75, and all the way into the middle of Ketchum. We didn't want to miss this unforeseen opportunity, so we changed our plans and decided to stay to watch the parade. As it happened, the staging ground and the start point for the parade was directly in front of our inn, which was a little ways north of downtown Ketchum. We went out to watch the various Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops arrive and the Peruvian, Polish, and Basque dance groups. There was a sheepherder's wagon pulled by a nice pair of gray draft horses. We also had the bagpipers, who were the performing group just before the sheep. We had a local priest in full cassock and with a shepherd's staff who walked right before the sheep, after blessing the flock.














And then came the unruly sheep. They didn't show up until about 12:45pm. At 12:30pm, after the crowds had been waiting for about an hour, the parade had been started, with very long gaps between the marching groups, trying to make up for the still-missing sheep. But now the sheep were ready, and when you have 1,700 creatures on a forward trek, you really need to keep moving. So it all happened kind of quickly once the woollies were on the scene.


















We had heard that the sheep had gotten spooked a couple years earlier, and 200 of them had swarmed onto the inn property. We had set ourselves up to watch down the hill from our inn, along the highway. Several of us from the inn had discussed the awkwardness of our potential escape routes should the sheep head our way. A little ways north of us, the sheep indeed got very antsy and started moving in our direction rather than staying confined to the road. We and a few others started moving toward the slope, but then everything seemed to straighten out.

Then, just a short ways after they passed by us, a few sheep decided to climb a steep hill instead of proceeding down the street. Unfortunately, when a few sheep decide to do something, there can be a lot of other sheep that choose to follow. This caused quite an interesting delay as a number of handlers and dogs climbed that bluff and urged the sheep to head back down the hill and join their fellows.














And then, all of a sudden, it was all over. No dancers, no sheep dogs, no sheep. Just street sweepers.

We left town by a back route through Elkhorn and drove south before taking Hwy. 20 toward Boise via Mountain Home. It turned out to be a very pretty route. We drove through the Camas Prairie area and through some scenic hills.









Though we're eager to be home, it's a bit sad to leave behind all the pretty sights, wide open spaces, and mountains we've seen these past 3 weeks.






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Heading Back West

Monday morning, we turned the car west and started our trek toward home. We went back through the Black Hills and then crossed into Wyoming.
We spent the night in Laramie. It's a very appealing town and has lots of historic, 2-story brick buildings. We were surprised to learn that Laramie has Wyoming's only university. This made the town feel very vital and active. Laramie has just over 30,000 people, and the university adds 13,000 to that.
On Tuesday, we headed out on the remainder of our drive to Salt Lake City. West of Laramie, we found more grasslands. We saw several prairie dog areas and spotted an alert coyote strolling.
Soon, however, the grasslands gave over to sagebrush and scrub. No longer were there cattle grazing or any visible signs of habitation. The views were vast, but rather flat and colorless. We saw lots of wind turbines, snow fencing, and oil refineries. And we drove past the famous Little America, where Jerry can remember stopping for 5-cent ice cream cones as his family traveled to Kansas to visit relatives, many decades ago. (The cones are now 50 cents.)












Suddenly, we hit the Wasatch Range, and we were amid pretty hills with trees and the first blushes of fall color. The highway curved its way through the hills, passing Park City with its myriad condos and ski town amenities. The change in topography and the comparatively lush plant life was very welcome for these native Northwest folks.
We then wound our way down into Salt Lake City--our first good-sized city in over 2 weeks. The weather was perfection. Sunny and warm--so welcome after the cold temps we'd been having for the past week.
After we got settled into our room, we hustled down to the lobby, where they were having their late afternoon wine event--not so much for the wine, but because they were offering free chair massages. What a nice way to unkink our necks and backs after two long days in the car. Then we set off to get a taste of this city that we've flown through a number of times but never visited. Our hotel was just 2 blocks from Temple Square, so we went to explore. The light was pretty and showed off the interesting architecture in the square. (Top: the Temple; Bottom: Assembly Hall)








We came back to our hotel through City Creek Center, a mall which is across the street from the south entrance to Temple Square and is full of water features--including a "performing" fountain that's quite captivating--and lots of plantings. The mall was built by the church at a cost of $2 billion in cash, we were told.
















Jerry had mentioned that we were celebrating our 45th anniversary while I was getting us checked into our hotel. Our front desk person, Kendall, was so excited. She upgraded us to a deluxe king room and said they'd send us a bottle of wine. When we returned from our wandering, we found not only the promised wine, but a cheese board with 4 local cheeses, grilled bread, salami, and olives. This was accompanied by a cute card the staff had put together, with hearts and wedding rings drawn on it and signed by five of them. What a nice Idea. And they weren't done yet with their special touches. When we arrived at the hotel restaurant for dinner, the maitre d' wished us happy anniversary as he seated us and handed us our menus--which had been printed with our names and a notation about us celebrating our 45th anniversary. At the end of the meal they brought us a dessert of our choosing. We left the restaurant feeling very feted indeed.
The next morning, we went back to visit Temple Square more thoroughly. Our first order of business was to take a tour of the Beehive House, Brigham Young's home. We also visited the beautiful Assembly Hall. We finished that just in time to take in the daily organ recital in the famous Tabernacle. There is a different program and organist each day. Quite fabulous. The organist made a point of playing pieces that show off the range of the huge organ. I swear I felt some of the lower register bits reverberating off my ribs and spine!
The Beehive House:








The Temple:




The Tabernacle organ:




After lunch--10 stories up and overlooking the oft-photographed Temple--we went to visit the Family History Center. A local friend had mentioned that it was a friendly place to visit, and I have several friends who have made pilgrimages to this fount of all things genealogical. So we decided to give it a try. There were dozens of volunteers to help us get started. A nice woman sat with Jerry and me at two computers, helping each of us do a little impromptu family research. It was great fun, and we both learned things we didn't know about our family members.

A bird's eye view of the Temple:




The lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the building in which our 10th story restaurant resided:




The beehive symbol is everywhere--from newel posts to carpets to State Hwy. signs. It's meant to symbolize being industrious and the concept of working together. I doubt I'll ever forget that Utah is the Beehive State.








Our former interim pastor, Scott Dalgarno, is now the head of staff at Wasatch Presbyterian in SLC. We had arranged before we left on our trip to meet up if possible. In between meetings, Scott was able to join us for a quick dinner. It was great to catch up and hear stories of his time in SLC. It was a perfect warm late afternoon, and we were able to sit out on a lovely patio and enjoy the nice weather.
We're glad we stopped to see this city. It was a nice break from our journey across the Plains, and we got to see some things we've long heard about.
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Ah, the Badlands

From the Black Hills to the Badlands is not a very long trip, so we had the luxury of spending a part of that travel day visiting Mount Rushmore and driving through the Black Hills. But now it was time to visit our furthest point on our trip--the Badlands National Park.

On our way, we paid a visit to Rapid City, South Dakota, for our lunch break. What a nice town. Lots of 2-story buildings, a Main Street, everything looking very much like it was thriving. No empty storefronts. No rundown properties. There was an Oktoberfest underway in a square in the center of town. Lots of people out and about. A very nice park just a couple blocks off Main Street.

After wandering around downtown Rapid City for a bit, we took a secondary road to the park, rather than I-90--a more scenic approach to the Badlands. It is rather startling. You're driving across the plains for about 80 miles, and suddenly there are the most amazing rock formations.

We took a drive through a portion of the formations at sunset, soon after arriving, just to get our toes wet. Loved the views. It is so quiet, out amongst the rocks. And what you see is so beyond what you might expect. Makes for a special experience.





The light is very different in the morning. This is the view from our cabin.





After breakfast, we headed out on the Badlands Loop Road that takes you through the heart of the rocky wonderland. There are parts of the park that are eerily desolate. Parts reminded us of images we've seen of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in the Middle East. It's a very unusual area. In some ways, pretty. In other ways, remote and harsh. And each time you come around a bend, the view is different. It might be staring down into jagged spires, or it might be a sweeping view across the grasslands. But then it might be more gently shaped mounds or looking up to castle-like formations.
















We took a number of boardwalk trails out into the rocks and trails to viewpoints at the edges of precipices. But we weren't very tempted to stray. These signs were at every entrance to every walk, no matter how short or long.




We went to Wall, South Dakota, for lunch and visited the famous Wall Drug. What an odd place. It's huge, a maze of attached shops, and crawling with people. There was some nice merchandise here and there and an actual drugstore. But there was also every form of ticky-tacky tourist souvenir "stuff" known to man.

After this dose of reality, we headed back to our National Park lodge. We decided to drive back the way we'd come so we could see the formations from a different perspective and with the late afternoon light.

As it turned out, it was also a better opportunity to see animals. We visited a prairie dog town. We also saw a coyote out, presumably for a dinner stroll.

We watched a buffalo walking across the grasses. He came from quite a distance away. Several of us were watching him approach. He seemed to be making a beeline for us, and we all knew we needed to retreat to our cars if he got too close. But he just walked on by without any interest in us. He obviously had someplace to go. The prairie dogs scurried as he passed through, but he paid no attention to anyone or anything.








And we got to see a small group of bighorn sheep.






While we spent time in the Badlands, we saw some beautiful sights. At times we were on the valley floor (actually the Buffalo Gap National Grassland), looking up. Or we might be driving on a high plateau or along a canyon rim. We could be driving through what felt like prairie, yet 20 feet away was this odd, chiseled, eroded, unearthly view of rocks. Quite fascinating.

Especially loved the feeling of the vastness of the grassland and the play of light and shadow from the clouds.




After we got back to our homestead, we sat on our deck and watched the sun set. A group of 6 deer wandered past us, just a few feet away, nibbling grasses. We had a pair of cottontails also sharing the sunset with us, as well as a lone porcupine.





















All in all, quite a visit to this unusual and special spot.


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