Sawtooth Mountains and Sun Valley Idaho

I apologize for the lack of photos...having difficulty here but will post them to an album in Facebook.... enjoy!  www.facebook.com/kfbrown

We said goodbye to extreme heat in the desert and travelled north on I15, stopping off  in Springville Utah for a couple days to cool down and regroup. That area is just south of Salt Lake City, very heavy traffic, and tons of road construction. We couldn't even determine where to be most of the time, there were so many orange cones and barrels! The trip north from Las Vegas took one very long hot travel day, but I was determined to get up out of the heat! My plan was to stop along the way and see Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, but with forecasts of 119, I said we'd take a raincheck! We left there and scooted on north through Salt Lake and after leaving the city behind, we had an easy day's ride to Heyburn Idaho. We have spent the weekend exploring southern and central Idaho. Friday we spent viewing the Shoshone Falls, Perrine Bridge and Snake River Canyon. Shoshone Falls are higher than the famous Niagra Falls. We were lucky to be here when there was high water. This weekend in Burley is the 37th Annual Idaho Regatta on the Snake River. We walked down by the river in the afternoon and watched some of the qualifying rounds of the racers. We missed seeing some of the best and biggest racing boats in the world, but its a choice of which beautiful thing to spend your time with! Large crowds are not my favorite thing anymore either. Too many things, too little time. Saturday we covered a loop of about 500 miles, heading north to the Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Sun Valley Idaho and the Wood River Valley. A beautiful place, many awesome houses in Sun Valley, but I was not taken in by the lifestyles of the Rich and Famous!  I am partial to mountains as the Rockies were a big part of my childhood. The views from the top of the Galena Summit were spectacular and the water in the Salmon River is clear and crisp. The temperatures were in the low 70s with a stiff breeze. Two moumtain peaks, Castle peak and Mount Borah still bears pristine white snow and that's the best way to view it! Incredible contrast to the blue in the skys and fluffy while clouds in passing. We had a picnic lunch in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, enjoying our sandwiches by a creek. We headed back down the valleys, by the MacKay Reservoir and back to meet the Interstate at Blackfoot Idaho. Back down in the southern flats, the irrigated fields presented very green and lush. They grow a lot of contracted potatoes for french fries, Malt Barley for Coors Brewery and many fields of alfalfa, mowed and baled for the many dairies and other stock. It's a great open place. We will move on East sometime early this week after I get my mail and we get the coach looked at. Our turbo isn't boosting like it should and it makes for a slow tedious ride and I don't care to do that in the mountains and hills of Oregon that lie ahead!