Today we got ready, fed horse and cats, left about 9 a.m. and drove over to Idaho Falls to be there for Joe's echo cardiogram on Wednesday. Remember we had the back of the SUV full of stuff from cleaning out the garage yesterday. So on the way we stopped at the Museum of the Mountain Man to drop off some old things there. Joe walked the dogs while Millie and I got the museum donations unloaded. And then left the rest at the Food Basket second hand store. There was also a couple of bags of plastic to go to the recycling center. We went to Falers for rest room stop and got some cinnamon rolls and coffee for the trip.
The drive over was quite nice, overcast, beautiful through the Hoback and Snake River Canyon. At Alpine we had lunch at the Alpine Inn's Berthoven's restaurant - real hot roast turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes - then past Pallisades Reservoir and through Swan Valley. We got to our motel, The Red Lion, about 2:20 p.m. Irritatingly, sadly, it was the room from hell. Dirty bathroom, stained rug, table ready to fall down, curtain hanging off the wall unable to cover the door/window, remote control didn't work. It made you feel like you didn't even want to sit down or lay on the bed. The water was turned off for renovating they were doing so we couldn't clean up or even wash our hands. It was supposed to come on at 5 p.m. So we waited.
In the meantime I took the dogs for an outing on the Snake River Walk right across the road. Being next to the river walk was the reason I chose the Red Lion in the first place. Although heavily overcast it was lovely out, and we enjoyed all the smells, sights and sounds. The river was thundering and roaring over the falls, and you could even feel it in the ground. An interesting thing about the falls is they run up and down the river instead of across it. They use the river at this spot for a hydroelectric project for the city, but it is wonderfully done and very scenic. A 1/4 to 1/2 mile "wall" for lack of a better word, holds the water back and the water falls evenly from the wall to make electricity, then on through the natural rock falls. The city has a green belt with walking trails all along the river.
There was where I saw the highlight of the trip - at least a hundred young geese in a huge flotilla in the canal that runs beside the river. Couldn't even get them all in one photo. I wish you could have seen them. The most interesting thing was how the dozen? or so parents were herding and protecting the babies, almost like cowboys would herd horses or cattle. There were lookouts, sometimes on the bank or usually surrounding the young ones in the water. There was no mutiny or squabbling or misbehaving. If the parents in front said turn around they all turned around and the geese on the edges kept them in a bunch. Eventually they herded the whole flock under a bridge and to a lawn where they all began to eat, with lookouts surrounding them. The dogs were interested in every bit of the park and the nature walk, but especially entranced by the birds.
When I came back from the walk we still had no water, actually there was a small trickle. I called the front desk again, and we agreed that they would move us to another room, which she said was new (remodeled), but it was upstairs. I went and check it out and it was just about the same as as the last one but the water was on. We said o.k. we'd move, since I didn't look forward to searching out another available reservation at that late time. By then Joe was really unhappy and I was getting pretty mad.
There were several restaurants very close and we went across the parking lot to Chilis, the first time we'd eaten at a Chilis, and it was very good. Joe had bbq ribs and I had a rib steak, with plenty leftover for the dogs to have a treat. Another dog walk along the river and we went to bed. The dogs really slept good and didn't want out until morning. It began to rain about 3 a.m. or so, and continued to rain all day long. I knew it was forecast to rain so had brought the dog coats and they didn't get soaking wet anyway. I was also glad to have had my raincoat because it would have been miserable without it otherwise.
