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My husband and I have taken many long tours together. We have made many trips to Moscow, Idaho, taking the children to school, taking them supplies, etc., until they were through school. The roads to Moscow were mostly winding and over hills. The scenery was beautiful during the spring and fall.
The last week of February and the first week in March of 1953, we toured all the LDS Temples in the United States. We went to Los Angeles, California, through Nevada. While in Los Angeles, my sister Glenda and her husband, John (Jack) Frances Hansen took us to Knotts Berry Farms, the Wax Museum, the Sea World, and to China Town . We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. We looked at all the things in their different stores. We went out to the shore and watched the big ships come in. We went to Glendale's “Forest Lawn", a very very large cemetary [sic] and Mausoleum. In it there are three churches; "The Little Church of the Flowers", "Wee kirk'O The Heather", and “The Church of the Recessional." People come from all over the couintry [sic] to be married, to hold furnerals [sic] or to just sit in peace and quiet in the little churches. "The Wee Kirk‘O The Heather" was recreated from the kirk at Glencian, Scotland, the home of Annie Laurie. "The Little Church of the Flowers" is a replica of the village church at Stoke Poges, England, where Thomas Gray composed his immortal "Eulogy Written in a Country Churchyard." The "Church of the Recessional" is a recreation of the parish church of St. Margaret in Rottingdean, England, where Rudgyard Kipling worshipped. Some of the most beautiful stained glass windows and some of the most renouned [sic] sculptures in the world are found in the "Church of the Recessional." The architecture in all of the buildings is copied from early English 16th century styles. In the enclosed walled "Mystery Garden", are marble statues of Mary and other Bible characters such as Moses being found in the bullrushes, Moses as a man. A large sculptured group, "The Mystery of Life", depicts life from infancy to the grave. The reproduction of Michael Angelo's colossel [sic] figure of David (20-1/2 feet high, weighing ten tons) stands in front of a building representing the Court of David.
In the Mausoleum is a stained glass window, a recreation of "The Last Supper" by Leonardo De Vinci [sic].
The builder of Forest Lawn, a Doctor Eaton, had a large hall built to house the picture of the "Crusifixion." [sic] It is a beautiful building depicting the Gothic architecture. The picture is 45 feet high and 195 feet long. After we had see the picture and heard the lecture, we had the feeling we had actually seen the events take place.
The above is quite a detailed story for a history, but I have never seen so many different things in one place as we did there.
One day, while we were seeing sights, my sister and I and our husbands traveled farther down the coast of the Pacific Ocean to Tijuana, Mexico. The stores in the town had open fronts. No heat to keep them warm. The store clerks wore heavy coats to keep them warm or to keep them from getting too cold. We saw the big race tracks were [sic] people take their famous horses to race.
My husband, Wesley, and I came home by way of Boulder Dam, which is built across the Colorado river where California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah join. We went on a guided tour through it. No one could imagine how large the different rooms are inside of it.
We drove through Zion's National Park; went through the St George. and Manti Temples, through Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, and then came on home to Kimberly, Idaho.
The last of February, 1954, our daughter Patricia's husband, Allan E Bates, called from the army post at Ft Benjamin Harrison, near Indianapolis, Indiana, to say he was going to Japan. Patricia called for us to come and get her and bring her back to Idaho . We had three days to get there, so we didn't have time to do sightseeing. While there, she took us around to see Indianapolis. Coming home, we traveled in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and home to Idaho. A blizzard was following us so we didn't get sight seeing done on the way home, either. We did stop in Springfield, Illinois, to see President Lincoln's home, his tomb, and we bought a few souveniers.
Patricia and her mother-in-law came back in Patricia's car. It wasn't in too good condition, so we had her drive in front and we drove behind so if she had any car trouble, we would know it.
In 1956 and 1957, our oldest daughter, Moena, lived in Tacoma, Washington, while her husband was in the Army at Ft Lewis, Washington. My husband, Wesley, and I made several journeys by car to see them. We went by way of Boise, Idaho, Vale, Baker, LeGrande and Pendleton, Oregon, and Pasco, and Yakama, Washington, through the Snowqulamie Pass (mountains) and through Rainier National Park. We drove up the mountain to the resort which is as near to the glacier as anyone can get in a car. The scenery was beautiful . We would see mountain range after mountain range any way we looked. Close around us, the grass was green and small flowers were in bloom. But, the wind was very cold, blowing off the glacier. The icy peak of Mr [sic] Rainier shone in the distance like a huge diamond.
The next year, 1957, we went to the west coast by way of Boise, up the Payette River to Horse Shoe Bend, Cascade, Donnelly, McCall, up the Salmon River through Riggins, Whitebird, Grangeville and spent the night with our son Donald, in Moscow, Idaho.
The next morning, we went on the Spokane, Washington. We took highway 2 to Wilber and 4 to the Grand Coulee Dam, which is built across the Columbia River. If [sic] furnishes water for irrigation and domestic use for about 400,000 people. We went through the dam which was very interesting. We then drove on to Winatchee, Washington, the apple country. We stopped there and bought a bushel of Red Delicious apples to take to our son Derald and family who lived in Seattle, Washington.
After visiting our son and his family in Seattle, and our daughter and family in Tacoma, we traveled on down the Pacific coast. It was a beautiful drive. We could see the big waves coming in and dashing against the big black rocks that are jutting out along the coast. We saw some oyster beds. We crossed the mouth of the Columbia River on a big ferry boat at a little place called Megler, Washington. We landed at Astoria, Oregon. We stopped at Seaside, Oregon, went out on the beach, went throught [sic] an acquarium [sic] that had all kinds of deep sea fish in it. We enjoyed the journey down the coast very much, because we didn't hurry. We stopped many times and looked at the ocean and took many pictures.
At Newport, Oregon, we started back across the state of Oregon, going through Corvallis, Burns, Nyssa, Boise and on home to Kimberly. The scenery along the coast was very beautiful because of the abundance of rain in that area. There were huge trees, smaller trees, large broad leaf ferns, mosses, flowers and lakes.
The last week in September, 1958, Wesley and I took another journey to see our daughter, Moena, and family who had moved from Tacoma, Washington to Beloit, Wisconsin where her husband had a job working as an engineer for Fairbanks-Morse.
We left Kimberly and went through Burley, Idaho and Ogden, Utah, Rock Springs, Rawlins, and Casper, Wyoming. From there, we took highway 20 through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. We stopped at Galena, Illinois, and went through President Ulysses S Grant's former home. It was very interesting to see. The State Historical Society is preserving it and it's furnishinings [sic] as it was when he lived in it. We then traveled easterly to Rockford, Illinois. There, we turned north about 20 miles to Beloit, Wisconsin, where our daughter and family lived.
After visiting with our daughter, Moena, for two weeks, we came back through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We drove through "The Bad Lands“ in South Dakota. This is really a sight to see. I could not describe it in a way anyone would really know what it looks like. To stand on a peak and look out over the vast expanse, it looks as if at one time all the land was the same height, flat and level . But through erosion, deep canyons, caverns, large and small peaks have formed. Some places may look like a large castle with its many rooms, turrets and windows. Some peaks will extend up into the air until the top most point will be as small as the end of my finger yet down its sides, it will have the same eroded places as a large peak. It looks as if a very heavy rain had fallen straight down and washed little canyons straight down the sides of the little peaks. The colors of the formations run in horizontal lines and are mostly grays, oranges, yellows, and tans. Anyone can look across it in any direction for miles and it all looks the same. If anyone got lost there, they would never get out because it all looks the same. We were there just before sunset. We stayed and took a picture of the sunset. It was beautiful.
We stayed at Graybull, South Dakota that night, and drove on to the Black Hills the next day. We went through the Mt. Rushmore Cave early the next morning, drove to Mt Rushmore, climbed up to the foot of the peak where there is a large building which has one side all of glass. Anyone can sit in the building and look at the Mr. Rushmore peak where the busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the granite mountain. From the building, they look life size, but we were told that the nose of Goerge [sic] Washington is 40 feet long. This will give you an idea of the size of the busts.
After we left Mt. Rushmore, we drove through Montana, and Wyoming. We went into Yellowstone Park through the east entrance, which is the Shoshone Canyon. The road was chipped out of the solid rock walls of the canyon, and not too wide. I sure was glad when we got through it . We traveled about in the Park, took a look at the geysers and took some pictures. The "Old Faithful“ and "Castle" geysers are the largest. We left the Park through the west entrance. We came home by way of Ashton, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, American Falls, and Burley, to Kimberly.
In February, 1960, Wesley and I went to Los Angeles, California, to bring my mother, Mary Ann Hogan (Tyler) home to Kimberly. We went through the Los Angeles Tempie and to Marine Land while we were there.
From Los Angeles, we went to Mesa, Arizona, stayed all night and went through the Temple while we were there. We met quite a number of our friends who had gone to Mesa for the winter. The weather there is very nice during the winter, but rather hot during the summer.
We came back home through Pheonix [sic], Wickenburg, and Parker, Arizona, Needles, California, Seachlight, Hederson, Las Vegas, Caliante, Ely and Wells, Nevada, and Rogerson, Twi n Falls and home to Kimberly.
196l---We have traveled through 23 of the 50 states, and visited 12 of the capitol cities. We have visited the Teton National Park, in Wyoming. We took a ride in a boat on Jenny's Lake. We drove to the Jackson dam and lake . It was very pretty in that area. Many large pine trees and the lakes. The Grand Teton peaks were standing close by and reaching up above everything else in that area. The park is in the side of Wyoming where it joins Idaho on the west.
We visited the volcanic formation which starts at the Yellowstone Park above Idaho Falls. The lava flow spread almost all the way through eastern Idaho from north to south. It formed many craters near Arco which area is called "Craters of the Moon." There are many places in a northerly direction across the river from Kimberly, Idaho, where the rocks have blown up forming a large mound or a long ridge of rocks that have large cracks in the top. All those cracks and holes had to open so the hot steam and gases could escape from the earth. There isn't any historical record of this huge eruption, that I know of. It must have happened at the time of the death and crucifixion of the Savior.
In 1966, the last week of February, we went to California. We took the road that would go through the famous "Death Valley“. We were told that it is so hot there during the summer time that many people in the early days met their death trying to go through. That is why it is called “Death Valley". We went through “Scotty's Castle" which was built or supervised by Scotty, an old prospector who lived and hunted treasures near there.
A very well-to-do man who was in very poor health came to that area hoping to improve his health. When he found Scotty there, he told him he would furnish all the money he needed to build him a home there where he could be out in the fresh desert air when he wanted to. This Scotty did. The building had many different kinds of wood and other materials from many countries of the world. The building was very modern for that period and much was far advanced modernization, far surpassing what was thought of at that time except by a very few. Or maybe, he was inspired. I have never heard of anything so modern at that time. He had water piped from up the canyon to the house. Each room was cooled by water running down the wall from the ceiling to the floor. It ran into a shallow pool at the bottom then collected for use again or it was recirculated. He built a large music room. A large pipe organ covered one side. He made it so it could be made to sound like any single instrument or it could cound [sic] like a very large orchestra. The kitchen was large and very convenient. The Castle cost two million dollars in the early 1920's. I don't know how much it would cost now. The Scotty Castle would be a marvel for anyone to see.
When we left the Castle, we took highway 72 through Death Valley to Baker, Barstow and Montebello, California, where my sister Glenda lives. While we were there, my sister took us to the Huntington Library at Whittier, California. The gardens around the building are very beautiful. The library contains many rare books and paintings from different parts of the world.
Our youngest son, Derald, bought a newly built home in the City of Kimberly. He lived in it two or three years and decided he would like to live in the country with his growing family. He asked us if we would trade houses with him so he could raise his children on the farm. After much thought, we decided to trade. We exchanged places. We hurried to get our household goods and other supplies arranged in the house and got ready to go to the World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas. This was in July of 1968. We went to the Fair for two days. We all went on a boat ride on the San Antonio River which runs through the city. We visited some of the very old missions and saw the “Alamo” buildings and walls. We visited many old Indian ruins in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. While in El Paso, we crossed the border into Old Mexico. We visited some of the stores. The main interest to us was the Glass Blowing factory. It was very interesting to see the men form the many glass objects while they held the glass in a huge hot furnace. They had a room adjoining the furnace room in which they had on display many, many of the things they had made. In Houston, Texas, we took a tour through the huge Astrodome in which football and probably many other games are played. On one side of the building, on an upper floor, is a large area enclosed with glass where the elite sit to watch the games. It is furnished very elaboratly [sic] in red velvet chairs and sofas. Beautiful tables and chairs where they can sit and drink or eat if they choose.
We went through the Carlsbad Cavern, an enormous cave in the grand, at Carlsbad, New Mexico. This tour was with the James Travel Tours of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In October, 1970, we took a tour on the Kirkman Bros. Bus Lines. We went northwest this time. We went through Oregon, to Seattle, Washington and visited the World Fair Grounds. We traveled through British Columbia, Canada, to Banff. We saw Lake Louise, that so many talk about. We road [sic] on a lift to the top of one of their highest mountains. It was very pretty up there. We could see many large mountain ranges covered with large evergreen trees. We went to Waterton Lake, to a park where a large herd of buffalo were kept, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada and went through the Cardston Temple while there. We came home through the pan handle of Idaho. We travelled along Coeur d' Alene Lake and town, to Moscow, Idaho, on down through the state to home in Kimberly. The same year, 1970, we went on another tour with the Kirkman Tours. This time we went to the Fisherman's Wharf, in San Francisco, took a ride on the trolley cars, went across the Golden Gate Bridge and took a boat ride on the harbor waters. We drove down the coast of California and stopped at Carmel by the Sea and visited many of the old Catholic Missions that have been restored as tourist attractions along the coast.
We went with the James Travel Tours to the Rose Parade in Pasadina, Caiifornia, 26 December, 1970 through 2 January, 1971. We visited the famous Hersts Castle, went to a Lawrence Welk show, to the Sea World, and to Knotts Berry Farms (again), where we had dinner that evening.
In July of 1971, we went with the James Travel Tours to the Hill Camorah [sic] Pageant. We visited all the church sights in Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. The Pageant was in Palmyra, New York. We visited Boston, Massachusets [sic], Delaware, Washington DC, the Virginias, and many historical evidences of the early forming of America. We visited The Betsy Ross Home (the woman who made our first flag), The Old Church (there we saw the lanterns Paul Revere hung in the church to signal which way the British were coming). Paul rode through the country by horse to warn the people.
We drove to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal is on a group of islands in the St Lawrence River. We road [sic] on a subway train that went through a tunnel under the St Lawrence River to another one of the islands, to visit the World's Fair, or Expo-67, as they called it. It was very interesting as all Fairs are. We stayed in Niagra Falls, New York, one night. While there, we went up in a "Needle" to get a better view of Niagra Falls, the Niagra River, the city of Niagra Falls and the view of Canada across the river. It was a very beautiful sight. The city is very clean and beautifully landscaped. Wesley and I could see the Falls from our hotel window.
We saw Old Ironsides and walked on it. We visited George Washington's home and plantation, the Potomac River that George Washington was supposed to have thrown a silver dollar across. The river landing is on one side of his place. We saw his monument. We visited the Capitol Building, the United Nations Building, and the Empire State Building. In Virginia, we visited the Robert E Lee College and the chapel where he worshipped (this was in Lexington). We saw Stonewall Jackson's statue and the cemetery where he and all of his family are buried. This was across the street from The Heritage House, where we spent the night. We also went through the beautiful Luray Caverns in Virginia.
The latter part of September, 1973, Wesley and I flew to Beloit, Wisconsin, to visit our duaghter [sic] Moena, and family. While we were there, Moena took us sight seeing. We went through the Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was designed and built by the owner, John Richards in the 1850's. It has three stories above the ground and a full basement. It has a circular stairway that extends from the basement through the center of the house, to the top. It is modern in its lighting, heating, water and sewer systems even if they are a little crude in comparison to the systems we have now. Water was piped from the basement through the center of the house and a faucet was installed on each floor of the house. If any member of the family didn't want or wasn't able to come down to the kitchen to eat, it was sent up to them on the Dumb Waiter. We also went through the Three Domes botanical garden in Milwaukee county's Mitchell Park. It was a very interesting place. The temperature was kept in the different rooms so that any flower from any country would thrive in it.
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