This Is the Place!

We combined the trip to see the Utah lavender fields (see yesterday's post) with a jaunt through the Mt. Nebo area.
Lots of folks had told us the Mt. Nebo loop was a pretty drive so we thought we'd investigate.
There was nice scenery right off the bat.

The guidebooks said nothing about Cow Parades though.


One of the cows told Bernie she knew a really great spot for fishing and she was willing to show him where it was.
Such nice cows we have here in Utah.

Perfect kind of road for a leisurely drive.
Except when we got to where the Mt. Nebo loop officially begins there was a
"Road Closed" sign up.
Perhaps there was road damage from the heavy winter snows this year.
A tad disappointing...but we chose to drive what we could along another fork.

Salt Creek ran alongside the road and B. hopped out of the car ever so often to scout likely fishing holes.
I went about scouting likely eye pleasing scenes.
I think I would of won, had there been a contests going between us.

Mushroom grown along an old plank.
Wonder if I could eat it.
(The mushrooms that is, not the plank...)

Actually I did look about for morels, but kept getting distracted by the views overhead.

Ever wonder why pictures always look great when they include rustic fences?


I'm not sure if this cow was hired just to stand around in case someone came by with a camera.
The bovine kept positioning herself (himself? I didn't check...) smack dab in front of me like a professional model.



Another shot?
Sure, why not...
I'll email you a copy. What's your email address?

moo@gmail.com



There were three campgrounds along Salt Creek.
We drove into Ponderosa Campground to check out their sites.
I liked #8 personally. There was a fence like this one and just a few feet beyond, a waterfall.


On our way out of the campground we mentioned site #8 to the campground host.
He said there really wasn't anything but good sites in Ponderosa.
I think I would tend to agree with him.
There was one space left for the weekend...and had we been loaded up with camping gear we surely would have grabbed it on the spot!

Instead we wandered back out of the area.

Enjoyed the ever changing scenery...

Scenes ranged from heavy forest and streams to desert like sand dunes in less than three miles.

A wild flower ringed reservoir looked fishable...and photographic...


Above us was more gorgeous scenery.

The soft sound of sheep calling Maaaa as they trotted along the pasture added to the beauty.

I enjoyed watching the reservoir overflow chute handling sparkling water.

Blackbirds were calling from the shoreline flora.

This clover looking flower smelled wonderful...and the bush was about two feet high so I don't think it actually was clover though.

OK...I need your help on this one.
The plant growing this fruit was tall, like six feet or so, and had the red turning to black berries and each clump also had the prickly looking berry too.

Any guesses out there?
I like the pink stems...

Another view of the reservoir chute....the granite at the end of the chute looked so worn I had to wonder how long it had been there.

The next day, Saturday, our local humor columnist wrote about how people wind up moving to Utah.
Many originally came for religious reasons, but it didn't take long for people of all religions to come to the area too.
Folks moved for business reasons, for military assignments, for college, for all sorts of reasons.
The columnist wrote that while Brigham Young declared "This is the place" back in 1847, when he himself moved to Utah with his family as a child from Southern California, he said his declarations was "This place sucks!"
He wrote about how most folks are not in Utah by choice...that he had never heard of anyone just deciding to move to the state without some necessary reason.
And that it takes years for folks like himself to finally decide that they like it hear.
Maybe I should call him up and introduce myself.
I can't imagine Bernie and I being the only people who have visited Utah and decided that this IS the place to live just because it is so beautiful.
(In fact I know that several celebrities have homes in the area and they could live anywhere they wanted to.)
Just wanted to share what we saw as we drove around, about an hour and a half from our home, on this past Friday afternoon.
Brigham Young and I differ on a lot of things, but I totally agree with him on one thing:

Northern Utah: This Really Is The Place!