Our A&M Graduate

Jamin and Ambassador (Ret)  Napper

Congratulations to Jamin - a new graduate of the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M. He now has two Masters degrees in Security Studies and International Relations. He envisions a life of public service in the National Security or Diplomatic Corps. 

He has a couple of irons in the fire, and we aren't 100% sure of where he is going next. I believe I will not say anything more until we ARE 100% sure. On a side note, if he goes into these fields we will be limited in future updates.

We're proud of  Jamin's vision for service and the hard work he is putting into pursuing preparation to serve. 

Some of have asked, "Why two masters and not a doctorate?"  He wanted more breadth in his educational background. He talks about pursuing the doctorate - after he works a few years. 

One last picture with H.W. 

For now, he needs to sell the rest of his stuff, rest, fly to Seattle and drive to Alaska with Josiah. He'll spend the summer in Alaska. 

Down the Road...."Church-docking"

We got back to the campsite after exploring Register Rock, hooked up Nimo and headed down the road - totally refreshed. 

Driving day.....

 THIS is mostly the #ViewFromMyWindshield today

BUGS!

We had gotten permission to boondock/urbandock/moochdock at a local church for the evening. They had a great spot - and it wasn't being used on a Thursday night.  Thanks for the hospitality!

We had barely arrived when Beth followed us into the parking lot. She had been down the road picking up a watermelon when she saw us. We spent a lovely afternoon visiting with her, Don, her parents and their kids - minus Sweet Sarah, who we saw on the way out. 

Jon and Heather

Jon, Heather, Jordan, Stacia, Nolan, Alex

We called it a night around 10 p.m. and went back to the church. Yikes. Someone had opened the fire hydrant and it had blown water across the parking lot and all the way back here. Uchi is an ARK! 😛

Register Rock

The view was still great this morning! 

We drove around to the spot where travelers on the Oregon/California Trail used to camp. We were looking for Registration Rock.  

Trains would camp in this meadow beside a salmon stream, cook dinner and then carve their names in the rocks around the area.

This is the moment when we discovered Salmon jumping up the creek....I took photos and videos, but I don't think you can see them. I'll check later. It's hard to edit on windy roads. 

We loved the above story of J.J. Hansen. 

Indian head - carved when he was 7 and camped here; he visited years later in 1902. 

Trying to spot the preacher's and Indian's heads

I don't see the preacher's head....

Michael went exploring the area. We knew there had to be wagon ruts....I suspect much was destroyed when the interstate was built.....

Though they aren't walked bare.....these appear to be wagon ruts. 

This was a great morning drive. We were fascinated with the  history of the spot....and it's ideal for a picnic. It's not far from the Interstate and worth your stop if you are driving be.

Massacre Rocks State Park/ Hiking the OR Trail, #WYFF

For photos of the camping sites see this post. There are tent sites, pull through sites and back in sites. All RV sites were full hook ups. It cost us $32 (camping fee, park entrance fee and taxes).  The park is right near a rest area and is outside of American Falls, ID.  Here is the Official ID website for the park. We saw several sites where we would fit with a 38 Foot Class A and a toad. 

Decumanus at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

This is a fascinating park. It's named for these big formations on the banks of the Snake River in Idaho.  We discovered three names for the boulders - Massacre Rocks, Devil's Gate and Gate of Death. The area was widened for the freeway to go through.  At the time of the Oregon Trail - one wagon could go through this pass at a time.  This is the site of  massacres by the Shoshoni in 1851 and 1862.

Wagon trains stopped in the area and camped for the night. It's fairly easy to find wagon ruts still left from those times. Many carved their names and dates on Register Rock as they camped in the area. 

We began our explorations at the Visitor Center. There are some stories from the area, a couple of displays and diaries to look at. They also have a small bookstore. 

We left the Visitor Center armed with new information, maps and directions from the friendly clerk.  We headed out to hike along the Oregon/California trail. It was beautiful and brought history alive. 

Stacia, Nolan, Alex & Michael at the Snake River

 

 At this point I was told, "You take photos of the flowers, we're going to find the Oregon Trail." 

 These are some of many wagon ruts left from the migration west. 

Confirmation we found the right trail....

Allowing people to hike the ruts, does keep them well-defined.

We were happy to complete the hike and find Nimo waiting for us. 

Stacia really wanted to swim in the river. She asked at the Visitor Center and was told, "The water is 48* degree. Each year we lose people who jump in and die within minutes due to hypothermia."

She replied, "So that means no?" 😯

The lady relented and told her it WOULD be o.k. to hike the trail to the dock and dip her toes into the Snake River. That is just what we did on our way back from the Oregon/California trail.

COLD WATER

Look how red his feet are! 

 We hadn't remembered our water bottles, and two of us hiked in Crocs with no socks....but we had fun and made memories. 

We headed back to our campsite for dinner. We saved Register Rock for tomorrow morning. 

Michael spent time editing a paper for Krista on Women in Leadership. I need to read that paper.  I went for an evening  walk with Yuuki. The  kids enjoyed their screens. 😯

Uchi seen from down the bank.

Eventually, I would down around the river. Yuuki chased a couple of ducks and thought it was great fun. There were hundreds of swallows flying around.....

They were flying back to holes in the side of this bluff

 Michael was done with the paper when I got back to Uchi. He and the kids came down to watch the fish jump and swallows fly.

  #WYFF are weekly snapshots of where we are - and I know it's NOT Friday, but since we're usually not having fun on Friday, I'm going to start using a bit of creative license. I can't imagine anything better that this day.