From a bunch of firsts, we now head off to explore our seconds. Or in this case, two new parks: City of Rocks National Reserve and Minidoka National Historic Site, both in Idaho. City of Rocks (City Of Rocks National Reserve (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)) is a geologic wonder that was used by the early pioneers as a landmark along their journey along the California Trail. It is an area with huge spires of granite that reminded the emigrants of the ancient ruins of Athens or Rome. Minidoka (Minidoka National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)) was the site of a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII where thousands of American-born citizens of Japanese descent living on the west coast were held for months or years. They were given 2 weeks to get their affairs in order before being removed from their homes and/or businesses and placed here.
Then we had visits with two families we had not seen in years, our niece Kayla and our sister-in-law Misty, and their children. It includes two new family members, a grandniece and grandnephew that we have never met, and Misty’s second daughter which rounds out their family to an even two girls and two boys.
No night would be complete without two desserts for Dave, a cookie from Perkins and ice cream from Wendy’s. (Kathy is too shy to mention the chocolate licorice that she got for herself in addition to the Wendy’s ice cream…)