15 hours with a 5 year old
May 8, 2007: I was asked to accompany The Skirt's mom and young sister on a trip to see her family in Boise, ID. Since I didn't have anything going on at the time, and I rarely will turn down a roadtrip, I said yes. We had to compromise the roadgeek's credo of exploring the roads to get the five year old there and back as quickly as possible. On the way up, we traveled mostly at night, so I only have one picture of the trip up. On the way back, though, we left at 6am. The picts show the trip back.
Are we there yet?
Can't take many pictures on this trip, mostly because every time my young passenger sees the camera she wants me to take a picture of her. That and there's a lot of open scenery between Boise, ID and Denver, CO.
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I-84 through Ogden and points southeast has a distinct parkway feel. All the better to hide the speed traps. I'm not kidding.
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Nice!!!
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I-84 heads out of the Salt Lake Valley area...
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... and right into a tight canyon.
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It's about noon now, so the pictures should be getting a little better.
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Getting deep into the canyon now.
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The Devil's Slide. I'll be taking another trip this way in July hopefully, so I'll stop then and get a better picture of this. I was limiting the stops to not confuse the little one.
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Of course, she'll make her own stops: "I have to go potty!"
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Added bonus: the END! of a Utah State Highway! Oh, and so you know: Henefer does not have a gas station, contrary to the signage. Hope she can hold it.
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Coming up on the eastern end of the western section of I-84.
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Interesting signage here. Which way do we go?
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You think UDOT's serious about the speeds on these exit ramps?
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Here it is! The eastern END! of the western section of I-84! It's all about heading east now.
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And wouldn't you know it. As soon as we head east, not southeast, the picture quality increases dramatically. This is Echo Canyon.
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Okay, now she's crying she has to go to the bathroom so bad. Time to stop. It's interesting that Utah gives the rest area exit numbers.
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This rest stop had a massive colony of ground squirrels. Highly photogenic ground squirrels.
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Checking out the humans who will give over food.
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Hyperactive little buggers. The only time they sat still is when they were eating.
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Some freaky person feeding the squirrel.
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Okay, back to the trip. Echo Canyon was one of the major routes into the Salt Lake area since the days of the indians.
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There's not a lot of exits on the stretch of I-80 between I-84 and the Utah/Wyoming border.
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But there is a lot of scenery.
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I kept looking around for the Castle Rock and didn't see it, so I deem that Castle Rock, CO is the rightful owner of this name.
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More rock face goodness.
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We are definitely in construction season out west.
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Looks like crews are shoring up the shoulders.
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How Utah crews sign their construction-altered exits. Why 600 feet?
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Where the construction is minimal, crews opened up the lane again. The westbound lanes were closed for over 10 miles through this.
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This is where I proved to The Skirt's mom that having a camera is a good thing. This grader just knocked over the speed limit sign as we were approaching.
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Now the construction has moved to the right lane.
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This is just routine resurfacing.
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Caught in the resurfacing act!
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Wyoming is picky about what comes in I guess.
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We haven't seen the Wyoming border sign yet, but I know we're in the state because of the added-on US highway designation.
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There it is! Welcome to Wyoming.
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The first exit on I-80 in Wyoming is a business loop for both the interstate and the US highway. Impressive.
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Wyoming's DOT seems to like the pull-through signs.
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They also like having complete control over the closure of their interstates.
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I can't make this stuff up.
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Wind farm peeking over the hill.
- Where to next?
- Page 1
- This trip's Index
- Page 3
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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