5 States in 5 Days

From Idaho to Oregon to California to Nevada to Idaho!

We started out on Monday morning and were

  headed to Bend, Oregon.

We stayed overnight with our friends

Duane & Janie Erickson.

We had fun shopping, visiting and playing "Catch-Up".

Both the food and the company were great...

Thanks for a wonderful time!

On Tuesday morning we drove through

some beautiful country

on our way to Medford where we would

attend our first Temple of the week.

First we drove through miles of lodgepole pines

Then, as we crossed over the mountain, miles

of beautiful Douglas Fir

When we arrived in Medford we went to our Motel...

It was an older, yet comfortable, clean and

recently renovated, motel.

We checked in, changed clothes and 

off we went to the Temple.

Medford was dedicated in 2002 and is a very small temple.

It is quite plain, but at the same time

very beautiful.

We were honored to be asked to serve as the

witness couple for our session.

After the session we had a light dinner at....

On Wednesday morning we started our drive

to California.

We headed south over the Siskiyou Mountain Range

and into California

We soon came to the Inspection Station.

We barely even slowed down to hear them ask....

"any fruits or plants?"

saying "no" they waved us on.

We drove straight to the Sacramento Temple which

sits high up on a 47 acre hill.  The  Temple grounds

 cover about 15 - 20 acres 

and are actually in Rancho Cordova.

It is a beautiful Temple and the same plan as 

Newport Beach and Redlands,

However, the grounds are huge and very beautiful.

There were several plants with this

 BIG hibiscus-looking flower.

These polished granite columns went all the way around 

the backside of the temple.

This is a beautiful fountain right in front of the entrance.

There is this huge grass area covered with big oak trees and

these wild turkeys that wander around the grounds.

We were once again ask to serve as the witness couple

which we were honored to do.

From the temple we drove to Mark and Karina's house

in nearby Rocklin.

(I forgot to take a picture, for which I am kicking myself,)

so I found this 3 year old one to use.

We had a yummy dinner, visited a while 

and then Karlee picked out a fun game 

called Telestrations to play.

On Thursday Morning we said our goodbyes and started

out for the Fresno Temple.

We got about an hour down the road and decided it

might be a good idea to call ahead and

make a reservation.  So we did!

The only trouble was that our call was answered by a

machine stating the temple was closed until

October 15th.

How could this be?  We checked on the internet site

and it clearly said the temple would be closing on

October 1st and it was only Sep. 27th.

It was what it was & wouldn't change

so we turned around and went back to Sacramento and

on to Reno....we were just glad we decided

to make that call!

We arrived much earlier than we had originally planned

so we checked into our Hotel...

Circus Circus.

We walked around inside the Hotel 

looking for a place to eat.  It was

while we were eating that we realized we weren't

even in Circus Circus anymore.

It is like some big indoor mall that is continuous

casino's, restraurants, & stores of 

three big Hotels with Circus Circus on one end,

Harrah's on the other end and

 the Silver Legacy Hotel in the middle.

After lunch we walked around downtown which

we decided wasn't a very good idea and

probably not very safe.

We went back to the hotel, changed our clothes,

and went up to the temple.

(a much better place to be!)

This temple is also up on the top of a hill with a

gorgeous view of the City.

For the third time this week we were honored to be asked 

to serve as the witness couple.

When we finished our session it was dark outside.

We tried to take some pictures but they really

didn't turn out very good.

This temple is just like Medford and was 

dedicated just a few weeks after Medford's dedication.

After our session we called some friends of ours from

Bend that now live in Reno and

we got together at a restaurant in Sparks.

We had dinner....they had dessert!

Reed and Melanie Card...We had fun

"catching up"

and laughing at old memories.

On Friday morning we got up, checked out of the Hotel

and drove out to Sparks for breakfast at Denny's

then on the road.....

To Idaho....

To Star....

To our subdivision....

To home!

It was a good week...beautiful weather, 

 attending the temple,

visiting with family and good friends

and enjoying each other!

Life doesn't get much better than this!