I have reconciled with my technology and am making another attempt.
Thanks to my technical expert and travel companion, I try again.

It was hot this morning leaving Boise, but a beautiful day. We prepared for the day’s travels by gassing up our little Prius and driving through a convenient Subway for sandwiches to put in our tiny cooler so we could picnic at the park. We traveled through barren-looking ranch lands on local back roads in our attempt to find The City of Rocks, Idaho.  Three hours out we arrived at the small town of Oakley and then took gravel roads for about 45 minutes until we reached the park.  A single sign alerted us to the great rock formations. The valley right before we turned into The City of Rocks was a gorgeous meadow filled with yellow blooms.

And then we were on a narrow gravel road that certainly induced prayer.  We were both excited and scared – being so far from civilization and looking for a specific site. What were we going to do if we didn’t find it? And then we saw it.  Giant rocks were jutting up from the grassy surface and each rock looked like an amazing individual creation.  We decided it was like lying on your back and looking at clouds and calling out the shapes — only these were ROCKS coming up from the earth and in each one we could imagine a different shape.  Like the Lion I see in this shot to the left.

This spot was a pass through the mountains and when settlers were going West on covered wagons in the 1870’s they passed through this amazing valley of geological formations made of the earth’s magma from eons before their arrival. It was so unique that many folks made a record of it in their travel diary.  And, so do I.  Just so it can be shared with you.

However, I am happy to be graced with a Prius for wheels; a cooler with water (tiny but efficient and extremely welcome); sandwiches from Subway; a cell phone (even though we had no coverage;) a loving companion; and audio books on the radio to entertain us from turning back when we thought we were lost.  Just a little different from the journey some of our ancestors made in these wagons.

The last laugh is the Creator’s.  Had we actually found the CORRECT entrance into the park, we may have hesitated to travel the gravel roads and only seen the very minimal formations at the entrance.  As it was, coming in the back way, we were able to see the entire loop of amazing geology on our way to find the visitor’s center!  Saved by grace!

We drove on to Tremonton, UT before stopping to rest.  An excellent meal at a local Mexican restaurant completed this most beautiful day.