The latest harvest...

I didn't get to go riding last weekend (weather and insomnia conspired against me), but here's a bit of that Utah bounty I've been raving about. The pictures aren't great, but you'll get the point anyway.

I canned this "lug" of apricots to console myself when not being able to ride on my day off. I ended up with 11 quarts. Really, I would have had 12 quarts if I hadn't eaten so many in the process. There's that "dreary student apartment" in the background.



I picked about 10 quarts of strawberries from my colleague's garden earlier this month.



Many of those berries became preserves. Man oh man they are good!



Of course, we had to save some berries for strawberry short cake, courtesy of my roommate Nadine. That's a bit of cardamom sprinkled on the top. Nadine serves a generous portion!

In Search of the World's Best Water

Okay, I might be exaggerating, but then again, maybe not. It is true that the naturally carbonated spring water in Soda Springs, ID took first prize in the World Fair in Chicago in 1893, and again in Paris in 1905. If you go to Hooper Spring Park in Soda Springs, you can taste it yourself, for free. I did just that, and it's just as good or better than that you can buy, and infinitely more rewarding since I rode 100 miles, and hiked almost 2 miles one way to have the pleasure of dipping my cup in a happily bubbling pool of cool clear fizzy water. You can see and hear it bubble yourself below. Just screen out the chatter of the other tourists:

Here's "the world's largest captive geyser" (???) at Geyser Park in Soda Springs. I guess it's considered "captive" because it's controlled by a timer now, which is set to allow the geyser to spout once an hour on the hour. I arrived just at spouting time, and had to hastily abandon my lunch sack in the middle of the parking lot to rush over and take pictures.




I brought some water home with me. The bottle is in the fridge and when I open it, it gives a very satisfying "psssht"!

Utah: Pictures, instead of my 1000 words

Sheesh, all that talk about Utah in my last post, and so few pics. Here are some more at one reader's request.

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake

A BMW K1200 RS (fondly known as "the Super K" - no, it's not mine) resting quietly on the strange and mysterious Bonneville Salt Flats

Sunset from the afore-mentioned "dreary student apartments." Life is rough, huh?

Flaming Gorge National Recreation area. This picture is from inside the Visitors' Center! The colors aren't what they could be, it was an overcast drizzly day.

Hogsback Ridge on Highway 12

The Fremont River from Fish Lake Road (one of the many Glorious Motorcycle Roads).


Larb Hollow Overlook from Highway 12



Lake Solitute at the end of the Cascade Canyon Trail in Grand Teton National Park. Yes, technically this is Wyoming, not Utah, but for my purposes, "Utah" constitutes the actual state plus anywhere else I go while I'm living here for the summer.


In and around Sawtooth National Recreation Area (I know, it's in Idaho, not Utah - see the above note regarding Grand Tetons)
Stanley Lake Inlet Campground, a moose noted on the way home, Sawtooth Lake




My pictures of Capitol Reef aren't great, but here I am at the "Hickman Bridge" rock formation.