It is the season for weddings. This weekend I drove to Idaho for the wedding of Daniel Coombs and his beautiful bride Rachel Davis. I drove for several reasons, the main being that there is no longer a direct flight from Reno to Boise and it was faster to drive than fly. But a significant motivator is that I like to drive and I love taking road trips, even if it was a short trip. Whenever I drive to Idaho I can't help but think back on my childhood and I seemed to have all kinds of reminders so prepare for a load of nostalgia. But first I think Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Coombs.
I didn't notice that I was taking a picture right into the window, which made a great silhouette but didn't let you see the beautiful couple. So I tried a few photo tricks so you can see their faces a little more. Actually this looks a little spooky.
Back to the road trip. Everything looked green and blooming on the drive and I kept seeing things I wanted to photograph so stopped and took pictures with my phone, not the best photos, but they all have a story. I have no idea what is growing here, but I thought it was pretty
I drove through the Snake River Valley Wine country, which was just a few fruit farms when I was growing up. For a few summers I worked in the fruit orchards. They are still in business, but they have added wine to the business. Symms and Robison were a couple of the orchards where I worked with my friends.
I'm not sure how old when we worked in the orchards, but our parents drove us out to work, so we were probably about 12 years old. We only worked for a couple of weeks, picking cherries when they came on. We got paid about 2 cents a pound for the cherries we picked, which wasn't much but more than it seems today. You could buy a candy bar for 10 cents back then. We loaded the cherries onto a flatbed pulled through the orchard on a tractor like this. I had an advantage over my friends because I wasn't tempted to eat any of the cherries I picked.
I also saw some wheel lines still in use. Most of them have been replaced by the larger pivot lines now, but this one looked good in the field. I spent a college summer building these wheels. It was a great summer.
I had sudden rainstorms for most of the drive. No thunder and lightning, but beautiful stormy skylines and very few signs of the hand of man to be seen.
I stopped for a a Coke at the McDonalds in Winnemucca. Even McDonalds looks good with a rainbow.
I had so much fun I think I'll do it again next weekend.
