Well, I have returned home safely after spending a week traveling around the western United States with my family. June is graduation time, and this June there were two high school graduations in my family. First, off to the graduation of my oldest niece (one of my brother's two daughters). My mother, brother, sister and I traveled from Sacramento to Jerome, Idaho in one day. My sister drove the entire way in her very comfortable Toyota Camry. I had never been to Idaho, and it had been well over a decade since I had traveled through the Sierra Nevada, so I looked forward to the trip. The Sierra Nevada still had snow - in fact, I played with some snow on Donner Pass. (For those of you not from California, Donner Pass is named after the Donner Party, a group of people moving to California in the 1800s who got stuck up in the mountains over the winter and had to resort to cannabilism to survive.) The Truckee river was flowing rapidly and the whole trip over the mountains was lovely. Then we arrived in Reno, which is a pit. Between Reno and Wells, Nevada is just an ugly desert. But as you get towards Wells, you start to see snowcapped mountains again. Pretty! Then we turned north towards Idaho. We climbed in altitude through rolling hills, which grew green the closer we got to Idaho. The last town in Nevada along that route is Jackpot, so named because it's your last chance to gamble. Whee.

At last, we were in Idaho. The Twin Falls/Jerome area is close to the southern border, and I caught tantalizing glimpses of snowcapped mountains far to the north. Twin Falls is a small city and Jerome is a small town. The barrier between them is the Snake River gorge. If you don't know the gorge is supposed to be there, it can scare the hell out of you - just driving along and suddenly - big dropoff! So cool and very pretty, except for the damned golf course at the bottom of the gorge in one place.

We arrive at the hotel in Jerome, my nieces come over, and my whole family watches the Lakers/Kings game six. Kings lose, much sadness ensues, and I have a dream that night about being at the game and making out with Chris Webber. An eventful day.

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