City of Rocks
We arose to an alarm clock so we could have plenty of daylight for this feature. Good thing; it was pretty amazing, and we stayed out into the early evening.
The story is that the westward wagon-train parties went through there, and said that the collection of large (stacks and broken piles of) rock(s) resembled a "city". Perhaps, from a distance, viewed askance, through a prism of suffering and hunger, the tortured brain might see this and think "city", but that impression would be more like imaginative hopefulness than anything else. It was landscape run amok, with rocky outcroppings everywhere.
It is pretty amazing, though. I nearly despaired of being able to adequately photograph what we were seeing--but I did end up making 300 attempts (to be posted later).
The weather was also remarkable. In the first place, the mountains all around had plenty of snow on them. Also, there were patches along where we were walking. Finally, we experienced three or four brief periods of unmistakable snowing--just a few little thin falls of tiny particles of snow-like substance that weren't flakes, and were too dry for sleet.
On the way home, we stopped for a closer look at what appeared to be an old school campus: several three-story brick buildings grouped in grassy lawns, with a heat plant (smokestack, etc.) on the edge. It looked like a small college campus, and it turned out to be that: a teacher's college <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_State_Normal_School>. Most of the buildings were disused and in somewhat poor condition, but there was evidence that someone cared: All had good, recent, roofs.
The day had opened very cool and quite breezy. Later, both discomforts were moderated. All in all: wonderful!
Mark_
R/V _Serenity_, Heyburn, ID
