Twin Falls Temple

"I like road trips, but not temple trips," David says.  He grudgingly agreed to drive me, during the weekend of October 11, 2019, to Twin Falls, Idaho, to visit my 9th new temple this year.  I do believe we had fun.

 We took the scenic route, west through the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The flats create a magical world of blue and shades of gray and white, with real pools of water and mirages that blend into one another.

We attended a temple session on Friday night, and, as always, enjoyed the beauty of the temple service and the temple itself.

Most LDS temples feature a Garden of Eden-like selection of flowers and plants in the upholstery, stained glass, and even carpets.  The Twin Falls temple included many images of the syringa flower, the state flower of Idaho.

The temple sessions were held in rooms framed with murals of Idaho landmarks, including this painting of the Twin Falls which gave the city its name.

 We ate dinner at a trendy Twin Falls restaurant, "Milner's Gate."

On Saturday morning, we drove across the flat plateau on which Twin Falls is located, to the Snake River Gorge.  As we drove down into the gorge, we could see the beautiful Twin Falls.

 The Snake River flowed peacefully between the cliffs below the falls.

The Perrine Bridge, near Twin Falls, is 1500 feet long and 486 feet high.  The morning we visited, five young people climbed with their parachutes over the railing of the bridge and soared hundred of feet to the river bank below.

Grant and His Marathon Cheerleaders

The Flindts are gifted runners.  When Grant was a senior in high school, he was the captain of the Eastlake High School cross country team, which ran at the Washington State meet.  On October 5, 2019, Grant ran his first marathon--in under three hours!  With little preparation, he beat his Grandpa Spendlove's long-hallowed 3:05 personal best!

Grant brought with him to St. George his own cheerleaders.  They included Meg (second from left), who is Grant's roommate's sister attending Utah Valley University, and a group of Meg's friends from Provo. Spencer and Naomi also came to St. George over this Conference Weekend to cheer Grant as he crossed the finish line, and then to watch Conference talks at our St. George house.

I fixed Hungarian goulash and cherry strudel for Spencer and Naomi, Grant, and his friends.  It was fun to get to know the cute girls.  One had been a missionary in Guam, and Meg's father is an immigrant from Wales who is now a radiologist in St. George.

Dining in Morocco

Casablanca!  Marrakesh!  I love the exotic, in travel and in food, and anything Moroccan is innately exotic.  On September 29, 2019, I spread my table with a purple cloth patterned with large white paisleys, lighted candles in intricate metal candle holders, and served chicken and couscous. 

I traveled to Morocco as a little girl, and I would love to go again.  Morocco has red rock cities built around Medieval castles.  It has blue cities, and it has "souks", or bazaars, with winding lanes and hawkers selling handmade rugs, leather "pouf" couches, and bright red, green, and yellow table glasses trimmed with gold leaf. 

I recently bought my own tagine, or cooking pot with long-necked lid (foreground).  For Sunday dinner, I cooked chicken with preserved lemons, green olives, and fennel, served over fluffy couscous.  My guests and I savored baklava with apricot ice cream for desert.

 Modern tagines are made of metal and cook on gas or electric burners.

 Traditional tagines are made of pottery and cook over open fires or coals.

Dave's and my guests--Mike and Heidi, Alan and Shauna, and Carol Garza--are amazingly tolerant of my cooking extravaganzas.  "I tell my children what I ate for dinner at your house," Shauna says, "and they don't believe me."