This is the second time I’ve written this post. The first time I forgot to click on the “publish” button and, of course, everything I wrote went into the ether never to be retrieved again. So, perhaps the second time is a charm? I’m sure what I’m writing gets better with age, anyway.

We had no other obligations this afternoon, so we decided to take a long drive. We left about 1:30 p.m. and returned about four hours later. We drove on the normal roads as far as the map said we could go south towards Malad (the map was wrong. We could have driven the entire way on normal roads). Then we took I-15 over Malad Pass and exited at the first Malad exit. We’ve never been anywhere in Malad except to one or the other of two gas stations just off the exit. This time we planned to drive through the town. That turned out to be a good idea. We exited the interstate and found we were on a road that has been on our list of places to visit: Boot Road (see the pictures! album for pictures and more detail). We just didn’t know where that road was other than somewhere by Malad. Now we know and will probably stop there again sometime.

From Malad we went west over a small mountain pass and into Holbrook, Idaho. There was once a town but now it is mostly abandoned. There are perhaps three or four occupied houses in the town plus a nice community park next to a recently refurbished Mormon Church building. I don’t know what Stake this ward/branch is part of — there is no information on the Church’s website. There also wasn’t anyone in or around the building to ask. Since Nina’s maternal grandfather was a Holbrook, visiting this town was on our list of Important Things to Do. Somewhere along the line, a couple of Holbrooks came west. Some went into Arizona and founded Holbrook, Arizona. Others joined the Church and came west, settling in Idaho and founding Holbrook, Idaho. We took several pictures and then headed back north and home. It was a very pleasant afternoon.