13 “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. 14 But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 Good News Translation (GNT)
I’ve been thinking about this so much lately. Anybody have any thoughts to share? It seems a mystery to me most days, how we’re ever supposed to find the narrow gate in the first place. Seems difficult, if not impossible. But nothing’s impossible with God… right? ~M
After three days of exploring our country from dawn until dusk, today we are taking it easy. It’s 11:00 a.m. and we just finished eating breakfast here at the Sleep Inn, in Idaho Falls. We only have a four-hour drive today, with our final destination being Orem, UT. We are excited to make our way to Orem, which is just outside of Salt Lake City. We are planning to stay in Orem for a couple of days so that we can get a good feel for what the area is like. I am hopeful that this may be another place that we can add to our list of possible places to move to.
Unfortunately, the drive to Orem, is leaving me a little bit disappointed. The traffic reminds me of big city living and It’s hard to navigate through the streets due to the high level of traffic on the roads. Thankfully, it doesn’t take us long to make it to our hotel. The unfortunate part is, our hotel is being completely renovated both inside and out. The ruts in the street are so deep, that driving through them is difficult. When we enter the hotel, the lobby is completely torn apart and the hustle and bustle of construction is happening all around us. We are quickly regretting our decision to stay here for two days, but are trying to stay positive. After attempting to check-in an hour early, we are told that we will have to wait.
We decide to head out and explore the area while we wait. I remember reading about a place called Bridal Veil Falls and so we decide to see if we can find it. After about 20 minutes of driving, we have made our way to the entrance that leads to the falls. A bike trail weaves its way around the base of the hills and we walk along the bike path, taking in the beauty of the trees and listening to the rushing waters of a creek that flows alongside the trial. It’s nice to be out of the city traffic and away from the construction work, but the temperature is over 100 degrees and quickly zapping the energy right out of me. The walk is easy though and it doesn’t take us long to find the base of the falls.
There are quite a few people here and some are actually trying to hike all the way up to the top of the falls with small children. I have to admit, it’s making me a bit nervous watching the hikers climb their way to the top. There isn’t a path leading up to the top of the falls and the terrain is extremely rocky and steep. The falls are beautiful, but it is definitely not tranquil here. There are about 100 people trying to cram into the water that is accumulating at the base of the falls. It doesn’t take long for me to feel overwhelmed by the heat of the day and the crowds of people, so we head back after a taking a short walk past the falls.
The traffic is even worse on our way back to the hotel, and after checking in, we decide that we need to plan something different for tomorrow. After talking it over, we agree to head to Las Vegas a day early and we decide to make reservations at the Luxor hotel. After making reservations and cancelling our extra day in Orem, we head out to find a place to eat dinner. After driving around for a while, we finally settle on Smash Burger. Their food is okay, but not something to write home about. After finishing up dinner, we head over to the local mall which is located within a mile of our hotel. After perusing the shops, we decide to head back to the hotel to watch a movie. Today wasn’t the most memorable day, but we are certainly looking forward to tomorrow and excited for the days ahead.
Just wanted to share our most recent trip to the park with all of you. It was quite muddy that day, but at least there weren’t too many bugs lurking about. We had a blast despite ending up with mud caked to the bottom of our shoes. 🙂
This was the start of the path leading into the woods from the children’s play area. Every time I see a path like this, I feel inspired to write something about it. The woods were so tranquil and quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the faint rustle of the leaves in the wind and the birds merrily singing nearby.
Along the path, we spotted this tree off in the distance. I wanted to get a closer look, but it was so far off the path and with the ground being so muddy, this is as close as I could get without getting stuck forever! I wonder if an animal lives here. It sure seemed like a cozy little place to snuggle up and take a nap.
These plants to the left, covered almost the entire forest floor. Not sure of their name. They were about 3 ft. tall, with tiny white flowers at the tips, and because of their height, it made it impossible to veer off the path too far.
Here’s a better view of the flowers that were perched at the top of each plant. Like I said, I am not sure what these were, but they were a beautiful sight for sure!
The trees didn’t quite have all of their leaves yet, so you could really get a good view of the entire forest and all of it’s hidden secrets that laid scattered about. I enjoyed watching the butterflies fluttering by, and my girls were looking for curious things to collect. I think the only thing we really collected though, was about 2 inches of mud on the bottoms of our shoes!
This was the end of our journey through the woods and I decided to take a picture of the sun peering through the trees as we made our way back to the play area. It is always hard to leave such a peaceful place behind and I felt a bit sad when we had to leave. The good news is, that we can go back another day and have another adventure waiting for us once again! I am already excited just thinking about it!
Putting My Feet in the Dirt 