Leaving Minneapolis to Taylors Falls

June 18, 2019 Tuesday Day 30

Wow, it is hard for us to get out at a reasonable hour. We got up late, ate and packed and did not get out until about noon. Took pictures of the grandsons intertwined with each other. No place to be at a specific time so no urgency. Everyone is staggering around still feeling the effects of the cross Atlantic trip and time zone change. At least we should not run into rush hour traffic leaving Minneapolis.

It took us about an hour to drive up to Taylors Falls, MN. I was amazed at how quickly we left the city and its suburbs and got into rural country off the interstate following state routes 8 and 95. The latter was a senic and winding drive that at times overlooked the St. Croix River. Many trees, not much agriculture and several small towns along the route. The drive took us to Chisago County which at first glace, and most subsequent glances looked like the word Chicago.

Taylors Falls, named for a Taylor who established a mill in the mid 19th century using the falls in the river for power and was later a big shot in the territorial government, is really just a village. It is a bit over 4 sq miles in size and has less than 1000 permanent inhabitants, who appear to be overwhelmingly white. It is a one stop light town which was populated primarily by Scandinavian immigrants. Its biggest claim to fame is that it was the setting where the main characters in the Swedish novel The Emigrants settled. I was told that there are several thousand summer residents.

But what its lacks in size it makes up in charm and eye catching scenery. The eponymous Falls are long gone, buried under the backed up water when a dam that was constructed in 1906, but it still has: the hills that rise from the St. Croix River, the rapids in the river, the glacier created "Dallas" rock formations along the river and the Interstate Park that straddles the River and is administered by both Wisconsen and Minnesota. It also has a ski area which is spread out over 26 ski hills and doubles as a water park in the summer. A lot of ski acreage, but not much vertical drop.

We drove through town out to our BnB. It was several miles out of town in a very rural area on a small road. When we pulled up about 3:00 pm we were warmly greeted by a middle aged lady who quickly asked us what we were doing there. It turns out that her property had just been listed on AirBnb and she was not expecting her first guest until Friday. She felt that her property was not ready for guests. I thought that we had a reservation through Airbnb, but the host had not actually responded. Given the late hour and absence of any visible options (turns out that while Taylor Falls did not have any hotels, St. Croix Falls across the river had lots of chain hotels, but I did not know that at that time.)  we urged her to make whatever fixes she needed and we would be back in a few hours. That worked out and after we unloaded we drove back into town intending to head to the Park. However we saw signs for a river boat ride and followed them to its parking lot, adjacent to the Park's parking lot. We signed up for the 6:00 pm  45 minute boat ride. $28 for two senior tickets and we avoided the parking fee at the Park. We walked over to the Park and proceeded to the Glacial Pothole Trail. This area marks the southern most flow of the glaciers 10,000 years ago. As the ice moved it froze around grains of sand and pebbles. When the ice melted it initially accumulated in giant glacial lakes that were formed in large pockets of land gouged out by the glaciers and held back by the foreword wall of material built up by the glaciers. Eventually the water broke through in torrents and as the glacial lakes drained they cut several spectacular gorges one of which is the Dalles of St. Croix. They also formed eddies in the rocks and the sand and pebbles the water carried gouged out cylindrical shaped potholes. Many are small, but some are very large and deep. The Unexplored Pothole is the Park's widest and the Bottomless is 60 ft. deep, the world's largest explored Pothole. There are more glacier potholes is this Park than anywhere else in the world. We got down to the river's edge and stood on the bluffs, high above the river and then walked along the mile and a quarter River Trail.

We then retraced our steps and when back to the dock for a ride on the river steamer. At 6:00 it was still very light. It was a pretty big boat that was floated up on the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. There were not many passengers. We were given a guided tour by one of the boat guides (just a teenager with a summer job,) who pointed out the various, unusual rock formations that in some places rise 200 ft. high, river depths that were up to 100 ft, and the site of a log jam in 1886 so big that it had to be dynamited loose. It was a 45 minute ride that was very relaxing.

In the latter part of the 19th century the area was heavily logged (we would subsequently learn that was common throughout the upper Midwest) to fuel building booms in the growing US cities and Europe. However as each forest was depleted the loggers moved on and in the 1890 census Taylor Falls lost half of its population.

There were not many choices for dinner in town, and we went to the Chisago House Restaurant. Located on the main drag in an older impressive building, they had many comfort foods on the menu and a good salad bar. It was not Saturday so we could not have the prime rib buffet, but the food was pretty good and the service was very good. I enjoyed the pie dessert.

After dinner we drove over the St. Croix River into St. Croix Falls in Wisconsen to a food market to get some breakfast eats and snacks. To my surprise there was a newly installed, the newly painted lines limiting parking to electric vehicles was still drying on the pavement, level 2 electric charging station in the parking lot. Installed by the local electric utility it was free to use. I had not seen any electric cars in this area. It was a quick shopping trip so we only got a few miles, enough to almost get us back to our Airbnb.

The Airbnb host provided an extension cord from the garage so I could charge up the car. We had a downstairs unit that was very new, two bedrooms and lots of room. It did not have a full kitchen, but the refrigerator was sufficient to store our breakfast foods. We watched a very late sunset over the woods and farmland.
 

The Trip Back

June 16-17, 2019 Sunday and Monday, Days 28 and 29.

Sunday

We departed for the airport early, but not as early as I had planned. I wanted to get on the road by 8:00, but we left at 8:30. We had the grandson again and his dad, mom and brother would be following shortly since his plane was schedule to leave 30 minutes after ours. We were scheduled to be on the same airplane out of Reykjavik, but that was not to be.

Our host prepared an early breakfast for us and we said our goodbyes over breakfast. We got on the road first and followed the GPS as it took us through many back country roads before getting to the toll road. After driving for about 2.5 hours I took a few wrong turns around Paris before getting to the airport. We very slowly moved through the check-in line as Icelandair had only three clerks working and several flights departing.  However we were only inconvenienced and still had adequate time to make our 2:00 pm flight. My son, the father of the grandson we were transporting learned that he had been bumped off his 2:30 flight. Apparently the airline had sent him an email early in the morning which he had not seen putting him on a 1:00 pm flight which he arrived at the airport to late to board. He spent a few hours trying to work out alternative arrangements which ended up being a flight the following day.  The airline covered the hotel and meals. Much later he received cash compensation under EU rules. Passengers so inconvenienced in the US would not receive any of that.

We moved through Security and the airport uneventfully until the boarding gate where my spouse left her passport. After several frantic moments she recovered it and we settled into our seats for the flight to Reykjavik. The grandson handled all of this with aplomb. However we had a relatively short connection at Reykjavik and there were several security gates to pass through, so we were dragging him through the airport as I feared that we would miss our connecting flight.

The flight back to the US was uneventful and we were met at the airport by my daughter-in-law's mother. Everyone was pretty tired by the trip so after some dinner we all went to sleep.

Monday

It felt odd being back in the USA and without specific activities. Everyone spoke English and it was easy to get around. my only planned activity was to attend a previously scheduled dental appointment. I was assured that the dental cleaning procedure was completely covered by insurance and that point was reaffirmed in the office. I even purchased an electric toothbrush there and was told that I did not owe anything else. Since then the billing office has repeatedly billed me several hundred dollars for the procedure and is impervious to my protestations.

We took the grandson down to the playground at the park, but he was pretty wacked out by jet lag and he would not walk back.

His parents, my son, and their other child arrived late that afternoon. They too were pretty jet lagged and so we had a brief dinner and then went to bed.

Wedding and activities

June 12-15, 2019  Wednesday to Saturday Days 24-27

Wednesday

Now the real festivities start. The last of the guests arrived. They came from other points in Europe and late arrivals from the US. My son is getting his goal as many guests appear to be adding on a vacation to their trip before or after the wedding. There were cousins and other relatives that I had not seen for years.

Unfortunately it was very overcast and intermittent rain during the day. More unfortunately, my cold was at its height and my major activities during the standard daylight hours were to help set up for the evening barbeque and to move our stuff to the wedding residence complex. I did not do well with either of them and spent a good part of the day in bed. I really had no idea what most of the others did during the day, although while I was moving to the wedding residence complex it appeared that many were just hanging out there.

The evening was also overcast, but that was just an excuse for having a barbeque at Summer's place. Bruno and Karen did lots of shopping during the afternoon including 4 types of meat, the goose was the most exotic. There were about 40 people there and notwithstanding the weather I think all had a very good time. Bruno handled the barbeque under the gazebo and most people ate indoors. Lots of French wine that flowed freely.

Thursday

I was still feeling the lingering effects of the cold, but I was able to go to the store to buy snacks for the people hanging out at the residence complex. The weather was good and many guests fanned out to visit local attractions. One son had hand carried a piñata that a friend of his had made in Argentina. It was battered by the kids and grandkids.

The big daily event was a catered dinner at the residential complex. Part was outside, but part of the festivities were in a cave that extended 50 feet into the rockface. Fun dinner with lots of social interaction. I got to interact with relatives that I had not spoken with in years. Good food and drink.

Friday

This was the day, the wedding ceremony. Started off by the male cousins and siblings and myself making a chuppah at the wedding venue. The activity was held at the private home of one of Summer's friends. We cut down bamboo shoots on the grounds and bound them together into a chuppah structure It took us about 2..5 hours to complete the construction, place it in position and decorate it. Then we went off to lunch.

Invitees began to gather on the house grounds in the mid-afternoon for the ceremony. I engaged in a 15 minute or so conversation with my ex-spouse. Nothing earth shattering, just a, civil, superficial conversation catching up on what we had been doing the past half dozen years. I was told that some of our offspring were agog that we could have such a conversation and had been assuming for years that we could not be in the same room.  Fooled them.

The ceremony was light hearted and memorialized by several speakers, including myself and my ex-spouse. Again no fireworks. Dinner was good and the  entertainment that followed was fun. We ended up going well past 11:00 pm and were finally shooed out of the cave by 12:30 am by our host.

Saturday

Recovery day. Many people left in the morning and I did not see them to say goodbye.
A number of us took a trip to Chombord Castle. For a few hours we just lay around and had an ongoing picnic. Then most went into and walked around the castle. Elliot ad I and Freddy got some bikes and rode around the grounds.

We ate leftovers for dinner and packed up to leave the next morning.

Pre Wedding Activities

June 9-11, Sunday-Tuesday 2019 Days 21-23

Sunday

My sleep cycle, as usual when I go to Europe is not adjusted yet. The grandson slept late. We ate a nice breakfast with the daughter and granddaughters and after he woke up walked out with the grandson and granddaughters to take an extended look at the cows.

We then went over to the residence complex in Nazelles-Negron where the immediate family members of the wedding couple will be, or are staying. It was not completely booked by the wedding people until Wednesday and people will be checking in intermittently until then. A very nice place with several courtyards, nicely landscaped and a view of the Loire Valley.

My son whose grandson we ferried over arrived and we met him, along with our youngest daughter whom he transported down from Paris at the complex. I also met for the first time my new daughter-in-laws family, her mother sister and family and her brother.


Our oldest daughter and her husband graciously opened their home and those who had arrived had dinner there. A nice meal with a lot of mingling and getting to know people. A very good place to have a large gathering buffet meal.

On Monday I picked up our youngest son at the local train station who had flown in from Buenos Aries for the wedding celebration. I then gathered up two of the granddaughters, a son and daughter and the oldest grandson for a trip to Blois to visit the Magic Museum. I had last been there in 2015 and enjoyed it. I thought that the kids would enjoy it too. The trip along the river was a pleasant 30 minute drive and I was surprised not only that I did not get lost, but at how well I recalled Blois and getting to the museum. We had some difficulty finding a parking space until I remembered that it was a religious holiday and there was no need for a parking permit. It was ultimately a very short walk to the museum.

The museum is on a large courtyard that also hosts the Palace/Museum. One of the highlights of the Magic Museum is the dragons that emerge from the front wall.

The Museum had lots of magic exhibits and a history of magic. The best was a live 30 minute magic show in a large theatre and then an in person card show. We got lunch in a café in the courtyard and then walked around the downtown including walking up the Mona Lisa stairs.

Blois

Blois

On the drive back all the passengers fell asleep. I felt like doing the same since I was tired and getting a cold. We again had a large dinner, larger as more people were arriving, at our daughter's house. It was beginning to rain. During the dinner we had a surprise birthday party for our youngest daughter who was turning 25. She was a bit sad because she was away from her friends, but she greatly appreciated the party.  
Tuesday
The cold is descending on me. Too little sleep. It was also overcast and intermittently raining. Clean-up brigade from the prior night's dinner and party. The spouse and son-in-law went shopping for the Wednesday night dinner when there would be four dozen people. That is a big deal in a small French town since they go to multiple stores to get specific foods, eg, the special store for duck. We hung out at the daughter's farmhouse with the younger daughter. The we went over to the residence complex and hung out with more people. Finally we went into Amboise for dinner at Chez Bruno, a restaurant owned by our oldest daughter's employer. He is a mini conglomerate with not only the restaurant, but a wine store, vineyard and winery. A very nice dinner with lots of the proprietor's wine, but it is harder to mingle in a restaurant as we were able to do during the prior two night's dinners. Last night staying at the daughter's place.

The Airline and car trip to Amboise France

June 7 and 8, 2019 Friday and Saturday Days 19-20

The big day. The grandson had been told that he was flying to France with us and not his parents, but I do not think it registered. After we got to the airport and parked the car he clung to his dad, but as his dad left he seemed to accept that he was going with us and he calmed down.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:20 pm. We checked the stroller because we were given bags by the daughter-in-law with clothes, food, toys and games for the grandson. A full service pop up baby store, but as a result the grandson had to walk through the airport. However he moved well, albeit slowly. There was a playground near our gate and that amused him for a while. When we boarded we discovered that one of our seats was not with the other two. No one around us was willing to change seats and the flight attendants were not willing to assist with a seat exchange. We were finally able to get two passengers in the rear to change seats so we could all be together.

The grandson was a pretty good passenger. He watched videos, listened to music, ate (the airline provided free food only to children) both the food we brought on and airline food, and watched a movie on the seat back. We watched Bambi three times. However even though his bedtime is typically 8 pm and we flew for about 6 hours, he largely did not sleep until the end of the flight.

We landed in Reykjavik shortly after 6:00 am local time to change planes. As we were descending I was struck by the absence of trees. There was no jet finger, but as we descended from the airplane onto the tarmac and then into the terminal the grandson kept going. Moving slowly, but no whinning or complaining. Our layover was less than 2 hours so we quickly purchased some food and found a playground in the airport for the grandson. Due to the grounding of the airline's Boeing MAX 737 we were put on a flight operated by EUROAir for the flight to Paris. Each airline had their own flight crews in the cabin. Again for was served on the plane to the grandson, but not to us. He kept eating and did not sleep much. More Bambi, he seemed to enjoy that movie.

As we were in the descent to Paris airport the grandson had a big sneeze, a lot of snot came out of his nose and he ate it before we could wipe it off. He then got a weird look on his face and then suffered projectile vomiting.  He then seemed fine. Hard to clean up since we could not get out of out seats and landed. He asked my spouse if she was OK. We cleaned him up and changed his clothes in an airport bathroom. The incident did not seem to negatively affect him.

We landed in Paris after a 3 hour flight, By now the grandson was moving on fumes. By the time we got off the plane, walked through the terminal and picked up all our luggage it took over an hour, in part because the grandson was moving at a glacial pace. Then it took us several tries to get a car seat for the grandson that fit him and that we could secure into the car. So it  took us a few hours to get out of the airport and then 3 hours to drive to our daughter's farmhouse outside Amboise. As usual in France the tolls on the interstate are very high. The grandson promptly went to sleep in the car the minute we started driving.  

We arrived in the early evening and the grandson was swept up by the three granddaughters. He quickly integrated himself and engaged well with the group. We took a small walk and the grandson saw the cows and picked a flower for his mom. We were provided with a very nice dinner and quickly went to sleep in the bungalow for a much needed sleep.

Pre Trip Activities

June 4-7, 2019  Tuesday through Friday Days 16-19

This part of the trip reflected the foundation for our journey. Our oldest son was having a week long celebration of his wedding that took place the prior year. In deference to their friends around the world, the celebration was going to take place in France. Our second son and his wife, with two very young boys were understandably wary about taking their two youngsters on two trans Atlantic flights, so we volunteered to take one of the on the planes. Hence we wanted to spent some time with and reacquaint ourselves with the two and a half year old grandson before the long airplane trip to France.

All went well and by the end of the week we were able to embark on the airplane trip with minimum fuss. But leading up to that there were many activities, but one enduring theme, construction equipment. The small, residential street outside my son's house was being torn up to install new gas lines. Hence it was being swarmed by small construction vehicles: front loader, bulldozer, dump truck, grader and back hoe. Most days after his parents left we started the day with our grandson  watching the equipment operate either by watching from the front stoop or walking down the block to observe whatever was operating. In the late afternoon on several occasions when the employees had left we climbed onto the parked equipment. Endless fascination with the equipment which replicated the behavior of his dad and uncles when they were young children.

Driving

Tuesday
By mid morning I pulled the grandson away from construction viewing and we walked down to Lake Nokomis Triangle Park, a .4 mile journey that proceeded very slowly. We have been to this park with the grandson several times during prior trips and it has been interesting watching him get bigger and moving up on the hierarchy of playground equipment. His first stop was a back hoe that he could not operate the last time we visited. Then he did a tour of the swings, climbing equipment and slides. He also liked the zip line but could not hold on by himself. he weather was nice, but there were not many people there. Virtually all of the adults there seemed to be moms, few dads or nannies. We forgot to bring any snacks, so after about two hours we had to leave. The grandson was pretty tired so we had to wheel him back. Lunch and then a nap that was way later than his normal schedule and took a long time to go down.

Working

Spouse took her ring, purchased in India, into the repair shop to insure that the stone, which had popped out in Cheyenne remained in the setting.

In the late afternoon we went on the equipment that was parked on the street. Dinner with the parents (son and wife) and then an early evening.

Wednesday

Following the construction equipment viewing habit, we left in mid morning for the Lake Harriet neighborhood to visit the Wild Rumpus bookstore, in part to get some relief from the heat but also because the store was strongly recommended. It was in a small neighborhood commercial zone and lived up to expectations. It had a large collection of children's books, as well as those for adults, but also had a large fish tank, other animals and a very creatively decorated bathroom. We purchased a book for the grandson for the trip and after about 2 hours we walked a short distance to the Great Harvest Bread Company for lunch. This is a chain, it has outlets in SLC and we also saw some in Wyoming, but it is very good. Fresh delicious bread samples and good sandwiches. The grandson is a good eater and he consumed a full grilled cheese sandwich and drink. Then we walked back across the street to Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream Shop. Very good, but expensive ice cream that we ate out on the covered patio. It had a turtle themed playground. We then drove home and frantically tried to keep the grandson awake so he would take a nap at home. Only partially successful.

Post ice cream turtle ride

After the nap in the late afternoon we went with the grandson, his mom and the younger grandson to McRea Park and recreation center for some time in the wading pool.

In the early evening we went on the equipment that was parked on the street. Dinner with the parents (son and wife), her mother and other daughter and then an early evening.

Thursday

Another morning construction equipment day, but this time we had to walk a bit since most of the equipment had moved down the block. About 9:30 we drove to Lake Nokomis beach. It is only a mile and a half away but I still got lost going there. The grandson went in the water and I took a swim. Nice temperature and uncrowded beach. We left after 2 hours to avoid the mid day sun and had lunch at home. Followed by grandson's nap and wife's trip to retrieve her ring.

After dinner we took a walk through Minnehaha Creek Park and bumped into my son's mother-in-law who lives nearby. She gave us a tour of her new and newly remodeled house. When we got back home about 9:30 all were asleep.

Friday

Packing day. The grandson and we were leaving on a 7:20 flight to Paris on Icelandic Air via Reykjavik. We packed in the morning, repositioned the cars, took a walk in the park and left for the airport about 4. Our daughter-in-law packed two bags for us with all we could need: diapers, extra clothes, food, toys, videos and books. The grandson seemed to understand that he was going on the plane with his grandparents and that his parents would meet him the following day in France. However after we had checked in and checked our luggage and it was time to go through Security and leave his dad, he grabbed on to his dad's leg and cried for him to not leave. The dad left and he promptly recovered. We passed through security without incident and found a playground in the airport which helped to pass some of the time. We boarded and took off on time.

Ready to travel

Total Eclipse, August 2017

The Eclipse Trip August 20-22, 2017
Airplane vs. automobile? Time saver vs. flexibility. I opted for the former since I had just come off two long driving trips to the Pacific northwest.

A mid-morning Southwest flight to Salt Lake City via Oakland (Southwest had very few non-stops LAX to SLC. In prior winters, they had 7 or 8 a day.) Parked the car at the airport in Park One which I used to do regularly, but have not done in years. It now has a dozen electric charging stations, but they appear to all be in the valet parking area.) The flights were full and on-time. Even handed out peanuts and on the first flight they appeared to be handed out by a father and son volunteer team. They were not wearing airline uniforms.

A problem arose when I went to pick up my car from the off-airport, Fox Rent a Car, via Priceline. There were no cars. The Manager explained that about 25 renters had not returned their cars per their reservations. I wondered if some people decided at the last minute to stay for the eclipse, or more devious, always intending to view the eclipse, attempted to avoid the awesomely inflated car rental rates by stating that they intended to return the car before the eclipse. The manager promised to honor the reservation by renting from another company and absorbing the difference. So, we got back on the shuttle bus and headed back to the Budget counter at the airport. The clerk there claimed to have no record of our reservation, but said that she had a car available for $350. I could not reach the Fox people, nor anyone at Budget since none of their phone numbers get you to a live person. So back on the bus back to Fox. They checked and verified the reservation, but could also not reach Budget by phone. So, this time the Fox clerk (who was on temporary assignment form Las Vegas) came back with us to the airport. The Budget clerk claimed that she had not received the reservation and that reservations normally take 50 minutes to appear in the system (this had now taken more than 1.5hrs). The Fox clerk took us back to his office and gave us a big black Jeep SUV. I suspect that someone else did not get a car.

Because I delayed searching for them, and when I did late in the week all locations were sold out, we did not have the special glasses needed to view the partial eclipse (You could view the total eclipse without glasses without harming your eyes). Making one last chance we stopped at two 7-11s outside the car rental site. The first was sold out, but at the second we got the last two pairs of glasses, albeit at an exorbitant price. Dynamic pricing, but it made the experience much more enjoyable!
We drove up to Layton toward our reservation at the Comfort Inn. I feared that it too would be a problem, but there were no issues, other than John Oliver’s show came on at 9:15pm.
We got up at 5:30 the following morning to make sure that we got up to southern Idaho in time for the “Great American Eclipse”. By now radio, TV and the newspapers were filled with eclipse information. At least it drove Trump off the news, at least temporarily. Ate a quick breakfast and got on the road, I-15 by 6:45. To my surprise, the drive did not present much congestion. There were a few occasions when traffic slowed, but that appeared to be caused primarily by the presence of a police car in the median.

As we approached Idaho Falls after 9 we began to see groups of people hanging out in parks and open spaces. We decided to go to Rigby, a small town about 20 miles northeast of Idaho Falls since it was squarely in the middle of the path of totality. After driving through town and not seeing an obvious public restroom, we parked at South Rigby Park by about 9:45. There were a few thousand people there, but it was next to the Rigby Rodeo Grounds, and not crowded. There were lots of dogs, mountains of food, and more photography equipment than is probably in the Kodak Museum.
At about 10:05 the moon began to move over the sun. At first it looked like a small bite had been taken out of the sun but the dark spot steadily grew large. I was surprised that there was no noticeable decrease in light until near the end of the process, although the color of the light began to be whiter and wintry. By about 11:20 the sun was just a crescent and the air was very noticeably colder. Right on time, at 11:33 there was a flash of white light and then darkness. The sun was completely obliterated by the moon. Surrounding the sun was the corona, a very white, almost cloudy protrusions of varying shapes and sizes from the sun. We could now take our special glasses off. It was cool, but not life altering or he most momentous event in one’s life as some speakers on radio had said. The crowd oohed and awed, but no wild shouting or emotional outbursts. The dogs did not seem perturbed.

It was over quickly, 2 minutes and 17 seconds, but it seemed quicker. The sun’s partial reappearance was marked by a flash of white light, that was a signal to put the glasses back on, and quickly the sun appeared as a small crescent. It took almost 1.5 hrs. for the sun to fully reappear.
The crowd quickly thinned out, and the highway adjoining the park, which had almost been deserted, quickly became a slow-moving parking lot.

Hoping to wait out the heavy traffic before starting our drive back to Salt Lake City we ate a picnic lunch at the Park. That probably was a mistake since when we did get on the road at 1:30, we quickly encountered heavy traffic, to the point of gridlock. I got off the main road to circumvent downtown Idaho Falls and the highway intersections. I took some back roads and encountered some traffic, but once south of Idaho Falls the only alternative to I-15 was state route 97 which was a single lane gridlocked mess. I-15 quickly got very crowded to the point that there were several 5-10-minute stretches when traffic did not move at all. It took 3 hours to go 30 miles. Traffic lightened up after Pocatello, but after the I-15 84 interchange there again was heavy traffic. The trip took 7 hours (twice as long as going up there) and we did not get back to Salt Lake until 8:30 and as a result my plans to have a night in Salt Lake City were dashed. We walked around the Mormon complex before it closed at 10 and then had difficulty finding a restaurant open at that hour. Fast food again. 
The Salt Lake Plaza Hotel was very nice and we used its shuttle to return to the airport in the morning. Uneventful flight home. A lot of time and effort to see the total solar eclipse, but it was worth seeing, once. I do not understand those people who chase these events all over the world.