Pocatello

There is a book, by Richard Neuberger called "They Never Go Back to Pocatello." Well, I grew up in Pocatello and I DO go back.

I went back last weekend to help my brother celebrate his 50th birthday. It was a crisp fall weekend of clear blue skies, brilliant yellow aspen, scarlet mountain maple and smoky gray sagebrush,--beautiful, as only fall in Southeast Idaho can be.

We walked down the road near my childhood home to what is now the Edson Fichter Nature area and looked down through the valley along the Portneuf River toward the Portneuf gap, where the Oregon Trail came through the mountains. We stopped by a pond and watched a Union Pacific freight train chug past the lava cliffs in the background, where you can find Indian petroglyphs. Pocatello is a "railroad town". I used to hear the train whistles at night as I was falling asleep. To this day it is one of the most comforting sounds I know.

P.S. Happy Birthday Steve! Today is his real birthday and I still remember how excited I was the day he was born.