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Society Extols The Virtues Of Route 89


Jennifer
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Society extols the virtues of Route 89

 

Having just returned from bicycling the length of U.S. 89 as it makes its way through Utah, I was pleased to open yesterday's mail and receive honorary membership in the U.S. Route 89 Appreciation Society.

 

Until I opened the mail, I wasn't aware there was a U.S. Route 89 Appreciation Society or that it would extend an honorary membership to someone such as myself. Which I have to say was flattering. The last time I was offered membership in something, it involved selling cleaning products to 10 of my closest friends.

 

To read the complete article, click here: Society extols the virtues of Route 89

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Congratulations.

Thanks to Brian Atkinson of this group, Peg and I drove from Jackson Hole WY to Logan UT on route 89 this past April. A beautiful stretch of scenic highway. My favorite view was looking north to Bear Lake. Try it, you'll like it!

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Congratulations.

Thanks to Brian Atkinson of this group, Peg and I drove from Jackson Hole WY to Logan UT on route 89 this past April. A beautiful stretch of scenic highway. My favorite view was looking north to Bear Lake. Try it, you'll like it!

 

 

That congrats goes to the writer of the article...but someday I would like to drive that route. The sad thing is I'd like to drive all US highways, but when you think about it, it isn't feasible in most people's lifetimes, barring a win at Lotto and nothing to do but crisscross the country 365 days a year!

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  • 7 months later...
FYI: National Geographic's Adventure Magazine (April 2007) has a nice article about a 14 day road trip taken on "The west's most western highway" Pick up a copy at your local news stand or check it out online: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventur...e-89/photo.html

 

Brian Atkinson

 

 

Thanks again Brian,

Looks like I will need to go out and find a copy of National Geographic's Adventure Magazine for April 2007. I loved the stretch of 89 from Jackson Hole to Logan UT. Sounds like I need to visit another section soon.

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Thanks again Brian,

Looks like I will need to go out and find a copy of National Geographic's Adventure Magazine for April 2007. I loved the stretch of 89 from Jackson Hole to Logan UT. Sounds like I need to visit another section soon.

 

I agree. US89 is well worth a trip!

 

Is the Bluebird Café in Logan still going strong?. When I was through several years ago it was a terrific example of an old time café.

 

For anyone at all interested in the days of the trappers and mountain men, 89 is a must do. The beautiful Cache Valley and Bear Lake appear regularly in the diaries and journals of the time. In fact the whole of 89 from south of Logan to Jackson Hole takes you through site after site of history from the early 1800’s.

 

Gees, aren’t the two lane roads great!!

 

Lets Keep the Show on the Road

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Is the Bluebird Café in Logan still going strong?. When I was through several years ago it was a terrific example of an old time café.

 

The Bluebird was great when we stopped there in April 2006. You can see a few more photos from 89 on my web site by going to April 2006 Trip

 

aBluBird.jpg

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I happen to be in Logan, Utah today, visiting family. I might be able to post a few photos of the Bluebird and other Highway 89 sites so stay tuned. For those of you who do not know (and I assume that is everybody) I am currently working on a comprehensive photographic survey of US 89. My interest in this highway was what led me to discover and join this forum - although I usually sit quietly on the sidelines.

 

Maybe I could post a couple of the images from the project...only trouble is that right now I only have a limited few on my laptop. The majority are on my home computer. I also have a pretty full agenda for the day. Stay tuned!

 

Brian Atkinson

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Maybe I could post a couple of the images from the project...only trouble is that right now I only have a limited few on my laptop. The majority are on my home computer. I also have a pretty full agenda for the day. Stay tuned!

 

Brian Atkinson

 

 

Brian,

When you get home, set up a gallery in the forum's gallery section. I would love to see your photos and have them there for us all to see. And I knew about your project from your blog and advice that you provided me last year before our trip on 89. Without your help, I would probably have been on the Interstates both directions during that trip.

 

Thanks again for being such an great resource.

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Dave,

 

You are most welcome. I hope that sometime I might be able to try some of your favorite highways! I did drop by the Bluebird today - I wish I had the time to eat a meal - Here is a shot of the sign and some of the facade. I will try and post some others in the gallery when I get a chance.

 

Brian

 

bluebirdsmall.jpg

post-621-1175401249_thumb.jpg

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Dave,

 

You are most welcome. I hope that sometime I might be able to try some of your favorite highways! I did drop by the Bluebird today - I wish I had the time to eat a meal - Here is a shot of the sign and some of the facade. I will try and post some others in the gallery when I get a chance.

 

Brian

 

bluebirdsmall.jpg

Thanks to both of you for the great photos!!! It brings back great recollections of a trip in October several years ago along 89. I’m glad it is getting some well deserved attention. And I’m pleased the Bluebird is doing well!

 

I really appreciate the inline photos because they illustrate the descriptions in the text. The gallery is good too, but when I jump to the gallery, I seem to lose the context, kind of like a book with all the photos in the back. When you do use the gallery, good captions help.

 

Brian, back to 89. If you get the chance, please do keep us posted as you travel and when you return home. Even a few notes are welcome, and if the one photo is an example of your work, we must see more!

 

And Dave, I’m going to your link now.

 

Thanks for your great efforts to Keep the Show on the Road!

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The Bluebird was great when we stopped there in April 2006. You can see a few more photos from 89 on my web site by going to April 2006 Trip

 

aBluBird.jpg

 

Dave,

 

I really enjoyed the photos in your link! I can’t say it was better than being there, but they were great. You are also an impressive photographer.

 

You must have a nice telephoto for some of the wildlife shots. In the old days I had a Nikon F with a bunch of lenses and I looked like a pack mule on the trail. Now I carry a small Nikon 8400 with a wide angle zoom lens, and a tiny Pentax that fits in my shirt pocket in case I leave the Nikon behind. I’m looking for another digital with a long lens and optical stabilizer. I’m staying away from SLR for now because I don’t want to return to being a pack mule. Any suggestions?

 

Did you wander elsewhere on that trip? That whole area is nothing if it isn’t spectacular. Doing it in April adds some snow on the ground. Wonderful!

 

Sheila and I have wandered over just about every two lane road in the west at one time or another, and that area is top notch. When I was a young man I decided to travel every red two lane road on the map in the western states. I think I’ve done it, plus most of the black ones! It is always great to be returned to one via photos and stories such as yours!

 

Among my interests is the fur trapping era, and there are places along 89, and elsewhere in the region where you can practically rejoin the trappers, at least in your mind eye.

 

Thanks again for posting your photos!

 

Let’s Keep the Show on the Road

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Dave,

 

You must have a nice telephoto for some of the wildlife shots. In the old days I had a Nikon F with a bunch of lenses and I looked like a pack mule on the trail. Now I carry a small Nikon 8400 with a wide angle zoom lens, and a tiny Pentax that fits in my shirt pocket in case I leave the Nikon behind. I’m looking for another digital with a long lens and optical stabilizer. I’m staying away from SLR for now because I don’t want to return to being a pack mule. Any suggestions?

 

 

Hey,

Thanks for the nice comments on the photos. I had been a hobby photographer using a Minolta SRT-101 near the end of college and stayed with Minoltas for a number of years when I started as a school portrait photographer. After doing massive numbers of student portraits for a number of years, I stopped doing much personal photography for a long time. I did keep a Bronica ETRS medium format camera with telephoto for nature photography when I retired from the business, but I have not used it for a couple of years. The trip to Utah and Wyoming was my first trip using the Olympus E-500 package which is a digital SLR with a pair of zoom lenses, one a telephoto and the other a wide angle zoom. I do still have a couple of point and shoot Fuji digitals too, but seldom use them for quality photography.

 

The trip last April was to see our son play volleyball at the Collegiate Volleyball Nationals in Salt Lake City with the Air Force Academy squad. After the tournament, he headed back to Colorado Springs, we drove to Jackson Hole for a few days. I had never been in that area in the past, and blizzards were forecast for the day we were heading up, so we took major highways to get there. We only explored the region including Grand Teton for a few days before needing to head back to Salt Lake City for our flight home. We did not get to Yellowstone, because the southern gate was closed due to road conditions.

 

Brian had emailed me, through this group, concerning 89, so I took what was to be the route north in our plans, and drove south. We did the drive in one day and did not get to spend as much time places as we had hoped. BUT this means we have to come back some day in the near future, to see Yellowstone, and much more of the region. We also want to do it during a different season to so that we can see different flora.

 

Oh well, back to more mundane things, like ripping out four paneled walls and a paneled ceiling to build a new study for myself. Hope to have more vacation photos to share sometime soon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am planning to head out tomorrow to take more photographs for my project. I haven't yet decide whether to travel north or south. If I go north I will pick up where I left off, at Montana milepost 68 (about 11 miles north of Livingston, Montana) and if I take the southern trip, I need to cover the stretch of 89 between Panguitch and Kanab, and then head farther south to The Gap, just past Lake Powell. I haven't yet posted anything to the gallery and I apologize. I have been working on a short essay about the project for our University's literary journal. In the meantime here is a sample of "US 89, Border to border, mile by mile"

 

trio.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Dave (and anyone else interested),

 

I have been away for awhile and haven't had the opportunity to check-in on the forum. Schools is out for the next 4 weeks and I am trying to get my project a little more organized. I have purchased a web domain, but nothing is posted there yet. I am editing my photographs and have created a spreadsheet for each state with a description of each photo (mile marker). Although I haven't posted any of the photos to the gallery I have posted a copy of the story that was published in our University's faculty journal, Perspective, online. It is a pdf file and you can get to it by clicking here. I also have it in Word format (.doc). just email me for a copy.

 

I hope everyone is well and keeping cool! Have a wonderful remainder of the summer!

 

Brian Atkinson

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Dave (and anyone else interested),

 

I have been away for awhile and haven't had the opportunity to check-in on the forum. Schools is out for the next 4 weeks and I am trying to get my project a little more organized. I have purchased a web domain, but nothing is posted there yet. I am editing my photographs and have created a spreadsheet for each state with a description of each photo (mile marker). Although I haven't posted any of the photos to the gallery I have posted a copy of the story that was published in our University's faculty journal, Perspective, online. It is a pdf file and you can get to it by clicking here. I also have it in Word format (.doc). just email me for a copy.

 

I hope everyone is well and keeping cool! Have a wonderful remainder of the summer!

 

Brian Atkinson

 

Brian,

 

Fascinating concept, and what a way to “see.” Your dean was a wise man. And beyond the current value, imagine someone 100 years from now following your photos and descriptions. What a treasure!

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

Keep the Show on the Road.

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Brian, you are one lucky fellow to be able to undertake this. I'm sure I'm romanticizing it a bit but daggone would I like to do something like what you've done. I looked at your article and found your photos to be wonderful, esp. the one in the snow (the fenceposts add real interest).

 

Peace,

jim

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Three's definitely a charm for this thread. I remember it when it first started in August of last year. I know I at least skimmed the article that first post pointed to but I somehow missed the link to us89society.org and more. Then it stirred again in March and I started off to read the NG article but got distracted (I guess). I did read all the forum posts but didn't grasp the magnitude of Brian's project then. Today I read the online PDF and it finally clicked. This was the same US-89 that I enjoy so much in Arizona.

 

Of course, I knew that at some level last August and again in March but it wasn't on the right level. Tonight I visited and joined the US Route 89 Appreciation Society. I've still got to finish that National Geographic article but this time I won't fail. I know I have to wait for Brian's mile by mile project but it won't be easy. What a tease that PDF is.

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