Photo Day: Some Interesting Sights

Happy weekend, blogville!

Before I begin, I'd like to give a big WOOOO to all my followers.  Thank you for the support.  I'm a hair below 200 followers now, and am enjoying the blogging process in a lot of ways.

Today was a "warm and sunny" 34 degrees today, so I felt compelled to take a walk.  I brought along my camera, and took some interesting photos.

First up was my backyard.

The snow in my backyard is fairly deep.  It's on the North end, so not a lot of sun gets back there to keep snow melting.  Because of this, I can get interesting shots like this...

The snow and ice is slowly sliding off my roof.  I was fortunate enough to take this picture before everything came crashing off.  5 minutes later, it was BLAMMO!  That poor lil red wagon is buried now.

I took a drive downtown because I always wanted to walk around and take pictures.  There are more 'modern' areas of the city, but downtown looks like you've stepped into a time machine, and are back in order times (hence the b&w in some pictures, for the old-timey effect):

A lot of these buildings have been in place for 50+ years.  If you step inside, you can tell that they were never really well-insulated.

The wagon-wheels are making me feel like I'm in the old west.  If it wasn't for the cars and street lights, this could fit into an Oregon Trail video game...

There is a lot of duality when you walk downtown.  Really old buildings, mixed with cars, businesses, and other signs that you're still in the 21st century...

Old building, not-so-old car.

Karen's Bar.  The building has been here since 1895.  I wonder if the bar is that old as well?  From the inside, I wouldn't be surprised...

Ford's Bar.  They have a sign near the entrance that says "Circa 1906."  That's an old bar.

Downtown also runs along the "famous" Snake River.   There are places alongside the river to walk, have picnics, etc.   There are also a lot of different pieces of 'art' along the river, including benches and other stonework.

Apparently not too long ago, the town commissioned a bunch of artists to come and design benches to be placed about town.  These are some of the results.  The music bench made me laugh a little, since I have a musical background.  I have never seen that key before, and the bars don't really follow a proper meter.  But hey, I guess I just don't understand art.

This last piece made me raise an eyebrow a bit.  Yes, the religious folk are everywhere here, and yes, the center of the town is a giant mormon temple, but really??

The plaque below reads "This display is not meant to endorse any particular system of religious beliefs or intrude into matters of religious worship.  As a historical precedent, the Ten Commandments represents one of man's earliest efforts to live by the rule of law.  Many of these ancient pronouncements survive in our jurisprudence today."

I did a little digging online, and that "disclaimer" plaque below was added almost 2 years after the original piece, because of religious protests.  I laughed a little when I read that.

Well, there you go.  I bash a lot of things about this State, but every now and then there are things that make me smile a little.  I enjoyed the walk, and taking these pictures made me smile.  I hope you enjoy them too.