Allred Family Fun House - Star Valley

I think a favorite day for all of us was the day that my Grandma took us all to Star Valley, WY. My Grandma and my Grandpa grew up in Smoot and Afton in Star Valley. They met there, their families stayed there, but they left after getting married and moved to southern California (where my mom and dad grew up). My Dad grew up going to Star Valley as a boy to visit his own grandparents. He has a lot of memories there also. It was a wonderful day to see the places and hear the stories of our family. Dad gathered us all together in the morning before we left to tell us about how our family came to settle there and then we were off.We started at the General Store. This was my Dad's Uncle's store and he remembered his uncle giving him a piece of candy when he would go in. So, Grandpa bought everyone a piece of candy. Hooray!What might have been JUST as exciting as the old uncle's store and a piece of candy was the horse outside the store. The kids gathered around the horse and fed him every weed, grass, twig or leaf they could get their hands on . Poor thing.Grandpa got the attention back by wowing the kids with how he can whistle by blowing on a leaf. So cool.
Right across the street from the store was the house that my Grandma was born in and lived in until she was 10 (?). We went to check it out. It was abandoned. The weeds were overgrown and the house was pretty run down, but it is a cute house. Grandma shared some of her memories there.Then up the road is the house that Grandma spent the rest of her childhood in with Grandma Shwab. I remember coming here and eating in the kitchen with Grandma Schwab.We went to the city park for a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful spot. We ate, we lounged and there was a river to occupy the kids as they "built a bridge" pebble by pebble. Grandma took us up a canyon to hike to an intermittent spring. The hike was very pretty and the waterfall at the end was great, but not intermitting. The water was gorgeous though and we had a nice time hanging out until the deer flies got us.Oh, and until the great fall of 2010 by Brielle! She tried to tough it out.And Ava had problems of her own.
Our next stop was the cemetery. It really was so neat to be there. We saw the headstones and graves of my Grandpa Allred and Great Grandparents. Grandma sat and told us all about these people that most of us have no memory of, but still mean so much to us. We finished the day at a restaurant that was nice enough to let us all in for dinner. It was a great day with the fam.