28-Jul-2001 -- The lives of my siblings and me and our families have been closely connected with Utah, southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho for the past 50 years. Today was the wedding of my youngest sister. So, we all trouped off to Lyman, Wyoming for the festivities.

Traveling with my wife Diane and me were our daughter and son-in-law Aimee and Kent Pyne, our son Curt and his girlfriend Debbie Svay. This was Debbie's first venture into a big family activity. She came prepared to attend a wedding, but not to hunt for confluences. Consequently, she and Curt waited at the car and listened to the coyotes howl while the rest of us took a hike.

Actually, we took two hikes. It happens that the road leading to the confluence also leads to the point where three State borders meet, namely Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. The last four miles of the road are rough and require a high clearance vehicle. Don't travel the road if it has been raining.

The hike to the tri-state monument was short and steep. The monument is inside a small fenced-in area. The monument is a three-sided stone pillar topped with a brass cap. There is also a small plaque near by. The coordinates at the monument were North 42 degrees 0.099 minutes by West 111 degrees 2.806 minutes.

Aimee and Kent kissed in three states at the same time.

We then back-tracked to 111 degrees West, parked the car and walked to 42 North. The distance was about 0.7 minutes of arc. We found ourselves on a sagebrush covered hillside. The view to the East was the most interesting. It revealed a small meandering river flowing north to the town Coleville, Wyoming. The valley contains both a highway (US 30) and a railway line (Union Pacific.)

We built a small rock cairn. On the way back to the car we saw a most beautiful prickly-pear cactus flower. Its yellow petals appeared to be sculpted out of wax.

A bad day exploring is better than any other day. This was a great day. On the way back to Logan we stopped at Bear Lake for raspberry shakes and hamburgers.