Idaho Part 3

If you read in reverse, congratulations! You made it to part 3 which is the last leg of our awesome 3 day adventure. The weather in Island Park had been cool and rainy Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, the sun found its' way through the clouds and gave us some beautiful weather for our last day there.
We put on our swimsuits and headed up the river to the boat docking area with a raft and 2 tubs. Mark and I planned to raft down. Turns out the water wasn't TOO cold so I ended up tubing down most of the river after my arms got too tired of rowing with Mark.
When we got there, we realized we forgot the  nozzle for the pump to blow up the raft extra. So while "Grandpa" Rao went back, we had some fun.
This is Mark getting really into his rowing...never mind the rocks that are under him rather than water. He was just getting hyped for the trip.

 Breanne and Ian had to get in on the tough posing pictures as well. Although it's a good thing they weren't in the water at this point...Ian may have fallen out of the boat with as far as he was leaning! 

 Then they convinced me to get in on the action. So I stuck a pose...

 After rafting through the bridge posts we were finally floating down the river. For some reason, we all had a song from Pocahontas come to mind as the river bended in all sorts of ways. 

 I believe this was right before they caught up to us and started hanging onto the raft while Mark and I worked hard to paddle. Moochers!

 This picture was actually taken while Bre was in her tube. Notice the ziploc bag I was praying my camera would safely return to after this picture was taken.

 Ian and Mark ended up rowing the raft most of time...well technically Ian. Somehow Mark convinced him he needed to focus on watching for icebergs/practicing his mermaid pose frequently found on the front of ships. Silly husband!

 So off we went, tubing and rafting down this river. When I got tired of rafting, Ian and I swapped places and  began my first tubing experience. Thinking of a great pose to strike, we caught up with the boys and tried to pose trying to show how relaxed we were on the slow moving river...but of course I lost my balance right as Ian snapped the photo.

 This was more how I imagined. Yes, I'm wearing a life vest. Being 5'2" you can't always take a 6' tall person's opinion when they say the river isn't "that" deep. Here we are, 2 beauty queens relaxing on the river...this was about 2 hours before we realized that no sunblock was a bad idea. 

Floating down the river was much more exhausting than we thought. And since some of us * cough myself * stayed up late, we caught a quick snooze before getting on the road. Of course before we could go, Ian's Grandpa had to make us one more delectable meal. He didn't just make us waffles, but also set the table with at least 5 different topping options and demanded we have more than just 2 pathetic toppings on a waffle. Such a funny man!

On the way back, we stopped in Rexburg to say goodbye to Alyssa and Stephen who left Saturday night (well Sunday morning at 2) for early morning church commitments. Ian, who was driving, was nice enough to make a stop by the temple and let me bask in the memories that flooded back from living there nearly 5 years ago. This temple was finished my last year there. I am in love with it. 

 The semester before I left I took a picture of this temple on a freezing sunny morning. I didn't really believe I'd  be taking a picture with Mark who was then on a mission 4 years later happily married. Although it was a quick stop, it was great for Mark to see a small part of my life. One day we'll go up for a real visit!

Getting home was a bit painful. We were all tired, we left late and we were all trying to comfortably travel while feeling those first effects of sunburn. But despite the late night it was coming home, and the sunburns that all of us still have from the weekend, it was totally worth it. A weekend road trip with friends is just what we all needed before the end of summer. Especially for us as our lives will become a bit hectic in the weeks to follow. Stay tuned! 

Idaho Part 2

Saturday morning, bright and early (okay 7:30am), we left for Yellowstone. Neither Mark or myself have been to Yellowstone so we were excited to see some...nature. We arrived around 9AM, early enough that there was no line for the car entrance. According to our friends, that was a very positive indication of how the crowds would be.

 I really don't remember where we were exactly when I took the pictures, but here are the sites we visited in our day: 

1. Norris
2. Old Faithful
3. Inspiration Point 
4. Upper Falls
5. Lower Falls
6. Steamboat Geyser 

It definitely was smelly. It was raining off and on that day so at some points we couldn't tell if it was misting rain or sulfer water. Either way, we tried not to inhale while walking as long as possible through the mist.

 This was on one of the boardwalks looking out. Talk about looking like the land of desolation!

This geyser we stopped at to get a picture in front of us stopped erupting as soon as we posed for the picture. Go figure....

 The crowd of people waiting for old faithful. It erupts every 45 minutes to an hour. We were lucky enough to get there just 10 minutes before it went off. It looks like it erupts pretty high, but there is actually another geyser in the park that goes twice as high when it erupts...but that only happens once every few years.

At upper falls, we took a 3/4 mile hike of switchbacks down to get to the waterfall. The views were breathtaking. Looking down did the same when you realized that the waterfall drops down at least 200 yards. The water has some pretty rough rapids as well. 

There were a lot of people at this spot taking pictures. Obviously since it is prime location. But the entertaining part was that a lot of people were carrying around Ipads in the park. Now I'm all for technology and having high quality. But isn't a camera that you can hook onto your wrist or neck more convenient than an Ipad? It made us laugh a bit. 

I forgot to mention the other two wives in the group are girls I went to Romania with 3 years ago. We may or may not have stayed up until 2 AM that night talking about our memories from that crazy summer. 

We made our boys take a picture together. On the left is Ian, the right is Stephen, Alyssa's husband. We picked them up in Rexburg and they followed us up to the cabin. They don't look as thrilled for a picture but they stood there looking manly together. 

 Whatever you do...don't look down!! Too late.....This was Inspiration Point. I'm not sure what inspiration could come from looking down into this but as you can see from the next picture, it definitely had some breathtaking views. 

 Just to our right, there was a telescope provided by the local ranger station focused on an Ospreen bird's nest. The telescope focused in so closely you felt like you were in the nest with the bird. It was a pretty cool experience!

Afterwards we visited a few more geysers including steamboat which hasn't erupted in several months. Apparently when it erupts, nearby campers can hear it. The ranger said if the wind is just right when it erupts, the mist can land on cars in the parkinglot nearby. Because some of the erupted material is what glass is made out of, it can ruin your windshield and you'd have to replace it. We were glad there was no eruption that day because there was definitely plenty of wind. 

 It's pretty windy in the park (at least that day). Many lost hats can be seen in the springs and geyser areas. They tell you not to walk off of the boardwalk because you could sink in. We joked every time we saw a hat that the person must have sunken into the earth and the hat was all that they left behind.

 For a park called "Yellowstone" this was about all the yellow stone we saw...and from what others said, this is actually bacteria that grows from the constant but low stream of icky water that runs through.

 These two little hot pots were sitting right next to each other. The one on the left was bubbling like crazy. The one on the right was trying hard but just didn't have enough power to create much gas. We gave it an A for effort at least.

 It wasn't until we were out of the park that we actually took pictures with the Yellowstone sign. It had been a long day of rain and wind, but fortunately at this point, I think it's safe to say we all still looked decent. I didn't have my camera at the time but while we were driving between spots, we passed a bison who was cruising down the side of the road. We pulled over and Alyssa got a picture as he walked past. Seriously he was so close I could have reached out and touched him. But since he could easily crush our car with little effort, I decided to sit back and watch as he slowly meandered past the car looking less than enthused about life.

Although we only spent a day there, I think in our 8 hours spent there we saw quite a bit and probably most of what Yellowstone has to offer. An oddity of Yellowstone is that it is totally acceptable to slow traffic down if you see something off in the distance. Often, we couldn't tell what the crowds of people were looking at. We joked it would be funny to get out at an empty area and start pointing excitedly off in the distance. Then when a few people had parked, leave and let them wonder what "awesome sight" we had spotted. Next time maybe.... 

Idaho Part 1

You guessed it. We went to Idaho for a weekend! Our good friends Breanne and Ian invited us to road trip it up to Island Park, ID and stay in Ian's grandparents' cabin and see Yellowstone. Somehow we all managed to get time off work and find a weekend that worked for everyone. So we packed up the car with snacks, and headed northbound to escape the near 100 degree temperatures that were definitely outstaying their welcome in Utah.
The ride to Idaho is not really that exciting once you get north of Salt Lake. Once you pass Ogden, you could blink and miss cute little cities like Brigham City, Tremonton etc. Here are some views of what it looks like on the 5 hour drive:

Sometimes, you see these kinds of things...

 But most of the time it's more of this......

 After you break off of the I-15 and start up the 20, it begins to look like this once you pass Rexburg, St. Anthony, and Ashton. (Look! Our friends like rubber ducks too!) 

When we got to Ian's grandparents "cabin", we quickly realized that what they were saying all along was right. This "cabin" in the woods was not just a cabin, but their actual house for a good portion of the year. We kept asking if they had certain items or if we needed to pillows, blankets, dishes etc. I just didn't realize it was a house rather than a temporary vacation home. For planning a "camping" trip. It was the furthest thing from roughing it. But definitely enjoyable.
The grandparents were there at the house and were really fun to get to know and talk to. We found out they were actually hall advisors at BYU over 50 years ago. It was definitely fun to hear their stories about what BYU housing was like then. They spoiled us for sure. Ian's grandpa used to teach college so from what they said, we are some of his favorite people to interact with. They didn't even seem to mind how late we stayed up. For a couple in their 80s being married for over 50 years, it was so fun to see them interact and tease each other.
The house and it's views were breathtaking. He bought the land back in the 70's for $3,000. The money it cost to build the house was provided through his candle making business he started. (Oh if only that were doable today!) In their "neighborhood" each house is unique but theirs is definitely my favorite.

 This is the view from their front door. It's so quiet, you wouldn't know 5 minutes out is a busy highway. 

 This is the view from their front door. It's so quiet, you wouldn't know 5 minutes out is a busy highway. 

Backyard view. The river runs right up against the hill in their backyard. There used t be a small dock but it's been covered up by water now. 

 The north side of the river where we floated down from on Sunday. 

The house has 3 levels. This is the basement view where we slept. This house had to be a grandparents' dream house. They could fit 8 people in beds alone, and on their top floor/loft area, they had tons of extra sleeping bags and blankets. 

  The view from the river of their house. Apparently some people are complaining about it becoming too crowded in their "neighborhood". I myself couldn't complain about the breathtaking views and peace!

Upon our arrival Friday night we were served a delicious meal of lasagna with homemade bread. Both were delicious. Afterwards we learned how to play a card game called "Oh 'Heck'". It's sort of a gambling card game. I am proud to say I lost horribly on the first round, but rose to the top in our second round of games. It was definitely fun to play since each couple was pretty competitive.