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. 

A Trip to Lagoon

We were able to cross another thing off of our bucket list for this summer: Lagoon. It is an amusement park about 20 minutes north of Salt Lake City. It's pretty small if you're used to Disneyland and Magic Mountain. But it still can help if you've got a roller coaster love you need to fill. Mark and I never managed to get any photos together that day. But at least we got some of each other.
Originally, my sister Shelene had asked me to go to help her as she was surprising her 2 older kids with some mom time. Mark started his summer classes this week and so we thought it would be a perfect way to spend my day off since he wouldn't be home until 7 or 8. Well, his class for Wednesday ended up being cancelled. So at the last minute, he asked his awesome boss for the day off and he said okay! Driving up, we were teasing the kids and asking them where they thought we were going. They had all sorts of ideas, but since they had never been to Lagoon, it didn't even cross their minds. At one point, "Uncle Mark" told them he was pretty sure they were going to Red Lobster. I think the kids actually believed him for a bit. Our mystery conversation that went right over the kids' heads went like this: (keep in mind Red Lobster=Lagoon)
Shelene: Mark have you ever been to red lobster?
Mark: No I have not.
Shelene: Do you like...big lobsters?
Mark: Not really. They are kind of scary. I prefer smaller lobsters.
We were dying of laughter. The kids however looked really confused.

Once we go there though, the kids were excited. My nephew Spencer isn't the bravest kid, so we had to push him to go on a few of the rides. One of my favorite moments with him from the day was on a kiddie coaster as he yelled "this is the best ride ever!!!!" We got him to go on all of the rides with us by telling him it was okay to scream. The funny thing was that he would start screaming as soon as the ride took off....well I guess he screamed when he was scared which was what we told him to do.

The first ride we chose to start off was the carousel. Alexis and Spencer picked giraffes and chickens. Sadly, they didn't know that those animals didn't move up and down as we went around like the horses did. I think they still liked the novelty. We went on a few rides before lunch, slowly working up to the bigger coasters.

After lunch we decided to hit the water rides. We did a ride that is similar to "Log Jammer" at Magic Mountain. You sit in this hollow log, go down a "stream" and then at the end you go down a huge hill. If you're imagining all 5 of us in a log getting soaked, that's exactly what happened. Apparently we weren't wet enough because then we headed for Rattlesnake Rapids.

 This is us waiting in line and seeing the big waterfall we ultimately knew some of us would get stuck under. Oh boy! It was certainly an adventure!

This was us after the rides. We don't look wet, but the dry patch on my shirt shows just how wet we were. We might as well have gone swimming practically! But we had a blast laughing and the kids thought it was funny walking around soaking wet.

When we were about 90% dry, Shelene found a water slide/raft ride for us to try. Of course no one she saw come down had gotten very wet. Our first time down, the back of my pants got wet. Unfortunately, Shelene and Alexis' 2nd time down wasn't so fortunate. They got hit by a wave of water while in the tunnel and once again, their clothes were soaked. We still had a handful of rides we wanted to go on. So we dried off on spinning rides like the tilt-a-wheel. (Uncle Mark took pictures since he's not a big fan of spinning rides)

While riding a "ski lift", Mark discovered on the other end of the park was a race car track. When we got off, he checked it out. Unfortunately Alexis and Spencer were too small to drive. I figured that was the end of that idea. But the next thing I know, he bought passes for me to drive with Alexis and him with Spencer. Shelene stood on the sidelines and took some pictures with her camera. Even though the kids couldn't drive themselves, Alexis loved it and Mark said Spencer giggled the whole time. Especially since they "beat us". But come on, everyone knows those tracks were not made for passing other cars. I would have won if there was more room to pass (...okay may be not really). 

We had a great day. Since it as Wednesday, the lines were hardly existant which is probably why we actually went on a few rides twice. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we headed for the parking lot. The kids had been so well-behaved all day. It was fun to spend some time with just them and their Mom without their little sisters around. Thanks Shelene for sharing your kids and a fun adventure with us! 

Our 2nd Anniversary

June 12th we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. It's amazing how much faster, and more enjoyable 2 years of marriage seems compared to the 2 years I lived while Mark was on his mission! With our cruise in May, I didn't have anything fancy in mind. I wasn't sure what I would get Mark. Thankfully, the day before, he came home and told me he figured something out, but I couldn't buy anything for him because we were going to go somewhere that was really expensive.
Our anniversary was on a Tuesday which meant from 5-7 I could go out but I had to be back by 7 for work.  Mark had worked through lunch on this secret project for me and then another half hour after work as well. When he came home he surprised me with these beautiful flowers. He does try to be a little more creative for our anniversary since Christmas and my birthday are 4 months apart. By the time our anniversary hits, he's used all of his genius ideas. (Last year he made me a coupon book.)

So off we went once he was home to this mystery place. He said he needed the GPS. I knew we couldn't go that far since we had to be back in an hour, but I was clueless. His GPS is older and sometimes takes a while to turn on. We were getting close to the freeway when I said "It's still not turning on". Mark says to me "No big deal, let's just pull in here and figure it out." So we happen to pull into a Best Buy and sit there for a minute while I'm trying to figure out where my husband is trying to take me. Then he says "Welp, since we're here, let's just go in and buy a Wii". I was ecstatic. We'd been talking about buying one for a while, but I didn't think we'd actually buy one until the end of summer.  

I think Mark was feeling pretty lucky he was married to a girl who was actually excited to get a gaming system as an anniversary present. The Wii came with Mario Brothers (up to 4 person can play interactively), and we bought Mario Kart as well. So far we’ve had a lot of fun with it. This is the first time we’ve announced ownership of it publicly, so we’re assuming we’ll now obtain tons of friends mainly just for the usage of the Wii.

After a few very expensive purchases that evening, we went home for a quiet and quick dinner. I then spent the rest of the evening romantically working. Oh the joys of adult life! I am at least grateful our anniversary is in the summer. That way one day when we have kids, they will hopefully be out of school and finding a babysitter to get away won’t be a hassle.

Happy 2^nd anniversary sweetheart!

Cruise!

After 5 months of waiting, we finally boarded a plane and headed to Long Beach, California where our cruise departed. We had approximately 36 hours between Brighton's parents coming home and needing to be packed and ready to go. I was proud of myself for being packed by about 10pm Sunday night. And although Mark teased me a little about the OCD-ness of my packing with lists, I didn't forget a single thing on our cruise.
We had some time to kill from when our flight landed and until we could board, we met up with Mark's Uncle and his wife who live in the area. They took us out to breakfast to this 50's style restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier called Ruby's. We split the cinnamon french toast as neither of us were very hungry, and the calorie count on the menu for that was 1200. So splitting it made us feel better. From the pier, we were able to see our ship off in the distance. David and Aileen were also generous enough to drive us to the port which saved us having to pay the cruiseline's transfer service fees.

The waiting/boarding period to get on was not bad at all. Just in case you're not already ecstatic to get on a cruises ship, they play beach type music to hype you up. Everyone is super friendly and very un-TSA like (until you de-board). I felt a little overdressed compared to what other people were wearing but we weren't sure if we we would get our luggage to change for dinner in time or not, so we played it safe. Come to find out, the first night was "come as you are" dress code. As a lot of people will report, they don't really enforce the dress code much anyways. But we didn't want to be the white-trash people of our table. We were really a little over dressed at our table most nights.  

Here is an overall summary. Those who really want to know the details will probably hear them. For most of you that are just interested in pictures, I tried to pick the best ones of the trip. 

 Crossing the bridge. One more check of our sign&sail cards and we were free for 4 days!

 Lido deck. Mark hates that name for some reason. So this is also known as deck 10. Just to my right is the little pool and 2 hot tubs. None of which we used but others looked like they were having fun. 

 Our stateroom. The bathroom was super tiny. But the room itself wasn't as bad as people warned us it would be. And our window was decent size too. The only downside is that we were awake by 7am every morning. 

 Surprised Mark and pre-ordered a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and delicious rice krispy-like cakes. The white ones were the best! 

 Our first night's towel animal (otter I think)

 Sailing away from our ship. Pretty cool photo if you ask me. 

 It was warmer than I thought so after we got off the boat, I took off the windbreaker. 

There's not much of a beach on the Avalon side of Catalina. The tall circular building was originally a casino which didn't mean gambling back then. It means meeting place really. We were glad we didn't walk down to explore it. Our dinner table friends said it was a disappointment. If we were to go again, we'd do the glass-bottom boat tour. There's not a lot to do here if you don't have an excursion. We shopped and browsed for about 2 hours and got back onto the boat. 

 Room service is included in your fare minus gratuity. So we had some fun and ordered room service for our day in Mexico. We got fruit, bagels and pastries. My favorite was their lemon centered pastry. It's a good thing our cruise was only 4 days. In those days alone I indulged too much with those! Their lemonade was also pretty yummy too. It has a homemade taste and texture to it that makes it pretty addicting. The unlimited soft serve ice cream was a little disappointing. I think the Cannon Center's is better. 

 Waiting to get off the boat in Mexico. Apparently it has the 2nd or 3rd biggest flag. Right behind us is the mini golf course. We tried to play on Thursday but the ship was too rocky and it was just too darn cold!

 Horseback riding at Los Bandidos ranch! Mark unfortunately got the lazy horse so his knees were bruised from having to "encourage" the horse so much. My horse (junior) was perfect and mellow.  

 We survived Ensenada and the crazy bartering in the shops. I wasn't very good at it, and although you can get great deals, I don't like to be begged and pushed into buying something. I made one shop keeper angry because I was looking at shoes and decided not to get them after all. He had them in a bag, willing to let us only pay $20 for them and we walked out. 

 Best chocolate cake ever. Sadly we weren't hungry enough to devour it all. It was amazing though. I wish I could find a place that had copycat recipes to some of their foods. I also fell in love with their chocolate melting cake...if you've cruised with Carnival, you know what I'm talking about. 

 Our last night in the dining room. Yes that is water in the glasses. We actually sat with a nice Christian couple our age. The only wine they drank was one night of which it was their anniversary. The other couple was a bit more party-ish and into drinking. But we all got along just fine and enjoyed our nights at dinner.  

 Baked Alaska. Wish I got this on the first night because it was pretty amazing. Yellow, white and chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream, and a whipped topping on the ends. 

Our last 2 towel animals. On the last day of the cruise we actually went to a towel animal folding class. I don't think they were interested in hiring us after seeing our work. It is really quite an art to master! In case you didn't know, towel creatures are actually made with a large towel and a smaller towel for the face of the animal. The bodies are all pretty similar. It's the faces that are tricky. Our steward had our dog sitting down, which made a lot more sense. They tried to have our dogs stand up in the towel animal class and mine failed horribly. 

Because we are not big party animals, it took us a little bit and some stretching of ourselves to go out and do some activities. They had little events like US trivia, and Michael Jackson song trivia. (Pretty sure I would have won MJ trivia but this one guy had his family of 6 helping. Not cool man!) The 2nd round of song clips were much longer which gave the answers away more. I think my favorite part about the kid in charge of US trivia was he was Australian. So when they had to have a tie breaker, the trivia wasn't really about the United States since he didn't know a whole lot. But how can you be angry at an innocent kid who's far away from home for the summer?  

We also went to The Gender Game and watched a Disco Dance class in their main show lounge. Although I was tempted to participate in the games, I was glad I didn't as they have you do some pretty embarrassing stuff (as well as awkward/inappropriate). But I guess when you're drunk, you don't care much as was the obvious case with a lot of people on board. 

The ship's dance team also put on two shows. One was a Latin music celebration, the other was called Shout, which was a tribute to the early days of rock n roll. I have to give the dancers credit. The stage was at the front of the ship so it was pretty rocky during the performances. I couldn't imagine the practice it takes to do a double and triple pirouette and not fall over dizzy. I was just a little light headed trying to go up the stairs! I didn't worry though because even if I looked a little tipsy, we would have just looked like the more extreme end of drinkers walking about on the ship. 

We had a blast on our cruise. It was crazy how fast the days go. It's a great cruise for first timers, just in case you're not sure that you'd like the cruising scene. Plus, even if you're not into gambling or drinking, we still found some activities to do. And there's always the wonderful fact that you can sleep whenever you want! We wouldn't say we came off "addicted" to cruising. But we are hoping perhaps we can go again maybe with friends in 3 years to celebrate when Mark is done with school.