Memorial Day Weekend - Bear Lake Style

I love Memorial Day weekend. Not only it is a great time to reflect on and thank all of those brave men and women who have sacrificed for this beautiful country (shout out to my dad, for one!), but it is also the kick off to the summer. And I love summer. Everything about it. I love BBQs and making s'mores. I love the sunshine and even the smell of sunblock. I love that I get to take Gracie to the pool. I love that I get to see my husband a little more than usual. Summer. is. just. great.

Anyway, we kicked off this summer by going on a trip to Bear Lake. Boyce had been there once in the winter with an old girlfriend a long time ago. I had never been there. And man, I have to say, that place is sure beautiful.

We left Friday evening right after Boyce got home from work and jetted up there. The drive was three hours, but it flew by, even despite the fact that we made two pit stops to Wal-Mart looking for an umbrella stroller since we forgot our monstrosity other stroller.

We expected some bad weather, but we awoke (after a bit of a long night trying to coax Grace to sleep between the hours of 3 and 5 am) to a really nice, sunny morning. In fact, outside our condo a few people were getting ready for a half marathon. We had to make a quick run to the KOA because we forgot some staples for breakfast, and there we saw the KOA had some bikes to rent. We ended up renting a strange-looking bike for an hour and biked around the little town of Garden City. Side note: That bike was REALLY hard to pedal. You try peddling a bike in the shape of a box and you will see what I mean. We were pretty tired at the end of that little hour!

Alas, shortly after our bike ride, the bad weather descended. It got cold. Fast. Not sure what to do in the yucky weather, we hopped in the car and decided to drive north through the little towns of St. Charles and Paris, ID. On the drive back, we saw a sign for Minnetonka Cave and quickly decided to check it out. After a gorgeous drive through some backwoods, we arrived at the cave just in time for one of the last tours of the day. The cave was seriously huge and very, very cool. It took us about an hour to walk through and up and down the 444 stairs inside the cave, and was interesting enough even for a 1 year old to enjoy, for the most part. (The only downside was that my canvas shoes were soaked all the way through, and so my feet were freezing! And might I add, it took two days for those bad boys to dry out, but thankfully they did (phew, because they are my favorite pair of shoes right now)). Oh, and by the way, for those who are wondering, Minnetonka is Shoshone for "falling water." Yup, there was a lot of falling water in that cave.

Daddy and Gracie in the cave.

These formations were supposed to each resemble one of the Seven Dwarfs.

Those strange things were said to resemble soda straws. They kind of do.

Grace touching something slimy that we were allowed to touch.

Are you done with the cave pictures yet? Okay, so am I. Moving on.

On Sunday, we went to the local ward for church. To my surprise, the little chapel was busting at the seams or is the saying, "bursting with the seams?" with visitors. So much so that they ended up not holding the second or third hours of church.

Some pics inside our little condo we rented. Yes, that would be Gracie inside the ice chest.

The weather was really yucky the rest of the day, which meant (after some convincing on Boyce's part) we headed back into the truck for another drive to see what kind of adventure we could drum up in the bad weather. We ended up driving ALL the way around the lake. Take it from me, people, the eastern side of the lake is not pretty. Think sage brush, and lots of it. ALTHOUGH, we did manage to stumble upon the house of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. I know, you're thinking that's just a little old nursery rhyme. Nope people. She has a home right there on Bear Lake.

Some pelicans swimming in the Eastern side of the lake.

The house of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. I know, right?!

Thankfully, the sun rejoined us on our last day at Bear Lake. We decided just to take Grace to the city park and hang out there for awhile.

As we were actually leaving the park, we noticed a sign that said "Board Walk to Beach" and hopped back out of the truck to take a look. The little board walk did not fail, and we got to go to the waterfront after all. The lake is called the "Caribbean of the West" and it is so true - the water is so, so light blue! We ended our Bear Lake adventure by getting some raspberry shakes (a local favorite) and then headed out of town. Goodbye Bear Lake! We will be back, hopefully when it's warmer!