Vacation Part 2 – Bear Lake

This is one of our very favorite places to vacation, Bear Lake.  Bear lake is located on the borders of both Utah and Idaho.  Its 20 miles long and is aqua blue in colour due to minerals which are suspended in the water.  It is known as “the Carribean of the Rockies”   The water is delicious and sparkling cool and clean. Bear Lake also boasts several fish unique to it alone – if you are like my fishing siblings you will want to click on the photo of the pelicans below to be taken to a website with more info on that. 

With the lake being so big one can find a quiet and private beach at almost any time.  And the town still has a small community feel with lots of take out places which harken me back to my childhood. 

We like to camp at the State Park on the Idaho side – only $12 something a night and so nice and clean.  We had five nights there and then took one extra night at another campsite, more primitive and well… we will cover that experience next post.  All the photos for today’s post were taken with my new Nikon.

We arrive by the north end of the lake where there is a power plant – on the left side is a wildlife refuge.  We always love to see the pelicans.

The refuge covers a large area and is worth taking a day to drive by and view. 

The other side of the road is a different story – simply breathtaking!

This is the beach at a fee area (something like $5 a day – you can drive your vehicle across the white sand to the water’s edge for the day)



The drive along the east side of the lake toward our campsite.

I always delight in seeing  this whimsical  “Old Woman in the Shoe” house.

Snail shells in the sand.

The shoreline changes from place to place, but always the beautiful turquoise water.

 

 

 

And a little friend at our campsite!

We took a drive to Paris, Idaho which is about a 20 minute drive and though the Paris Tabernacle was closed at the time (apparently they were short a volunteer that day)  - however we did visit the museum.  Here are a few photos of the Tabernacle which is built of attractive salmon coloured stone.

 

And of course in the museum I was tickled to see…

 

Inspiring to see tatting from all those years ago.  And yes, I did tat my way along the highways and byways.

I’ll follow up on the next leg(s) of our journey in a few days!  Thanks for visiting.

Summer Vacation

When I said it was timely that I won my Nikon, I really meant it was perfect because it arrived just a day before we left on our summer vacation.  We had booked reservations at one State Campsite for a five day period but other than that we were leaving our trip up in the air.  I will blog the first part of our holiday today and follow up over the coming days.

The first leg of our journey was to make stops in on our daughters – one in Kelowna and the other in Calgary.   It was a beautiful drive through the Rocky Mountains into Alberta – only the weather was pretty dark and damp. (I’ve labelled the photos as to which are taken on the ipod, which on my Nikon)

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After we had a few days in Calgary we headed south and spent a night in Cardston at an RV site.  We got an early start and crossed the USA border.  This is always when we feel truly “away”.  Perhaps its more a mental thing as much as a physical thing. 

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With all the rain this year everything is still so lush and green.  I could not resist taking a photo of my Mr. taking a photo. 

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I’m always a sucker for places with quaint names and my Mr. always relents to them for me.  This photo was taken at a small town called Sugar City.  We stopped and had a sandwich and a respite under a shady tree. 

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We arrived in Idaho Falls about lunch time.  I had hoped to spend an entire day there but it turned out to be a blistering hot day and we opted to continue on our journey instead.  The following two nights we spent at a Forestry or State Camp area on the Madison River. 

The campsites were adjacent to West Fork Cabin Camp – just click HERE to learn more.  The reason I add this in is because some of our family members are AVID fishermen and after talking to the manager of this place we found out that the Madison River is a fisherman’s haven!  I don’t have a photo to post of this area though. 

Then we pushed on and as we were driving down the highway noticed a sign for Heise Hot Springs.   We are a sucker for hot springs so decided to check it out.  We wound up staying a few days – soaking in the pools at night and going for hikes in the day. 

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The view from the trail was fabulous, so we decided to go even further, climbing to the top of a hill.  Here are several more photos. 

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This trail had been west of our campsite, and the next day we went for a jaunt to the east.  We simply chose a local road and kept walking, and walking and walking. 

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Erm… being careful to be polite to cars as… after seeing this sign all shot up, well.  lol!

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With this final photo – which looked so peaceful and what summer makes me think of. 

I will be back in a day or two with the continuing part of our journey.  Thanks to you, Valinda, for reminding me it has been a MONTH since my last post.