Memorial Day Weekend at Bear Lake

We had a fun getaway to Bear Lake for Memorial Day Weekend.  We left Friday after the boys got home from school. We stopped in Soda Springs at their "capped geyser" which goes off every hour.  We got there about ten minutes before it was going off and looked around a bit before watching it spout for 5 minutes.

 We drove on to Bear Lake and had dinner and went in the swimming pool.  Saturday was my birthday and I had a lazy morning of sleeping in and cinnamon rolls and coffee with my boys while Jim rode a 50 mile loop around the lake on his bike.  We went and played some tennis and Jim caught up with us when he was done.  I got to open my birthday gifts and then we went to the Minnetonka Cave.  It is the largest limestone cave in Idaho and we went in with a tour group. We had two guides, one was experienced and the other was on his first day.  We saw lots of stalactites, stalagmites and columns. There is even a feature that they call "cave bacon" because it looks like bacon.  The cave was 40 degrees and mostly lit by electric lights.  There was one section that had no working lights, so we used flashlights.  There were almost 900 steps in the cave, many hand carved out of stone, and some metal.

 After the cave we took the long way around the lake while Elliott napped in the car.  We then went swimming at the pool again and then back to our condo to BBQ hamburgers and have cupcakes and ice cream and watch a movie.

Sunday morning we made a day trip to Salt Lake City.  We drove clear to the IKEA and had lunch...Sweedish food for Jim and I and American food for the boys.  Then we wandered through the store quickly and got a few things for our kitchen. Then we went to the Tracy Aviary in downtown SLC.  Although the weather was threatening thunderstorms, we just saw a few drops of rain and had mostly beautiful weather.  The grounds of the aviary are landscaped beautifully and we saw lots of interesting birds.

 After the aviary we went to Competitive Cyclist and sat in the car during a loud thunderstorm.  We drove back through Salt Lake City and the streets were flooded in lots of places.  We went to Trader Joes and got some favorite snacks and groceries.  Then we headed back towards the condo and stopped at In-N-Out for dinner.  In-N-Out was giving away free hot chocolate to kids since it was a rainy day.  We had some ice cream and cupcakes when we got back and put the kids to bed.  Emmett stayed up with us and watched The Greatest Showman.

Monday morning we worked on getting packed up and went to the pool.  We finished packing and ate some lunch before we left.  Then we went to the Bear Lake Wildlife Refuge and drove and walked around.  We saw all kinds of birds including swans (with babies), herons, sandhill cranes, and a great horned owl.  Red wing blackbirds were everywhere and seemed to like to pick on the bigger birds.

 Then we drove up to the National Oregon California Trail Center in Montpelier.  They have an interactive exhibit that puts you with a guide who talks to you about making the journey.  He talks about how much supplies cost and what supplies would be important to have.  You take a "journey" on a wagon while listening to audio of journal entries written along the trail.  Then you enter a typical "camp" and hear stories about what happened in camp and about a lady who killed a black bear with her frying pan.

 The basement of the center housed historical artifacts from the area and there was a lady who showed us many of the things.  She learned that Ezra was just finishing up first grade and she knew that they learn about the value of money so she was excited to show him the change machine.  It was pretty impressive and they also liked the typewriter.  We played at the park a little afterwards and then headed for home.  We drove through a big thunderstorm with some intense rain and then stopped in Pocatello.  We tried to go to Costco, but it was closed, so we ate dinner at a nearby sandwich shop and continued home.