We are very sad this week after having to cut down our lovely Birch tree. It gave us many cool evenings on hot days and fun climbing branches for the kids to climb on when they were young. The drought the last two years took its toll on it and it began to die last year. We were a little concerned about it this summer when some of the branches started cracking off when the wind would blow. (believe me the wind blows quite often here. It definetely is going to get some getting used to without it here but we will soon replant a new tree there.

Coeur d' Alene bicycle adventure

We returned from an amazing vacation September 5. We spent a whole week in Northern Idaho along 70 miles of paved bicycle trail on an old railroad bed. It begins in Mullen Idaho and runs down along the Coeur d’ Alene’s and ends at Plummer Idaho. Because it runs on the old railroad bed it is pretty much non-hilly except for the last mile or so. We started our adventure on the Hiawatha Trail which is a separate 13 mile trail which is not paved but still on an railroad bed which winds through the mountains and through several tunnels, one of which is a mile and a quarter long. It is in this tunnel where you cross the state line from Montana to Idaho. They met in the middle at the state line so you actually stand in two states in the middle of the tunnel. There are several trestle bridges you cross and at the end of the 13 mile descent you have the choice of loading your bike on a shuttle bus and taking it back or taking your bike back up. We chose the bus and it was worth the eighteen bucks we had to shell out.

One evening we had a little time after riding the trail and checked out Wallace Cemetery. It was up the canyon road about a mile and up on a hill. I had never seen a cemetery quite like it. It had very old headstones that were from the mid 1800’s. It is still being used so it was really interesting to see all the different dates and headstones. We were there at dusk and we got a little spooked later on when it got really dark. Tony thought he heard something in the trees so we opted to leave. Next time we’ll go during daylight.

We stopped at a women’s garden in her backyard. Apparently she works in her garden quite often and she gives her seeds away and if you see her there she will come and talk to you and put your name and city on a bright colored ball and hang it on the fence. We weren’t lucky enough to get to see her. We stopped at Cataldo and took a tour in the oldest standing building in Idaho. It has been renovated in 1974 but they said that there is still 80 percent of the original material still standing. It was a pretty amazing place to see.

We spent a day in Coeur d’ Alene but the wind was blowing so hard that day it was kind of hard to get around. They had burning some fields so the whole valley was filled with smoke. The next day the smoke cleared out and the wind died down and finished the last section of the trail. It was on this day we had a baby bear run 5 feet in front of us and into the bushes. We were both so startled and it happened so fast that neither one of us had time to pull out camera to snap a picture. We were both terrified the Mom was going to come charging out of the bushes and attack us, but we never did see her.

All in all we logged 157 miles in 6 days and we really want to go back and do it again. Anyone want to join us next year?

Here is some of the Wildlife we encountered (minus "The Bear")

Oxford Peak, Willow Flats & Bloomington Lake

We have been taking a few weekend hiking trips the last few weekends. Every drive down to Cache Valley we go through the valley where McCammon is and straight ahead is a mountain peak that has always caught our interest. Last year we investigated what it was and found out that the mountain peak is Oxford peak. I couldn't do any hiking last year cause of my foot surgery so we had to wait until this year to attempt it. It took us twice to get to the top because the trail from Oxford isn't well marked so we spent much of our time figuring out just how to get to the top. We got half way there the first week and the second attempt we got to the top where we were greeted by an awsome view. On our trip down from the peak we realized there were much better trails to follow and next time it won't be such a tough hike. (I think Stephanie probably won't want to go hiking with us again!).

Our second adventure was at Willow Flats this past weekend. We took Brionna and her friend and while they stayed at camp Saturday we hiked up and over the mountain to Bloomington Lake. It was a beautiful but a pretty aggressive climb. It was well into the 80's so we cooked up a sweat but I cooled off a bit in the lake. It was the first time i had seen Bloomington lake with snow on the Northwest corner. There were plenty of young people swinging off the rope on the big tree and some jumping off the cliffs.

Sun Valley

We had a chance to visit Sun Valley and the surrounding areas in the past two weekends. Brionna signed up for a summer camp at Lake Alturus in Central Idaho so we spent the weekend camping before dropping her off. As you can see we took our bicycles and rode around Ketchum. We also stopped at a few Ghost towns and just enjoyed the view. It was a beautiful weekend and we had so much fun.

River Run

Stephanie got really ambitious this morning and entered into the Scenic River Run. She recently has run just the 5K in other races and decided to go out on a limb and go for the 10 K. Crazy girl! You can see as she finishes her run she clocks in at 58:02. She did fantastic!

Stokes Nature Trail

Shortly before leaving Cache Valley Tony and I took a ride up Logan Canyon on the Stokes Nature trail Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed a rather dry ride up the trail with some sun and warmth. On returning to the vehicle it started to sprinkle some and by the time we headed out of the valley it was a downpour. So glad we didn't see the storm coming or we would have probably changed our mind and just headed for home. These are some of the sites we saw along the way.

Strange happenings!

Oh, the strange happenings here in Idaho Falls! This road leads up to my neighborhood and the other day this is what I found along the road. Do you happen to see anything that looks a bit strange? Look closely at the semi truck up at the front. It seems to have lost its back wheels. The truck looked to me that it was overloaded with too many potatoes! Something broke and the back end just ripped away. It took them about 2 1/2 hours to clean up the mess and tow it away. Needless to say it slowed traffic to one lane and was backed up for miles!

My new Ride

This year for my B-day I picked out a new bike. As of yet I'm accident free! (Knock on wood!) I really like the new ride. The ride to work is 4 miles so its just the right distance everyday and back without making me too tired but yet enough to get my aging body some exercise. (Wow notice all that grey hair coming in!) Robert says it looks like a 70's stationwagon, you know the one with the wooden side panels. I say I like the way it looks and I loved the 70's!

We enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend in the Challis Salmon area. It was such a beautiful weekend. We took a bicycle ride 4 miles into Salmon and explored the town a bit since I had never stopped there before. We explored a couple of Ghost towns and cemetaries. The picture on the upper right is an old dredge used to dig for gold on 6 1/2 miles of a stream up a canyon. It was pretty amazing seeing it sitting there in the middle of a canyon. There were 3 tour guides giving the tour and when the 3rd guide walked up to us I could have sworn the we had found Dave's long lost twin brother. He even wore the same floppy hat. The lower left is an old Dam they dismanteled on the Salmon River. They blasted out the hill on the side of the dam instead of taking down the dam. We escaped the rain for the whole weekend except when it rained in the middle of the night. What a fun trip!

New member of the family

Over the weekend we added a new family member to our household. We were always terrified to camp in Yellowstone and the Tetons because we were in bear country and we were afraid the bears would just tear through our tent trailer so we got walls that were a little more sturdy. Of course it only fits 3 people comfortably so we are holding onto that tent trailer in case our kids decide they might want to go camping with us. Can't wait to get decent weather in the mountains to start using it!

We had a very enjoyable weekend taking a 20 mile bicycle ride to Shelley Idaho. If we take the back roads then the traffic isn't so bad. I took the camera but fogot to take it out to take pictures! We like going South early in the day when the wind is not so strong so in the afternoon when it picks up and head back toward the north is pushes us home. The sun was out the temperatures pleasant and just a perfect day to go biking!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom. It was taken in 1961 Jennie Lake in the Tetons. The baby is me and Carol is in the background. I don't know how mom kept track of all of us.

Stephanie came home for a visit and we took some pictures of her so she could send them to a friend. Isn't she lovely?