Lake Powell & Bear Lake

We began our annual trip to Lake Powell on July 6th.  This year we were joining the Keeton family on the house boat.  Since they were pulling their ski boat from San Antonio, our boat was not required and we decided to make the trip in the car instead of the RV.  We met up with the Keetons in Albuquerque, NM and caravaned to Lake Powell from there.

With 2 adults, 4 kids and 2 seniors on the houseboat we had some concerns about going down river and being able to anchor the houseboat, but John and Kathryn proved equal to the task and we found a nice place to anchor in Clear Creek Canyon. We had a great week exploring canyons, hiking, tubing and water skiing.  John, Kathryn and Akston hiked to the top of Hole in the Rock.  They also stood the 3-person pyramid.  Liz and I both slalom skied.  (for me it was significant because it was my first time since my second hip replacement).

Liz on slalom ski - looking young and fit

Lee

Akston getting some air

Akston and Reayen getting more air

John, Kathry and Akston doing the pyramid

The Crew - John, Reayen, Lee, Liz, Akston, Kathryn, Elynn & Ryder

On Sunday, July 14 we left Lake Powell.  The Keetons headed for home and we headed to Bear Lake, Utah.  We planned to have a mini family reunion with some of Liz's siblings and their spouses.  We stayed in her brother Jacob's cabin at Bear Lake and met up with her sisters Anna Maria, Barbara and Kathryn.  Monday night we ate dinner with everyone at Zipz, a local restaurant in Garden City.

Dinner at Zipz with Liz's sisters and some Budge cousins

 On Tuesday we went on an adventure to see some sights in the Bear Lake area.  Mark Budge (Liz cousin) lives locally and was our guide.  We started with Minnetonka Cave which is up St Charles canyon.  The cave was very interesting and required substantial climbing so we got a work out.  We also saw some beautiful natural formations.

Doreen, Mark, Barbara, Lee, Liz, Budge, Anna Maria, & Jim
at Minnetonka Cave

Getting ready to explore the cave

Entrance to Minnetonka Cave

 After the cave we went Paris Spring which is a pretty natural spring up Paris canyon.  After the spring we had lunch at the Paris Subway and then drove to Bloomington Lake.  This is a beautiful natural lake in the tops of the mountains.  The hike in was good exercise and when we arrived at the lake we discovered a rope swing tied to a tree overhanging the lake.  With a running start you could swing way out over the lake and then let go, landing in the glacier fed water.  We decided to try that some other time.

At Paris Spring

The group of us at Bloomington Lake

Bloomington Lake with surrounding snow

On Wednesday we left Bear Lake and drove up to Barbara's house in Ashton, ID.  That afternoon Frank and Barbara took us for a ride through the wilderness in their Ranger ATV.....great fun!  On Thursday we left Ashton and headed for the West Entrance of Yellowstone.  We drove through the park and went out the northeast entrance on the Beartooth Highway.  This highway connects the northeast entrance of Yellowstone with Red Lodge, MT.  It climbs to over 10,000 ft and reveals some spectacular views.  The road is a definite "must see" for anyone's bucket list.

Climbing up the Beartooth Highway

View near the summit of Beartooth Highway

View near the summit

Beartooth Lake

View of the canyon descending toward Red Lodge

Beartooth Peak?

We stopped at Red Lodge, MT for lunch and ate at the Red Box Car.  Red Lodge is a mecca for motorcycles because Beartooth Highway is on the must do list for bikers.  There were plenty of bikers in town the day we were there.

After lunch we headed for Caspar, WY where we planned to spend the night in a motel.  However we discovered that everything in town was booked because of some major rodeo, so we spent the night in a campground and slept in the back of the car.  On July 19th we drove to Amarillo where we got a hotel for the night and arrived home on July 20, worn out but full of happy memories.