Bear Lake, Sunrise, and Tony Grove

In mid June we decided we needed a camping trip. And sooner rather than later. We hopped online and did some creative campground math to book a week in the mountains in Logan Canyon, split between two campgrounds because that's what was available. Finally the week of July 6th arrived and we were packed and ready to roll!

We drove over Monte Cristo, through Woodruff and stopped in Randolf for a quick playground break (the kids really have missed playgrounds and we try to indulge them if they are vacant and open). Cal took off instantly for the monkey bars and did them over and over till her hands were sore. Sam loved the little spring animals and bulldozer slide.

Our next stop was Bear Lake! We were happy to find it wasn't too crowded on the Monday morning after the 4th of July and found a great beach spot in the shade at the rest stop toward the south end of the lake (between Rendezvous Beach and Garden City). We spent a chilly few minutes in the water and a pleasant couple of hours digging in the sand and shells. And then it was time for lunch! At LaBeau's of course. In all my years of eating food at LaBeau's I swear I've never walked right up to the window to order. But I did today! It was amazing. And it's not like nobody was there - there were people waiting for food ahead of me and a line formed after I ordered, but for one brief moment it was just me and that was kind of awesome haha. My chicken cordon bleu sandwich and Gregg's pastrami burger and Cal's cheeseburger and Sam's corn dog and our tots and onion rings and raspberry shake were all perfect. Yum!

Cal was in heaven sifting through these piles of shells for the
prettiest ones she could find.

The water was so clear (and cold!) Brrrrrr Lake for sure today!

We had an hour or so to kill before it was time to check in at the campground, so we took a drive North into Idaho, hoping Sam would get a nap. He did fall asleep, but only about 10 minutes before we got to Sunrise. Luckily he slept in the car while we unhooked the trailer and got things set up at our site (#8). And he was still sleeping and bobbing his head so I decided to try a transfer to the trailer. Which he did! And he slept for another hour or so. Phew! Tired guy! We spent the evening wandering around the campground and reading and playing games in the shade. We ate dinner of naan/tortilla pizzas and had s'mores and walked down to the overlook spot on the trail behind the bathrooms. The kids even got brave and ventured out on a walk by themselves; they had one walkie talkie and we had the other so we heard a play by play of their walk, including their sighting of a moose running through camp!

Home, sweet campsite, for a day.

Time for a little campground soccer.

The smoke from everyone's fires made the sun
shining through the trees look extra pretty. See
the rays?

I still have no idea what Callie is holding.

After a completely terrible night's sleep, we had a relaxing morning in the campground, with a peek of a sunrise through the trees and a pancake breakfast. After more explorations we headed back down to the lake, this time to the beach at the end of the board walk behind the park in Garden City, which we had to ourselves. The water was chilly again but the sun was warm and the kids were happy to dig in the dirt for an hour.

Sunrise in Sunrise.

After a rough night, everyone was still struggling to get
their happy faces going during breakfast.

The world's biggest ant hill (there were a few
of these throughout the campground - I've never
seen anything like it!).

Not the best sandy beach, but an empty dirt beach is better than
nothing and the kids had a ball digging and building.

After we checked out at noon from Sunrise, we had three hours till our check in at Tony Grove, but only about a half hour of driving to get there. We picnicked for lunch at a day use spot on the road that goes up to Beaver Mountain. Then we drove further up to the resort to hang out for a couple hours. We visited all the lifts (except Marge's) and walked to the end of their camping area to check out the sites. Gregg and Sam played a bit of disc golf on the new baskets (we didn't know they had these so didn't bring our regular discs, but had one in the car the worked well enough for a few tosses).

On a sign at the picnic area. I must say I agree
with Brother Brigham!

Name that lift? This is (the new) Little Beav.

The Face.

Harry's Dream.
(I need to consult my Beaver Mountain Expert brother to learn
when this one became a triple chair.)

We sat in the shade by these tires so naturally
they turned into a prop for a photo op.

At last we made it to our spot (#12) in Tony Grove Campground! Callie was really excited about making friendship (we called them "familyship") bracelets for everyone, so we broke out the embroidery floss and got to work in the shade. After a hot dog dinner, we walked down to the lake. It was marvelous in the evening light and since the evening was still young we set out on our first of many walks around the lake. The kids were SO happy and excited and climbed on every rock and pranced (seriously, pranced!) down the trail. It was lovely. The flowers were blooming (I was worried we might be too early but it was perfect!), the lake was beautiful, the smell was wonderful. It felt so good to be in my happy place with my people.

We headed back to camp and got the kids in bed at a somewhat regular time (by themselves this time instead of all of us trying to fall alseep together). It worked out SO much better and by the fourth night we had things down to a good groove and were all sleeping really well in our little teardrop.

We had a huge spacious shady spot - it was almost too shady
at times!

The Blanchard Familyship Bracelets!

There it is! I love this place.

Balancing on logs became a favorite pastime of both kids - but
this one was big enough to run across! (Yes, it made his mother
nervous to watch!)

Peekaboo!

Sam was so nervous to try this crawl-through-and-
climb, but Cal encouraged him.

And he did it! (He was so proud!)

I've walked past these signs on the nature trail around the lake
SO many times in my life, but I've rarely read many if any of them.
Some pretty interesting info, actually!

SO happy!

This is supposed to show the lovely flowers,
but they're just hard to see in photos. It was stunning!

All tucked in and ready to snooze. (Note the
lack of sleeping bags for the kids? They were
abolished from the trailer after our noisy (and
hot) night before - the kids and the parents did
much better with just fleece blankets.

Wednesday morning we woke up and ate banana bread french toast for breakfast (I'll be ever grateful for my friend Erin recommending that one to me!). We took a morning walk down to the lake, but decided not to walk around it all the way until Grandpa and Grandma Elwood came. Which they did around 9:45. We walked back to the lake with them and then around and the kids did not stop talking the whole way, showing off their rock climbing skills and their flower identification skills and their darling kid skills.

I can't even handle it!

Pure heaven.

This is where the name comes from.

Heart eyes to the max!

Walking with Grandpa and Grandma around the lake was
such a fun adventure.

I thought this was a columbine, because there
were plenty of those around, but it looks different
than all the others and was so pretty.

What are these?!

Pretty geraniums.

Don't know what these are either? The leaves
look lupine-ish to me, but the flowers don't
look quite right.

Elephant's heads (which I learned from the sign
(and from Heather)).

Since we found an open table in the trees at the south end of the lake, Gregg and I left the kids with the grandparents to save it while we hiked back up the hill to the campground to grab lunch and swimsuits to take back down for the afternoon. We also left a note and a walkie talkie on the table, just in case Gregg's parents decided to come visit (we had invited them but didn't know for sure if they'd be able to make it and didn't have cell service to hear from them). Our picnic lunch with a view of the lake was lovely, if a bit chilly with the breeze in the shade. But that didn't stop the kids from jumping in the lake once they were finished. Someday we'd love to try out a stand up paddle board or kayak or canoe on the lake (like we saw lots of other folks doing nearby). But we made our own fun with floating logs and spotting little fish and braving the deeper water to climb on the "alligator log" further out.

Gregg decided he wanted to join the water fun and headed back to camp at one point, right as his parents arrived! So we had fun showing off the lake to Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard, too (it was their first time ever being there). After we had our fill in the water, we all ended up back in camp for a good visit before the Blanchard grandparents had to get back home to Aggie. The Elwood grandparents stayed for dinner of noodles and white sauce (and sauteed garden fresh zucchini - they picked them from their garden before they came up!) and s'mores and then we said goodbye to them too, and put the kids to bed. Such a fun day filled with grandparents and play and mountains - an excellent combination!

(the towels were not for drying off, but for protection from the
breeze while eating)

Trying to ride the floating log back to shore.

Gregg and Sam made it to the alligator log.

The watchers.

Cold Callie.

More campground soccer.

Campground chats.

A feast!

Holy s'more batman (that is a giant marshmallow
sandwiched between two sandwich cookies!).

On Thursday morning we took another walk around the lake, this time in the opposite direction than we had done previously, just for kicks. We headed back to camp, got dressed in our suits, and headed right back down to the lake to play in the water before the crowds showed up. I even made it out to the alligator log this time! Since we don't last too long in the cold water, we were back in camp by lunchtime.

After, we had a lot of time to play and read and wander and relax in and around the campground. And then we had a fun surprise to see my grandparents drive up! They stopped for a visit for about an hour and it was fun to hear stories about when they would camp here when my dad was young and when I was young. I'm so glad they made the drive and that we were in camp to see them when they came.

We had taco salad for dinner and went on another walk through the campground, ending up at the lake again (of course). When we got back to camp we built a good fire and told stories and ate popcorn and enjoyed the evening.

Like glass in the mornings!

A little bit bright for a family selfie.

Paintbrush and penstemon and Callie, oh my!

Columbine for days.

Finished this one while camping. I really liked it.
He told some hard stories, but he writes so well
and with such humor and love. It was eye opening
and funny and sad and frustrating all wrapped up
in one book about growing up in South Africa.
I recommend it.

Sam took me on the trail across from our campsite
to see the "huge dead tree".

I kept asking Sam if each dead tree along the path
was the one we were looking for and he said, "When
I tell you, 'Stop!' we'll be there. . . . Stop!" And here
were were.

He was a great tour guide and fun to have a little
one on one time with my boy. (Cal and Gregg
were on a walk to the lake for some Dad 'n' Cal
time right now.)

Fun to visit with my grandparents in this place that has so many
memories for all of us.

The spillway made for a great place to try
rock climbing.

Cal declared her desire to be a rock climber "when she gets
to be a teenager or an adult" after this trip.

More interesting factoids about the lake for ya.

Yes, please.

A delightful evening with these delightful people.

And s'mores for Dad after the kids are tucked in.

Friday morning dawned on our last day of our camping trip. But we still had lots of time to play. After breakfast (cereal that day) we set off to the lake for another hike. But this time it wasn't around the lake, it was above the lake. We've never hiked this way before, but we had scouted out a trail that led up to the cliffs around the lake so we went for it. It was steep, but short, and the kids did great. We loved the views from above!

Good morning, smiley!

I see the moon, the moon sees me.

Up we go!

Scarlet gilia.

Mountain goats.

Not a single moose spotted on our trip, though. That was the only
bummer.

Here's another funny family selfie sequence for you.

Aaaahhhhchooo!

Looking toward Mount Naomi.

I think I took this to figure out what kind of bird
we were hearing and seeing pecking on this tree.
You can't see the bird in the pic, but we figured
it out once we got home to our bird book: a
Williamson's Sapsucker.

This huge dead tree was really quite impressive.

Last checks before we pull out.

After our hike, it was back to the campground to clean up, pack up, and head home. We did stop in Perry at Maddox for cheeseburgers for lunch as one final delicious cap to our fun week. The wait there was long because of a mix up with my name on my order, but once we got our food, things were good again. We even finished our book that we started on Monday on the drive to Bear Lake just as we drove on our street. A perfect ending to a perfect week!

Definitely recommend this one -
especially on audio and especially
if the only piece you can remember of
the story is when they hide in the bathrooms
by standing on the toilet seat and ducking
down below the top of the door.
It was delightful!

This was a much needed getaway week - away from the heat and (some) people and the never-ending drama in the news and social media. When can we do it again?!!