Today was the three of us in the kayak and on the paddle board. We paddled across Frye lake to the other side- paddling into the wind. When we reached the other side of the lake, the wind turned and we had to paddle against the wind to get back! I have to say it was some hard work paddling in 6 inch high seas!
I’m walking on water in the middle of the lake. 🙂
During our stay we were watching the lake recede.
Day 1.
Day 7.
The lake was so low it was exposing rocks in the middle of the lake.
We ended every night with PJ Maxx. This is the best photo I could find of our movie nights.
See the wind? Wyoming is known as the windy state to us.
We really enjoyed the last few days and have already made plans to come back next year. With swimsuits 🙂
On our way to the ghost town we found some antelope.
I think this is the first ghost town I have been to.
Not was I was expecting. I was thinking of old buildings, not painted restored buildings. But it was fun to go to see how they lived. Makes me appreciate my hardwood floors and indoor plumbing.
Out of all the towns in Wyoming, this town had perfect cell phone reception. 5 bars. All my text messages came through. I had to put my phone on airplane mode to get back into vacation mode!
Payroll 🙂
I really need to work on my penmanship.
I need this for a suit case. It opens up to drawers. Find things easily instead of rummaging through the suit case trying to find a sock, just open the sock drawer, and there will be the socks!
Panning for gold.
Just before we left we wrote a postcard and sent it to Mormor and Morfar.
Today for our Monday luncheon 🙂 we went to the Lander Bake Shop.
Vegetarian panini for me.
Ricotta cheesecake.
Cinnamon roll. I wasn’t going to get two desserts, but they said they were the best in town. They were pretty good. I would suggest this place for the next Monday luncheon the next time we are in town! 🙂
After lunch I promised Eli some park time. We went to Lander City Park. This was by far the best park I have been to.
Look at this façade. It was so fun to run around in.
Paul’s parents arrived last night. We ate breakfast together and then headed down the mountain to the sinks.
What’s a sink? It’s where the water sinks into the mountain.
The water comes down to the cave and disappears.
The water reappears and comes up to the rise about .25 miles down the road. It takes the water two hours to travel this short distance.
We stood on a platform a few stories up and threw fish food down to the HUGE trout down below. Paul’s parents were really kind to find a few quarters for the fish food. I searched my trailer and all I could find were kroners. Not sure why, we haven’t taken the trailer to Norway 🙂
It was a nice of Paul’s parents to give us a ride back up to our truck. Bonus! We grabbed a few snacks out of their bag on the way up 🙂
Popo Agie campground had a fun bridge to cross.
Paul found a fun tree.
Eli talking back and forth to his grandfather.
Back at camp, Eli wanted to get back into the water.
Paul had his turn on the paddle board.
Paul reminding me of my gondola ride in Italy 🙂
Eli’s turn on the board.
Eli really wanted to swim in the lake. So I helped him off the board, and off he went.
We drove a mile or two down the road to Worthen Meadow Reservoir and hiked up to Stough Creek Lake.
This hike was a ton better than yesterday! Shady and cool. Eli had a great time on this trail.
About a mile up and we came to the lake.
Skipped a few rocks.
Back at camp we took the kayak out.
And the paddle board for the first time. We started on our knees.
Note: Paul and I are not dressed for the water. When I asked Eli to pack some clothes, he came out with his swim suit. He said that was all he needed for the week. Priorities. 🙂
Then on our feet. The paddle board was a lot of fun. We will be dressed for the occasion next time 🙂
Watched a few movies as we drove 5 hours to Sinks Canyon State Park in Wyoming. Where it that? Just outside Lander. Where is Lander? Ha! I thought the same thing! 🙂
We arrived at Frye Lake pretty late. This is what we saw.
Eli didn’t hesitate. He was out playing in the water.
A side note for next year: We arrived Thursday night and we were pretty lucky to find a spot to park the trailer. People started rolling in Friday and left Sunday Afternoon. Monday- Wednesday we had the campground to ourselves.
We got up late the next morning and went for a hike to Popo Agie Falls.
This was the most miserable hike I have been on. Hot. Hot. Hot. No shade. Hiking through desert. Hot. Miserably hot. How hot?? Eli summed it up below.
Eli did stop whining after he saw some lady walking her racoon. Yes, a racoon. He was on a leash and everything. Only in Wyoming.
Up and up and up in the heat. We finally came to a river. So the falls must be close?
Kept going up. Just because there is a nice roaring river, didn’t mean it cooled off.
Finally we came to the water fall in the distance. Little Pea was so relieved to make it to the falls.
Then we kept going and found this fun little bridge.
Kept going and we found some pools to play in. That made a little 6 year old all sorts of happy. He just wanted to take his shoes off and get his feet wet. Before we knew it, he was wet waist down.
Several hikers kept asking if this was the waterfall slide. Slide? What slide? So we had to keep going.
And here is the slide. A huge waterfall. People were climbing to the top and sliding down. Eli wanted us to go down. Thought about it. We capped our insurance and we are at 20%, so why not. Thinking again I thought I would break a hip on the way down, so we passed.
This canyon had some beautiful wild flowers.
On the way back…
The trail guide said it was 1.5 miles to the waterfall. They were way off. 1.89 to the falls. I think 1.5 miles was how the crow flies, 1.89 miles is how the hiker hikes on the trail. 🙂
The falls were well worth the hike. I would definitely go again, but early in the morning.
Bryan and Shayna invited us to their house for a BBQ and fireworks at the park.
We roasted hot dogs. Shayna’s father grilled hamburgers and vegetarian burgers.
I missed the decorating gene when it was being handed out, so I love coming over to their house. Shayna inspires me to be creative and do more decorating around my home. She is very talented and she uses bright colors everywhere. Her house is so cute inside and out. I just love it!
After dinner we made ‘smores.
Eli sold drinks 🙂
We put on a movie waiting for the sun to go down.
We walked to the park and when we arrived, Shayna’s mother had chairs put up and blankets spread out! She is very thoughtful. It was really nice to lay on while we were waiting for the fireworks to start.
It was a really fun night. Mom and I were reminiscing about the last time we came to the park to see fireworks and it must have been 35 years. Crazy that I can say 35 years ago, ha! Anyway, 35 years ago 🙂 going to Sugar House Park with Mormor and Morfar. It brings back a lot of memories.
Thank you Bryan and Shayna for inviting us over and creating many wonderful memories. Eli said it was the “best night ever!” Not because of being with family, but the Lego movie we watched outside! 🙂
We started our day by stopping off at the Chevron in Kamas to pick up our reserved donuts. The apple fritters are the size of a frisbee!
I failed to take a picture of the trailhead, but we started at Ruth Lake trailhead.
With the drought in the valley, I was surprised it was so green up here. But, I guess it should be green. The snow just melted and its still spring at this elevation.
Same fun bridge we crossed last year. 🙂
This hike is one of my favorites. Very green and wet part of the canyon. The cooler weather made the hike very enjoyable.
One mile up we came to Ruth Lake.
It’s early spring up here. The wildflowers are just blooming. The lily pads don’t have their flowers yet.
We past the lake and then left the trail.
Pulled out the GPS to guide us to the lake. Eli’s favorite electronic. He gets to be the leader and tell us where to hike!
We found a cairn. That’s a good sign! Eli lead us in the right direction!
Came to Liberty Lake.
We followed the river down.
Crossed some big boulders.
And arrived at Jewel Lake.
1.79 mile hike. Eli did wonderful. We only had to carry his pack for .30 miles.
We walked around the lake for a bit looking around for a place to set up camp that wasn’t soggy or full of giant boulders. We hiked up the mountain a little way and this was already set up for us!!
Eli and Paul pulled out the fishing pole and started fishing.
Eli loved all the water skeeters.
The mosquitoes up here were terrible. They just hatched and they were hungry! We didn’t have any mosquito repellant and it was miserable! I set up my mosquito net and Paul’s Father’s day chair and jumped in. I stayed here the rest of the evening. I enjoyed the evening reading my book and eating snacks 🙂
Eli was done with the mosquitoes so he came back to camp jumped in the net with me.
I stayed in the net while Paul and Eli make dinner. The mosquitoes were so bad, all three of us ate in the net.
That night we jumped in our sleeping bags and watched a movie. During the movie I heard a dog bark. We were the only ones at Jewel lake so I dismissed it. Then I heard it again. That wasn’t a domesticated dog. A coyote? They were close!
Was I worried about our safety? Not really, because I know a coyote is afraid of us, but we were in a tent. Would they think we were a threat because they couldn’t see us? So, was I a little nervous? Yes! I mean, the only thing between us and the pack was a paper thin tent. Thin enough to roll up to the size of rolled quarters. Okay, maybe not that small, but you get the point. Not a lot of protection.
About 1/2 hour later they started up again. This time we heard them pretty far away. It’s hard to hear them, and it king of sounds like emergency vehicles, but they are talking to each other.
It was pretty cool to hear them so close to us and again moving father away, making their way across the mountain. Did it make me feel better they were on their way, further away from us? Absolutely!
Did I sleep that night? Nope! I heard every twig break! All. Night. Long.
The next morning we got up and hiked over the ridge to where the coyotes headed last night.
Found their paw print.
More fishing before we head out.
How did we keep Eli busy on the way back for 1.70 miles? Treats every 7 shades. A shade is where a tree shades the trail. Eli counts 7 of these along the trail and we stop for a rest and cheese puffs.
We also play hide and seek with the hand held.
Back at the truck, Eli settled in with his movie. We wore him out!
A quick stop at Kamas Foodtown for mac n cheese, and cheesy potato bites for the ride home!
We all agree this was a beautiful hike and lake and enjoyed our time. We will definitely be back with a gallon of bug spray!
The day started out with crepes. Eli decorated it himself.
We went for a run. They were having a mini triathlon and the swimming part was at the lake. I so want to do it next year, but I can’t get myself to swim in that lake. Okay, to swim at all 🙂
Back at home, he was cooling off in front of the fridge.
Eli is into science so we did the classic baking soda and vinegar thing.
He loved it!
We jumped into Mormor and Morfar’s car and went to our Monday luncheon.
After several issues with places (three places we drove into and left for various reasons) we ended up at the Old Spaghetti Factory.
I haven’t been here for years. Eli loves noodles, so it was a good choice for today.
Since we were driving around for so long trying to find a place to eat for lunch, we went for dessert at our usual, Chip.
The classic chocolate chip cookie. The best one out of the box.
100′ by the afternoon.
We had to finish out the day at the water park to cool off.
He had such a good time. I sure hope Eli remembers these fun days.
For many years I have been gathering house plans waiting for this day to come. Over the years, Paul hasn’t liked the house plans I have been gathering for many years 🙂
One reason Paul hasn’t liked any of the house plans is because many of those house plans have many thousands of feet 🙂 I told Paul, I like the house for the kitchen, not the square footage and we can shrink the size down. Or I like the look of that entry way, or another part of that house to add/modify the smaller square footage house.
Another reason is we don’t agree on color, wood, stone, brick…. You name it, we don’t agree on it.
After we closed on the property, I showed Paul the house I liked and thought would look nice in a rural area. This one is woodsy. Yes, woodsy 🙂 A house that would fit into a wooded area, but yet in a neighborhood. This is what Paul had to say:
Paul: “I like it. How many square feet?”
Me: “40 feet larger than what we agreed on.”
Paul: “I like it.”
The property has a gradual slop, so I chose this for the back of the house.
Paul took one look at this and his exact words were, “We are not building a house that size.”
Me: “Easy there, tiger. It’s just the look of the house, not the square footage.”
Paul: “Oh, Okay. I love it.”
Here is the floor plan that we also agree on. We talked about the few modifications we both want, and crazy enough, we agree on that as well!
The front of the property is narrow, so the the 3rd and 4th car garage will be built on the side toward the back of the property.
Next is landscaping.
Just kidding, Paul. I will go easy on the backyard as well! Love you!!!
