August August!

In mid-August, we headed north for an overnight stop in Bountiful and then on to Rigby to spend time with Sherry and Steve’s family and check out BYU-I with Katie!

We had a fun time near Ririe, at Heise Hot Springs Resort – water slide, swimming and soaking in the hot spring pool.  We also checked out Kelly Canyon Ski Resort nearby – a place where Katie might end up boarding while at BYU-I.

We spent most of one day in Rexsburg, checking out potential housing for Katie.  It is a beautiful town and campus – hope it is just as appealing to Katie in white!

We returned to Bountiful for a celebration of my mom’s 91^st birthday.  Many of the children and grandchildren came to her home on Sunday evening.  It was fun to visit and see nieces, nephews and others, who we hadn’t seen, in some cases, for many years.  Atkin flew in and a little later that evening so did our new daughter (at least for the coming school year), Line – arriving after a long day of travel from Norway!!!  It was fun to have her come and we jumped right into getting to know each other.  She speaks very good English!

Line just arrived from Norway!

Monday morning we had a birthday breakfast with grandma and then headed north to Pocatello for a stop at Costco to get all the fresh foods for the Snow Family reunion.  It was fun to see Line’s reaction to a store that is so large, with such a variety of goods and a food court – something we take for granted.  After cramming everything into the van and a quick lunch at Costa Vida, we drove the rest of the way to the cabin in Island Park.  It was fun to greet all the Snows already there and they helped Line feel right at home.

The next few days included two trips into Yellowstone, visits to Big Springs and Cliff Lake, and renting ATVs – and, of course, lots and lots of card and table games.

We stayed at a cabin that sleeps 50 people and has a large common area and well equipped kitchen – Suzanne is amazing at finding these places.  It is situated among the large pines and near the open meadows in the northern part of Island Park.  We were about 30 minutes drive from West Yellowstone.

The highlights of our first day in Yellowstone included many hotpots and geysers, with the focal point of Old Faithful.  We even had a picnic lunch where getting the Jays to land on your hand and take a piece of cookie, cracker or fruit was the highlight.



Success on feeding the Jay

 The following day we went to Big Springs and walked the trail along the river in the morning.  At lunch, Laurie and I had made a cake to surprise Line for her 17^th birthday – so after everyone ate, all got quiet and we sang Happy Birthday and brought out the cake!  She was very surprised and happy.

That afternoon, we drove to Cliff Lake – one of a series of chain lakes about 20 miles north of the cabin.  We swam and there was a rope swing and many of us took turns swinging out and dropping 15 to 25 feet into the water (depending on how high up the steep side of the lake you were brave enough to start).  The picture of just our family, not the whole Snow clan, are in a separate album.

Thursday we spent in Yellowstone Park, starting at the Canyon area.  Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls are so spectacular and we had fun hiking the many stairs of Uncle Tom’s Trail to be near the base of the Lower Falls.  Artist’s Point was a great place to eat lunch and get a group picture.  Then we all went various ways and our family and the Brownings headed for the Firehole River swim area.  On the way, we stopped at Gibbon Falls – one of my favorite.  At the Firehole River swim area, we rounded the bend expecting lots of cars and there was not one – to our utter disappointment, the area was closed due to higher than normal flows.  A quick adjustment to plans and we visited Grand Prismatic Springs before heading out of the park.  Laurie went to Old Faithful with the Brownings and I had a car full of teenagers going back to the cabin, so in West Yellowstone, DQ was calling to us and we obliged.



The whole group - Lower Yellowstone Falls from Artist's Point

 Friday we rented quads and had a fun day riding in the area around the cabin and up to the outlet arm of Henry’s Lake.  That evening, Laurie and I drove to the beautiful Upper Mesa Falls and then got a half-sheet carrot cake in Ashton for Suzanne’s birthday.  As we were in the laundry room getting the cake ready with candles, it started to slide on the tray and I saved it by mashing the corner of it into the side of the dryer, so it was pretty messed up – but everyone sang and we had a nice evening together.

Saturday, we took care of the laundry and cleaning and everyone headed home.  We stopped, with our children, at Upper Mesa Falls and then at the Brownings for lunch before heading to Bountiful.  That evening we joined Karen and Andrew at Log Haven Restaurant in Mill Creek Canyon, east of Salt Lake, to have dinner with Glenn and Mary, Wester and Polly, and some of their children and spouses.  Glenn is Laurie’s mom’s brother and Wester is her cousin.

It was a wonderful trip – then home and a week to prepare for school to start.  It was wonderful to have Line with us, in a situation to get to know us pretty well before school started.

See the two albums of the trip!

Stones

These stones
worn flat through eons
jostling, bumping, rolling
in wave after wave

Once part of a mountain
Wrenched free by ice and storm
working their way to the lake
miles away

Now thousands of feet below
their solid perch
subject to water driven by wind
making their way down shore

Every crashing wave
each surge that rubs them
against their fellows
breaking off bits, reducing, smoothing

Those bits, spread far and wide
carpeting ‘neath water and the sky
A smooth transition
At home in both

And here and there
the parent stones gather
Hard, dense, smooth
lying dry on land

And I, a passerby, am taken
by the lovely variety
of hue and tone
of size and shape

Some still thick and angled,
they must have left their roost
sometime after those nestled
flat against their offspring

My eyes scan them
Hands gather
Some they discard
but others seize tight

Companions are queried –
How many?
Three? Five? Six? Ten?
Let’s find out

Bending low with
Arm cocked and rock held just so
I thrust forward
launching my prize

Six! Wow! Eleven! How?
Each admires the others effort
yet hopes that they claim
the highest number

Each trophy thrown away
in a effort to impress all
with the selection and skill it takes
to bounce on wavering plane

Some, esteemed at first,
disappear into the watery realm
without much show
just a splash or two and gone

There they all rest in a depth
out of reach of all
‘cept the waves of a storm
seen perhaps in a lifetime

Yet the hurling continues
‘til the numbers drop
Muscles aching and spent,
we agree to move on

leaving the survivors to
be scrutinize by more passersby
who take delight in the effort
just like we who went before

And those rejected
will weather the waves and storms
knocked more flat and rounded
with each sizeable swell

‘til at last
a generation or more yonder
they are seized and flung
with laughter and rivalry

Family skipping stones - Jackson Lake - August 2009

Family Vacation

August 9-16, 2009

It is so nice to get away and have time with our family.  We left in the late morning on Saturday, August 9th and drove to Bountiful.  Along the way, we stopped in Provo to get Albania wrist bands and Sub Zero Ice Cream – treats are a very important family activity for us!  After arriving in Bountiful, we had some time to visit with Grandma and Grandpa before bed.

Sunday morning Grandma went with us to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast – it was really neat!  Afterward we looked at the art in the International Art Competition – it is absolutely wonderful – check it out if you can – it is at the Conference Center and ends on October 11, 2009.  We visited family, attended Sacrament Meeting and spent more time with family visiting us!

Monday morning we headed for Yellowstone, with some stops along the way: in Brigham City to see the hospital where Laurie worked and where Katie and Rebecca were born!  In Logan we drove by the apartment we had lived in and Willow Park and Zoo, where we took the children often.  We stopped for pictures at the Logan Temple and at Ricks Springs in Logan Canyon.  At the top of the mountain we got a good view of the turquoise blue water of 21 mile long, 7 mile wide, Bear Lake.  And since Bear Lake is famous for raspberries, we had to stop in Garden City and get a raspberry shake for Laurie and me – the kids got some other flavors (we don’t always agree on treats, just that they’re important).

A couple of hours later we stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and then headed north into Grand Teton National Park, where we stopped, for pictures with the Tetons and to skip stones on Jackson Lake!  

Next stop was Old Faithful!  We watched Old Faithful geyser “geys” and then walked on a trail near the Firehole River to see other geysers and hot pools.  On our way back to the van, we saw Old Faithful again and then after being delayed by a slow walking buffalo in the middle of the road, arrived in West Yellowstone, with a few minutes to spare in order to check in at Al’s Westward Ho by 9 PM – a very nice room and great rate (our “suite” had a bedroom with 2 double beds and a bedroom with one queen bed for $85 per night!).

Tuesday morning we went back into Yellowstone, where, just a few miles from the entrance, it took us about 1.5 hours to go about 2 miles due to people stopping to take pictures of a bald eagle in it’s nest near the road – the park had put up a sign for people not to stop in the bald eagle management area, which is exactly why they stopped.  We were also detail another 30 minutes by road construction, so after stopping at Artist Paint Pots, we just made a brief stop at Norris Geyser Basin and walked the Porcelain Trail.  From there to Mammoth Hot Springs – both Laurie and I were disappointed because most of it was dry.  We finally saw a few of the terraces with flowing water before we headed for Tower Falls. 

After lunch at Tower Falls, we got pictures at the falls overlook and then hiked down the trail that would take us to the base of the falls.  When we got down to the Yellowstone River, the Falls Creek side canyon portion of the trail to the base of Towers Falls was closed – big bummer.  Once back at the top of the falls we had ice cream cones – mine was Mountain Berry ice cream – yum!

Next, we stopped at a couple of overlooks on the one-way road on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – but chose the ones without the greatest views of the falls, but being pretty tired at that point we opted not to go back to the beginning of the one-way road, but headed for the Firehole River swimming area!  We had a blast jumping in the river and being carried by the current through the narrow portion of the cliffs and out into the wider swim area.  After a couple of times doing this, the kids and Laurie headed for some rocks to jump into the river – at this point, Katie told Sam she would pay him $5 to belly flop from a rock that was about 8 feet above the river.  Not being one to pass up money, he took her up on the challenge.  Everyone in the area groaned as his body slapped the water, but he came up smiling – he was $5 richer.  However, Sam quietly said of the flop, “I hurt myself,” so he didn’t swim or jump anymore.  We played in the river for just over an hour, until sunset.  That night, after checking into the Madison Hotel (Al’s was not available) we went to dinner, which was ended with Laurie having ice cream; Sam, a fudge nut brownie al a mode (on a brownie 6” X 6”); and the girls splitting apple pie with ice cream.  I, oddly, didn’t have dessert.

Wednesday, at the suggestion of Rebecca, we went back across Yellowstone to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – it was a wonderful decision.  We first stopped at Uncle Tom’s Trail to hike 500 feet below the rim of the canyon to view the Lower Falls.  The trail zigzags and includes 300 stairs – as we kept going down, down, down, I was getting more and more anxious about the return up, up, up – however, the views were spectacular and the ascent wasn’t nearly as difficult as anticipated (even with being a mile higher in elevation than where our bodies are acclimatized for oxygen).  We also saw the Upper Falls at that stop before heading to Artist Point for another gorgeous view of the canyon and Lower Falls.  With optimism, we went back to the one-way road on the North Rim and hiked down to the brink of the Lower Falls – another amazing look at the canyon. 

As we went back toward West Yellowstone, we listened to the last of the audio book “Three Weeks with My Brother” by Nicholas Sparks.  Though the idea of listening to a book met with resisted when we started on the first day of our trip, every time we had any distance to drive, the kids asked to listen to the book.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the book – Laurie and me for the second time.

After a late lunch and stop at, are you ready – Dairy Queen – in West Yellowstone, we drove to Quake Lake and saw the enormous landslide and dam created by an earthquake 50 years ago.  Then we headed south with a stop at Big Springs in Island Park, Idaho.  Though there are not nearly the number of fish there were when I was a kid (during a winter about 3 decades ago, people went in a fished out hundreds of the enormous fish).  There was a muskrat that swam up the river created by the springs and caught the Ritz Crackers we were feeding the fish and held it in its paws and munched while floating in the current before swimming upstream for more. 

That evening we arrived near Rigby, Idaho at Laurie’s sister’s family’s new place – the Brownings.  They have about 2 acres, a portion of which is pasture.  Just before our arrival, 2 horses were brought to board in the pasture.  The kids topped the day with rootbeer floats!

Thursday morning we slept in and laid around until the afternoon, then went looking for the Rexburg Ice Caves.  Once we got to the dirt road, all 13 of us piled into the Brownings 4X4 Tundra and spent over an hour looking, but to no avail.  (We later learned we were close, but turn off one road too soon.)  So, we went to the St. Anthony sandbar, ate our picnic lunch and some of the kids went in the river!  That evening, the horse owners showed Katherine and the adults how to saddle the horses – and some of them rode until it was dark.

Friday was another sleep in day.  Laurie helped Katherine saddle Jessie and Pilgrim – then Laurie and I went riding, followed by Katie and Sam, Nelson and Sam, Megan and Rebecca, then Katherine and Sherry.  The Brownings’ cousins, Tanner and Brooks, came over – with Jeren and Nelson, they are the band, “Forgotten Rest.”  They performed a private concert for us! 

We got packed up and all of us went to dinner at Bambinos in Rigby – basically deep fried personal pizzas, with the crust surrounding the other ingredients.  And they have dessert Bambinos – Laurie and I shared raspberry cream – yum.  Our family said goodbye and drove to Bountiful, arriving about 10:30.

Saturday morning, Laurie and I took mom and Ralph with us to the baptism of Stephen LeFors – my niece, Shaylynn’s husband!  It was a very spiritual meeting and lots of tears surfaced, off and on.  I picked up the kids to go to the luncheon after the baptism and then in the afternoon we visited with family and went with Sam to a bicycle shop.

That evening, all of mom’s children and spouses, with the exception of Dennis and Cindy, took mom and Ralph to dinner at Marie Calendar’s.  Shay and Stephen also joined us.  Our children, their cousin Kira and Shay’s little boys went to Arctic Circle for dinner.  We all got together afterwards and eventually had cake and choice of 5 flavors of ice cream!!!

Sunday morning we attended an early Sacrament Meeting, got packed, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and drove home.  Penny was very excited to have someone home to throw the ball for her!

It was an absolutely wonderful week – to spend time with our children and enjoy some of God’s magnificent creations!