Our summer beach-going plans were shelved thanks to COVID. But it wasn’t ALL bad. We kicked it off by marching a couple willing kids up and down a mountain on a 13 mile hike over Memorial Day weekend. It was pretty brutal. But what views!
We capitalized on everyone else’s reticence to travel by booking a cabin up at Redfish Lake Lodge in Stanley. Most years they’re completely booked soon after they open their booking window in January. So it was a last-minute splurge. We hiked the first day and spent the next on the beach kayaking and paddleboarding.
We took an overnight camping trip in early July that almost ended in death thanks to a Google maps mishap that took us on the backside of the mountain on a road that was neither paved (not a big deal for we Idahoans) nor wide enough for our Suburban to navigate safely. Near-death experiences are not my fave. After a nail-biting hour and a half, we made it safely to our destination.
On the Fourth of July we marked the occasion by going white-water rafting. Eve began the trip a little nervous about falling out during a big rapid but by the end of the trip she was doing tricks off the raft. Such a funny girl. We were also glad to infuse a bit of our money into a local industry that was suffering the effects of reduced out-of-state travel. Happy Birthday America!
Later in the month, we booked another campsite at one of our favorites up by the North Fork of the Boise River. It’s not too far from us as the crow flies, but because the drive includes 19 miles on an unpaved, windy road (graded for regular cars, at least), it takes a couple of hours to get there.
Within a few minutes of our arrival, Eve happened upon a small rattlesnake, which definitely soured our experience from the get-go. Considering that we were two hours from a reliable medical facility, the thought of anyone in our crew getting bitten was a scary thought. We stuck one of the girls on “rattlesnake watch” so we could set up the tent without worry.
Well, we picked the wrong girl. She got engrossed in her book and looked up to find the snake within striking distance of her leg. She flinched slightly and it shook its tail as a warning. So she held absolutely still until it made its way past her and into a hole in the ground by our neighbor’s campsite. So we were now two for two on camping trips where we narrowly escaped death. Scary.
The grand finale to our summer was a family reunion with the Jacksons in Island Park, Idaho. We spent a day in Yellowstone (not near enough, obviously) and the rest of the time hanging with family, ATV-ing, floating the river, playing 9-square, board-gaming horseback-riding and eating.
Add in plenty of trips to the reservoir up the road from us, our annual Boise river float, walks and bike rides along the Greenbelt, summer cooking/sewing classes with friends and a tomato harvest to die for and that’s a wrap.
Not too shabby for a COVID summer, eh?
Those rapids look significant, not like the barely moving current of the Delaware river when I was a kid. White water rafting in NJ was mostly paddling hard to move anywhere.
I love how you all have matching t shirts for your family reunion. I was supposed to have one with my dad’s side of the family in The Smokey’s, but it got postponed due to covid.
Yeah, Idaho is pretty famous for its white-water. Sorry your family reunion got postponed. It’s been the name of the game for the most part this year, but it sure doesn’t take the sting out of it. Hope you get to do it soon!