Bear Lake

We spent an utterly delightful week at Bear Lake with our good friends, George & Melanee.

Me, Joel, George, and Melanee
While we were at the hot springs (details below), an older couple asked us if two of us were siblings because "there was such a strong family resemblance."
So here's a little contest for you:
To which two were they referring?
I'll think of a prize to send to whoever gets the right answer.


At the risk of sounding super lame (which is always a major risk around here), Joel and felt like this trip was a sort of rite of passage into adulthood for us: we went on a vacation with friends. And it was a grand old time.
George and Melanee met us at our house before we were off on our adventure. We were so excited to get there that we stopped at the Bear Lake visitor's center, which gave us our first glimpse of the beautiful, turquoise lake.

Dane is showing Kevin where the lake is.

Yes, Kevin wore that cowboy hat and clutched Woody and Buzz almost the entire trip. Even during bathtime.
You might notice that the sky is ominously gray. Normally, such clouds portend ruined plans and sad faces staring out the window, but not for us! We knew what the weather would be, and we all looked forward to simply lounging around, eating, talking, and relaxing. My only regret is that my camera could never quite capture the turquoise beauty of the water since the clouds messed with the lighting. Otherwise, no regrets.

We rented a two-bedroom condo, and the accommodations were perfect for us. The two bedrooms even had their own attached bathrooms, and there was a great living room and kitchen. I didn't get any great pictures of the interior, but this will give you the basic idea:

Honestly, we spent a great deal of our time just reading and talking. It was great to have the kind of vacation that you come back from without feeling utterly exhausted. But we definitely had a few picture-worthy adventures.
We took a little hike down to the marina. It was too cold and choppy to take out a boat, but I enjoyed just being near the water and sailboats.





We also drove up to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. It was so much more wonderful than we even imagined. It was about 50 degrees that day, so it was cold enough for the hot springs to feel great but not so cold that you'd get hypothermia if you were out of the water. The hot springs were made up of five or six pools, ranging from 120 degrees to 102 degrees. It was landscaped beautifully, had great facilities, wasn't crowded at all, and even had swimsuit rentals for only $1.50 since we somehow made it there with Dane's swim shirt but not his shorts. We were there for almost four hours, and the kids even enjoyed every minute of it.
I'm saying that if you're ever within a reasonable driving distance from it, go, by all means, go!


The coolest pool was most comfortable for the kids, but they had no problem sticking their feet into the warmer pools, too.

I love the look of utter mirth on Kevin's face:



A couple of the pools had jets, so Joel and Dane tried their best to catch the bubbles:


And, as if it weren't perfect enough already, the train tracks were in perfect view for the kids to enjoy. I think two or three trains passed while we were there, and Dane and Kevin especially watched with rapt attention.

I made Dane pose in some of the pretty flowers. He humored me, with some help from his entertaining Daddy:

He even tried to smile through the shivers:

Joel then wanted in on the action.

I'm not sure what he was going for. Maybe creepy.

Ah...it was such a great experience. Here, Dane and Joel show you how much fun we had:

We had dinner at The Chuckwagon right there in Lava Hot Springs, and the food was surprisingly good. Think: deep fried potato skins.


On Friday, we celebrated my 27th birthday by finding a beach and wading in the freezing water.




Then, Joel surprised us all by making good on the promise he'd made earlier to swim in the lake, no matter how cold:



Showing off his self-deprecating gut:


This is how deep my feet would sink in at some places. I liked it.

I thought it was funny, seeing Joel drive home in his swimsuit, despite the freezing rain outside:

And George was kind enough to make me a delicious Tunnel-of-Fudge birthday cake.

Alas, it did not turn out quite as beautiful as he had hoped, but it was so tasty nonetheless. Thanks, George.

I can't get over what a great week it was. As I've gone back through these pictures, I've wished more than once that we could be there still. And it wouldn't have been nearly so great without George and Melanee. We had so many great laughs and conversations. In fact, they were so integral a part of the vacation that I'm considering just moving in with them. Then we'd party every day.
I can't think of a single reason why that wouldn't work.