Zippedee doo dah fun…

The Griswolds, ready to go on Double Trouble…

It was 1,800’ feet to the landing zone.  Yikes!

Our instructors were great.  There were six of us in our group of fun seekers.  Mac, the youngest, was 12, his mom, and two teenaged young girls…and us.

We did our first ‘training’ glide successfully, then a sort of lateral crossing, followed by one with a deep drop that we were instructed to start our feet running before we hit the ground.

The next next glide was a free fall with cannonball-tucked feet for 1,700’.  It was my favorite!  This is the landing zone…

And the photo above of the two of us was made prior to the the two of us going on Double Trouble, our final glide.  Dick made a movie of that glide, but it is too mega-heavy to post till we get home.  If I can still remember by then to do it!

We have seen pretty much everything we wanted to see around this area of Idaho, so we’ll head to Boise for some shopping ahead of going on into Oregon later today.  We are winging it.

That’s life on the road with the Griswolds.  Have a great Saturday, y’all!

Friday fun!

But before I tell y’all what we are doing today, I wanted to show off the cutie pies we camped next to at Lake Cascade (both parents gave permission to post this (how could they say NO to these three begging gals???).  Angus didn’t have an opinion, but he followed his charges over to pose with them…

They are Maiya and Camryn standing, and wee Aliya sitting in the chair.  Y’all can figure out which one is Angus.  He was the official greeter when we arrived at the cg, and was perfectly adorable as well as the girls.  We all had fun…you girls don’t grow up too fast, OK?!

So we got set up pretty fast yesterday…we are kinda good at it by now!  And of course after lunch Dick was ready to go exploring---translation:  more bumpy gravel roads.  The scenic byway getting to the bumpy, dusty road was really pretty, but that gravel road area, not so much.  What is beautiful is the Payette River that is directly across the road from our dispersed camping area (free).  It would be fun to float down the river…and we saw quite a few rafts and kayaks on our return trip back to the moho, but none earlier.  Strange.  Oh, maybe folks were at work?

The temps hit 101 briefly around 5.  Yuck!  Who wants to cook dinner in that heat?  But I did…and it is already cooling down.

What are we doing today?  Well, it may be considered a bit dangerous, but it is one adventure that we have NEVER done.  Ever.  It involves height, and trust in others…and trust in equipment—we are going zip lining!

If we make it safely back to the ground, I’ll have photos to post tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

And, speaking of wishes, a big happy birthday today to little sister Nan!  She reads the blog, but the stinker won’t leave me a comment!  I still remember toting you next door (I was 6) to show you off to the Karnes.  I got a tongue lashing over that one…and we all survived.

Y’all go out and have some fun today!  And stay cool…

Thursday things…

First of all, I finished uploading the final Montana photos and began an Idaho folder.  Click if you want to…or not:

http://cid-94b4c8cfbd53ae5f.photos.live.com/

We stayed one more day on wonderful Lake Cascade, so today we are moving south about 40-50 miles, looking for another state park to get settled in before the weekend happens.

So, since we are on the move, I’ll finish up a few Montana photos.  Check out this mighty fancy barn where that wonderful BBQ was held last Saturday night at our very private campground…

Glass cowboy boots with a red bandana stuffed inside were both table decorations and gifts for each person in attendance.  Clever!

And we finally got to see Buford, but didn’t get to pet him, which I certainly would have done…………. from over the safety of the fence.  He was a mighty handsome big boy!

Whatever you do today, go out and make some good memories.  We sure are!

Hell’s Canyon

This is what a lot of the canyon looked like—barren, brown and very inhospitable.  There were lots of good water skiing places, but not many good ‘docking’ places.   And I only saw one deer in the whole canyon, although we did see several occupied bald eagle nests on the way over and back.

It was 150 miles over there, and obviously the same on the return trip, so it was a long day.  We’re glad we saw it, but don’t need to go back.  It was fascinating to learn at the visitor center that many fossils found here in the mountains are coral and other tropical critters that came from way far away in the Pacific!  In Idaho, a state that is nowhere near the ocean!   Who knew?  Those tectonic plates have been bumping and moving for millions of years to bring those fossils so far inland.   And those plates are still moving, as folks in California find out periodically.

We again shared dinner with our nice neighbors, and then everyone went for a boat ride except for the 3 y/o and moi.  Miss Aliya was running a low-grade fever and not feeling well, so I stayed behind to play Grammie to her.  Missy helped.  And also enjoyed the three books I read to her!

 

 

 

 

 

Today we move again…somewhere…we are trying to hook up with some friends, so we’ll see what happens.

It will be a wonderful Wednesday.  I hope yours is also!

Tuesday again?

Yesterday’s photo was the only one I took.  My bad.  Hey, it was a busy day!   Our neighbor’s dog wandered over to inspect us during our set up, so naturally we had to go over and say HI to his sweet family—parents and three cutie pie wee gals (3, 5, 9) from Boise.

I went to the PO and picked up the box of mail (thanks, Amy!), and spent the afternoon sorting, filing, etc. --TCB time (Taking Care of Business, Ivana), while Dick set up the electronics and got everything to work, bless his heart.  Then about 5p, neighbor Sheryl knocked on our door and invited us to have dinner with them, since she had cooked up a big pot of stuff!  Literally manna from heaven, since I had been wrapped up in paperwork and hadn’t started our dinner yet.

We had a delightful visit, then went back over to share their fire (not so much the smoke) and enjoy S’mores (not me!) after dark.  Other folks joined us and it was a great evening.  We have learned through our ownership of a cg and camping ourselves over the years that 99% of campers are great folks.  We’ve met a lot of them on this trip.

We’ll head out shortly and go visit Hell’s Canyon.  Interesting name, but supposedly worth seeing.  We don’t plan to meet up with the Devil though!

The Griswolds think that life is good!  Happy Tuesday…go out and have some fun and make some good memories, y’all!

On Cascade Lake...

Not too shabby! We'll stay 2 nights and tour this area before moving on. Just now getting set up, then I need to go to the PO to pick up mail. The Griswolds are happy campers, well, except for the rock that put a crack in the towed's windshield. It's a small one down low. We'll survive.

Life is good! Happy Monday, y'all...
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The Griswolds are rolling…

We hated to leave these sweet early morning visitors, and this beautiful, peaceful garden…

…and our sweet hosts, Denny and Lucy, but leave we must if we want to get to Redmond on time.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Polson.  It is beautiful territory…and we learned that these folks know how to put on a great BBQ!

Today we are finally going to travel in the path of Lewis and Clark, and will settle in Cascade, Idaho, on Monday to pick up mail that Amy sent to us.

Come along for our next adventure.  Have a great Sunday, y’all. 

Happy Birthday, Brian…many happy returns, honey.  We love you very much, and hope you know how much you have blessed our lives!