Monday, September 22

R &R in Bear Lake

We just got back last night from a trip to Bear Lake this last weekend! It was so much fun! When we checked the weather for this weekend in trying to plan what we wanted to do we were a little bummed to see that it was supposed to rain and be cold on Saturday. We went ahead and planned and it ended up being a great trip.

We arrived late Thursday night and stayed the night, but moved to a different condo the next day for the following 2 nights. Friday was spent driving around Bear Lake. We drove to Paris, Idaho to see the LDS tabernacle there. It was such a cool place to visit, and such a beautiful historic building. When I visit places like that I can't help but feel really touched by the holiness of the site, and the legacy of faith the pioneers have given to modern day LDS people.

Then we decided to keep driving north to Montpelier, Idaho to look around. Brandon and I share a common love and interest in small towns so we thought we'd go take a look-see. We drove around a bit looking at some really cool looking Victorian style homes at least 100 years old, as well as visited the Oregon Trail visitor center. A bishop of Brandon's ward back home in Cambridge had moved to Montpelier years ago and Brandon wanted to visit their home, so we did. What wonderful people they were. They welcomed us in to their home and talked with us for a while. The cool part was that we were taken across the street to a semi-circled LDS tabernacle that was dedicated in 1918. It was beautiful. It's a building unlike any I have seen built by the LDS Church. It had original paintings by an LDS artist of pioneers. It had the original pipe organ still intact and used even to this day. Church officials were going to knock down the tabernacle, then because of the local LDS people it was saved and modern technology was used to make the building safe and up to code.

After we left Montpelier we drove back down to the beach not far from the condo we stayed in and went wading in the water. Because Friday was the warmer day before the rainy Saturday we experienced the water was clear and beautiful. What I love about Bear Lake is the cool clear water there. There is no algae that grows there so we can see the bottom several hundred feet out from the shore. I didn't know this before Brandon told me, but Bear Lake is sometimes called the "Carribean of the Rockies" and I think that fits the description very well, except no nude beaches!

Saturday we woke up to rain and cold weather but still made the best of it. We got up and got ready for the day and then went out to lunch at a local restaurant. Then we drove south to a golf course where Brandon and I splurged and paid for him to pay 9 holes of golf, rented clubs, and paid a fee to rent a cart and allow me to drive. It was really chilly outside still, but we had so much fun just messing around in the cart on the course and hoping not to be struck by lightning in the process. It sprinkled on occasion but otherwise the cool air was refreshing.

After golf, we decided to drive around the lake. We ended up driving all the way around the lake which was a gorgeous drive. On the way back from the lake we stopped in St. Charles, Utah and visited their old cemetary. It was so cool to see how old some of the graves were, and that some of the people buried their had seals on their graves that showed some of them fought in WWI and in the Mormon Battalion. Others showed they were among the original pioneers that came to Utah seeking refuge from the mobs back East.

Yesterday we got up and left the condo and enjoyed a wonderful trip down Logan Canyon. Trees are changing color so fall is definitely here! When we arrived to Logan we went to church at the Logan Deaf Branch and visited people we hadn't seen in a very long time. It was sooo good to catch up with the dear people up there. Lots of memories came back to me just being there. I just have to go to Logan, and I feel like I am home. There are very few places that I truly feel like that.

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