There were 3 in the bed and the little one said.....

Greetings to my devoted fans (all 2 of you)! We are just returned from a fabulous family vacation to wonderful Wyoming (do you like my alliteration?). We had a GREAT time--here are the highlights.........

The kids LOVED sleeping in the hotel. Their favorite parts were the continental breakfast, indoor swimming pool, and vending machines. If we had done nothing else besides let them swim and choose a treat from the vending machine they would have called it a success. Oh, and they also were completely amazed that someone came in every day to make the beds!

Wyoming is a big, beautiful desert! The sky is amazingly blue and we enjoyed cooler temps than Utah as we hiked and explored. We especially LOVED taking our van on dirt or gravel roads in the middle of nowhere, in search of a new ghost town or pioneer site that I just had to see. In this picture we are on a wagon-wheel road to the Byrne cemetery, built in 1870. B,C, and G were amazed at all the young children who died so early.

Here we are visiting Fossil Butte National Monument, one of the largest fossil quarries in the world. We saw tons of antelope, deer, badgers (the kids wanted to take one home for a pet--Rich said no) and mosquitos and ticks. We also drove this day to Fontenelle Reservoir, and stopped at more pioneer sites along the way. Wish I could list them all here for you, but Wyoming is a treasure trove of pioneer places. To me there is something amazingly cool about standing on the same ground where the pioneers stood.

On Thursday we drove from Evanston to Paris, Idaho (how many of you can say you went to 'Paris' on your vacation this year?). After 10 miles on a rutted, rocky road we finally arrived at Paris Ice Caves, which are amazing. Ice stays in the cave year round, and water flows through the cave so you have to cross a bridge in the cave to get to certain parts. There were amazing rocks to climb, snow to slide on, and dark corners of the cave to explore. This is a must-see if you are ever in the vicinity.

After the ice caves we spent the rest of the day at one of our favorite places, Bear Lake. We particulary love the north shore for the sandy beaches and shallow water. The water was actually warm and the kids waded out forever and loved playing in the "mud". Strong winds helped create waves on the lake and we were sure we were in California at the beach.Of course, no trip to Bear Lake is complete without an overpriced raspberry shake, and we were not disappointed. The best part about this vacation was our proximity to everything. We stayed in Evanston, which is only about an hour (more or less) from all these fabulous adventure spots. So we explored by day but returned to the hotel (and especially the hotel's swimming pool) each evening. There are so many other pictures I should post......if only I wasn't so lazy. Maybe I need a vacation........