Trip to Idaho

We made a two-day trip up and a two-day trip back to and from Idaho to visit our family up there. It was worth it as we spent a week and a half with the Sorensens on their farm. On the way up we stopped and camped at a KOA in Beaver. We rented a cabin because tent camping just isn't my thing. On the way back we stayed at our cousin's townhouse in Cedar City. That was coincidential in that we visited with them while they were visiting family in Idaho, too. Right before they left David came back in and told us he had a townhouse in Cedar with some spare rooms if we wanted to stay. Of coarse we did and we really appreciated it! That was the beginning and the ending of our trip, now for the fun stuff in the middle. First we stayed with our sister, Ayleen, in Almo, ID. Ayleen married Walter Durfee, which is what the town was nearly named after. They have a fun farm and a cute little girl, Allyson. Allyson is only four days older than Taylor. Ayleen and Walter gave us a tour of the City of Rocks just in front of their home. There are very unusual rocks in the area, giving the appearence of a rock city. Walter took us climbing up a Rock named Tub Rock. It was really scary, I thought we were going for a nature walk. It was literally rock climbing! That's the most rock climbing I had ever done and I think I'd like to keep it that way. On top there was a pool of water, giving the rock it's name. We took a tour of Walter's parent's house. Which was fun to see a real working farm. (Tyson's parents are retired farmers) We pet the horses, collected chicken eggs, and said 'hi' to the cows. In the end we assisted their dog in the capture and death of a huge rat. Good dog! They forgot to show us some owl and duck eggs that Walter collected after swathing a hay field. He salvaged the eggs and incubated them, and while we were up there, they hatched! What to do with baby owls and ducks, I'm not sure, but it was cool. Before leaving Ayleen and Walter's, Walter took us shooting where I discovered I'm not a very good shot. Tyson was though, he hit a lot more targets than me. All I could hit was a large box. From Ayleen's house we went to the Sorensen's house. There we also said 'hi' to their calf, horse, and cat. While we waited for the reunion to start at the end of the week we spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen, mowing the grass, watching movies, clearing out old farm equipment, hunting skunks, rock chuchs and robins, etc. Ringo was so happy to run off leash in the open fields and hunt mice, he killed four mice that I'm aware of. Good dog! There were a lot of mice this year, so much that the predatory birds were killing them with out eating them because they weren't hungry. The reunion started on a Friday. All the cousins were so excited to see each other and old friendships were quickly strengthened. Saturday we visited the Shoshone Ice Caves. It is an amazing phenomenon to see. My camera wouldn't take any good pictures in the dark cave, but I did get a picture of a prehistoric ancestor of the bear. They presume she went in the cave to hibernate when the cave collapsed in. She and her cub were trapped and starved to death. I guess it was a perfectly preserved specimen when the cave was first discovered, but the tempertures rose when the cave was blasted to allow tourists in and the carcass began to decay. Now all that's left is the bones and a bit of skin. It was a great reunion. I hope we can meet up to those expectations as we have the reunion assinment next year! We are hoping to do a beach reunion, as no one likes to be in Arizona in July, including ourselves! We returned home after the reunion to find our house just as we left it, except the grass was pretty cooked from the summer heat. Not much cooler now, expecting 115 this week.