Daka, Daka, Daka

 This is the view of Fremont Lake from the cabin balcony. The cabin was started in 1958 and completed in 1965, and is about 10 miles north of Pinedale, Wyoming at 7500 feet. 

 This is a picture of the Windy Range Mountains, and was taken on a little looking point on our way to Elkhart Park where we did a little hiking. Absolutely gorgeous view. 

 This is the little creek we found on our hike in Elkhart Park. It wasn't hidden or anything, but it was just a nice little babbling companion along the trail. The water is amazingly clear and it was quite cold. I love that streams like this still exist, and it makes me want to do everything possible to preserve them so we can take our children to experience them too. 

 Capitan Marshall at the helm! We took the boat out on Fremont Lake, which is pretty big. I even got to steer for a little bit! 

 We stayed at the Dawson family cabin, which was built by Marshall's great-grandfather Elias Dawson and his family. One of the coolest features of the living room is the giant map of the western United States above the fireplace. To the left is a giant buffalo head; to the right is an elk head. 

My little buddy Clark wanted a picture of him and Cabin Moose. :)

We flew to Salt Lake City from Austin, and spent the night with Marshall's cousin Jacob's family in Clearfield, which is about 30 minutes north of the airport. Jake's wife Shelley is a stay-at-home-mom with their three children: Ava, Jackson, and Ethan. Another baby girl is due in November. Jake is a nurse in the oncology department of a nearby hospital. Jacob was one of Marshall's groomsmen in our wedding too. They have a trampoline in the back yard, and Ava and I jumped on it together. :) 

Monday we drove to Newton, Utah, which was 75 minutes from Clearfield. We visited with Bermuda, Marshall's grandmother, and the Anderson clan--Doug, DeeDee, Heather, Annie, and Bonnie. Heather lives in a nearby town and came over for dinner that night. Annie is going to college less than 2 hours away starting this fall. Bonnie is going to be sophomore in high school (I think). Bermuda loves to quilt, and showed me a box of quilts that are reserved just for family. Between quilts and baby afghan blankets, I think we took home nearly a dozen! It was so generous of her to give us so many. :D 

Tuesday we left for the cabin in Wyoming, and it was a 5 hour drive. We got to go through Idaho!

After being up in this area, we both looked at each other and truly committed ourselves to doing everything possible for us to move up this way immediately after Marshall graduates. We loved the weather and the beautiful countryside. Yes, yes, we want to move to Idaho!

Wednesday was Independence Day, and we went for a hike in Elkhart Park, found the boat dock, and watched the fire works in town. Oh yeah, our little rental car Fido, a Fiat 500, got stuck in the dirt. It took 5 locals and a truck to pull us out. Oi! All during our trips back on the dirt roads going up to the cabin, we would see these little chipmunk/prairie gopher guys scamper across the road. I told Marshall they reminded me of the creatures we call Dak Rats back in North Dakota. So, every time we saw one scurry across our path, we would call out, "Daka, daka, daka" at it. It was quite fun. 

Thursday we went out on the boat and kept on relaxing. Friday morning we packed up and headed back to Newton. Saturday around lunch time we left to go to the airport. The flight from SLC to Denver went well, but we had a rain delay in Denver, so we didn't get home to Austin until midnight, then back to our house until 1pm. Our neighbor Beverly watched our cats for us, and they were happy to check out all our luggage. 

We had a fabulous trip and are so enthused about moving to Idaho in 2 years!