Summer Out West: Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming

One of the great things about being a teacher is getting summers off.  Having said that, it seems like each summer break (we have had three of them now) is defined by something like a long trip to somewhere or a big project we finished.  In past years, we have used our time off to go to Peru, finish grad school, spend time with family and friends in other parts of the country, and train for specific Triathlons/marathons.  This year's summer break will be defined in my mind by the month we spent out West.  We are so blessed to have had this opportunity to spend time with mine and Michelle's family in Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming.  As a side note, little Mason has logged a lot of miles both flying and driving in his short but eventful 7 weeks!

Idaho

The first big event on our schedule was the Coeur d'Alene Ironman that I participated in. This was such a blast, but it definitely wore me out. After this, we did a lot of fun and relaxing things like heading up to the mountains for swimming in the lake, riding the 4 wheeler, and cooking smores over a campfire. I also got to go mountain biking twice with some guys that do it regularly in Boise. Boise has tons of hills and mountains that are perfect for great mountain biking. I really hadn't been mountain biking in years, so this was a real treat. Even though I log hundreds of miles on my road bike each week, mountain biking was still a true challenge and workout. Not only was the elevation something new, but it requires a different set of skills and even muscle groups to go mountain biking as opposed to what I am more used to. One thing I can tell you is that mountain biking 20 miles in the hills of Boise is a heck of workout! Michelle and I have made some good friends in Idaho, so it is always nice to see them. She also has some friends that she has been close to since high school, so it is always a wonderful occasion for all of them to get together. Coincidentally, it seems that Michelle and almost all her friends have had baby boys all within the last couple months. As an added bonus, some of our friends ended up going on vacation to Sun Valley while we were in Idaho, so we made a day trip to visit them in the gorgeous resort town. We watched 'Sun Valley Serenade' at a local theatre and visited some of the sights that Sun Valley has to offer. Hopefully we get to go back and spend more time there someday. A special treat for us was Mason's baby blessing in Michelle's home (church) ward. It was a real blessing to get to perform the blessing on my newborn son.

Washington

After the Coeur d'Alene Ironman, we went with my parents back to their house in Washington.  It was a lot of fun getting to know Seattle and the surrounding area.  Washington is a a beautiful place, with lots of fun and exciting places to go and see.  My cousin lives in downtown Seattle so he was able to show us around.  He took us to all the places that you would want to see while visiting this city: the fun outdoor markets, the harbors and locks that go out to sea, some great local restaurants, views of the mountains and tall buildings, the original Starbucks, and a really crazy alleyway that people have covered (literally) in chewed up gum.   We went out on a limb and tried going to a small Mexican food restaurant; we were greatly rewarded for this with the best Mexican food any of us had had in years.  Who would have thought we would find this in Seattle?

Wyoming

Visiting my aunt and staying at her amazing house out on her farm in Wyoming was a real treat.  I hadn't been to my aunt's farm since they built their new house.  It was so great to see more family and stay at their place.  It was a completely unique and wonderful experience to get to visit Wyoming.  My aunt and her husband have a massive farm wth goats, chickens, horses, burros, sheep, all kinds of farming equipment, their own herb store where they sell tons of great natural/organic foods that they grow and make themselves.  It was a lot of fun to just spend time at the farm looking at the amazing views wherever you looked, riding a dirtbike on trails on their land, and learning about (and eating) what they farm and how they make their delicious natural organic foods.  Another highlite of being in Wyoming was visiting Yellowstone National Park and seeing Old Faithful, one of the many geysers on display at the park.  Somehow they know what the schedule of eruptions from the geysers will be so you can plan out when to come and watch the geysers.

It was really sad to say goodbye to our families, but at the same time we know we are blessed to have gotten the opportunity to visit them and spend so much time with them.  We took lots of pictures though and more importantly, we made lots of memories that we will never forget.