At what point do we hit official “ski bum” status? In the last 5 weeks we’ve gone 11 times for a total of about 44 hours including the 20 minute drive up and back. I think that officially counts as a part time job right? No wonder we are so tired! 🤣 Its been fabulous to watch our kids (and Sam) progress so rapidly. The kids finished up their wintersport ski school classes, and the older two are excited to try out some blue runs this week from the top of the mountain!
A couple of observations about skiing together as a family:
1️⃣ No skiing two days in a row. It takes a lot of time to get all of us dressed and up to the hill, uploaded, and then skiing. As much as we’d like to spend all our time on the slopes someone has to work to pay the bills and clean the house (maybe not that last one).
2⃣ Let the instructors take the kids up on the lift for the first time. I took Rachel (who had a panic attack) and then Cara whom we thought was ready. She really just screamed the whole way down even though she skied between my legs the entire time. 😆 At least she was smiling on the way up, right?!
3️⃣ It’s gonna be like mountain biking – divide and conquer. Rachel and Andrew are ready for some harder runs, but an adult needs to stay back with Cara. She’s gaining speed and confidence but is definitely behind the other two. And that’s okay.
4️⃣ It’s awesome but expensive. We bought our season passes early last spring before the prices went up but renting equipment (hoping to buy used at the end of the season for next year) ended up being more than we thought. See #1 for why we can’t just ski all the time.
5️⃣ Moms who take 3 kids up the the slopes by themselves should get a medal. Just saying…
Aside from skiing we are trying to make it through our school curriculum while digging ourselves out of the financial hole that living in Hawaii for 4 months created. It was worth it, but wow! We are a bit short on cash these days. Good thing skiing is paid for, so now its the cheapest thing we can do for fun!
After our busy spring schedule, I made the conscious decision to not blog over the summer and it was such a relief! We’ve had a fabulous couple of months back in the Airstream and thoroughly enjoyed spending quite a bit of time with family and friends as we’ve explored. At some point, I hope to be able to do detailed blog posts on the places we’ve been, but for now I thought I’d do a quick summary and also let you guys know what our plans are for this fall.
Canadian Rockies Loop
Last summer as we were hanging out with my brother’s family in Grand Teton National Park, we started scheming about a great Canadian Road Trip. They had always wanted to rent an RV and do some extended traveling, so we tossed out the idea of going up to the Canadian Rocky National Parks. It stuck. We reserved campsites as soon as they went online (somewhere around March) and generally had our path planned in advance. Totally different for us as we usually fly by the seat of our pants, but we really enjoyed it! I had a few moments where I was frustrated we couldn’t stay longer at one park or another but overall our schedule was pretty spot on.
We started at Glacier National Park, and then drove up through the parks to the Canadian sister site of Waterton Lakes National Park. Both parks definitely had a similar feel, and of all the National Park townsites (towns right in the National Parks) Waterton was my favorite. Just a super cute, not crazy busy downtown area with shops and restaurants. We hiked, we canoed (all the things!) and generally kept ourselves WAY too busy. I feel like we were in “go” mode all the time but we definitely got to see quite a bit of the parks!
Paddling St. Mary Lake – Glacier National Park, MTHiking to Iceberg Lake – Glacier National Park, MTHiking Red Rock Canyon – Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
Next stop was Banff National Park where we camped at Two Jack Lakeside. It was gorgeous! Banff was definitely a busier park, but we tried to get out early and since it was light until at least 10pm we were out late most days as well.
Lake Moraine – Banff National Park, Alberta
We parted ways with my brother as they headed up to Jasper and we joined Tanya Koob from (www.rockiesfamilyadventures.com) on a 2 night backpacking trip in Yoho National Park. This was our first hut experience and it was a blast! We loved having a dry place to hang out (it poured rain the first night), a full kitchen, and a roof over our heads at night. Next time I’d bring pancakes instead of our normal freeze dried meals, but that’s about the only thing I would change. We met some amazing Canadians and all had a blast with our Back Country Olympics.
Stanley-Mitchell Hut – Yoho National Park, British Colombia
We rejoined my brother up in Jasper for two nights, and after they left we had another 4 days to just chill and enjoy the park. It was incredibly relaxing! After our backpacking trip, the kids were all hiked out so we went ice skating at the local rink, and did a white water rafting trip with Maligne Adventures on the Athabasca River. Sam and I also snuck in a date night up the Jasper Tramway and hiked to the peak. The views up there were incredible and I always love doing outdoor adventures with Sam!
We drove down the Icefields Parkway on our way south. The views along this drive are amazing. We stopped at the Athabasca Glacier, but you can’t really get too close to the glacier, and after scrambling on one during our Yoho backpacking trip it really wasn’t all that exciting. We also managed to squeeze into a road side parking area and do the short hike up to see Peyto Lake. All of the stops along the Parkway were super crowded so we didn’t stop to see much else. Totally worth the drive though!
We then spent 5 days in Fernie, B.C. I had heard years ago that it was a good mountain biking town, and it definitely did not disappoint! We also met up with Leanne and her family (www.borntoadventure.com) and the kids had a blast hanging out for a few hours. We learned that Canada really does have difficult trails – everything feels like its straight up without switchbacks. The kids did great though when we finally realized everyone does better when we split up. Cara still struggles and needs easier trails, and the other two like rides a bit more advanced.
Our trip into Canada was surprisingly not stressful. We have a credit card with no foreign transaction fees, and with our T-mobile plans we were able to hotspot and get work done. The only painful part was that we didn’t exchange cash from the beginning which made doing laundry complicated.
Oregon Coast, Camp Noyo & the Eclipse
We crossed the border north of Sandpoint Idaho, and spent an evening hanging out with the McCartie’s at their homestead. We met them on their RV trip a few years ago and loved to see them happily settled on their gorgeous property. I’ve always said that meeting people is one of my favorite parts about traveling and having friends all over the country is a bonus!
At the last minute we made a decision to divert to the Oregon Coast instead of continuing on to Bend, OR as planned. The temperatures were projected to be in the 100’s and that just didn’t sound fun at all. We found out our friends the Bareneckers were settled in a quaint state park and that sealed the deal. We enjoyed hanging with them for few days, and the kids had a blast playing together!
Sam’s family does a reunion at Camp Noyo every summer, and even though the scout camps are no longer running, we are still able to go in for a week every summer. Its really our happy place. Bridge jumping, paddling, outdoor movie nights, shooting range, lots of games, good food and family. Definitely my idea of a vacation.
On our way back to Idaho for the solar eclipse, we stopped at Lake Tahoe for the weekend to see our friends the Erickson’s. They are our outdoor adventure friends from Utah but had been spending the month in Tahoe renting a house. They also has just purchased an Airstream and were about to set out north for their first extended trip! We have kids pretty much exactly the same gender and ages and they get along really well. Movie nights, beach time, and bike rides. It was a great weekend!
After a quick stop in Salt Lake City to see my family and for Sam and I to escape for a night to celebrate our anniversary we made it back home to Driggs, ID! We had rented out the condo, so we camped for the week in my brother-in-law’s backyard. A bunch of the Curren side came up for the weekend as well as a lot of my sister-in-law’s family. We had a great weekend hanging out, and the eclipse on Monday morning was absolutely one of my favorite experiences ever. Being on the line of totality was incredible and something I will never forget!
Fall Plans
In less than a week we will be on Oahu, HI. I still can’t wrap my brain around that. We are pretty much packed, and now just need to winterize and store the Airstream, and make the trek out to San Francisco to catch our flight on August 30th.
We are still ironing out school for the 2017-2018 year, and while everyone else seems to be starting the new school year this week, we are still finishing up last year! It seems we take quite a bit of time off during the year to play.
Sam is teaching a computer science class at BYU-H, and we are renting the townhouse of a friend. I waffle between being incredibly excited to experience a new part of our country, and trepidation for having to sit still for 4 months. It will definitely be a challenge, but overall I think we will grow in ways that we haven’t been able to experience for the last 4 years on the road. I have so many plans to get caught up on ALL the projects, but realistically you’ll probably find us at the beach.
While attending college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, I worked as a rafting guide for Outdoors Unlimited on the daily section of the Green River. I spent many a weekend in the summer sleeping out under the stars by night and navigating or swimming the rapids by day. I learned to soak up the sights, smells, and sounds of the river and passionately love rafting as an outdoor sport.
Naturally I’ve been anxious to introduce my kids to rafting and this summer we were able to do just that! While we *probably* could have rented gear and navigated this 8 mile section of the Snake River ourselves, we chose to go with an outfitter. Rafting independently is great, but we’d also have to rent gear and arrange a shuttle. As this was our first trip with the kids we were unsure how they would respond and wanted to be prepared with someone experienced and make the entire thing as easy as possible. Most rafting companies have a minimum age of 6, and Cara reached that milestone in May 2016 so we were good to go!
We chose to go with Lewis & Clark River Expeditions based out of Jackson, WY. Its a smaller, family run company and they were a dream to work with. Our timing was fabulous as Karen (the owner) had just talked with a marketing strategist who recommend teaming up with an outdoor blogger to do a collaboration. Total win-win situation!
We signed up for the early bird 8:00 am trip which included a hot breakfast before leaving on the bus for the boat launch. Nothing gets you excited for the river like a hot egg, bacon, muffin, and orange juice feast! Despite the early hour, Karen assured me the weather would warm up by the time we got on the water and there’s usually fewer boats, less crowds and more wildlife in the morning. Plus, better light for photos which is always a plus for me!
Once done eating, our group took over the back of the bus for the 30 minute ride up the canyon to the put in at West Gulch. Once we arrived we had a short orientation, we all went to the bathroom, donned our rain shells & life jackets and were assigned a guide and a boat. Then it was time to shove off! We had a short stretch of flat water where our guide, Aaron, went over some safety protocol and we practiced paddling while following instructions. Aaron steers the boat, but all the power comes from the paddlers – us!
Aaron is an awesome river guide – the right balance between keeping us safe and being chill about having quite a few people in his boat. He nailed all the rapids at great angles to soak all the teenagers sitting in the front of the boat and everyone had a great ride! He’s been working with the company for over 10 years and I could tell he absolutely loves his job.
Photos courtesy of Floatographs
Lewis & Clark provides free wet suits for the kids 12 and under which we gladly used. There’s a flat water section during a lull in rapids about halfway through the trip and after getting the thumbs up from our guide we all bailed out of the boat into the cold water for a quick swim. Once the rain shells came off, they didn’t go back on.
The rafting lasted about an hour and half and we arrived at the take out all too soon. The best part about river rafting is that the ride can change depending on when you go and the river levels. Earlier in the season can be very different than a run later in the season. Big Kahuna and Lunch Counter rapids compete for the title of largest rapid at various water levels. I think no matter what time you go, the ride will be enjoyable. The scenery is gorgeous, and we were even able to see a few young bald eagles!
At the take out there’s a short walk/hike up to the bus where we took advantage of the restrooms and changing rooms. We were able to leave our dry clothes, towels, and anything else we needed on the bus since they just park and wait for us at that take out. We fished out some snacks for the drive back and although the kids were totally pumped from the experience I could tell they were also tired!
If you’ve never been rafting, this is a great river to get your feet wet (pun intended!). Its a shorter ride and there are plenty of outfitters to choose from in Jackson, although we can’t recommend Lewis & Clark enough. We couldn’t have been happier about our experience on the river, and the smiles on my kids’ faces made this outdoor adventure momma a happy camper!
We’ve already had people ask us how we got the photos we did – let’s just say my brother-in-law is a genius. We both had GoPro’s but the best photos came from his on a selfie stick out in front of the raft. We primary left them on video mode and then used the GoPro computer software to screen capture. So much easier than trying to nail the shot while you are being doused with water while going through a rapid!
I also had my Fuji X-T10 with us in a dry bag, but don’t recommend taking a “real” camera. They don’t encourage dry bags or any extra stuff on your trip in case it gets swept overboard!
Float0graphs has photographers at Big Kahuna to capture your group in action! We were given these as part of our blogger experience, but as a photographer, I can vouch for how awesome it is to have great photos of your entire group. Totally worth it.
We have been hanging out at my brother-in-law’s house in Driggs, Idaho for the last week. Sam has some renovations he’s been doing to our battery box (including some welding by said brother-in-law). Between work, Airstream projects, and the rain, we haven’t had many chances to get out and explore and I’ve been going a little stir crazy.
Apparently my attitude was a little negative this morning, so the boys suggested I get out for a ride. Its amazing to me how quickly getting outdoors improves my mood.
When I went: May 22, 2015
Where We Stayed: With family, but there are a couple of great camping spots in the valley. Check them out on campedium.com.
Trail route: Climb Bovine Bliss, merge onto Shark’s Belly. Turn right on to Bumper & Cody’s at “the five-way”. Go left onto Sodbuster at the “T”. Turn left onto Southbound, and then ride down Channel Lock to the road.
Map: They’ve got a great one on mtbproject.com with coordinates for the trailhead.
I chose to ride the Dude Creek Loop #249 up Horsehoe Canyon. In the Wydaho Mtn Book my awesome brother-in-law picked up for me its recorded as a 6.2 mile ride with a workout factor of 5, a skill factor of 5, and a fun factor of 9. Sounds fabulous, right?
It took me about 20-25 minutes to ride from his house up the canyon. Unfortunately, because of all the rain the road to the trail head was too muddy and I spent about 15 minutes trying to make it. Giving up, I backed down the road and took the fork on the left side of the road instead where there was additional parking.
Getting that all settled, I biked up the road and started on the trail which was (hallelujah) obviously marked with a carsonite post.
Bovine Bliss was a pretty good climb. I was breathing pretty hard, and having just worked my legs with 21 Day Fix Lower Extreme yesterday, my legs were also not happy with me at all. I couldn’t beat the views though:
There were a few breaks in the climbing which was definitely a welcome relief. I merged onto Shark’s Belly and then it got wet. This part of the trail wound through the trees and there were a few streams that leaked onto the trails. Also some bridges to cross, which I felt more comfortable walking rather than riding. A few sections were too muddy to ride (if you leave a track deeper than a 1/2″ you shouldn’t ride it! It ruins the trails), so I attempted to walk around them. I’m just happy I didn’t slip and end up face down in the mud!
A few more ups and downs and I hit the cutoff for Sod Buster and then Southbound.
You can take a shortcut, skip Southbound and go straight to Channel Lock, but I don’t recommend it. Southbound was one of my favorite sections! It would around on top of the mesa with amazing views of the Teton Valley.
Then there was the awesome descent on Channel Lock back through the gate, and then a short ride up the road to my car. I’m pretty sure I had a goofy grin on my face the whole way down.
Overall it took me 2 hours and 15 minutes, and Endomondo clocked 9.5 miles instead of 6.2. It seems like quite the difference in mileage, so I’m not sure where the discrepancy comes in.
It was definitely a great ride, and I would LOVE to come back later in the summer and ride it when it’s fully dry!
Once done eating, our group took over the back of the bus for the 30 minute ride up the canyon to the put in at West Gulch. Once we arrived we had a short orientation, we all went to the bathroom, donned our rain shells & life jackets and were assigned a guide and a boat. Then it was time to shove off! We had a short stretch of flat water where our guide, Aaron, went over some safety protocol and we practiced paddling while following instructions. Aaron steers the boat, but all the power comes from the paddlers – us!
At the take out there’s a short walk/hike up to the bus where we took advantage of the restrooms and changing rooms. We were able to leave our dry clothes, towels, and anything else we needed on the bus since they just park and wait for us at that take out. We fished out some snacks for the drive back and although the kids were totally pumped from the experience I could tell they were also tired!
