Summer Vacation, 2008: To Idaho and Back[packing]!

The Schedule

Summer 2008 Barnes Family Trip: Rev. C

Friday, August 1: Play in Boise a bit? Drive up to Redfish Lake and camp at two sites in Sunny Gulch.
Saturday August 2: Backpack up to mountain lake overnight.
Sunday August 3: Return to car. Drive to Genesee and M'ie!

Monday, August 4: Veg in Genesee
Tuesday, August 5: Play in Genesee
Wednesday, August 6: Drive up to Grandfather Mountain hike (huckleberries!) [Not the Walawa’Äôs or North Cascade’Äôs]
Thursday, August 7: Throw birthday party for Lucy

Friday, August 8: drive to McCall/Boise (with Aunt Bob and M’Äôie)
Saturday, August 9: drive to Moab?
Sunday, August 10: return to Santa Fe

July 30, 2008

The vacationing travelers are having fun. The night at the Steamboat Grand Resort was lots of fun. We had pizza and Cris and I swam and sat in the eucalyptus steam room. The girls ordered a movie ("Definitely, Maybe") and Susie joined us in the a.m. for a swim. We camped the next night at Fremont Lake and it was incredible. The food was great. We got a fire started easily and had our s'mores via a camp fire and had a fabulous swim in the lake. The stars that night were incredible--we could see the Milky Way and every zodiac sign you can see at this time of year. E saw 4 shooting stars, and we all saw at least one. Quite an amazing experience.

The back packing in the Wind Rivers was great, starting up at Elkheart Park. We were all a bit out of shape but settled in and got to Eklund Lake, stopping of course at the famous "Photographer's Point" along the way.

I wanted to go farther but Cris said, "last one in the lake is a rotten egg!" and so we all swam and had a good night. We did camp on the far side of the lake up a little broad ridge a bit away from the lake and all by ourselves. Cris made me a boquet of wild flowers. The highlight was in the tent playing cards-- crazy 8's, help, how do you play that? The BIG drawback was the mosquitos were really bad. I even got bitten in the middle of the night when I had to crawl out. Both girls suffered badly -- E got 41 bites she could eventually count, and Susie had a really big one on her wrist. We really hiked out in good time in the morning and had a great hamburger and milk shake lunch.

Last night we were here in Jackson Hole and we had an organic dinner. It was yummy! E and I did 3 loads of laundry and we all watched "So you think you can dance." We doctored bites and hit the hay.

Today we hope to see Father Andrew for a minute [we did] and then onto Lance's horse show and seeing Don and Kathi and kids. We are so excited to see them!!!!!

Love to all. So glad it's raining on my garden.

Love Mar

August 4, 2008

Dear Everyone:

I hit "reply all" to a Lucy-letter, so hopefully all the greater Mom List will get this message. I am writing from the Sister's Coffee Shop on Main Street in Moscow, milking my caramel macchiato and checking e-mail. I'm sure Marilyn will want to write and tell you all about everything [nope, she said I did great], but I thought I would let you all know we are doing fine after our camping and backpacking trips.

It was great backpacking with Don and Kathi and family. We started off with a swim at Redfish Lake, and roasted hot dogs and S'Mores for desert at our campground after helping the boys try some fishing on the South Fork of the Salmon River [that's Lucas above]. I kidded them about bringing too much food, but they are correct, we did eat it pretty much all up.

From left: Cris, Marilyn, Father Andrew, Lance, Susie, Don, Lauren, Kathi, Lucas, Jessica, and Elizebeth

I/We picked a great hike -- 5 miles from Iron Creek trailhead up to Sawtooth Lake. Not too far, but the last couple miles straight up a bunch of switchbacks (40 or so) to a gorgeous high mountain lake. As Marilyn said it, even the little kids got how beautiful and wild it was and the point of all the work walking into the wilderness. The weather was glorious: we had arrived with California wildfires still coating the mountains in deep haze [see picture of Mar and I at Redfish Lake above], but during our hike into the hills the haze either finally blew away or wasn't a problem up high and close.

At one point I was carrying three packs: my own, little Lauren's tied up on top, and half of Kathi's with Elizebeth on the other side as we looked around for places to camp up there. We did get >100 feet from the lake and stream, but the best we could do was about 60-70 feet from the trail. I had worried it was going to be really crowded up there, but most of the people were either day hikers or people who went in further for longer. There might have been three or four other groups around the lake (and the "false" lake below the outlet where it was also flat) but we hardly saw each other --- except when we climbed up high on a ridge to try to find a private potty, and mostly ended up exposing ourselves to the world. Marilyn laughed about one time when, as she about crested a corner, she heard a frantic voice saying "I'm already here, please wait" which she did.

Anyway, I may have had three (well, two-and-a-half) packs at one point, but Don and Kathi were not fair with the food and certainly carried far more than their share. We had a four course dinner: ramen noodle soup, instant loaded-baked-potato mashed potatoes (instant potatoes have come a long way since I last ate them in the early 80's), tuna-mac-and-cheese, and both cheesecake and pistachio pudding. We had tons of oatmeal, hot Tang, cocoa, gorp, chocolate, granola bars, and Kathi's homemade beef jerky (the store bought turkey jerky we brought was declared un-edible in comparison). All the kids were very helpful, either filtering water or rinsing dishes, and we made it to bed well fed and content.

Father Andrew was a nice companion to have along. Our group amazed people, ranging from 7 to 75+. He was a little slow going up hill, not so much because of his heart but he has poor respiratory oxygen conversion. So after we learned that we didn't have him talk, but he was a willing and kind listener. Marilyn enjoyed telling him all about her singing the past year, and he couldn't run away or speak up to tell her to stop. Sometimes I walked fast and taught the nephews games ("I'm going backpacking, and I'm bringing a tent." "I'm going backpacking, and I'm bringing a tent and a horse." "I'm going ..." aka "the memory game"; or "the name game" where you ask yes or no questions and try to guess who I'm thinking about), and sometimes I walked really slowly and enjoyed less pain and was tail-end Charlie to make sure we didn't leave anyone behind, and we didn't get too spread out.

Once Lauren had explained to her that the different tents we just like the different rooms at home, and she had to sleep in her room and not her Mom and Dad's, everyone seemed to get a good night's sleep. It was a bit breezy, but that blew away most of the bugs, and it was not as cold in the night as it had the night before in Sunny Gulch campground down below. There were stars out that night and I could see the Milky Way, but it wasn't as warm and wide a sky as at our private beach on Fremont Lake in Wyoming earlier in the week. It was chilly in the morning as we made breakfast, but the sun striking the sharp crags around us warmed the soul. After breakfast and packing up, Father Andrew led a very nice prayer service for us all. Somehow I like church better when I can really see a lot of God's handiwork in a nice place like that.

Back row: Don, Susie, Jessica, Lance, Marilyn, Kathi, Lucas, Cris.
Front row: Father Andrew, Elizebeth, Lauren.
And coming down everybody made good time, even Lauren and Father Andrew. Coming down she carried her own pack most of the way, and everybody made her feel proud she had hiked more miles than her age. In the last part after lunch, Elizebeth (of Team Barnes) and Lucas (of Team Baumgartner) made a breakaway, but as Chase 1 I caught up to them with 2 clicks to go [refreshed after my lunch nap, see above]. Lucas took off again but too soon before the finish line, and my steady long legs caught him again. I was angling to make a break for the finish, but Lance came up behind us, and he saw the cars and the finish and yelled out and Lucas heard him and before I could try to jump Lucas his young legs started sprinting and he got the stage win. (Tour de France lingo, in case you didn't recognize...). But the peleton was only about 5 minutes behind.

Jessica got out her clean clothes from her parent's car (she had thought ahead two weeks ago before camp and had them packed and ready!) and joined us, and we headed out for Genesee. We had milkshakes and burgers (or fish and chips for Mar and I) at J's favorite place in McCall, and made it to Lucy's by 9:30 MDT (8:30 local). My contacts had dried up and it was hard seeing to safely pass cars, but Marilyn and I did a chinese-fire-drill (to beat a big RV I had already passed) around Lawyer's Canyon when my eyes finally died and she finished up the drive. Susie and Elizebeth ran M'ie out of hot water with their shower (J and I got cold showers) and after Mar and M'ie walked with David and Mary we all crashed in bed.

This morning Mar and I got up with J, and had the sausage and (for me) special raspberries on granola for breakfast. I sorted the dirty laundry and did some camping housekeeping, and as I left J and Susie were watching DVD's (a sorta "Little House" series starring Katherine Heigl aka Izzy) while Mar and M were washing clothes and about 20 quarts of raspberries while E was still sleeping. I've had my nice coffee, I'll look at business e-mail, pick up some errand stuff, and we're off to movie and pizza with Annie tonight. Hope you are jealous of our vacation!

Love,
---Cris

August 5, 2008

Dear All:

We thought it would be fun to celebrate Mom's birthday on her actual birthday. So, any of the clan who can, we are having a birthday dinner on Thursday August 7th at 6 pm. We hope to see you all, especially Katelyn.

Love Marilyn

Dear Everyone,

Well, we are going to try to match an incredibly diverse and busy week just past with an complicated and busy week this week. It was way cool to have Cris, Marilyn and family visit for most of the week. Cris treated us to Wall-E on Tuesday, after Marilyn and I went over the agreement questions in the afternoon. As I sit here shivering in my long sleeve shirt (it was 39 this morning!!) I am remembering how warm and muggy it was in Mom's office last Tuesday. Mary and Mom had several picking expeditions into the garden and Mary had to solo on the lawn mowing, because I couldn't seem to fit that part in. We had a great birthday celebration for Mom on Thursday. On Friday, in another major communication coup, I called the help desk at UI and found out that I could punch 3 buttons on my phone and intercept calls that were coming to the main FCS phone. I mind the store by myself on Friday afternoons and my typical procedure had been to jump up and rush into the next office and try to take the correct message.

...
Gotta run,
Love Dave

Lucy's Letter

Dear Sean,

Your Smart is in Alb. & you have to wait till Thurs. to get him? How excruciating! Can you DO it?

It is after 9. J is wrapped in a blanket in the living room with the TV on, but I can't tell if she is sleeping or watching. She seems to be coughing a lot.

I guess we put in a big day yesterday, too. Mary & I got the snow peas & rasp. almost picked, before Marilyn came out to join us. We got a 1 1/2 flats, & 4 gal of green arrow peas. Mary headed home, & Marilyn & I cut the cabbages above the spinach. Cris had their wash all sorted, so Marilyn & I got it washed & on the line by 12:30. And I think you have his wonderful letter of their hike with D&K&crew, & Fr. Andrew, & their arrival here. Marilyn wanted to do her run & then swim, so S&J cleaned the pool, & was able to rise & shine, & we all joined Marilyn in the pool. These swim team granddaughters are awesome! We finally got around to lunch at 2, & then it was 3:15, & time to head to the movie. We saw SWING VOTE, too. Teresa. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who leaked. Cris had to tease me about holding up the departure, till I mopped up. Pretty terrible language, but a great message after all. Poor Gar had pizza there for us, but had to excuse himself, & go to bed. I think Annie enjoyed showing off their kitchen & estate. And the girls loved seeing her highschool scrapbook. E is inspired to start saving mementos so she can do that. AND after the pizza, Annie had 3 berry sundays for us, rasp, boyson, & straw. WOW! We got headed home at 9.

Tues. M&C got to do their own thing, & the girls & I got their PJ bottoms cut out & started to sew. We all enjoyed lunch at 12:30 with D&M's fine hospitality. Dave & Marilyn spent the afternoon going over the SomeRHome business. We all joined Annie for WALL-E at 6 PM.

Wed. we left E to finish reading one of her required summer reading books, & went to Cris' favorite hike trail in N. ID [the trail to Grandmother Mountain off of Freezeout Ridge]. He had hoped to find huckleberries, but at 6,000' elevation, it was still too early. [That is to say, those are all huckleberry bushes in the picture, but no berries yet this year!] But OH the VIEWS! We stopped at East side mall in Moscow, & Cris got maps of the proposed 4 lane hwy. 95 into Moscow, while we got gro. at safeway. Mike & Heidi & Jeffrey were headed up to the pool, so we joined them, & were ready for the SomeRHome conference call at 5 PM. Jim couldn't stay, but Mary joined us for supper & visiting.

Thurs. was picking day again, & we found 5 gal. of yellow wax, & green beans, too. Cris took his girls on a UI campus tour, & J had a quiet AM to herself.. And we finished her PJ bottoms, when I got in. Mary got their car serviced & then she took Marilyn & Ashley to shop for R&J's wedding gift, while Jim got the other 2 swings put up. Cris & S&E back for lunch & took J with them to the TRAVELING PANTS 2 movie. Ashley & I were at the pool (well she was in it.) while Jim & Marilyn had a great 1 on 1. The movie goers were back & Rhonda finished giving her embroidery class in Lew. & the rest of their kids, & Dave & Mary, all arrived for my BD supper at 6. The weather threatened a bit, but we got to eat under the linden trees.

Cris made a fantastic pork shoulder, & Mary made mashed spuds, Joni brought fruit salad, & Annie's triple batch of biscuits were slicked up every crumb! Cris made home made ice cream to go on our rasp. short cake.

Everyone got to hold Katelyn, but she likes Papa & U. Jon best, after Mom & Dad, of course.

Fri. we were able to leave A&G's about 9 AM, & got to McCall at 12:30 MDT. Jean & Harley there with DK& the 3 L's. But then headed back to Meridian. Lunch & Marilyn & Kathi had their power hike, Cris found the swing on the beach to read, & Don took the rest of us on the boat. Too choppy for skiing, so the kids, including Annie, all tubed. Hikers still not back when we went in, so the kids begged Don for another GO. Annie & I opted to stay behind & clean up & rest. Great supper with Don's AK salmon, & Kathi's garden veggies. And the Olympics started!

CMS&E were away by 10 AM on Sat. The rest of us just vegged & watched the Olympics. Lauren needed a game of Hand & Foot. We had some lunch, & by then we had to opt for tubing again, as the water was too rough for skiing. Hot dogs for supper, more Olympics, & Annie had brought MIM'S ISLAND.

Sun. Don & Annie took me to Mass. WONDERFUL! Don made us French toast. And we headed out to ski. Still pretty rough, so Kathi ran the boat, & Don & Lucas showed us how it is done. And they have the most mazing set up to teach Lance & Lauren. Lunch, & Annie & I were away at 2,Annie & I arrived at their house at 5, with Gar to greet us with hugs. I got gas on the FIRST try, & drove in just ahead of Joni & Jerry & girls, & Ryan & Jon & girls soon followed. So I had a grand visit with them, & have checked the homestead a bit. found me some food, showered & shampooed, & read 23 messages!

Whoosh, sorry this got so long. Can you tell I'm procrastinating about tackling my cots? Thank you all for a grand week of celebration. I hope to be more spacific when I get caught & rested up.

Take care, have a great rest of the week. God Bless & heaps of love, "M"

August 10, 2008

Late breaking news: Marilyn just called. They drove until 11:30 last night. They stopped by at least twenty hotels in Moab last night, but everything in the town had been full by mid-afternoon. So they finally found a little place in a little town about two hours farther south [Dove Creek, Colorado] run by a little old lady about M's age who got out of bed and came out to them in her robe and curlers to have mercy on them. Consequently, they hope to arrive early this afternoon. Very tired but very happy to be so close to home. They're even going to stop by on their way to look at the Smart, so I'll get to see them right away. And now we return you to our regularly scheduled Olympic programming.

Love,
Sean

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