The Road To Redfish Lake

When Jon and I were dating he took me on a little road trip around Idaho. We stayed at his house in Eagle for a few nights and I got to meet his family.One night before bed, my future father in-law inhaled enough helium from a balloon to sing "we represent the lollipop guild" in a munchkin voice. I could hear the entire family cracking up. I was upstairs and started laughing to myself. I was in love with Jon and now I was falling in love with his family. I wish I could go back in time and give my 19 year old self a high five. 'Good job past Julie!  Marry that boy it is the best decision you will ever make.' And then past Julie would faint and I'd have to erase her memory.

This photo looks vintage. Am I old enough to have photos that look like this? Apparently.  

We traveled back from Jon's childhood home on back roads that he knew well. We stopped at a secluded hot spring and soaked in natures hot tub. We only had it to ourselves for a moment before another couple joined us. They stripped nude right before our innocent eyes and sent us scurrying down the trail giggling and staggering all the way to the car. We hopped in the car shocked and I laughed...through my nose...a little too hard and shot a wee bit of snot upon my boyfriend's arm.(Okay, it was more than a wee bit. We were in a hot spring! It clears the sinuses!) I screamed...He screamed and I leapt in to the back seat and curled up in to a ball of humiliation. But as I crawled past him he wiped his snotty arm against mine and returned what once belonged to me. He told me through his laughter not to be embarrassed and that somehow...he felt closer to me now. We held hands down winding roads and he pointed out the rising moon. I looked at him like he must be messing with me because I knew that the 'moon don't rise'. He was amazed at my...ignorance. But was kind enough to find that humorous too. We stopped at a restaurant in Stanley Id. I remember holding his hands across the table and feeling head over freaking heels in love. That's all I remember about that restaurant. We travel past it every year and I look at it and remember that in that ramshackle old building full of campers and fisherman I had a moment of undeniable, pure and joyful young love. 

Jon took me to our last stop on our trip home. A lake that his family had camped at for years. It was surround by jagged rocky mountains and the water was the most beautiful turquoise. It smelled like pine and camp fires. We would return to that beautiful mountain lake almost every year after that. As newly weds, as new parents and as a family of five. 

This year was a smokey one. Charred pine needles floated over the mountain and a fine residue of ash settled on everything. A new campsite is being added and pine trees were falling left and right to make room for it. My heart ached a little over all the destruction.

It seems like I saw Morgan once or twice after I snapped this picture. She was off on her bike with her cousin most of the time. It's hard letting her go, I missed her after this trip. But she relished in the adventure of exploring on her own. I wish future Julie could have appeared and told me' she doesn't get hit by a car or kidnapped...no one drowns or trips into the fire...you can chill! Really.'  I made real efforts to not worry. I pretty much ruined last year because I felt like someone was going to die..all the time. This year I did do better.

Brooke got heat exhaustion and a ridiculous amount of bug bites. She learned to kayak really well and caught quite a few fish in her net. She dug up clay from the bottom of the lake and squished her minnows into flattend clay blobs so she could dry them out and make fossils. She even pealed the skin off the poor creatures to reveal their tiny bones. It was impressive and I'm so sad I don't have a picture. I let my phone die and enjoyed a tech break for most of the week. That is the down side of using your phone as your camera. I also don't have a picture of her chipmunk trap. After watching the cute little rodents scamper into camp to scavenge a tasty morsel, she decided she would have one to call her own. So she contrived the most clever of plans. She emptied a plastic bin, found a Y shaped stick and wedged the stick under the edge of the bin and tied a string to it. I let her use a few of my pistachios as bait and then she waited.  When a chipmunk came she pulled the string but it fell too slowly and it got away...so she thought to add a rock  on top to make it fall faster. Clever I tell ya! She waited again and when the greedy little guy returned she pulled the string and captured her chipmunk. She was so thrilled watching it try to climb the clear plastic walls. A few minutes later I heard Jon say..." How did you get a leash on that chipmunk?" Some how, she lassoed her chipmunk so she could have it on a leash and take it for woodland walks and such. That chipmunk was flipping out. I looked out the trailer window to see Jon trying to free the poor thing because it was strangling it's self trying to get away... and then it passed out. It was such a strange moment in time, watching my husband un-lasso a comatose chipmunk. He was able to loosen the knot around it's neck and it got some oxygen to it's little brain and then took off like it's life depended on it. Jon looked up at me with a look in his eye that was proud and mystified by what Brooke had done in the last five minutes. She's cool kid I must say. 

We kayaked down the salmon river this year. It started out quite crappy. I had Kate in my kayak and she was terrified. It was a little quick and rocky at first and she kept screaming at me' You are so bad at this!' ' I want to go with Daddy!' I was a little on edge already because I once spent a whole minute of my life trapped in a raging river under a row of kayaks, this was my first time back in a river since then and I was nervous and Kate wasn't helping. Once we were on to smoother water she calmed down. We named the little white caps " tallyho's" and sang " We are the kayak girls, let's go! Tallyho!" every time we got to the small rapids. It made it fun for the both of us and I hope she remembers our little adventure every time she hears the word tallyho,...which won't likely be that often because who says that?

We also hiked to the most beautiful water fall, picked huckleberries, went boating and tubing, roasted marshmallows and my favorite, laughed around the campfire. I asked my girls recently if they had to choose between camping at Redfish or going to Disney land what would they pick. They all said camping. Jon and I are far from perfect parents, but after this last trip to the wilderness I feel like we are doing okay.