Palisades to Jackson

We took a drive one Sunday to go look at the leaves changing color. Fall is my favorite time of year!

So we headed up to Palisades. 

Of course we had to stop for square ice cream. Tradition...

Lots of color! The trees that change to red are my favorite.

It was a beautiful drive!

The lake was super low. We are literally in the middle of the lake here... Who knew there was a road on the bottom of the lake. It was pretty cool.

We were only planning on going to Palisades and back, but decided to head over to Jackson. We haven't been there together yet. We didn't have a lot of time, but it was still fun walking around.

The ever famous antlers! I don't think I've ever done the whole tourist thing and take pictures with them. That was fun.

It's a little washed out, but I love the essence of Wyoming in the background :)

We didn't have a lot of money and needed somewhere cheap for dinner. Cheap and Jackson don't really mix. We ended up walking a few blocks to a brewery. It was a little questionable walking up to it, but once we got to the front and inside, it was nice. Our burgers were a little overpriced, but what do you expect for Jackson. It was a fun place though. Reminded me of the breweries I ate at in Milwaukee.

Ian asked if we were the only mormons in there... Well, we were in a brewery... on Sunday! Haha!

Good times!

On our way home, there were lots of signs saying moose were all over the Jackson pass. Steep grades, lots of curves, and moose.... I was not really enjoying myself. But we made it without spotting any. We decided to cut over to Swan Valley from Driggs instead of coming home the other way. I've never been this way as an adult and certainly not in the dark. I thought it would have been the "shortcut", but I don't think it was. It was a lot more of the "pass" roads. Not as bad, but still not pleasant when you don't quite know where you are going. 

About halfway through, cars were flashing their lights at us like crazy. So we started slowing down. All of a sudden there was the MOOSE. Just sitting in the middle of the road like it owned the place! It was a big one too! We were grateful that people let us know there was something ahead. We've never hit any wild animals like that, and I certainly don't want to start with moose. 

It was a fun fall drive! We love where we live and that we have such awesome places so close.

Spud Day

We got to experience our first Spud Day this year! Well, only the parade part. Ian had to work and I didn't feel like going to the rest of the festivities alone. I love that our house is only a block away from the park. Prime parking!! We have 4 open spots in the driveway for friends/and family...

The parade was fun though! Next year I'll bring sunglasses and an umbrella, or sit on the other side of the street. Gotta love getting sunburned in September... Glad it was still nice and warm.

Giant potatoes...

And farm equipment...

Yep, we live in Idaho! :)

It was fun. Can't wait for next year.

The "Grass" aka Sore Subject

Who knew planting grass could be such a nightmare....Where we didn't plant in the spring, and had to wait all summer, it was a HUGE battle with the weeds! Ian tells a great story how he had to do the bunny hop with the lawn mower :) But... it's finally done.

After planting, we had to take a load of crap dirt to the dump, or transfer station, or whatever it was. It was definately a first for us as a couple. Seriously being in the middle of nowhere trying to find the place, wondering if we should turn around or keep going. And having no cell service...

We kept going and finally found it. Only to find out there was a $40.00 fine for un-covered loads. Awesome. Luckily we didn't have to pay it. I was ready to turn around and go home if we did. The experience just kept getting better and better...

We made it up to the dump site.

If looks could kill... :) Clearly this picture was taken at the start of the unloading process.

It didn't help that the two morons trying to unload the truck had a plastic snow shovel, and a regular shovel with a broken handle to work with...

I didn't think it would take too long to unload the truck. No No No! It was getting later and later and Ian had to get to work. At this point I was kicking the dirt out of the truck and down on my hands and knees pushing it out with my hands.

It was truly an experience neither of us will ever forget. That pile doesn't look very big for being 1000 lbs of damp dirt that did nothing but stick together.

You know when you do something, and have to hope and pray that it works. I do not work well with these kinds of situations... It took about 3 weeks to tell it worked, but once we barely saw green, it kept progressing pretty fast.

Our grass has been quite the sore subject. Especially for Ian, but I thought I'd document the lovely experience. Hopefully it will come in even better in the spring. After all, we're just two kids who have no idea what they are doing with a yard!!!

The Fair!

I love going to the fair! I go to for two reasons... The food, and the giant animals!

And who doesn't love carnival rides at dusk! Maybe someday I'll feel like overpaying for something like that.

 

Oh Tiger's Ear.... How I look forward to you every year. I could have lived without the "show", but it was a place to sit and eat.  

I was a little disappointed the giant black and white cows were not there the night we went. They are the animal I look forward to the most. We had some good times looking at the other animals though.

We hit the jackpot with the pigs. This was the first year we ever saw them... It was crazy funny how big they were. I couldn't resist taking a picture of 3 pigs in a row...

We even stopped to learn a little more about pigs. Interesting...

I'm glad we were able to go to the fair this year. I feel like we've missed out on a lot with Ian's schedule. It was fun to just be together

Ian's Camping Trip

Ok... I was there too, but there are going to be lots of pictures of Ian! Camping and my face/head do not get along!

We went camping over Labor Day weekend. We were planning on going the weekend after, but Ian's schedule changed so this was our last chance to go camping this year. Something we wanted to do all summer... more than once, but what are you going to do?? Here's to hoping we will go more next year.

We went to one of my favorite campgrounds in Island Park. I was worried it was going to be full, but we got a perfect spot! It was actually a surprise perfect spot... We got there in the dark and were quite happy with our pick once we saw it in the morning.

Setting up the tent in the dark is always fun... Atleast the real lantern makes it do-able. We've had worse light to set it up in...

As soon as we got our bedding and camp chairs in the tent it turned in to a down pour! We planned that out perfect! It would have really sucked to have to set up the tent in the buckets of rain.

By the time we got the air mattress pumped up, it was late and I was super tired. It was a rough night... The rain was loud enough on the tent. Then there was rumbling thunder... Almost made me miss the train :)

The next morning we got to cook breakfast in a slight drizzle. Best hashbrowns ever!! I credit the dandy pan we found at DI.

It rained off and on the whole time. Just our luck... Oh well. It was still fun. We did have to go buy some hot chocolate (I forgot ours) and a deck of cards. We were in the tent a bit more than normal.

We both got new phones so we entertained ourselves with those. Gotta love camping where you have service :)

We took a drive up Sawtelle. It was Ian's first time and I knew he would love it! Well... we ended up in thick clouds, so there was no view. But it was pretty awesome still. Kinda scary the last bit going up. The visibility was very low! But we hadn't come all that way to turn back... Ian thought it was super cool. Which it was... but I can't wait for him to see the real reason I took him up there. Someday.

It was sooooo cold. And the wind was blowing HARD! What do you expect at 10,000 ft...

We were the only ones at the top. It was a fun little trip.

Coming out of the clouds. It was so much worse. You could barely see in front of you. Glad we didn't drive off the mountain...

Coming back down the view was pretty cool. But still nothing compared to what it's supposed to be.

Funky trees!

Back at camp and the sun came out! For 2 seconds... We walked down to the river. Glad we didn't meet any moose friends in those willows!

And then the sun was gone... and it started to rain. Again.

We have awful luck with wet wood... But we finally kinda got a fire going.

Enough for my breakfast smore's. That's all I was really looking forward to.... Kinda funny the rain only allowed them for breakfast :)

Overall it was fun. I didn't sleep well either night because of the rain on the tent. So we packed up earlier than normal on Sunday and headed home for a nap!