Bellas Lake

Bellas Lake located in Copper Basin has become a regular hike for us whenever we go to Idaho.  We know the trail (3 miles there and 3 miles back), 2000 feet increase of elevation, there is almost no one at the lake when we get there, and it is usually some fun fishing (if you can figure out what they want to bite)!  Additionally, the dog (all dogs) seems to enjoy it.  She gets to run around like she is crazy, swim in streams, chase squirrels; overall, just a dog-gone good time on the way up.  Once we arrive at the lake, the fun doesn't stop.  She gets to rest and eats some snacks while we eat our lunch.  And then while we fish, she gets to run around more and swim like there is no tomorrow.  We have to admit, when you spell it out like that, how could it not be fun?!

Here is one of the meadows on our way up to the lake...

Indy is looking back at us and wondering why it is taking us so long.  We point out to her that she has 4 legs and we only have 2 legs per human.  That doesn't seem to satisfy her.  :)  Note how she is at least smart enough to wait in the shade while we catch up.

The rock...Kristina always takes a picture of Jared and Indy on this rock.  Aren't they cute?

Jared and Indy on the trail!  What a twosome?

Again, Indy is waiting for us...she has to wait longer for us this time.  We are on the steep part of the trail and it just takes longer.  We are almost there, but she doesn't know that.

This sign speaks for itself...

Indy has to be tied up for a while.  We try to get some fishing in BEFORE she dives into the water.  Except it turns out that she is a good dog and will wait for us to tell her it is okay to jump into the lake (we didn't know that until this hike).

Beautiful Bellas...

Another shot...doesn't it make you want to say, "ahhhhhh"?

A favorite spot for Indy...she and Logan loved to play here...

Indy waiting on the bank.  Like I said earlier, we can tell her to wait and she will stay on the bank while we fish the hole.  After we catch enough fish, or figure out there are no biting fish, then we let her go into the lake for a swim.

And here she is swimming...man, this dog can swim and swim and swim.  She even jumped off a rock and went completely under, bounced back up and continued to swim to her heart's content.

Kristina had a GREAT day of fishing!  She caught more than 7 fish.  As is usual, she was fishing with a panther martin.  She tried her favorite rock when we first arrived, but she couldn't get anyone to commit and bite.  So she started walking around the lake with Indy.  On this rock, she caught the majority of her fish.

She is pulling one in here.  Indy is very interested, but note that she just stands on the rock with Kristina.  The fish intrigue her, but she doesn't want to go after them.  She thinks it is interesting that we pull them in and then let them go and then they swim away.

Here is Kristina with one of her fish.  She caught  mostly cutthroat trout and good sized ones too.  There was one that was a rainbow cutthroat hybrid.

 Indy chasing a squirrel...you know she is thinking, if she could just climb the tree and get THAT squirrel!

And she is trying to climb the tree in this picture...

Indy cooling off the feet on our way down from the lake...

It was a good day.  We all agreed it was the BEST day of the vacation!

Kristina's Hill

For any of you that have been to our place in Idaho, you know we have a walking trail up to a hill behind the house.  Kristina has always loved the view from the top of the hill, so we refer to it as Kristina's Hill.  However, as much as Indy loves it, maybe we would start calling it Indy's Hill.  :)  So, whenever we got to Idaho, we try to walk up the hill most evenings (unless we spent the day hiking to a mountain lake).  Since the river float was so fast, we decided to take a walk up the hill after supper.

Here's a scenic shot of Indy...

Kristina and Indy checking out the property...

Indy used to fit into the holes in the rocks...

This orange lichen is all over the rocks on the hill...

Indy doing her patented re-charge.  :)  If you look closely you will see Indy's birthmark on her tongue.  She has a black spot in the middle of her tongue.  When we first noticed it, we just thought she was eating something and it was stuck on her tongue, but that isn't the case.  Weird, huh? 

Here is a silly shot of Kristina and Indy looking scenic and posing...

Here's a shot of our upper field...

Floating the River

We try to find time each summer to go to our place in Idaho.  Last year we didn't get to escape because the weather didn't cooperate with the time we had off from work.  However, this year, things seemed to line up better for us.

All of us just love escaping to Idaho.  It is nice to be somewhere that technology hasn't caught up with as of yet.  There is limited mobile phone service, we have no Internet, and we have no television.  If someone wants to reach us they have to do this archaic thing and call our land line and leave a message on an answering machine.  It is great!

That being said, one of our favorite things to do when we go to Idaho is to float the river.  This year we decided to float what we refer to as the "Doll Hole Float".  The Doll Hole is Kristina's absolutely favorite spot on the river; she always catches something there, even if it isn't a good fishing day.

This year was also interesting because Jared and Kristina were not sure if Indy would stay in the boat.  Indy LOVES the water.  When she was 4 months old and floating the river for the first time, she jumped out of Kristina's lap and into the river.  Luckily she swims well and she had her leash on, so Kristina could "reel" her back into the boat.

Well, let's just say, Indy still wants to jump out of the boat.  We had to be especially careful this year because she could hang herself on the leash.  But, after a while she got the hang of it...although you could tell she would rather be swimming than floating.

Here are a few photos of our float.  It was a fast float because the river was high.  And, Kristina did catch a fish in the Doll Hole, but we didn't get a picture of it.  Right after Kristina hooked the fish, Indy thought it might be time to try jumping out of the boat.  :)

Indy thinking, "Can't I just get out and swim!"

Jared in action...

A view of where we were heading...

Is that an abused little dog or what?

A nice shot of the canyon...look at the blue sky!

Another river shot...

Kristina's Birthday Weekend

Since Kristina's birthday lands on a Tuesday this year, they decided to celebrate the weekend prior.  Jared wanted everything to be a surprise, so the only details her told her was to be home on Friday, June 22, by 3pm.  Keeping that in mind, Kristina marked herself out on her calendar at work and arrived home promptly. 

She found out that Jared had planned to go to Victoria for the weekend.  They were going to fly via sea plane from Kenmore, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia.  The plane was supposed to depart on Friday at 5pm and we needed to arrive 45 minutes early.  They packed up their bags and headed out (they even had a pet sitter arranged for Indy -- poor little dog couldn't go this time).  They arrived at Kenmore Air, checked in, and waited for the plane to depart.

Jared had also made reservations for the weekend at the Empress Hotel.  For those of you that don't know, the Empress Hotel has a lot of British influence and it THE place to stay in Victoria.  Kristina was looking forward to a great weekend.  Jared and Kristina took their first vacation to British Columbia back in 1997 and they both were looking forward to going back again.

Well, unfortunately, at 5:15pm, Kenmore Air cancelled the flight -- so they will have to try again.  It was a bummer that they couldn't go, but on the flip side, considering that the rain was so heavy, it was good that they didn't go.  Otherwise, they would have been walking around in the rain all weekend.

So, Kristina literally got a "rain-check" for her birthday...:)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day 2012!  It is a low-key day here in Woodinville, Washington.  The weather is pretty crummy (even by Western Washington standards), so we are spending a day around the house and not doing a lot of anything.  We'll call our Dads today and Kristina will call her brother to wish each of them a Happy Father's Day, but other than that, we are just hanging out -- trying to avoid the wet weather.  Indy did get Jared a fly-fishing trip with a local guide for Father's Day.  It will be good for a year, so Jared has year to check out the local area with a guide.  That was really good thinking of Indy to get that for Jared.  What a lucky Dad!

Congratulations Jared!

Wow...who would have thought that two years would go by so quickly?  Jared celebrated his 2nd anniversary at WB Games on June 1st.  Since we were out of town on June 1st, Kristina took him to dinner tonight (June 9th).  She chose a new restaurant that we had heard good things about, El Gaucho.  We went to the Bellevue location and we both agree that the service was excellent and it is now at the top of our favorite steak place.

Rodger's 70th Birthday Weekend

As Dad's birthday approached, we talked with Jeff and Tonya to help plan out something a little extra special for his big 70th!  This all started back in March, with the first thought being a trip to either Mackay or Down River to be with Dad on his birthday and do whatever HE wanted to do!  We talked this over with him in April, and he decided he wanted us to all meet up in Mackay and do some bike riding and have a nice family barbecue.  We decided that we would leave here on Saturday and drive straight through to Mackay and stay through Monday, leaving on Tuesday.  So we headed out, arrived Saturday night, and planned out some fishing on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning arrived and we scooped up Dad and headed off for Copper Basin.  It was still very early in the summer, and the rivers and streams are usually high and dirty, so we figured East Fork of Lost River was our best option since it is a spring fed creek that doesn't vary much in flow.  It was a nice day, if not a bit cool, but the water looked pretty good, and we managed to catch a few fish.  Dad had a great time fishing and wandering down the stream, and Indy also had enjoyed her stay as you can see...

After fishing there for a while, we decided to head back home where Mom had been readying the barbecue and some special guests had been arriving.  But, not so fast... we had to stop to fish Corral Creek a little bit!

A few bites later, but no fish, Dad spotted a beaver dam that looked like it might be good fishing!  But, we had to drag him back to the truck to get back to his barbecue!

After we arrived at home, Dad found his sister Cherie waiting for him at the house to help celebrate!  We hadn't seen Cherie for quite a while, so it was great to see her again!

Jeff and Tonya originally planned to be here at that time as well, but got held up for a while, so we decided to do some more fishing!  Se we headed up below the Mackay Dam to try our luck!

Kristina grabbed her rod and was hitting the water hard.  Everyone got a few nibbles, but didn't manage to land anything. 

Dad had a great time trying though! 

We headed back home once again and fired up the barbecue.  Jeff, Tonya, Wyatt, and Tina arrived and we all had a great time eating and catching up.  As the evening progressed, we built up a fire and enjoyed nice night.

Monday came, and we loaded up all of our bikes and headed for Challis.  We were headed to the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park where there are a bunch of trails and ghost towns to be enjoyed.  We rode up the trail and had a great time exploring.

After our ride, we came back to the trailhead and had some lunch.  Jeff and Tonya did an EXCELLENT job of packing all of the fixings for a picnic lunch.  After lunch, we headed over to Challis Hot Springs to do some swimming and to relax the muscles tensed up from wrestling motorcycles up the trail.  It was a great day, and I think Dad had a great time.

We headed back home and got ready to head out the next day.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and being there to help Dad enjoy his 70th Birthday!