Logan to Jackson (LOTOJA)

Darren rode 206 miles, through three states and over 3 major passes, in 11 hrs. and I only get a few lame pictures! In my own defense, I was kind of busy driving for 11 hrs. and running water bottles, PB&J and potatoes to him every 50 miles or so. He actually beat me to the feed zone in Afton. I only made one teeeny tiny stop - a girl deserves a Diet Coke after that long on the road, doesn't she?


He did awesome on Salt River Pass - 16:09! He is my superhero.

Steak and Lobster

This weekend was all about Paige. This was her trip. The boys get to go on the Middle Fork every year with Darren and she feels more than a little upset by this. I can relate. I remember hiding in my dad's car when he took my brothers to a Fathers and Sons campout.


In the end she decided to invite the rest of us along. She is quite the social creature, afterall.






We kayaked, carrying all our gear, to the south end of Redfish Lake and spent the night. I have a hard time picturing a more breathtaking view than when you round the corner (it's a big lake) and see Mt. Heyburn and the Grand Mogul stretching heavenward.






We fished, hiked, and hiked, and hiked Darren style: Trail? Never heard of it. And, as usually happens when you take the road less travelled, had a great adventure.

Look who we found along the way. All her idea Clayton, nothing to do with me.

Kayaks aren't very spacious, so we had to go minimalist. We decided this would be a great time to use up the food from our 72 hr. kit. It needed replacing anyway. So off we went with dehydrated spaghetti, an MRE, lots of granola, oatmeal and trail mix.

As pictured above, MRE brownies are a special treat to my kids. Sick, but whatever.

Now that our emergency food supply was mostly gone, we are going to have to refill it. Everyone thought this was a good tradition to start to make sure we rotated it. I asked what they thought I should replace it with for next year.

Justin's immediate response: Steak and Lobster.

Smart kid, that one.

Highest in Idaho

Darren and the boys climbed Mt. Borah, the tallest mountain in Idaho. 12,662 ft.

Brady and Justin on Chicken Out Ridge. On the other side of this ridge is a vertical drop. They're glad they didnt' chicken out.

A Century Later

Saturday I accomplished a goal I set for myself at the beginning of the summer. I rode my bike 100 miles. Actually, it ended up being 110, but who's counting? I was! And so was my behind!

Grandma and Grandpa Smith took the kids, and Heather and her kids to Nat-soo-pah for one last summer campout. Heather took these pictures for us, more of her work can be seen here.

A Needle Pulling Thread

Paige has talents in areas that definitely did NOT come from me. She sewed this skirt at a class at the Quilt Barn. It was a mom and daughter class. Thankfully I have friends that are nice to me. She went with a friend and her friend's mom.

Paige is good at sewing and actually enjoys it. I actually can sew. Not well, but I can do it. I hate it. OK, hate is a strong word, but you get the picture. I love that Paige is creative, and has an eye for color and decorating things. She is a very perceptive young lady, so much so that sometimes it is a little frightening. I love her to pieces.

Perspective

How do I even begin to write about the six days we spent on the Main Salmon?

We dove head first into the trip

Reading at Reed

Girl power










Brady kayaked like a maniac





Brady has nice people in his family. Or are those work horses?

Sand in the hair, and everywhere, is sort of a requirement on river trips.

Due to having a kayaking family, I spent a lot of the river miles like this. Just me, myself, and I. Someone has to be the responsible one and carry stuff like food, water, shelter...

Paige and Zachary


Darren and Brady

We also did a little of that.

We made sugar cookies (or is that sand?)

Photo at Polly Bemis Ranch. Thanks Heather.

We also did a lot of this!

So glad to have Heather along for cool pics.

While looking at pictures from our trip the consensus is WE WANT TO GO BACK! Paige told us she would start calling the ranger for a permit tomorrow.

Everything is better on the river. River food is amazing, river time doesn't matter, river entertainment is home grown. Do kids really need anything more than sand and water? What matters on the river is what REALLY matters. Food, shelter, water, relationships, survival, finding a place to sleep that night. All "wordly" worries seem worlds away.

While pulling, and pulling and PULLING my boat, (oaring by pointing the boat at the obstacle and trying to row away from it) carrying Paige and all our gear, away from a huge hole that threatened to swallow us whole, I suddenly didn't care about the color of my living room, the decorations on my wall, the way my nails looked, the amount of money in my bank account. The river forces me back to basics. Something I strive for all the time, but seem to lose focus of. I decided I needed something to help with my focus.

So this time I brought my river glasses home with me. When I look through them, I gain River Perspective.

River perspective grounds me in the basics. I feel strong and capable. Big worries become what they really are- temporary glitches. Except of course the big nasty holes, the real things that threaten to harm important things, and those things are worth the worry, worth pulling with all my strength away from, leaving me grateful that I'm alive, and confident that we can get through anything.

Plus, river glasses make you look really cool.