7 days, 2,200 miles and 254 photos

We pretty much had the best vacation ever. Shelby was an awesome traveler, which was a big surprise. We spent 14-hours in the car on the first day of travel and Shelby didn't complain once. How awesome is that? The only problem we had was she was always too excited to sleep. But, really who can blame her? I was even too excited to sleep.

Random Rest Stop Fun Along The Way

Shelby didn't have any pants because she poured her drink out all over them. Things dry really fast on the dash, by the way.

She's always wanting the camera.

Shelby's game at this rest stop was running to the door of the bathroom and back again as fast as she could.

Rexburg, ID

Our first stop was in Rexburg. I graduated from Ricks in 1998 and the last time I saw Rexburg was in 1999 when Beth graduated. Needless to say, I was shocked when we drove into Rexburg. The very first thing I noticed was the gigantic temple rising from the horizon. Back in 1998 you could only see the Rexburg Water Tower as you drove into town. What a awesome change the beautiful temple brings. The next thing I noticed were all the restaurants. Where were all of these when I was a student?!?! Not fair I tell you. I wonder if students these days find as much excitement in driving to I.F. as we did? Is there even a need to go to I.F. anymore?

The campus is totally different. So many new buildings and apartment complexes. I couldn't get over it. The gardens have totally changed and they looked awesome. I was sad to see Papa Kelsey's was out of business and it was weird seeing Craigo's across town.

I forgot how much I liked Rexburg. Well, that and the faint scent of cow manure and hay wafting through the morning breeze. Idaho is such a beautiful state.

Shelby patiently waiting for us to get packed up at the campground

Walking through the Thomas E. Ricks Gardens on campusLunch at Frontier Pies

Logan, UT

A lot has changed since I left Logan back in 2003. I could tell there were a lot more stores and businesses in town, but I had a hard time picking out the old from the new. My old place of employment had disappeared and was replaced by another totally different store. And it looked like the USU campus had added some new buildings. My biggest disappointment was discovering the Aggie Ice Cream store was closed for the day. Something about July 4th celebrations. Grrrr. But, Travis made me feel better by kissing me atop of the "A". Travis was hoping this would make him a True Aggie and he was a little disappointed when I told him it didn't work that way.


Orem, UT

We spent the night of July 4th at Ivan and Renee's place. Much to my surprise Shelby did not like sparklers. She tried to make up for it by holding her spinning light toy up against the night sky. She's a goof ball.

Murray, UT

We spent July 5th with Dena, Jeff and Tristan. Jeff BBQ'd some hamburgers and we swam in Tristan's new pool. Jeff was awesome and made us some tasty breakfast panini's in the morning. Man that guy can cook.

Salt Lake City, UT

We met up with most of the K-2 girls for dinner at Alicia's place. I am extremely disappointed that I neglected to take a photo of all of us. It was so much fun to see the girls again. It was especially fun for us to be able to meet Alicia's little boy, Ryan. Shelby was more than happy to play with all of Ryan's really cool toys, including the super awesome bubble blower. We still need to get us one of those.

Since we were in SLC, I made Travis drive all over town showing him where I used to live and my favorite places to eat. I was really shocked to see that 1 of my old apartment complexes was totally revamped and doesn't look so much like an old crappy dive anymore. We also stopped by the flower shop so Travis could see where I used to work. Luckily, one of my old co-workers was there and we were able to talk for a bit. What fun. Oh how I miss the smell of cut flowers.

It was also fun seeing my cousins, Katie and Kristy. I was bummed I couldn't see all the other cousins and friends in the area. Just not enough time. Dah!

Bear Lake

We finally make it to Bear Lake and it was just as awesome as everyone told me it would be. And yes, the raspberry shakes are really good and so are the strawberry shakes and the butterfinger shakes and the snicker shakes and the chocolate covered raspberries we found at the local chocolate store.

While at Bear Lake, we were able to spend 1 day at the swimming pool and 1 day at the lake. Shelby loved riding the wave runner, which she called "the boat" or in her language "the bit." Shelby also enjoyed digging in the sand and running around like a crazy person. Travis spent most of his pool/beach time trying not to get burned and I enjoyed getting tan.

Shelby insisted upon carrying her beach toys to the lake. And it was absolutely necessary for her to wear the floaties on her arms. I asked.

As soon as she saw the water she was ready

The Gray siblings
The whole group - minus a few

At the Condo

A lot of movies were watched at the condo. It was cute to see little cousins snuggling.

Shelby loved pushing Magnus around in the stroller.

One of my favorite Magnus photos, ever. Love the kid.

Camille asked me earlier that day if the 2 of them could wear matching clothes. And surprisingly we had matching clothes to pull it off.

Paris, ID

On the way home we stopped by the Paris Tabernacle. It was a cool looking tabernacle with some interesting background. The people of Paris thought they had settled in Utah. It wasn't until they looked at a map some 30 years after they settled that they realized they were living in Idaho. What a shocker!


Camille and Shelby

Paris, ID isn't far from Bear Lake. But, apparently it's far enough for Shelby is miss Camille quite a bit. It's true, Shelby adores Camille and Camille is quite happy about that. When we arrived in Paris, Shelby got out of the car and when she spotted Camille she shouted, "Millie" and ran over to her to give her a big hug. It was cute to see Shelby react this way, but it was way cuter to see Camille's reaction. I just love those girls.



Boise, ID

We stopped in Boise, ID to visit Pamela and to pick up a few things Beth left at her place. We just had to stop off at the local Krispy Kreme for some doughnuts. I think the kids enjoyed it.