Last January, I set a goal to travel more.

I didn’t have many specific places in mind, but I knew I needed to get out and explore more.

Me: I’m gonna travel

Covid: lol

Fortunately, we had a trump card against covid. One of the great blessings of being a teacher, or being married to a teacher, is that they’re home for the summer break

On a hot & boring self isolating July afternoon, Taylor suggested we take the kids up for a day trip to his childhood hometown of Montpelier, Idaho. Desperate to escape our hot & boring house, I enthusiastically agreed.

With some snacks in hand, and audio books in the CD players, we made our way up to the Bear Lake region.

Our first stop was peering into the entrance of Minnetonka Cave. (down in the top right corner there)

We didn’t realize until too late that Sander couldn’t come inside (he was too little to wear the face mask required by all visitors). Although Taylor offered to keep Sander company outside the cave, they would have waited too long a time for us to finish the tour.

Not that we would have done the tour anyway. As soon as Archer got a peek inside that cave, he loudly declared he was “never, ever going in side of that thing, ever“.

It’s still on my bucket list though. Look how cool this thing is:

We did get to explore the woods surrounding the cave though. The scenery was decent.

Plants growing on rocks. Weird flex, but okay.

(I’m just jealous that this place is prettier than I’ll ever be.)

After that non-existent cave tour, we made our way to Taylor’s childhood home in Montpelier.

And found the playground he played in as a small schoolboy.

DO YOU REMEMBER THESE SLIDES

I am not even sure how they’re still around. Or legal. I can feel the flesh burning off my thighs just by looking at this picture.

Finally, the kids seemed tired out from play and possibly tired enough to sleep on the drive home, so we got back on the road. Only to stop in Bear Lake. Rumor has it that Bear Lake has tHe bESt RasPbeRrY sHaKes iN tHe wOrLD, so we pulled over for one.

MKay, so, here’s my take: they’re fine. They’re thick and tall and a good flavor for a warm summer night. But I wouldn’t order it again. Especially when Red Button ice cream buckets are available for the same price at the grocery store. Sorry to ruin the party.

As soon as we finished our treat, we finished making our way back home again, but not after capturing this iconic sign.

Point of Interest: *gestures to an empty field*

Not a bad way to spend 12 hours of a day 🙂