Goodbye Summer! Part 2

Our travels in the last update post left off in mid-Utah in late May. Our first  stop in June was in northern Utah at Bear Lake State Park. That’s the place where we last year saw the Eagle family. See the Eagles HERE!

They were still here this year, but with just one fledgling, a couple weeks or so older than we encountered them last year.

As in the last post, the story here was the weather.

Last year’s visit at this same week saw beach-goers swimming and kayaking. Not a chance this time.

Bear Lake is fairly large, 109 square miles, and straddles the border of Utah and Idaho. Interestingly, for a lake of its size, Bear Lake has no wind alerting system. Article on wind at Bear Lake.  One evening, I was chatting with some campers, and within minutes the weather turned from resembling the first photo to what is depicted in the second photo.

Calm. Almost glassy.
Approaching ferocious.

It’s hard to demonstrate wind speed in a blog. Here are three attempts, each of them 100% true:

  1. The wind was blowing so hard, I was afraid that it would bend the hinges on my camper door.
  2. The wind was blowing so hard, Trax’s pee was sideways.
  3. The wind was blowing so hard, Sally looked up at me like I had lost my mind when we went outside in it. She is too smart to mess with sideways pee.

However, dear readers, never fear. You will not have to imagine wind speed ever again. Because I, like any self-respecting traveler to windy places would do, got THIS!

I really did. I am such a dork.

And for those interested, below is how hail looks when it lands on a lake. I had three different days with pictures like this – mercifully, I am just posting the one.

Trax: “Sally, last year at this time, we were dipping our paws in that big lake — the one that is RIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW”. Sally: “I know, Trax. And naked little cherubs were bringing us mud biscuits”. Trax: “No cherubs. No nakedness. And these sweaters. What a difference a year makes”.

On the 14th day, our stay at Bear Lake was up, so we were back on the road. Just for fun, I did a Google search for “pastry” on the way out of town. Oh my goodness.

The pastry in the picture is something called an ebelskiver (or Aebleskiver).

From the baker’s website:

Ebelskivers are a fluffy Danish pancake ball and we are the only place that serves them in the state of Utah. I make them in all different variations so we have something for everyone from sweet to savory. This is an old recipe that came straight from Denmark from a dear friend’s mother. You will find nothing like them around here. 

I chose the Razzle Dazzle Ebelskiver, filled with cream cheese mixture with a fresh raspberry preserve drizzle & dusting of powder sugar.

If you ever go there, get them. https://rucasbearlake.com/. Better yet, go there TO get them.

Our travels took us up through a corner of Wyoming, and into Montana.

“Hey everyone, come over for a picnic! We have plenty of room for all of you! Oh wait…”

In this blog, I try to present a somewhat realistic view of our life. Below is a good visual. The first picture is a late afternoon shot of our creekside campsite in Dillon, Montana.

So lovely, peaceful. Like a postcard.

The picture below was taken from the same location, only pivoting about 90 degrees to my right.

There’s nothing like a giant crane and farming equipment silhouetted in the sunset :-)

As late June and July moved along, we returned to some familiar spots, and added a couple new ones.

A favorite riverside campsite near Missoula, Montana.
Sandpoint, Idaho and Lake Pend Oreille. Still one of the favorite places discovered since I’ve been on this 2+ year traveling adventure.
Was fortunate to get a peek at the peak of Mt. Rainier.
“And they called it Paradise, the place to be…”
We blasted through the Olympic National Park. No small feat – it’s huge.
Why they call it the rain forest.
Another lucky find. A little cafe in Port Angeles, Washington with the best seafood chowder I have ever had.
Actually, an adorable little cafe.
Introverts camping at that site.

August 1st brought us to a little town on the southern coast of Oregon. In September of last year, I had the idea to spend the month of August THIS year in one place. In my two full summers (and now three) on the road, I have learned a lesson – no matter where you are, camping in August sucks. It’s hot, the campgrounds are packed, and the parents and kids have a going-back-to-school-soon-gotta-pack-in-all-the-fun-we-can kind of frenzy. So I took a spot in an actual RV park in Bandon. High temperature was 74 degrees. Much of the park was interesting local residents. Walking distance to the cute harbor town. It was a good decision.

Three blocks from my RV park.
Summer is for ice cream. And August is part of summer. And the creamery was almost within shouting distance!

After a low-key August, this post brings us to the current time period. We are back traveling to our favorite state parks in Oregon and will keep you updated.

Sally says, “Trax and I have decided that the ‘RV Park in Bandon’ idea might have worked for HER, but not for us. We saw nary a squirrel in the entire month of August. BRING ON THE STATE PARKS”.

Thanks for checking in!

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4 comments

  1. Love that Bandon sunset!
    And yes, Ms. I-Own-an-Anemometer — you are indeed a dork.
    Never change! :-)

  2. You are a dork who loves ice cream, unique pastries, coffees, beer flights. You are a cosmopolitan dork, and we love you!

  3. Great pictures, Eileen! And so good to hear about your latest travel adventures with your sweet pups! I think checking out all the local pastry options is a solid plan. Now when are you planning to venture East of the Mississippi? There’s lots to see in Tennessee, and we have Moon Pies and Kristy Kreme here!

  4. Hi Eileen–I haven’t commented in a long while, but I wanted you to know that from time-to-time I check-in on your blog–I continue to delight in reading about your adventures, but now it’s from my home in the Chicago suburbs. 😊

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