Random Access

Wednesday – 07 August 2019
This past weekend (okay, Sunday through Tuesday), Sara, Team DiVa, and my in-laws hit the open road for Idaho. For years, Sara’s family has gone to the Stanley, ID area for vacation and we’ve been passing this tradition along to the next generation.

Sidebar: Back in 2008, Sara first invited me to go on this trip with her and her family. Camping. I’m not really a camping guy. In fact, on a call with a friend from home, when I told him that I was going camping, his first response was laughter. Loud, raucous laughter. Then he asked me what I was really going to be doing. I told him again. Again, he laughed. So, I did what anyone in my position would do: I put Sara on the phone. The exchange went something like this:

Sara: Hey! How’s it going.

[chatter on the other end]

Sara: Yeah, Rob really is going camping with us…

[chatter on the other end]

What I learned after the phone call was that the second bit of chatter was actually this bit of conversation:

“You do realize that Rob’s idea of ‘camping’ is to go to a hotel, open a window, and listen to the crickets, right?”

Which pretty much summed up my concept of “camping” to a tee. And, I’m not going to lie, after that and another camping trip, my opinion didn’t really change. In fact, I told Sara after the second trip that I would be more than happy to accompany her family on the third year’s trip… but that I would be staying in a cabin or the lodge.

Which. Actually.  Happened.  (True story.)

But, I digress…

This year, Sara once again found a lovely little AirBNB for us:

Two bedrooms, one and three-quarters bathrooms, nice kitchen, dining, and living rooms, and a porch with a sling/swing. I was duly impressed. She’s actually three-for-three at finding AirBNBs in an area where I would have otherwise sworn would have had nothing of the kind.

Sunday afternoon, we unpacked the car and headed back into town – I use “town” in the broadest sense, as it is a “population center” with very little population:

 

Sara and I picked up fishing licenses and then we were off to the races – or the river – to let little girls fish with their new rods. There were fish in the water, but none of them were really biting. Sara managed to get a strike, but couldn’t land the fish. After about 30 or so minutes, impatience wore down the little ladies’ resolve and they decided to try and skip stones on the water. Shortly after that, we headed back to the cabin to wind down from the day.

The next morning began with scones and bacon and Lucky Charms (for DiVa). Then we headed to the Salmon River to give the girls another shot at catching a fish. No such luck, but we did see a bald eagle. And a water snake. Back to the cabin for a bit of lunch and then, off to Redfish Lake for fun in the water.

Some of you may recall that Team DiVa had a lemonade stand on July 4th. They did this to raise money to buy a couple of large floats – a unicorn and a flamingo. This trip saw their maiden voyages.

Back to the cabin for a quick change into dry clothes and then on to the Yankee Fork River for another attempt at fishing and a nature hike. And then, back to Stanley for dinner at Papa Brunee’s Pizza and Subs.

Tuesday morning, we got up, breakfasted, and got ready to return to the hustle and bustle of our regular lives.

I might not be a huge camping and outdoors kind of guy, but it really was nice to get away for a couple of days to unwind and recharge. Here’s to next year’s adventures and the new voyages of the SS Alicorn and HMS Pink Flamingo.