After our visit with Mindy and my sister, Beth, I picked up Glenn from the airport and we headed to Preston, Idaho! (Napoleon Dynamite's hometown!) On the way, we stopped by Glenn's brother Gordon's house in Smithfield to check out their brand new home! It was beautiful and smelled sooo good!
When we got to Preston, we set up camp at Riverdale Resort. Glenn's cousin Lori and her husband own it. It is a natural hot spring, so there were three geothermal pools at different temperatures. It was so much fun! I loved all of them. They also had a huge four-story high tube water slide. They would keep the slide open until midnight just for us. Glenn and I would put the kids to bed in the tent and go ride the water slide together. The 72 step climb was painful, but worth it! On my second time down I was going so fast that the water lifted me up when I was on the turn and slammed me back down on my hand. I got a pretty painful sprain, but the next day I went right back up.
We also had a great time visiting family. We got to see all of Glenn's uncles, aunts, and cousins. We did all the normal stuff like the family auction and talent show. Glenn's mom asks me to sing every time and I always find a way to tell her 'no' gently. This year I couldn't do it. I tried to say 'no', but she's the nicest woman on the planet and I was sick of disappointing her. I said 'yes' at the last minute and sang acapella, cold. She wanted me to sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserable. Aside from my very nervous vibrato, it went well.
One morning, the Loveland uncles were putting together a caravan to go see the old Loveland Home. It has been preserved as a historical site in Chesterfield, Idaho. We packed a lunch and loaded up the kids. I am so glad that we went! It was a long drive, but the boys played their Nintendos. When we finally got there, there was so much to see! There was a whole pioneer town! I wished that we could have gone in all of the buildings, but alas, the kids weren't as interested as the adults.
We got to go inside the Tolman-Loveland home and take pictures. We got to see photos of Glenn's ancestors on the walls of the home and in the museum. We ate our lunch on the lawn outside of the church. It was wonderful to be there.
The next day after breakfast, the family wanted to see Gordon and Sandra's new home. Since we'd just seen it, Glenn and I decided to take the kids and do something on our own. I suggested a short hike or walk somewhere local. So, we started looking at maps to see if we could find a trail or something. That's when Glenn saw Minnetonka Cave on the map. It sounded fun, so we went not knowing what to expect.
It was a long drive to the cave. It was by the city of St. Charles by Bear Lake. When we got to the cave, it was quite the real deal! We had to pay for a tour and got assigned a time slot. The tour s were one and a half hours long with 896 total steps. Elevation was 7800ft. The tour guide said that it was fine for kids so we signed up! Then we discover that the cave is a constant 40 degrees! We went back to the car and dug out a hooded sweatshirt for Maryn, my Disneyland jacket for Charles, and a Scooby-Doo blanket for me! So funny! Glenn was manly enough not to need anything.
The cave was amazing! I could write so much about it, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. When we got to the end of where they let people tour, they shut off all of the lights and let us see complete darkness. It was something that I had never experienced before. We also saw a bat, which the tour guide told us was the first one they've seen in two weeks, so she was excited about that. The way out of the cave was a killer! Glenn and I were seriously ready to die on the steps! The kids did fantastic, though. They didn't even complain.
It was a wonderful reunion!
Glenn drove home with me. We stopped for a night at our timeshare in Cedar Breaks. It felt so good to shower! We ordered pizza from a local place and played games and rented a movie. The next morning we found a local bakery in Parowan that had homemade bread and donuts. The donuts were so delicious!
We made such great time on the rode, that we stopped in Las Vegas for lunch. We had wanted to take the kids on the roller coaster at New York New York, but when we got there, it was $14 a person! Crazy!! So, we went across the street to MGM and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we took the kids to the M+M store and made our way home. It was so awesome to be together and do something fun. I love our family so much!
2 comments:
I didn't know you sang! I love to play that song on the piano. Would love to hear you sometime!
I can't wait to visit Riverdale again. I'm sure your family has made lots of great changes!
I love Minnetoka cave and the hot springs. My family is all from up north so we're very familiar with all of those things. I'm glad you had a good time. Family is really great.
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