A Day Spent in Paris

My cousins from Nebraska were in Idaho up at Grandpa's Mountain a couple of weeks back. So after much coordination and scheduling, Bill and I picked all the best things to do that Saturday and had an epic day!

When we arrived up at Grandpa's Mountain we were instantaneously greeted with Fred screaming, "Bill's Here! And Jessie!" (We all know who is truly loved - haha) and smothered with hugs a plenty. Hugs went out to John, Tim, Elizabeth, Rebekah, Hannah, and Ben and introductions were made all around to Bill. Although it goes years in between each family visit with the Noker's, it seems like we always manage to pick up right where we left off.

Jordan brought me his Indiana Jones hat, as requested. And I rejoiced. *Note this for future blog post*

Uncle Allan managed to wrangle us into helping him clear wood from an area, and appeased us by giving us a ride in the back of his truck around the property. :) The grand tour, as it were. But not only did this happen once, it happened twice! Did we learn from Uncle Allan and his sneaky suggestions? Of course not. ;)

Grandpa Sorenson suggested that we make our way to the Paris Ice Caves. I've been a couple of times prior, and from what I could always remember, it wasn't that exciting. True, a limestone sink hole would seem appealing to most individuals who had not been there...which was very true of the Nokers and Bill, but as for the rest of us...okay, me...I wasn't sure about all this. But how else were we going to pass the afternoon? So I was certainly game.

Grandpa, Grandma, Alicia, and Jeff in the truck; the Noker's in their 12-seater van; Bill, Val, and myself in Lex; and my family in the Subby -- we formed a monstrous caravan up to the Paris Ice Caves. ;)

The Family!

We arrived and had a family photo op and continued on to the cave itself. In the past, I stick my head into the cave and ooo-and-aah over ice and a cool breeze rushing by my face, but never had going inside through the narrow passageway been an option. But in August and with flashlights! By gum -- we went into the cave! And then it became very evident how cool this limestone sink hole could really be. :)

Jeff and Alicia

We ran over to where a beam of light shown through and climbed up into the opening. It became the ultimate challenge. Jordan, Ben, and Bekah manuevered over the rock and disappeared out of sight. Now it was John, Tim, and Bill's turn to crawl up the rock face. A bunch of us stayed below and goggled up at the boys as they tried to figure out how to pull themselves out of the hole we were all in. Then Pops went up after them. Man...if only I had better shoes with grippage! So I took pictures instead and helped Valerie back through the icy cave.

Bill, John, and Tim

Pops

When we popped back out, the boys had made it out. We then began to scale the rocks that weren't nearly as frightening and that my non-grippy shoes could semi-handle. It was so fun! I found a random match-container in a little cubby hole as Bill stared down a hole at some green rock. I asked him what he thought the container was, and we opened it up. We found a geo-cache without a GPS...that's how cool we are. ;) We signed our names and Marshall stuck a plastic purple jewel (that he had found in some parking lot and had been carrying with him for some time) inside the geo-cache as his contribution. :)

John, Tim, Madre, and Bill

The Mountain Goats

Elizabeth and Hannah

Val Gal and I

Bill and I hopped down inside the green hole and then Pops and Val joined us. Ben and Jord and Bekah, the mountain goats, came and met up with us from a wholey different direction. Whopatcha! We scaled the rock face and felt genuinely adventurous and skilled. It was incredible! I have a completely different take of the Paris Ice Caves now! I feel bad for ever thinking anything negatively of them. My apologies dear cave.  

Ben, Me, Bill, Jord, and Bekah

Fred

The Noker's

My Family and Bill

Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson

But alas, good times must come to an end. But good times are always ahead! Bill and I had plans to visit his family and join them for South Weber Days, so we bid my family adieu.

We took the loop around Bear Lake and stopped for some LeBeau's! For as busy and crazy as it was, LeBeau's is always worth the wait. ;)

And it came to pass...that we made it to Bill's home and visited with his family! Bill helped his mom with her phone and I sat and laughed to myself about the irony of all her Mama-Mia ringtones that were so fitting to each caller.

We headed over to the South Weber Fire Department and met up with Bill's dad and brother, Ben (who volunteer at SWFD). And because they are volunteers, we had sweet connections. In the past, Bill and his dad had been the ones to help set off the actual fireworks. (Thus, Bill's love for the explosives are explained.)

The firework display was doubled in everything. Double resonating booms, double bursts of light from every firework set off. Our view from the station was the place to be. :) I had never witnessed this side of fireworks before. It was fun to listen to all the firefighters communicate to one another and what was causing delays and such. And it was slightly frightening to witness a firework explode before it had the chance to gain some air. But nonetheless, it was exhilarating...even if my body was completely drained of all energy from all the going-ons of the day. *Whew!