A Bear Lake Adventure

When you are married, childless, and attend a married student ward full of other couples in the same situation in LIFE, it is necessary to make memories together. It's who you've got in LIFE!

Our friend Kyle's grandma has a cabin up in Bear Lake West that Kyle wanted so badly to go up to visit for his birthday. Of course Bill and I were going to go! And our friends Sterling and BettyJo Anderson were certainly interested in such a fun idea...for they are all about fun and getting out and doing something with friends.

We packed everything we needed for the night and loaded up the Suburban. We went to the Allred's and packed them into the Subby. The Anderson's were our last stop. For a one night adventure, betwixt three couples, you tend to bring a lot of stuff. You never know what could happen whilst cabining. I laughed at our seemingly over-packed Subby...but later realized...you REALLY never know what could happen whilst cabining.

Kyle was so excited to show us his grandma's cabin!!! He punched in the garage code and unlocked the door to let us all in. With bags and pillows in arm, we shoved ourselves through the narrow doorway. I was hit with a whiff of animal smell...cat smell. Bill's chest tightened up and he looked at Kyle with a look of dread in his eyes. "Uh...are there cats here?" Kyle put his bags down and let out a moan of apology. Bill is extremely allergic to cats.

A past conversation must have come flooding back to Kyle's memory, for a reality check slapped him across the face. Kyle's grandma HATES cats! BUT his aunt had been the last one to stay in the cabin. She hadn't been there on vacation either. This cabin had been her temporary home for a few weeks. And this woman is apparently one of those crazy cat ladies that single girls hope to never become.

We wandered upstairs and the place was disheveled. Apparently Kyle's aunt had left in a hurry...or something. Kyle was mortified. Mouse poop trailed across the floor and cat fur was absolutely everywhere! There were bugs in the bathtubs and toilets that had gone unflushed. Bill was ready to go home right then. Suddenly all the excitement we had in preparing for this trip got up and left.

We each got to claim dibs on a room to sleep in. Fortunately, since Kyle's grandma hates cats, she had placed the stipulation that no cats enter her master bedroom. Bill and I got to stay there, where cat fur was nonexistent. I later realized how blessed I was to have a miserable husband with terrible allergies. ;) Kyle and Kristi picked a room with bunk beds and Sterling and BettyJo got the left-over room with a queen bed. At first glance, things looked manageable. We definitely needed to sweep and vacuum. Sterling and BettyJo's room had junk mail and trash strewn about everywhere so Betty and I went in to clean up. We found upon further inspection how terrible it really was. This, my friends, was the cats' bedroom...and apparently they were never given a litter box. I could not believe the state of that room. We got it cleaned up, but we opted to throw a rug away, rather than trying to save it. It should have been condemned! I feel terrible, to this day, that Sterling and BettyJo slept in that room that night. They were fantastic sports and went along with it, but...dang.

Bill and Sterling ran to the store to buy Benedryl, batteries, and tomatoes. Bear Lake in April is dead...and convenient stores are closed as well. Fortunately, they found one little place that was just closing. Sterling knocked on the door and the person just handed him tomatoes through the door and made Sterling promise to pay back before he headed out of town!

Bill, Betty Jo, Sterling, and Kristi in the kitchen.

Once we cleaned everything up, we began making preparation for dinner. We decided before hand to have hamburgers. Sterling offered to cook them for everybody and brought all the fixings for the burgers. And when I say "all the fixings," I mean, ALL THE FIXINGS. There wasn't one thing this man didn't think to bring that could go on a hamburger. With that in mind, dinner took FOREVER to be cooked. Kyle got a fire started and Kristi and Betty joined him outside. Bill and I stayed inside watching Sterling make the burgers. It was a funny experience trying to find things around the kitchen to use to cut up an onion or open a can, but somehow we managed.

Forever later, we went outside and ate. Kristi had made Kyle a blueberry muffin cake beforehand and eventually brought out to be eaten. We sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" at the top of our lungs to Kyle and enjoyed talking around a campfire as a light snow fell. Cozy kind of memories...

Eventually, we made it to bed.

Our view of the moon casting its glow across the lake that night.
Pictures can't do it justice.

The next morning, everyone was up and stirring before Bill and I awoke. Sterling and Betty were playing Bananagrams and Kyle and Kristi had showered. We women made breakfast and it seemed to take forever as well. I had to set some breakfast aside for Bill to make sure it wasn't inhaled by other starving individuals.

After breakfast and after I had showered, we played a rousing game of "Curses" and laughed ourselves silly. It finally came to that point in the day where we all stood and looked at each other and asked, "What are we gonna do now?" Swimming wasn't an option. We could maybe drive up to the Paris Ice Caves, but it would likely be snowed in. Hmm...there just wasn't much to do in Bear Lake in April! But the day was lovely and screaming our names to come outside. We wondered if the KOA would be open so that we could go rent those quadrabikes that you often see people riding around through Garden City in the summertime. We thought it would definitely be worth it to go check!

We arrived at the KOA and approached the bike place...but no one was around to rent us out some equipment. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an old man appeared and asked if we were interested in getting out the bikes! Which of course we were. He had to pump up some tires and dust off the seats, for it had been a little while since they were last used. But each couple got a "bike" to ride and we could go practically anywhere our hearts desired for the next hour and then some...we didn't have anybody else waiting in line to use our bikes when we were done! I love no pressure situations like that.

So we got our game on! We raced each other and pedaled around Garden City. This was by far the funnest thing we did! And it was DANG good exercise - a hurt-so-good kind. Bill and I took turns steering because although the passenger side had a fake steering wheel for you to play with, twirling it around and around was only fun for so long.

Kristi and Kyle

My Bill

Betty and Sterling

We two

We stopped at a park to walk down the boardwalk. The boys skipped stones into the lake and we stood around in the wonderful sunshine and talked. This was truly one of our very first experiences of Spring weather and I was feeling rather content.

On the boardwalk.

Kyle throwing rocks.

The Gang.

Eventually it was time to return our bikes. We went back to the cabin and relaxed for a bit. I took a nap (what else is new?) and Bill and Kyle went on a drive around Bear Lake West looking at all the neat cabins there are.

Ultimately, it was time for us to pack up. On our way out we went back to that convenient store and paid for the tomatoes (such honest people we are!) and headed back through the canyon to our homes in Logan.

Like I said in the beginning, it's important to make memories together. They may not turn out as planned, but it was certainly a memorable experience. I suppose that was the only criteria I had running through my mind! This experience also reminded me that you really have to try to make the most out of a bad situation, otherwise...it becomes a terrible situation. Right?

Bill and I had fun and like to talk about this experience now and again...and perhaps we will for the rest of our lives...especially when anybody asks about Bill's cat allergy. ;)