Idaho & Oregon in July

After my trip to Reno and California and Dave's extra week at work, we came home to McCall to beautiful weather.  Our only paddle-boarding trip this summer was fantastic!  We went with our friends Colin and Delta up the slowly moving "meanders" portion of the river that drains into Payette Lake.

We had dinner outside at the Chinese restaurant, which always has the best lake view!

We caught the bear grass flower blossoms this July off of Warren Wagon Road on the hike to Josephine Lake.  It's always worth the trip seeing entire hillsides covered by these gorgeous flowers.

Bear grass blossom up close.

Bear grass with the trail in the background.

View down the valley.

Dave and I are always thrilled when we catch bear grass season in early July.  Also morel mushroom season in late April/early May, huckleberry season in late July and the Tamarack trees turning golden brown in late October.

Love this guy and this hike!

I had perfect timing on this photo of a deer I startled.

After just a week at home, we drove to eastern Oregon to meet up with Dave's cousin Amy and her family for a camping and hiking trip in the Steens mountains.  We met up at a hot spring resort/campground in the valley.

We visited some historical towns, did some scenic drives and hiked in the mountains.

We caught wildflower season up at the higher elevations.  There were red and yellow paintbrush and mountainsides turned purple by the wild lupines.

Hiking and enjoying the view.

Dave looking down below at the Alvord desert.

We drove down to the desert and got to actually drive on the salt flats, which was so neat!

Rob, Zach, Amy, Ildi and Dave. We had a wonderful time filled with laughter, chats by the fire before nightfall, delicious meals, hammock napping and hiking.  We are so happy we did this trip together!  I'm really looking forward to the 2nd annual get together next year.  Luckily there are a ton of gorgeous State and National Monuments where we can meet up halfway.

The desert was a perfect place to teach Zach about driving since we were the only car out there.

We saw some wild horses up really close. They took an interest in Dave as they walked past.

We finally celebrated Dave's Birthday the night before we flew up to work at an Airbnb in Boise.  Love you all and thanks for looking at our photos!

Reno & Redding

I flew from Alaska to Reno just in time to celebrate the 4th of July with my parents.  The fireworks are launched from their local park, so we got to walk to the event!

We went to a food festival in downtown, and also a classical music concert in the park.

The springtime flowers near their local marsh were incredibly beautiful!

My favorite place to walk in town; Galena Park.  Plenty of Ponderosa Pines.

We took a road trip up to Redding, California, where we stayed at an Airbnb in downtown.  Our first stop was the Sundial Bridge at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park on the Sacramento River.

I really loved feeding the parakeets!

Sacramento River at sunset.

Lilly in the Botanic Gardens.

We went to see the Shasta Caverns, which starts with a boat ride across Shasta Lake.

View of Shasta Lake from the mouth of the caverns.

Stalagtites in Shasta Caverns.

Cave bacon stalagtites in the background. Really gorgeous formations for a small cave.

We walked across the Shasta Dam for a great view of the lake and mountains nearby.

I had a wonderful July visit to Reno - thank you very much for everything Szulok!  Dave unfortunately couldn't join us for this one because he had to work an extra week.  California is always full of beautiful sights, and Redding was definitely worth the drive!  Love you.

Bend, Chicago, Fort Wayne, McCall

After visiting my family in Reno, we took a road trip up to Bend, Oregon.  There was still a lot of snow in McCall, so we thought we'd check out the biking trails in eastern Oregon since we had heard so many great things over the years about it from friends.

Smith Rock State Park was a stunning place to hike.

Loved this State Park just a short drive out of Bend, where we stayed.

Gorgeous flowers in downtown Bend.  We met up with our dear friend Stacie from Palmer Station for breakfast and a dinner in downtown.  It was awesome, and well timed as she's headed off to Afghanistan soon for work.

We loved the Bend downtown area.  We biked a long loop trail around the periphery of the city called the Twin Bridges route.  It was through the city and ranch lands nearby, with views of the 3 Sisters Mountains.

After a fantastic time in Bend, we headed east to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

It looked a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota with the colorful hills.

We hiked a couple great trails to beautiful overlooks.

Hiking in John Day.

Loop hike in John Day.

Beautiful bentonite clay hills.

There was still a bit of snow left in McCall when we returned, but the lake was quick to melt.

We went biking with our friends on the Weiser River Trail and soaked in Starkey Hot Springs.  Our first time!  The entry is $3, open only to adults from 4-6, and have delicious mineral water onsite that Whole Foods now carries (the hot springs are owned by Whole Foods now).

After another three weeks at work, we went straight to Chicago.  Loved being back!

We stayed steps from the Sears Tower (the black building in this photo).

There's a sandy beach on the shore of Lake Michigan.

I had been excitedly waiting for our opportunity to eat at Cafe Spiaggia, which features a James Beard award winning chef.  It was such a delicious dinner!  We had soft crab, wild boar, cured korobuta pork and kobe beef and an amazing appetizer with prosciutto, pan fried dough bread, a balsamic reduction and house made cream.

Downtown Chicago

Chicago at night

We took the train to Gary, Indiana where Dad met us to see Indiana Sand Dunes National Park for a couple days before heading to Fort Wayne for the rest of the week. We timed it just right because the wildflowers were in peak bloom.

A hike in the National Park

Lupine blossom in Gary, Indiana

Columbines and lupines in Gary

Such a beautiful sight to see!

Sunset hike with a Ranger in Indiana Sand Dunes National Park.

It became a National Park this year in February.

Railcar in Chesterton, Indiana where we caught a farmers market and had a lovely breakfast.

Dave making gnocchi from scratch for Memorial Day dinner.  We got to see Uncle Deny and Aunt Judy, Uncle Paul and Aunt Doris, Dave's Godparents and the neighbors.

Gnocchi, pesto sauce, homemade tomato sauce, flank steak with Chimichurri, roasted eggplant dip, bacon wrapped jalapenos, tomato and cucumber salad and two kinds of pie.

Butterfly display at the Fort Wayne Botanic Gardens.

Hike in the Fort Wayne's Lindenwood Nature Preserve.  Beautiful!

A historic building in Graegle, an Amish town outside of Fort Wayne.

Back in McCall, we hiked to the top of the Crestline Trail and encountered some snow.

Spring was progressing beautifully in the city.

We watched sunset and some osprey catch fish from a floating dock.

Spring is amazing here!

The trees outside our condo were gorgeous, but needed a bit of pruning, which Dave did.

We went on a hike up the East Fork of the Lake Fork river and found some lady slippers (orchids).

Always a beautiful viewpoint and gorgeous wooded hike along the river, East Fork of the Lake Fork.

We found some morels, which we cooked in butter and salt for an incredible appetizer.

The hot tub at Burgdorf Hot Springs.  We went for our first soak at Burgdorf this year.

I spent a couple days in Boise before flying out since Dave was on an earlier flight.  The foothills were in blossom.  These are mostly corn flowers.  And below some flowers in the North End.

We had a rich spring full of great sights, trips and beautiful flowers.  Love you all!