PIE!

Check another one off The 30 List! I made a pie from scratch this weekend and um, yum. That is my take on it and I definitely didn't hear any complaints from Trev either! Strawberry rhubarb, takes me back to my childhood with memories of the pies my mom would make every summer with strawberries and rhubarb out of our garden. Mmmmm....

Betty Crocker, Suzy Homemaker...you can call me whatever you want, well, as long as it's nice!

Maybe not the prettiest, but...

SERIOUS YUM.

More of our wonderful weekend

Now I like summer, don't get me wrong, but fall, fall you have my heart. Seriously, I love fall, the colors, the crisp air...and I think that was why I loved our weekend so much, because it was a Hello, Fall! trip for sure.

We camped right near here on Saturday, pretty pretty, huh? I love that little sign. That kind of type always reminds me of cartoons, can't you just see Yogi the Bear popping his head into the side of this pic to say hello?

This is another falls that we walked up to, Bechler Falls, and that boy would not stay out of the water! Good thing I brought a good book to keep me occupied. I once said I thought I wanted to learn how to fly fish, but I think I was kidding.

Now this is love. I told Trevor he had to pull over so I could run around in this grove of trees because Jackson doesn't have any vibrance this year and I was going through withdrawal. Plus this just makes me happy!

This was one of those jackpot finds, you know, let's drive down this road, follow that sign and see where it takes us...well hello Horseshoe Lake! This was the coolest little place ever. Believe it or not, the lake was shaped like a....yep, you guessed it, a horseshoe. And parts were covered in lily pads which are really fun to kayak through AND, best thing ever........

...it had a floating dock thingy!!

Now that was the coolest thing ever (I think). We layed on it in the late afternoon sun and I read a book and jumped around and Trev fished off it and I felt like we kids were in an old school movie where we didn't have a care in the world all day except counting how many times we could jump in the water and I vowed that when we own a house on a lake one day or maybe when we own a little lake, that a floating dock is the first thing I am going to make Trevor build.

Some camping goodness here.

On our way home we drove the Grassy Lake Road which is 35 miles of dirt road over the Tetons that drops you between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. A nice little stopping point in the middle at Grassy Lake for Trev and I to fish and read, respectively.

You see those sparkles, it really looked like that.

Summer tasting right to the last sip

This weekend... was the shiznit! We fully maximized what could very well be one of the last "summer" weekends of the year! Temps were in the low 80's. We made a full circuit loop around the Teton Range going over to Victor, Driggs, Ashton, out to Mesa Falls, Yellowstone, then back via Grassy Lake and Grand Teton National Park. After over 150 miles on dirt roads, the truck got a good washing upon getting back!

Liked the name of this creek! I managed to fish Robinson Creek, Warm River, The Henry's Fork of the Snake, Falls River, and the Beckler River in additon to Horseshoe Lake all in a 48 hour span!

Cool shot Chels snapped overlooking the Henry's Fork near Mesa Falls, roughly between Ashton and Island Park, Idaho.

Upper Mesa Falls

Managed to remember the key's to the pop-up trailer this weekend after a lot of ribbing from Chels! Nice to sleep in it as the night temps dipped into the mid 20's.

Chels deep in thought over a game of "Yahtzee".

That's right, spoiled rotten. Breakfast in bed in the pop-up, hand-delivered via the guy who likes mornings more than Chels! On the menu, fresh pineapple, oatmeal, and tea.

Hiking down to Henry's Fork below lower Mesa Falls

Wetting a line on the Henry's

The fall colors were going off along the whole drive.

We stayed at Cave Falls C.G. one night which was right on the border of Yellowstone Park. This is the most remote, hard to get to and least traveled part of Yellowstone NP. There isn't even a toll gate, it's on the honor system! We went up into Yellowstone for a day hike and fish mission into the Bechler region.

Check back later this week for more shots from the rest of the trip!

River X part deux

Once we finally hit the water, it was on like donkey kong. We caught more fish than we could count. We landed some fish early with dry's but then quickly switched to a steady diet of streamers as it got shady in the canyon.

Swim away little guy and go tell your bigger buddies to come a looking for big streamer bugs.

Ahh yes Drew, enjoying the fruits of ones labor.

Another built in bonus to the day were a series of class 3 and 4 rapids along the way. They were all really narrow, super shallow, and a ton of fun, normally having a big Cutthroat at the bottom of each run.

Most all of the Cuttie's caught had these speckles on them.

Another day in paradise.

Drew scout fishing the last major rapid run.

Getting one before it got dark

Good to the last cast just before the take out.

Released to be caught another day

River X

My buddy Drew and I went on a mission to a relatively secret fishing spot yesterday requiring an immense amount of work just to get the boat wet. Once we got the boat to the river, it was worth all the effort! In the interest of going back to this river in the future and not seeing anyone else, I have omitted the name of it. (More pictures to come later on in the week)

This river is remote and was well worth it as the crowd factor was zero and the stoke factor high.

Although I can't give up the name of the river on the internet, one can at least figure out that the Tetons look backwards from the river!

Drew's truck perched on the edge sizing up the slide.

We were a two man team rappelling the raft down the river, me, at the bottom making feeble attempts to slow it down.

Drew with the raft on belay (the slope is a lot steeper than in looks in the pictures!)

Working our way down the slope. We had to set up rappel stations from tree to tree depending on how much rope we had left to give.

Drew letting the raft go over a 10-ft cliff

Thankfully raft rubber is durable

Yep, it was this crazy

Finally, serenity now, we got the boat to the water after an hour of hard work

Is it December yet?

Yes, that's right Beaver-festers, only 71 days until the Beav!

Marco playing hard to get with Lizzdogger

Teddy Ball Game after a big extra innings game

With all the rest of the activities going on, one almost forgets that we do ski while there too!
Adam G, Chels, Breath, Emily, Hag, and Aaron

We are hoping the "Shiek of the Beav" graces us with his holy presence yet again this year.

The creator of the Beav and some of her worthy deciples!

Weekend of Relaxing, sort of.....

We set out this weekend to do nothing but "relax". Well, we did as best of a job of relaxing as possible.
Chels with a self portrait kayaking on Jenny Lake Saturday.

Our view from the "commute" home via Antelope Flats road. September is easily the least snowy month in Jackson in terms of visible snow up in the mountains. Soon enough it will be accumulating again in the higher elevations. Those are buffalo in the background.

Today our childhood NFL teams locked up in a duel that had a date night riding on it. Evidently the Seahawks didn't get the memo to play well as they stunk it up in San Francisco loosing badly to the Niners.
Chels showing off her Niner pride with a sweater straight from the Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, and Jerry Rice era!

We went for a float before the game today (Sunday) south of town on the Snake River. My Seahawk hat and green shirt did nothing towards a win for the Seahawks.

Chels is a rad wife. She battled windy conditions to row the drifter for me this morning.

Working a hole where I caught a big fish two weeks ago. Had one on, but lost it today!

Yep, I know Chels, go ahead and rub it in, the Niners kicked the Squawks asses today.