Bear Lake to Wyoming!

We sadly left Bear Lake mid-morning on Wednesday to head to Pinedale, Wyoming where Michael went to camp when he was 12 & 14! The drive was about three and a half hours through some pretty desolate country…most of the towns had 100-500 people! Luckily we found a great little market to grab a healthy sandwich for the road in one of the 500 person towns (one of our biggest challenges on this trip has been trying to eat healthy when we are wearing bathing suit all the time and/or trying to squeeze into our wetsuits with all the time we spend in the water!!!) We came along a reservoir called Fontenelle Reservoir in Lincoln, WY and needed a little break from the drive so we decided to jump in with the jet ski! 

Some history on Fontenelle Reservoir- It's actually an artificial reservoir with the purpose to act as a storage for the US Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado River Storage Project, retaining Wyoming water in the state as a means of asserting Wyoming's water rights, with a secondary purpose of power generation. It's water is used in local industries including mining & power generation. 

Goodbye Blueburd Inn!

One of the other rooms at the Bluebird Inn- so pretty I had to take a picture! 

Off to Wyoming!

Fontenelle Reservoir

Fontenelle Reservoir

Fontenelle Reservoir

He loves his jet ski!!!

Leaving Fontenelle Reservoir

Thank goodness for a healthy sandwich! The day before was a fried chicken sandwich w/ ranch!!!

After leaving Fontenelle Reservoir, we drove about an hour further to Pinedale, which Michael says has changed A LOT since he went to camp there! Pinedale is on the way to Jackson, so it is popular for being a stopping point for travelers en route to there or those who love the outdoors & lakes- there are 1,300 lakes in the area, including Fremont Lake, which is Wyoming's second largest natural lake and of course our first stop with the jet ski upon arriving to Pinedale! 

After a few hours on the lake we checked into our "suite" at the Best Western which is really just a large hotel room with a king bed, a queen bed, and a mini-fridge :) We miss the Bluebird Inn! Pinedale is not known for great hotels so we were pretty lucky to grab a room here at the last minute. We will stay at the hotel for 2 nights and then we are going to camp (for the first time of the trip!) at Fremont Lake on Sunday night when it will be less crowded after the weekend. The town is really cute with lots of restaurants and Western Style stores so we are excited to explore a little over the next few days. We will head to Jackson on Monday or Tuesday!

Fremont Lake 

Bear Lake Days 2 & 3

We had an amazing few days in Bear Lake- it is a really cute little town with the most amazing lake in the middle…the water is so turquoise-blue that you feel like you are in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean! We laughed when we heard it was called the "Caribbean of the Rockies" but now we understand why! Bear Lake is equally split between Utah & Idaho- so while we stayed on the Idaho side, the downtown area is in Utah. It's about 50 miles from one end to the other & on our last day we jet skied all the way across! The weather could not have been more beautiful- mid 80s outside and about 70 in the water.

Some fun facts about Bear Lake-

1- It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Utah after Utah Lake- which was the first like we took our jet ski in in the Salt Lake area!

2- The turquoise-blue color of the lake comes from the selection of calcium carbonate (limestone) deposits in the lake.

3. It is over 250,000 years old!

We loved the B&B we stayed at, The Bluebird Inn. The owners could not have been more welcoming and helpful and the room had everything we could possibly need and more! We had a great 2 nights sleep in the "Bear Room." It was set on a small hill overlooking the lake- the mornings and sunsets were absolutely gorgeous. We had a great lunch in town at the Hometown Drive-In complete with the "raspberry shakes" that Bear Lake is famous for due to the valley having high quality raspberries grown there. In fact, they have a whole festival the first week in August that we just missed called "Raspberry Days!"

We were both really sad to leave Bear Lake but we know we will be back!

Early Morning at The Bluebird Inn

Early Morning at The Bluebird Inn

Bear Lake Marina

Bear Lake

Jet Ski Break 

Great day on the water!

Bear Lake Marina

Dinner at Cafe Sabor- one of our healthiest meals so far!

THE raspberry shake that Bear Lake is known for!

Sunset over Bear Lake from our B&B

Salt Lake City to Huntsville, UT to Bear Lake, UT

We left Salt Lake City area late afternoon on Tuesday to head to Bear Lake. We had to make a quick stop to get something on our trailer fixed which ended up needing to take more time so we stayed in Huntsville, Utah overnight. Huntsville is a really cute sleepy little town with a large reservoir so we checked in to the Atomic Chalet B&B and drove down to Pineview reservoir to jump in the water with the jet ski!

We had a great dinner at The Shooting Star Saloon which is the oldest continuously open restaurant in Utah. It has been open since the 1860s! All they have on the menu as burgers and dogs. We tried their famous Star Burger which is a double cheeseburger with polish sausage on top, all the fixings, & a side of potato chips! Yum!!! 

We left in the morning to pick up the trailer and drive up to Bear Lake through Logan Canyon which was beautiful and reminded me a lot of Colorado. We checked into a really cute B&B overlooking Bear Lake and took the jetski out for a few hours. The lake is unbelievably blue & pretty...everything we saw in pictures & more! We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant near to the B&B... Their ribs special! Currently I am sitting on the front patio of the B&B looking out at the water & we are heading out on the lake soon! We want to JetSki all the way across... It's about 50 miles! 

We will stay here in Bear Lake until Friday & then head to Jackson, WY! 

Huntsville, UT & Pineview Reservoir pics 

The Atomic Chalet B&B 

Pineview Reservoir 

Shooting Star Saloon

Drive through Logan Canyon and first day in Bear Lake pictures

The BlueBird Inn B&B 

Cooper's Restaurant - the ribs special!

Aspen to Salt Lake City!!!

We took off around 10AM this morning with a full car after saying goodbye to Michael's parents who we will miss a lot because we are used to seeing them quite often over the summer. For this leg of the trip, we have our bikes on top of the car and are towing Michael's motorcycle on a hitch on the back of the Jeep until we pick up our new JetSki in here in Salt Lake City on Monday. From here, we will tow the motorcycle and JetSki on a flatbed trailer & the bikes will remain on the top of the car. The drive was about eight hours for us, six hours if you don't stop ... But it's pretty hard to drive 6 hours straight without coffee & lunch & a necessary Home Depot stop! We started our road trip diet off great… Hot dogs and potato chips courtesy of Home Depot ... Hopefully we can make up with it at dinner tonight!!! I will spare everyone the picture of lunch! 

We arrived in Salt Lake City around 6 PM and checked in to a Hyatt House Hotel which is quite comfortable and nice. We're not ready to start roughing it yet!

Driving through Utah was beautiful ... Some parts were very dry and some were very green. Now we are off to find a bite to eat for dinner... A lot of places are closed on Sunday so who knows what we'll find!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Bear Lake... described as the Caribbean of the Rockies! Half of it is in Utah and half is in Idaho... we are excited to break in the JetSki there!