MZ West Coast Road Trippin!!!

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Sunday at Monday at Half Moon Lake, WY … Camping!!!

After a week of hotels we decided it was time to try out the tent! Half Moon Lake is located in Pinedale up a long windy dirt road and definitely worth the drive! It's a smaller lake but less crowded than the ones we have been to lately. They have a great campsite- the individual camp areas are large, all have their own picnic tables and fire pits, and there are shared bathrooms which were constantly kept clean by the staff. And each campsite is only $7/night! And best of all… there is a lodge right on the lake with the most amazing food that we had lunch AND dinner at! We met a really nice couple also from the Denver area who were just a few sites over and they cooked us up some delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast! We both slept really well and loved our first night camping! Next stop… Jackson, WY!

Lunch at Half Moon Lake Lodge

Camping!!!

Dinner sunset at Half Moon Lake Lodge

Morning at Half Moon Lake

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Saturday at Burnt Lake (Pinedale, WY)

We took a motorcycle excursion up to Burnt Lake to visit where Michael went to camp when he was 10! There's a dirt road about 10 miles outside of Pinedale & then you take the dirt road about 11 more miles to get to Burnt Lake which was so calm, peaceful, & beautiful. It was really fun to see where he went to camp & see him relive the memories after so many years!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

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

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!