Tuesday July 3, 2012

We let the boys sleep in a little this morning.  Barb and I packed up a picnic lunch and when the boys woke up, we all breakfasted on cereal and fruit.  We loaded the small ATV onto the back of the truck and the large one on the trailer.  We drove up the hill beyond the house onto state property where we found a place to park the truck and unload the ATV’s.  Charlie drove the small one and Dan and Alex took turns riding behind him.  Theo really wanted to try it, but his legs were too short to fit in the footholds.  Dave drove the bigger one and the rest of us piled in – 3 to the front and 2 in back.  We drove over very rocky and dusty roads for a number of miles (Charlie said we were 11 miles from the house) until we came to the top (about 10,000 feet in elevation) and were presented with a fantastic view of Shoshone Lake below us and the snow-capped mountains above us.  It was a magnificent view!  We ate lunch on some rocks and gave the boys a chance to scramble and climb before heading back to the house.  We all cycled through the showers – we were covered in red dust and are now having a quiet time (writing in our journals) until dinner – I think Charlie said he was making elk burgers.  Some good friends of Charlie and Barb are coming to dinner so I thought it would be a good idea to journal before then.  We had a nice dinner: elk burgers, brats, salad, pototo puffs, and chocolate cake for dessert – yum!