Bear Lake

We woke up and it was still raining. It was a mist. It did stop not long after we got up and around. The water there at the lake was stunning. It was just the most gorgeous color blue that you’ve ever seen. The girls were just dying to get in the water. They did not realize just how cold it was. They go in though. It is hard to believe that they stayed in for any amount of time. Even Carson got in the water. It was amazing that they didn’t catch a terrible cold. They didn’t stay in long. By the time I went back to get the chairs for Tom and I, they were ready to get out. It was so cloudy and overcast that it wasn’t a very good day for swimming even besides the cold water. I was cold just standing on the shore. The water was amazing though. The campground at Bear Lake was very crowded. We were right next to people. They were practically in our campsite. We decided not to stay. It was so cloudy and crowded that we decided to go ahead and drive to Dinosaur. The drive around the lake was so beautiful. There were little cottages all around the lake. I think I could live here. It was very nice. The lake is very deep. It starts out shallow but drops to 243 feet very quickly. It is not a man-made lake. It is in the middle of several mountains. It was just incredible scenery. We drove on until we got to Dinosaur National Park. Our campsite there was awesome, but there weren’t any showers. We stayed right on the Green River. Our campsite was right there on the water. We could just walk right down and stick our feet in the very cold water. The water was so green. It was so strange. The name seems appropriate. Louis and Clark went down the Green River on their expedition west. There were several historical sites to see. We had a very adventurous day driving to Dinosaur. We drove over the Unita Mountains. They were SO INCREDIBLY high! It seemed like you were looking down on the world! It was just breathtaking to see the view from the top. We drove over a small land bridge and there was a steep drop down on both sides of the road. We were up at about 13,000 feet. It was truly amazing! We also stopped to have lunch at a small park called Calf’s Creek. We had brunch really. We made pancakes and scrambled eggs. It was closer to lunchtime though. After we had a bite to eat we walked down to the river. Or, the creek, I should say. It was very cold. It was also very beautiful. We walked a ways up river to see some of the views. There was a hike that you could take, but it was six miles. The kids just couldn’t hike that far. We walked down to the river and there was another family there having a water fight. They had gone by the time we walked back down river. Of course the girls were dying to get into the water. Finally I relented and they joined in the water fight with the campground host. He was a man staying there helping out. He had this great RV made from a Greyhound bus. It was great! He was very nice. The girls had a blast squirting each other with water guns and having a water fight. It was beautiful day for it. The water was cold though. Even Carson had a blast jumping in the water and splashing around with everyone. We had a great time at the river before he had to change and drive on to Dinosaur. We had the most fun that day !!

Once we finally got on the road it was not too far until we arrived at Dinosaur National Park. We checked out the sites to find the best one. It wasn’t terribly crowded so we could pick. The site we chose was great. We were right down on the river. We settled in the campsite and set everything up. Then in the evening we drove to town to go to Wal-Mart. It was not very far away. We needed to go into town to do laundry also. We passed a small store on the way to town. Of course the kids all wanted to stop to see what they had. We promised to go back before moving on to a new place. We came back to the site after eating at Bob’s Steakhouse. It was an ok meal, but not great. Carson was rather irritable too. Tom and I tucked in the kids, and then we sat down by the river and watched Vacation. It was a gorgeous evening. You couldn’t ask for nicer weather. The sky was clear and the stars were bright. It was just beautiful.