Bear Lake/Caleb and Natalie's Wedding

With most of my family in town for Caleb's upcoming wedding we felt that a trip to Bear Lake was in order. In a last minute decision Caleb, Natalie, Andrea and I went up early to go to Bloomington Lake the day before. It gave us a chance to get to know Natalie better and spend time with them both before we took off to Memphis. After dropping off some furniture at their new apartment in Logan we drove up up past Bear Lake and made the long drive on the dirt road up to Bloomington. (Andrea and I made the trip up in the jump seats of Natalie's truck which made for a unique ride :)) We dropped a few things off at a roadside campsite to claim our spots then made it up to the lake around 6 PM.

Bloomington Lake is a glacier lake that my family has a tradition of going to whenever we visited Bear Lake. Any other day a 6 PM swim in that lake would be freezing cold but it had been a 100 degree day and the water was surprisingly warm. We took a few jumps off of the huge rope swing and then fought off the blood-sucking horseflies by paddling out to the middle of the lake in some inner tubes. After a few jumps off of the cliffs the setting sun told us it was time to go. Upon returning to camp we found that in our rush to leave we had forgotten both matches for our fire and batteries for our flashlight. With things getting dark fast Caleb and Natalie drove to the nearest store (about 40 minutes away) to buy some matches. Unfortunately they drove a bit too quickly and were pulled over by probably one of the only cops for miles around. We soon got our 100 dollar fire going and chatted until late at night. We enjoyed getting to Natalie better and were grateful for the time we were able to spend with both of them before moving east.

The next morning we went early to the North Beach and set up a spot for the family to come later. It was a hot day but with the help of several layers of sunscreen and lots of time in the water it was perfect! It being Andrea's first time to Bear Lake she commented on how it was her new favorite body of water because it was "fun like the beach but without the sharks". We built sandcastles, pushed kids in inflatable boats, played paddle ball, and a fun made up game we called beach ball (like ultimate frisbee, basketball and water polo all in one). After everyone got sufficiently sun burned we packed up and grabbed the traditional raspberry shakes on our way out. It was one of the best trips to Bear Lake I can remember and we made some great memories as a family.

Caleb's Wedding