Vacation '09

Time for a little rest and relaxation! Camping in Northern Idaho should do the trick. Here is a collage from our trip...

Time to head out. We're loaded to the gills, so we have to take two cars.

On the way to Emerald Creek campground we see some of the most beautiful scenery that you can see in America.


Ahhh camping. We're all fresh and ready to have some fun.




Tammy found a little bird on the ground. It had fallen out of its nest. We shortly discovered a frantic momma bird that was very distressed. We put the bird back down away from camp and were pleasantly surprised to watch the momma bird feed its baby.



I thought this shot was cute. The dogs were not able to walk past the cattle guard so my son had to carry them across.



My son loves playing in the fire. Sparks for Independence Day.



Day 2 brings us about 3 hours North of camp to a place called Silverwood amusement park. It really is quite amazing. You're driving along through the wide open timber country and boom - there is this huge amusement park.



The rides were fun.. this one is called Panic Plunge.

Do these guys look like they are in panic?


My wife and son on an umbrella ride.



There were lots of roller coasters, including two very large wooden roller coasters, the corkscrew, and some nasty thing called the aftershock that dropped you from 19 stories making you go forwards and backwards through some loops. See more at their Web site. Tip: you can get discount tickets at Costco.




Day 3 was why we decided to camp at Emerald Creek - Idaho's State gem: the Star Garnet. The star garnet has only been found in Idaho and India. The forest service provides permits, tools, lots of information. For $10 a person and a lot of hard work you can dig up a lot of garnets.




We ended up finding many garnets. Many/most of the garnets we found were too small or cracked, but I think we have enough full garnets to make my wife a nice set of jewelry - the kind of jewelry that means a little something more than store bought.


Day 4... The 4th of July. We could go back and get more garnets, we could stay at camp, or we could try our hand at hunting for fossils in a nearby fossil bed. I let the family vote and we decided to try our luck at fossil hunting.

We never did it before, but we had fun. There just happened to be a major motorcycle race going on due to the local 4th of July festivities. So we got to watch a race while we worked - pretty cool.



The fossils at the site were about 135 million years old. The site is family run and they put on an interesting tour that is to be remembered.

We made it back to Boise in time to enjoy a BBQ with Mom and Dad and then later light off some fireworks.

Happy belated 4th!