Flaming Gorge

Last year we stumbled on the beautiful area of Flaming Gorge and found an awesome campground and made it back again this year-- so I think we have a new annual tradition with my sister's family (we're still trying to recruit the rest of the Todd gang-- maybe next year!) The campground is part of the Red Canyon Lodge area. It has a private lake with paddle boats (the highlight of the trip for Andrew) and canoes to rent for fishing. It also has a small kid's pond that they restock every year. Here are some pics around the campground.

Justin and Andrew paddling the paddle boat. Andrew's terrified of the water and boats, but somehow he completely forgets about that when he's on the paddle boat.

Justin's first catch of the trip (and only one unfortunately). The fish were swarming around the dock when kids were feeding them and Justin actually hooked the back of the fish-- ouch!

Here's Andrew at the kids' pond. He became pretty independent with fishing this year. He could have fished all day, every day!

Here's Ashlee on the paddle boat. She's darn busy on land, but luckily on the water she's just along for the ride.

The next day, I mustered up all the courage I could and we rafted down the green river with our kids. Justin assured me that it was a very calm river and we would be fine. The river was pretty calm--mostly-- and we had an amazing time. There we a few rapids larger than I imagined and then we came to a sign along the river that said,

"Caution, Mother-in-Law rapid ahead"

At that point I began to panic. We had been on a couple of large rapids and any bigger was, um, pushing it. I braced Ashlee between my legs and moved Andrew to the middle of the boat. In the end, the anticipation was worse than the rapid.

Of course we only got some pics of the fam while the waters were calm. We tried to do a little fishing while we were floating, but decided that sharp hooks weren't the best thing to be dealing with when you're depending on FLOATING down the river and suddenly you have to reach for your 2 year old that's leaning over the edge or quickly paddle around the sharp rock that appears out of no where. Ashlee learned quickly that her cue to come to me and brace herself between my legs was "Ray, paddle harder!!" because a rapid was ahead, or 'waterfall' as Andrew called it.

Lunch, mmmm. It really tasted really good along the way. We found a rock to picnic on and did some fishing too. There were actually some nice beaches along the way, but somehow we missed them all.
On our last day we decided to go for the tour of the dam. It was a little freaky going down the elevator, wondering if you could really trust the walls of the dam. However, it was an interesting tour to learn about how they build a dam around a river. I could tell Andrew was a little apprehensive getting out of the elevator, wondering where he was.

There were a ton of fish at the base of the dam, waiting for tour goers to feed them. And, of course we did. They say that the Green River that flows from this dam has enough fish to fill 2 fish per cubic feet!

Here's the fam!

The cousins!The lizard that Justin chased and caught for Andrew that became part of the fam for a day until it died while we were out buying food and a "home" for it the next day when we got back home. Andrew was devastated and couldn't part with the dead animal. I had to throw it away one night while he was in bed, hoping he would forget about it.

These pics are from a look-out close to our campground. The water looks like glass from here. Now we just need a ski boat!

Can't wait until next year!