Bear Lake II

I guess I didn't get enough of Bear Lake while at Scout Camp in July, so we decided to rent a cabin there over Labor Day weekend. Jen's sister, Kath, and brother, Jeff, and their families joined us as well. Scout camp was the first time I had ever been to Bear Lake. I never realized how beautiful and nice it is. The water is very blue and there are a lot of beaches. We may need to visit there more.

We arrived Friday afternoon and had dinner at Bear Lake Pizza. Then we decided to go dip our feet in the lake and see what the temperature was like. It was very pleasant and there were not very many people around. We soon found out why - when the sun goes down the mosquitoes come out in force. We were lucky to snap a few pictures in the nice dusk lighting and get out of there before being eaten alive.

Later on we went to Quick 'n' Tasty for some rasperry shakes - they have a little covered wagon that you can sit in and eat. You can't visit Bear Lake without trying a raspberry shake. There are multiple shops along the main drag that sell them. We tried another place Saturday night called the Sweet Shop.
Jeff and his family arrived late Friday night after Jeff had completed his daily triathalon. On Saturday we spent most of the day at the Beach. We got there around 10 and were surprised to see only a few people there. But, by noon the place was packed. It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun playing in the water. What made the day even more beautiful was the fact that I was able to sneak back to the cabin in the afternoon and see my Utes take down Michigan in the Big House. The only downer was I got our van momentarily stuck in the sand trying to get off the crowded beach (but still made it to the cabin in time for kickoff).

On Sunday, we took a trip to Minnetonka Cave. We got there at about 12:30 to find the tours were booked until 2:30. So we bought our tickets and went back down the canyon to a nice picnic area, ate some snacks, hiked around a bit, and took some pictures.

When it was our time, we went back up and took the tour of the cave. This is a big cave. The tour took about an hour and a half. There are 444 stairs inside the cave leading you up and down and up and down through the rooms of the cave. There are a lot of stalagmites, stalagtites and other rock formations. I think my favorite was "cave bacon" - I didn't get a picture of it, but it is a type of formation that grows down from a sloping ceiling that looks like bacon hanging there.

When we got back from the cave, it started to rain hard outside. We stayed inside and had dinner, played games, read books and laughed a lot the rest of the evening. Made me very happy we went with the cabin instead getting some tent spots at the KOA. Monday morning it was still raining, but it was time to go anyway. We packed it up and headed home stopping for lunch (along with the rest of the world) at the McDonald's in Evanston.