One last time....

One last trip to Bear Lake before the cold comes in. 

I miss it already.

We were the only ones at the property for most of the weekend. I love my family. But I have to admit, it was kind of nice to just worry about my little family. And not having to share anything or wait for my siblings to wake up to eat was an added bonus.

We watched the moon rise over the lake. Simply breathtaking... I wish I knew how to capture beauty like this. Enchanting.

We went on four wheeler rides to look for fall leaves and mud holes. What we found were a few leaves {I heard we were about a week early to see Logan Canyon's spectacular colors} and one gigantic puddle.

 

 

Now I've been known to plow my way through a few puddles and mud holes before, but this one took the cake! It was huge. And deep. Deep enough that Jeff and I had to put our feet up on the front of the ATVs to drive through it. We all loved it! Even when I decided to gun it going in and splashed water up and over the top of the four wheeler and into my lap. The kids couldn't stop laughing because they figured I had peed my pants! 

After a fun four wheeler ride, the kids and I went to the beach so Jeff could rig a set of "rabbit ears" and watch the USU football game. He is dedicated. 

And like the last time we were at Bear Lake, Cole refused to put his swimming suit on, even after I told him he would want to play in the water. He insisted that he was just going to play golf on the beach and not get wet. Well, what started like this...

...ended up like this.

What a cute little twerp! 

I love the quiet end of season days at Bear Lake. I can just sit back, relax, and sip away on a Mtn. Dew. While the kids and dog run wild!

By now we had visitors come by. So we took Rue-bug moose hunting. She says it's her favorite! We didn't find any moose {but we knew they were around somewhere... check out those prints} but we did find a lot of deer.

And we went rock hunting. I'm always fascinated by the rocks on the top of the water tower mountain. What is that stuff growing on them? And why does it grow like that?

Disappointed with our moose hunting, we decided to go to dinner. Afterward, Jeff was craving a raspberry milkshake so Fern boy, my sister-in-law, and myself headed out to find a milkshake. You have to remember that after Labor Day, everything in Bear Lake shuts down. Finding a milkshake at 10 p.m. in the summer isn't a problem, but in the fall, that's a different story. Knowing that every place was going to be closed, I decided to try the gas station as you come into town. It was dark, really dark, and I was trying to look for the entrance when I looked up and holy BLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A friggin' moose was standing in the middle of the road! I slammed on the brakes and we barely missed Mr. Moose {he was probably just a couple years old but still}. We were in shock! I can't even describe how scared I was AFTER we were ok. The adrenaline was pumping and that poor girl at the gas station that night had to endure us freaking out as we pleaded for milkshakes and told her about the moose. I'm pretty sure our family thought we had made the whole thing up because we made such a big deal of the event. But we could have DIED people! Those suckers are big and tall and if you hit one, they are coming through your windshield straight at you. It still freaks me out just thinking about it. 

The weather held out for one last beautiful weekend. I have a feeling I'll be missing my happy place all winter long!

Labor Day @ Bear Lake: Moose Hunting

Jeff always teases the kids that we aren't going to Bear Lake, but Moose Lake. He does have a point. We've never seen a bear there before {thank heavens!}.

And after this last time, I think he's right. It really should be called Moose Lake.

We should have known we'd be in for a moose hunting treat when we woke up to fresh poop all over our lawn and beach. 

Our moose hunting typically involves the 4 wheelers and winding up and down the roads where all the nice cabins are. Sigh. To dream. 

We usually find the moose like this. Look really close. There's a momma moose and her baby. They've run right in front of our ATVs before this year. It was super cool! And despite how far away they look, they were close enough that I was a bit nervous thinking about how I was going to get Ruby and Cole to sit back down while I raced away if she got mad and started charging toward us. 

It's not just mommas that we find either. Jeff is an expert moose hunter. For the last two years, he's found at least one moose every time we've gone to Bear Lake. This time, on a ATV ride with Cole, they found two bull moose.

And then one of those bull moose decided to hunt us!!!! This has to be the CRAZIEST thing I have ever seen at Bear Lake before! Everyone was sitting around waiting for dinner to cook, including all the neighbors, dogs were out, and then all of the sudden I look down at the willows at the end of our property and there is this huge, dark thing walking up to our lawn!

{This guy in the blue shirt with the mohawk. My brother. Who encouraged his precious daughter to come down closer to the moose so she could see it better.}

I was more than shocked and slightly panicked. All the kids were running around down there, the neighbors were on their lawn, I was totally paranoid Blu would start barking and make that thing charge us. It was surreal! And yet totally mesmerizing, breathtaking, and incredible to watch. He just waltzed right up to the lawn and headed over to the neighbor's willow tree for a pre-dinner snack. With all of us staring at him.

 

And then there was one of the idiot neighbors, strapping on his GoPro and walking right up to him. I really thought I was going to witness a man dying by moose attack. He was only about 5-8 feet away from that bull moose! Idiot. 

Because I was still in freak-out that my children/husband/brothers/idiot neighbor guy was going to die mood, I handed my brother, Kurtis, my camera and told him to go down and take some pictures. I figured Kurt was faster than most of them and wouldn't get trampled to death if Mr. Moose decided to charge.

Best moose hunting yet!!!