4th of July in Salmon

The Gaver's in our ward, kindly offered their cabin in Salmon to us a few weeks ago. Their cabin is actually more like a home than a cabin! It is very nice with all the modern conveniences. We took them up on their offer and headed up to Salmon over the 4th of July weekend. We left on a Thursday and returned on a Sunday. It is usually a 4 1/2 hour drive but due to construction it took us 5 1/2 hours and they were very long hours indeed. We took Jaime and Steve and their two little ones with us.
The first night we were there Jaime and I got in a good bike ride and soon realized that the streets that run east and west were not long at all so we spent a lot a time weaving all around town. There is only two directions in Salmon - one is up and the other is down. The ride down was great but coming back up was a killer!
The next day we went to a parade downtown. It was your typical parade with a lot of cars and people. The kids enjoyed this. They learned that if you wave and smile really big, people will throw you lots of candy! Melissa and Hannah each found a bargain on some skirts and I got a sun hat. It looks kind of goofy but it keeps me shaded! Later that day we went to the Sacajawea center. Honestly I didn't see or read much about Sacajawea but more about Lewis and Clark and the Indians in general. It was interesting but kind of a let down. The mosquitoes thought we were really yummy while we were there. Afterwards we found a local park where the kids could run off some energy.










4th of July day we went to Williams lake which is only about 15 miles away but it took us 45 minutes to get there. We couldn't imagine that there would be any boats or people at this lake because the road was very steep, rough, and narrow. Once we got to the top it was a whole new world. There were a ton of cabins surrounding the water and people were out fishing and skiing on it. We determined that the locals didn't use it much, just the summer people who keep their boats up there all year around. It was beautiful and made us wish we were out on the water with them. Zach thought he would be brave and swim out to some rocks but we convinced him that they were a lot farther away then they appeared. We were grateful that he chickened out because not a one of us could have saved him if he got into trouble! After a lunch there we drove back (which was much faster) and some of us went swimming at the local pool. That evening Jaime, Melissa and I went for a run/walk up a mountain a few blocks down. My heart was doing double time and Alan took some of the kids to a local demolition derby.








That night we enjoyed watching the fireworks all around us at the cabin. We kept watching and waiting for the local show to begin wondering if that firework there or that one over there was it. After lighting our own fireworks and some more waiting, we spotted the "real show". It was great and we were all tuckered out by the time it ended. The next day we left bright and early to get home for our 12:30 church time. We barely made it and it only took 4 1/2 hours to get home instead of 5 1/2. We had a lot of fun except we were so tired we needed a vacation from the vacation!






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