Idaho Trip #2. . . Getting there. . .

What a crazy busy summer!!  A week after the Trek we loaded up the truck and headed to Dayton, ID for the annual Beutler Family Reunion that we all look forward to each year.  We were lucky to have Austin come home for the Trek the week before, although we didn't see too much of him with all his friends and dates he had and then him leaving for the Trek, and when he went back to the farm the next Sunday he took Cody with him.  They work long hard days up there and I knew it would be good for Cody to experience what a 15 hour work day feels like. Mady was also gone the week after Trek.  She joined the Hurricane FFA and they had their Summer Ag Tour, where they take four days and travel around the state visiting different agricultural sights and learning about the different aspects of the industry.  They traveled north this year leaving on Wed., July 11.  They traveled to a turkey farm and a mink farm on their way to the KOA campground in Provo.  Mady said the mink farm wasn't too bad, (I remember the mink farmers coming into my dads store in Preston and they stunk SO bad!!) but that the turkey farm made her and the others sick.  The killing floor was pretty graphic and their empty stomachs really turned while they were there.  That night they "camped out" at the KOA and swam in the pool. On Thursday they visited Barnes Bullets in Santequin where they make high dollar ammunition.  They all came home with copper casings that were discarded from the bullet floor. 

That same day Doug and I loaded the two kids left at home, (which was VERY weird, to only have two kids at home) and our own camping gear and headed north for the annual Beutler reunion in Dayton.  We arranged to pick up Mady at Mount Timpanogas Caves that afternoon, and because we didn't want to sit and wait around, we decided to join the FFA group and hike up to the caves.  We bought our tickets online and they told us that it was about a mile and a half hike up to the caves so we planned to arrived early, however because of all the factors slowing us down this trip, we arrived a few minutes late and missed going up with the group.  The Forest Rangers said it was no problem and put us in a later group.  The hike is only a mile and a half, but they give you an hour and a half to get to the caves because it is a 12% grade and has to be taken slowly.  We ended up doing it in 50 minutes and catching up with the FFA kids. (Yay for us!!)

Starting up the trail, so far it is easy.

 

Just keep walking, walking, walking, just keep walking
up the hill. . .. .

The halfway point!!!  Yay!!! (Cami is not sure she wants to keep going).

The three quarter sign!!! YAY!!  Except the steepest part is yet to come!! 
Dalyon skipped and jogged and would go a ways up, then come back and meet us,
while the rest of us kept an even step and breathing cadence just to reach the top. 

We made it!!  We were very hot, and extremely sweaty, but made it!!
The caves stay about 43 degree's year round and it felt so good compared to the
heat outside.  They were well worth the hike! 

Inside the cave it was very tight in place, and very cool.  Cami had on
both her my jackets.  Following the tour which took about an hour, we walked
back down the same trail, which only took 20 minutes (compared to the 50 it took
to hike up!).  We all agreed it was definitely worth the effort to see the caves and hear
the stories about their discoveries and what they were used for until the forest service
took them over.

After the hike and the tour, and the walk down we got the dog out of the
back of the truck and took her on a walk down by the river.  It was just too
tempting to me and I took off my shoes and soaked my feet in the frigid water.
Gracie (the dog) loved running up and down the river and Mady and Cami came
to join me to soak their feet.

 It was fun to hang out with the FFA kids from Dixie High, Desert Hills High and Hurricane High.  Mady said her goodbyes and joined us for the rest of the journey to Dayton that night and the ever anticipated reunion.