Blue Trip, Two Trip to Harrison, Idaho

This was the first of the sunsets we watched at Lakeview Lodge in Harrison.

To capture the halos around the sun and the reflections I merely stepped out on our balcony while others were down at the dock on a fishing expedition. The 'Rails to Trails' bike paths run for miles and miles.

On Thursday 'the girls' went to Pedal Pushers Bike shop to rent these perfect bikes.

They had a glorious time for two hours!

Steven and Evan COULD NOT stop fishing! These fish are tiny ones,

but the did catch keepers...Bass, Crappie, Catfish and Perch...YUM!

We did very little shopping.

Lovella posed for me because I thought she looked so darling in this hat.

Rachel bought each of the kids a soft, stuffed moose as a souvenier which they named Harry (for Harrison) and Mary (for St. Maries, a town close by).

Rachel is a massage therapists, mostly facials, but she chooses to work on her dad every day when she visits. Not much movement was gained, but he slept well.

We had a full kitchen and made all our meals.

I headed up the Thai Salad Roll expedition the first night,

and Lovella headed up the Sushi one the next.

Do I look like I'm having fun?????

Wildlife such as Herons, Osprey and Moose were everywhere. We didn't site any moose, but were told by other bikers that they had seen them.

Steven brought these lilies back from the 2nd day of biking when all the kids went.

Jay and I drove around the countryside for awhile after napping.

The last stop, on the way home, was Emerald Creek Garnet area.

We parked our cars, walked about a half a mile into the scene below.

This is a picture of the 'sifters'.

You can see in the background just right of the middle a person standing.

That's where we filled 2 buckets with shovels (all provided) with dirt and rocks.

You then take your buckets to the sifting area to sift out all the dirt, saving the rocks for sluicing across the road. My camera ran out of battery life so there are no pictures of that or the garnets we found.

Here is Evan at the digging area. We all had a blast with the mining and finding of treasures. The garnets are rough, round, dark and heavy balls of rock.
They have to be cut to see if there is a star in them, and then polished.
I highly recommend this whole trip. Harrison is a fine little town with wonderful swimming for kids and adults, a dock with diving board in the middle of a protected area, great fishing right off the dock and jetty, biking, THE BEST ice cream (nearly) in the world at a place called The Creamery. They also sell fudge, but didn't have any while we were there.
The week days were thin of tourists, but Fridy night and Saturday morning it was heating up with such. We left just then and went on the mining operation.
Oh, folks, it was so pleasant, relaxing and satisfying, a delightful place with sweet people.
I'm getting ready for school and more company today.