We spent practically three days with the Barri at a delightful family reunion. We traveled to Harriman State Park in Idaho, near Island Park, practically at the entrance to Yellowstone. The area was beautiful. The snake river runs through the park, there are lots of tall, beautiful mature trees, and the area where we stayed with terrific. There was a large bunkhouse where the younger people slept, there was a kitchen with a dining hall that had plenty of space for all of us and a kitchen stocked with practically everything that we could ever need. There was a meeting lodge with a large room and a second kitchen. The large room had lots of chairs and tables, so we played games there and met one evening for fun activity. There were also cabins with small rooms about the size of a hotel room with individual beds and baths for the adults to sleep in.
The only downside to the spot was that were a bajillion mosquitoes that munched on most of us, but apparently on me most significantly. Bug spray was inadequate to the task.
We drove up from Provo on Thursday. It was close to a five-hour drive, and we arrived just in time for dinner. After dinner we built a campfire and sat around talking telling stories, singing silly songs, sharing talents, and laughing a lot. I had everybody do "Three Sharp-toothed Buzzards" with me. It was fun to talk and laugh and look at the stars, many more of which we cannot see when at home because of all the light from the city.
Friday was full of lots of activity. There is a section of the river that you can float about fifteen minutes from where we were staying. People had brought things to float on, including tubes and blowup floats. I brought Blake's stand-up paddle board. Many of us floated the river. It was very slow moving so it was a slow, slow float. It was also not very deep so at times, when we weren't moving fast enough or got lodged on a rock, you could stand up and move your flotation device away from the rock and push off from the bottom. While slow, it was beautiful and we all enjoyed it.
We had lunch then played games and had another float of the river. Kent and I did shuttling for the afternoon crew. There was also the opportunity to travel slightly further away in order to do some wave running. Corey and Erica have a wave runner that used to belong to James and we went to a part of the Snake River that was almost like a reservoir. Isabella and I went out on the wave runner together and went really, really fast. We were in something of a competition with other wave runner riders, so we tried to go as fast as possible. I think we went close to 50 miles an hour which sounds extraordinarily fast for a wave runner, and ridiculously dangerous. It was terrifically exciting.
The second night we were there, we gathered altogether in the lodge and played left-right-center. Everybody had a dollar bill and we rolled diced to see whether we passed our bill to the right or left, or if we had to put it in the center. It was really fun and fairly intense when it came down to the last three or four people. In the end, niece Emily won $33. We shared some great things about Grandma and Grandpa Barrus and gave a report on what people in the family were doing.
Saturday morning, James had arranged for us to ride horses. At Harriman State Park, they have horses and a trail ride that you can do. A whole bunch of us went on a trail ride including Kent, Isabella, and me. It was lovely to be out on the horses. We saw beautiful things including a whole group of cormorants, geese, wildflowers, nature, and hidden pools with lilies growing in them. It was all very scenic from the back of a horse. Not having been on a horse in years, I was incredibly sore and had a difficult time dismounting.
Ty
Ethan
Ryan
Emily
Micah
Katie
Annie
Brianne
Kent
Alisa
Izzy
James
Jodi
Ian
Katherine, worker, Jodi
Receiving instruction about how to work our horse.
We were in charge of lunch for that day and because we all had to be out by 11:00, I arranged for us to pack a sack lunch. The last activity we could do was a short hike, so I had everyone make lunch to go. If they were hiking, they could eat their lunch at the end, and if they were getting in the car to head home, they had a lunch for the road. Everyone made their own sandwich. Then there were chips, carrots and celery sticks, small oranges, cookies I had made in advance, and Capri Suns. Each person put together a lovely lunch with all the things that they either wanted or didn't want. We packed up and did the cleanup that we needed to do and then drove to our "hike."
The hike was really a stroll along a paved path overlooking Mesa Falls. It is a short walk along the falls and a short walk back up to the visitor's center. The visitor's center is an old house with a large porch we sat on while we talked and ate our lunch. When lunch was eaten, we headed home.
It was wonderful to be with the Barruses, to see people we don't see very often, and to be together in a relaxed setting, to laugh and enjoy time away from other things. We are already looking forward to our next reunion in two years.
I sent the following text the day after we got home.
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