Venturing Into New Territory

Last week we packed up the Burb and some of our bikes and headed north to the panhandle of Idaho. We had a wedding to attend and a famous bike trail to ride.



I don't have much time to blog about this fun trip because I have Girls' Camp on my brain and lots to do before next Thursday, but I wanted to post some pictures to share with you.

My cousin Mark Mangum, whom I haven't seen in maybe 20 years was getting married at Lake Coeur d"Alene. He found a beautiful girl named Piper to love. She has a little 8 yr old son and a 10 year old daughter. Mark is regaining his activity in the Church and is growing in testimony. Piper and her little boy have been learning about the Gospel and will be getting baptized soon. I'm so happy for them.



The wedding was right on the lake. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor ceremony. Wow. What a place. We were enamored with the Coeur d'Alene area. I'd like to have a few million dollars and live on the street where this wedding was held.





The night we got there, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Roger treated our very large group to a baseball game. We watched the Spokane Indians play the Tri-City ? whatever they are. Can't remember. Spokane won. Nice ball park. Much better than the Boise Hawks.



The group... us, cousin Brad's family, cousin Mark and fiance and son, bro Erik's family, aunt, uncle, ma and pa


yummy ball park food... and it was super cheap!


Now for the bike trail.



We have been hearing about the Trail of the Hiawatha for a couple of years. The trail used to be an old train route which began service in 1909. We biked 15 miles which included seven high steel trestles and ten tunnels. The first tunnel was the longest by far at 1.66 miles which goes under the Montana and Idaho border. Bike lights were definitely required!







One of the best parts of our adventure was that my brother Erik and his family came... and so did my DAD!







What fun it was to have Grandpa along for the ride! He rented a "comfort" mountain bike for his old behind:) He hadn't been on a bike in years, but he did great. He was actually pretty fast! The grade is 2% so it was a nice downhill that didn't require strenuous effort.





To come back up to our cars, we paid the extra fee and rode the shuttle bus up the mountain.





What a fun time. We gotta do it again!