Sunday, July 14, 2013

FOURTH OF JULY BEAR LAKE 2013

Dear Family,

We had a fourth of July celebration in St. Charles on the banks of Bear Lake.  Suz and her family and Becca and her family were there and it was a blast. Suz and Becca were up there already so Scott drove our truck with us and loaded with all kinds of food and gear.

We stopped off in Evanston Wyoming and stocked up on fireworks.  We bought the biggest mortars you could buy and here is one of them going off on the Fourth.

When we got to Bear Lake, most of the batteries were dead and I replaced the batteries on the Polaris ATV and my old Totyota Land Cruiser and that was expensive.  We got everything finally working.  Paul came up and cut the grass which was knee high. We got the boat going and they took it to the beach.  It was packed but they were able to put the boat in and all the kids had fun on the tubes.  Here are Andrew and Zandy with their canoe on Bear Lake.  Paul and Scott were great help.

Becca and Suz did the menus most of the time.  We did breakfast on the fourth and it was the typical fourth of July breakfast in Idaho.  Scott went fishing in Logan canyon and brought fresh trout for dinner.  He is a really great fisherman and is rarely skunked.
We also got the grill going and here is a proper Bear Lake Hamburger: 1/2 ground Elk meat, 1/2 ground seasoned beef as a patty on Canadian bacon with avocado, mushrooms, pickles, tomato, lettuce and Swiss cheese.  One of these lasts for an entire day.

Suz and Becca are gourmet cooks and they provided all the great meals.

We went to church on Sunday and it was once again packed to beyond the building with over a 1000 to Sacrament meeting. Our two families left on Sunday for a long drive to Sale Lake and St. George.

Mom and I were up there alone for a few days.  It is always so quiet.  One can read, take afternoon naps (which I never do really) and enjoy the cool evenings.  We made our peace with the mosquitos and had two bug zappers going inside the house.  Mom and I watched old videos of operas La Boheme and Hansel and Gretl.  It was a quiet and peaceful time.  I did a little shooting off the back porch.  I feel the altitude up there more than in Sale Lake so we had to come back via Logan Canyon.

We were still in our soiled working clothes when we got to Logan.  I said to Mom that absolutely no one in Logan knows us so we could maybe go into the local Kentucky Fried Chicken place and not see anyone who might know us.  We still looked like we had been in the fields.  Well wouldn't you know there was this young mother staring at Mom.  She came to the table finally and asked, "Aren't you Cathy Wirthlin Olsen's mother?, and you must be her father!"  We were caught by a member of Cathy's ward who was over the booths at the Women's Conference in Provo and worked with Mom and Cathy on Cathy's booth. It is very hard to go incognito in Utah as there is always someone who recognizes you.

I was in the Temple and a young man came up to me and said, "Dr. Wirthlin..do you remember me?"  "Give me a hint!"  "I was a missionary in Boston and we had dinner in your home." One of the other random sightings occurred in the El Rancho Mexican Market.  Suz got me in there and it was like being in Mexico.  A lady came up to me and asked, "Brother Wirthlin, do you remember me?  I was a member of the Lynnfield Ward" "That was 60 years ago" I replied. "Say hello to Mary!", she quipped. Some people have great memories.  So when you live in Utah, you need to always look your best as someone from your distant past will surely recognize you.  It was actually hard to stay under the radar with 11 kids in Boston and 17 kids in Michigan.

Anyway it is good to be home again as there is a lot of cation going on here.  It was a memorable fourth.

Love, Mom and Dad

1 comment:

Mary Mary said...

Was the Elk from Bear Lake? Fireworks looked great. I'm glad you had a good time.