Bear Lake Day 4

Seth did not want to say good-bye to the Three Bears House.

On our last day at Bear Lake we cleaned up the cabin and went our seperate ways. It took a while to get everything put back and swept up and the cars all loaded, but by mid-morning we were on our way to the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which lies just north of Bear Lake.

We love seeing our cousins that live so far away, and it's hard to say good-bye.

Josh and Dax are great buddies despite the height difference.

It was just the Ockeys on this adventure, and that was probably for the best. Most people we know would've found the refuge to be pretty boring. To others, it would just be driving around through the grass and looking at a few geese. To us, though, it was a lot of fun. We got out and hiked around the refuge in a couple of different places. The boys were introduced to their first camoflagued bird-blind. We even saw several swans and a great blue heron spearing fish. And of course, there were lots of geese. It was just what we like to do.

Pelicans are so HUGE!

The refuge was very picturesque. It was fun to walk the little trails.

Who doesn't love crossing bridges?

The swans with their babies were precious.

We watched this heron catch two fish! It was amazing!!!

We still had one more adventure in mind, though. This one seemed pretty remote. It was a 10 mile drive on a rough dirt road to a short hike to a lake. We made pretty good time until we got to a line of cars that were going about 5 miles per hour. Later we found out we were following a BMW that refused to pull off or go faster than a slow putter. But we made it to the lake and found quite a few cars in the parking lot. The hike from there over to Bloomington Lake wasn't very far, and it was really pretty. Before long we arrived at a beautiful alpine lake with granite cliffs plunging into the clear water. It was picture perfect except for the 200 or so people lining the edge of the lake. There was a rope swing with another 25-30 people in line, and about 15 dogs, which meant that our boys were ready to go before we even saw the water. Still, it was pretty, and we did see a few fish in the clear water.

Mom loves the wildflowers. She tries to capture their beauty, but she's not a great photographer. 

Dad just likes to capture mom's beauty in his photos! ;) 

Dax really wanted to take his pictures here for some reason. 

Do these boys look like they need to sleep for a few days?

The Ockey Family at Bloomington Lake. Mark looks like he might die.

Bloomington Lake really is in a beautiful spot.

Seth leading the way back to the car. 

Mark next to one of the ponds we saw on the way up to the lake.

Mom taking a selfie this time. Not bad!

That was the end of our trip to Bear Lake. Sure, we stopped and returned the paddleboards in Logan and had dinner at Angie's, so we didn't arrive home until late. But it was a great trip and a great memory for our boys.