A Little Bit of Heaven

Seventeen years ago I had my first introduction to the "family canyon." Justin and I came here on our honeymoon. Perhaps some may think that rough camping isn't terribly romantic for a honeymoon, but I loved it. I caught my first fish here, and the cutthroat trout in this river are beautiful. When we were first married we thought we would make a yearly pilgrimage here to celebrate our anniversary, and for a couple of years we did. The last time I remember actually camping in the canyon was when I was pregnant with Owen. I have been back to visit a couple of times since then, but this summer was something of a homecoming. Justin and the boys have been coming to camp here every October for several years now, but I just can't camp when it's that cold. This is Star Valley, Wyoming country and October in Star Valley is lovely during the day, but freezing at night. Here is Grey's River in the early morning. It was cool during the night, probably in the mid-50's, but quite toasty during the day. This is a view of the river from our campsite at Lynx Creek.

Morning on Grey's River, Wyoming.


Boys are much happier after they have had breakfast. They lined up quickly for breakfast hash: hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, and eggs all mixed up together. Camping just requires a hot breakfast. Next year we are going to add sourdough pancakes -- a camping staple from my family. Now if I could just figure out how to work that Coleman stove of mine...

A daddy-daughter fishing date. Bronwyn was so excited to get on the river and go fishing with her dad. Justin is a great fishing teacher and very patient with the kids on the river. Thanks to Lauri for snapping this pic for me (the grown-ups traded off minding-the-camp-and-kids duty). She was excited about the big fish she caught.

The honeymoon site. We parked our little Mazda Protege (turquoise!) in the big space on the left and Justin pitched our tent in the circle of trees. It was the perfect campsite, always shaded no matter the time of day. And we had this area to ourselves when we stayed here. It's obviously a popular campsite, though.

The Honeymoon Hole. It's a tricky hole to fish because the risk of snagging your line is pretty high. Aaron, my brother-in-law has left a permanent monument to his presence here -- a length of fishing line caught on the rocks you can see in the upper right-hand corner. There's no safe way to retrieve the line because the water is deep and fast right under the outcropping.

Mother and daughter sported braids for the trip to keep our hair out of the way. We only got to stay for a couple of days, so the hygiene thing wasn't too bad! The sweatshirt Bronwyn is wearing is from my high school days. I think we need to get her a heavier sweatshirt because this one is worn pretty thin.

This is just a short 30-second clip of what it sounds like up there. I couldn't identify the bird you can hear in the clip.

It was a great trip. I wish we could have stayed the whole week. Aaron did the dutch oven cooking and it was so tasty. I think he's discovered a new talent! Justin focused on keeping things simple for me and I found I could relax and just enjoy being there. I haven't even covered the beautiful wildflowers up there, or the pretty rocks...I wanted to do so many things all at the same time. We all agreed it was a trip worth repeating again, especially in the good company who joined us.