Paddle Boarding-Bear Lake

After a very sleepless night in Lava Hot Springs, we headed to the second part of our last minute trip-Bear Lake! Russ wanted to float the river for his Labor Day weekend and I wanted to paddle board, so we compromised and did both! We floated the river in Lava and then went straight to Bear Lake to rent paddle boards. Bear Lake to me never gets old. That where we vacationed growing up and it just feels like a little piece of heaven and my second home. I have so many fun memories in Bear Lake with family and friends and its fun to make new memories there with Russ. We had only been to Bear Lake for our race earlier this year and the water and temperature was still pretty chilly so it was fun to go play in the water! I could not believe how crazy busy it was there! There were lines down the street for food and shakes and the beaches were packed! Labor Day and Bear Lake seem to go hand in hand for lots of people. We had paddle boarded for the first time in San Diego a couple years back when we went for our friends wedding and I LOVED it! We found a new little rental shop right down on the beach and they were so nice.

We paddled and paddled until I noticed we were in the middle of the lake.

We started to paddle back after being on the lake for over an hour and the wind picked up really strong! As hard as we paddled we werent moving and if we were, we werent moving very fast at all. I was starting to get a little worried as I couldnt even see the rental shop we were so far away and I was getting really tired after paddling and not moving anywhere. I wondered if people noticed how far away we were or if they were worried about us. Finally, a lady on a jet ski started coming towards us and I thought she was coming to rescue us. She pulled up to Russ who was a ways from me and asked him something I couldnt hear and he directed her to me. She drove over to me and turned off her engine and said she was lost and needed directions back to her condo. Dang it- we werent being saved. She drove off after we gave her directions and Russ suggested getting on our knees and paddling lower so our bodies werent acting like a sail and sending us in the wrong direction. We got on our knees and paddled for what seemed like forever.

It worked though! Good thing Russ was there because I never would have thought of that. We got closer and closer to shore and my knees were starting to get tired so I decided to stand back up. You need good balance on a paddle board and I felt like I had it mastered. I had started in clothes and managed to get completely out of my shorts and shirt all while standing, holding a board and not falling into the lake. I had gotten down on my knees in the middle of the lake and strong winds and managed to stay dry until we were super close to the shore and I somehow shifted my weight wrong and fell in! I hadnt even come up out of the water before I could hear Russ laughing. He jumped in with me and we enjoyed the cool water before taking our boards back.

When we got back to shore and turned in our boards we laid out of towels and read for an hr or so. As we were reading, we could hear a lady and her son talking near us. Her husband, dad and other kid was also out on paddle boards and had been caught in that same wind and they had to send a boat out to get them! I was glad we made it in on our own. I got caught in a current while swimming out in the ocean in Hawaii once and you feel like a dumby when they have to come get you. I had been on a weird little diet thing for over a month and hadnt eaten out for over 3 weeks. I had my first meal besides chicken and vegetables that night and it was pretty great! We took a pretty drive up to the top of the mountain with a beautiful view of the whole lake and camped out for the night. I was scared of bears, hunters and pyscho people coming out to kill us in the middle of nowhere but we survived. I woke up like an hour into sleep and told Russ I could hear footsteps outside of the tent. He woke up and grabbed his gun and said he could hear them too. He unzipped the tent and and listened and got out and walked around with his headlamp. I was completely panicked and thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest until I realized the little shell that goes over the the top of the tent was swaying in the wind and hitting the sides and sounded EXACTLY like footsteps in dry weeds. In my weird slumbery state, I just went back to sleep and forgot to tell Russ who was out wandering with a gun and light that there was no man walking around our tent. He came back in and I told him what it was and he agreed it sounded exactly like footsteps. I put earplugs in and was good to go! Our view the next morning

Russ eating the traditional Bear Lake fruity pebbles while I ate egg whites and protein shake. Yuck. Dieting sucks.

We had taken Tuesday off as well and I hate to let a good secret out, but it was AWESOME! There was not a soul in sight at the Lake or around town. It was perfect! Everyone had headed home to get back to work and kids back to school. It was incredible. We went to the beach and there was one sail boat and a few seagulls-that was it. We played soccer on the beach, Frisbee and laid out and read.

The back of Russ's truck was full of fun things! We had lunch and long boarded around the park.

We finished off the long weekend with a fun bike ride around the the lake...after Russ fixed his tire.

I took Russ to Ideal Beach where I grew up staying. I wanted to have an ice cream cone but not only did the tourist leave town, so did the locals and everything was shut down. But I did take him by the swing set I fell off of, the glass door I walked into while holding a plate of food, and the mini golf course I peed my pants on as a kid. It was a great tour.