a trip to Big Piney

This past weekend Dave, Jed and I went to Big Piney to see most of the Scherbel clan and watch General Conference. Dave got Friday off so we could get to Big Piney in time to watch his brother Matt play football. We decided to go a different way--you know how we are about the road less traveled--and headed out bright and early Friday morning to the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. We went the back way on a good dirt road and saw tons of great birds and animals--elk, coyotes, a bald eagle and lots more.
I have always wanted to visit this refuge because it is supposed to be really good for birding and also because it is where Louis the swan was hatched in The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

The refuge was gorgeous. There were so many fall colors on the mountainsides and we kept exclaiming to each other "Oh, look over there!" I loved looking at the avalanche chutes on the sides of the mountains, too.

This is one of the lakes--there are 4 altogether--and we saw a ton of ducks. Later in October is when the swans come through and we are definitely thinking about a day trip down to see them.

I loved this old information board--the colors and the swans are so gorgeous.

This is the refuge boundary from the south. We drove over those mountains on the right!

Our round-about route took us from Red Rock Lakes to Henry's Lake in Island Park, Idaho. The road went through so many beautiful red and gold aspen groves. It was a beautiful drive.

We got to Big Piney in good time and were able to watch Matt play ball. He did really well and had some great tackles but Big Piney ended up losing. Shucks! Saturday morning before Conference we went to help with Matt's Eagle project. He was organizing the installation of new parking barriers in the Sacajawea campground for the Bridger/Teton Forest Service north of Big Piney. Jed fell asleep soon after we got to the campground, so he stayed in the truck while Dave and I helped pound in rebar for the barriers. It was great to be working hard and having fun together.

Some ice on a little stream in the campground where we were installing the barriers. After we got done installing the barriers, Elsa, Sarah, Hannah, Alan, Ruth and her boys Dave and Don came up to the campground with a picnic lunch for us. We had so much fun just eating and hanging out together.

Jed all bundled up eating lunch.

Cool cliffs north of the campground.

One of my favorite things about driving anywhere around Big Piney is all the antelope. You see so many in that area of Wyoming. We saw this guy as we were driving back to the house and he is such a beauty!

Jed inspecting one of Grandma Scherbel's trees.

This one must be okay!

Everyone hanging out, making pizza before the boys went to the priesthood session.

Holli and Quincey. I can't believe how big he is--he turned 1 in September and he is such a boy now, not a baby at all. He looks just like his big brother Josef.

Sunday we left Big Piney in a big snowstorm, but by the time we got to Hoback canyon, it had turned to rain. We hit snow again on the Idaho/Montana border and it snowed pretty heavily all the way to Dillon. Thank goodness for four-wheel drive!

Jed is such a good little traveler. He loves to look out the windows, thanks to his new carseat that boosts him up higher, and to chew on his dog's ears and sing songs to us. Jed's latest trick is to blow raspberries. Here are a couple of cute videos of him doing just that:

It was a lot of fun to go on a little road trip together and to see the family. It was so much fun to get all the kiddos together and see how they've grown. We missed having Peter, Amanda, Eva and Josh there and we hope to be able to see them soon!