Bear Lake Part 2

On our second beach day, we felt much more prepared. We had gone to the hardware store and picked up a beach tent, along with some blow up tubes to play with and float in the water. It was an ordeal getting everything set up, but when we were done, we felt great about our little beach camp

We once again picked up food from Zipz to eat on the beach. We had tried a couple other places but they randomly weren't open. Luckily, Zipz's food is so good and they are gluten free friendly (I was trying to limit gluten at this time to try and help out my thyroid)

Pictures don't do this lake justice, it is absolutely breath taking. I now understand why it is known as the    Caribbean of the Rockies, the water is the most gorgeous hue of turquoise.

We played in the water and lazily floated  around on our tubes and enjoyed the sunshine and  the cool water.

As Monty was going down for a quick nap he said, "that was fun." The most rewarding phrase a caregiver can hear.

V asked to have a sand mermaid tale and Beth spent  a long time making one for her. The second she was done, that darn afternoon wind kicked  up again and blew sand right into V's eyes and she was DONE.

Also, all our stuff  was blowing all over the place, even though we had the beach tent!  Beth got the  kids to the car and turned on a  movie for them so they wouldn't get anymore sand  in their eyes  while I packed up our camp. Luckily, we  had the nicest people next to us that helped me take down our  tent, I didn't realize it was a multiple person job. It honestly felt like a tornado was coming it was so windy, it was crazy. We were slowly learning the ways of Bear Lake and how to have a thriving vacation.

We went back and took naps at our airbnb and had another lovely afternoon at home.

That night for dinner, we ate somewhere besides Zipz! We had made a reservation at the Campfire Grill, the restaurant at the Conestoga Ranch where Beth and the kids stayed last time they were in Bear Lake.

It's a lovely open air restaurant with the most amazing views of the ranch. They even had live music the night we were there, which made it feel extra fancy.

V asked Beth to draw a red panda mermaid (red pandas were on the mind since Turning  Red was constantly on in the background when we were at our airbnb, the kids were obsessed  with it)

Beth definitely delivered

The  food was so fresh and yummy.

The check was delivered in an adorable old book. Love little touches like that.

It was nice to be able to let the kids go run around outside and we could still see them and call to them from our table. It was such a fun meal.

Then we drove to the beach for dessert and the sunset.

Our airbnb was kind of on the opposite end of town from Rendezvous Beach. The drive back and forth became a really fun part of our day. We would roll our windows down, listen to upbeat, dancing music and feel the warm summer breeze on our faces. It was fun to cruise through town and kind of get a feeling of what everyone was up to; how busy places were, different restaurants we wanted to try, fun people watching. We discussed if next time we would want to stay closer to  the beach, and we both said we wouldn't want to, we liked the family time in the car.

Once again we had the entire beach to ourselves.

Surprisingly the kids wanted to play in the water again.

The sunset that night was one of a kind. It was one of those sunsets that just kept getting prettier and prettier and just when you thought it had peaked, it go even prettier. 

After playing in the lake, Monty then had a great time playing in the sand ....

It was also one of those magical sunsets that casts a pink golden light over everything and you feel like you are living in a different land.

The kids enjoyed second dinner on the beach, we had brought the pizza from the restaurant they barely touched at dinner.

The Burtons met up with us and brought Le Beau's famous raspberry shakes. It was dark by the time they came so we didn't get any pictures with them.

The next day we decided to have a relaxing day at home. Somehow, despite spending forever slathering her with sunscreen, V got a pretty intense sunburn at the beach yesterday and we thought it would be best to keep her out of the sun. Plus, we were a little tired of trying to master the beach and the afternoon wind, so a day at home sounded wonderful to everyone.

We made a quick run over to Moose Buns to pick up some fun breakfast items. We tried one of their breakfast burritos and it barely had any filling, we do not recommend. Their salad was yummy and of course their cinnamon rolls were amazing. I also tried out an iced hibiscus tea, they boasted that it had steeped all night and was very flavorful. It was indeed very flavorful, but in a savory kind of way... like it tasted like a well seasoned, savory dinner to me. It wasn't gross enough for me not to drink it all, but i wouldn't recommend it or order again.

Lesson learned, stick to the buns when ordering at Moose Buns.

That night we met up with the Burtons at their condo, they were nice enough to invite us over for dinner. They were there with Ricky's side of the family, so we got to see all his brothers and sisters and catch up with all their kids.

They always stay at Ideal Beach when they go to Bear Lake. It has some nice pros to it, such as you can walk out to the lake and they have big grassy areas that are fun for playing games.

We took a little stroll down to the water at twilight.

Ideal Beach is completely different from Rendezvous Beach. Ideal Beach is extremely rocky right up until you hit the water, then there is a thin slice of soft sand, You definitely need shoes to walk around. Rendezvous Beach is all soft sand. The waves are also much, much bigger at Ideal Beach, standing on the shore I felt like I was staring out into the ocean instead of a lake.

After enjoying thee sunset over the lake, we headed over to a nice big play area that had lots of fun equipment. The kids had a blast playing around, this was V at the end of the night. A sign of a good time.

The next morning we had to check out of our heavenly airbnb, I would definitely love to stay there anytime we visit Bear Lake, it was so comfortable.

We still spent the day in Garden City even though we were driving home that day. We started off  by renting one of these fun bikes!

It was so much fun!

It took us a majority of the ride to realize my steering wheel wasn't attached to anything and I hadn't been helping at all. Once we figured that out, we let Monty steer, he felt so important.

After our hour cruise around town, we  headed to Crepes and Coffee to get some brunch.

This place is so charming, we loved the atmosphere and the outdoor seating.

V got an Italian soda

We all got crepes!

Beth and I split a savory and a sweet crepe, for a perfectly balanced meal.

We also couldn't pass up their fresh bruschetta it was *chefs kiss*

We HIGHLY recommend this place, we loved everything we got.

After crepes, we headed to the Blue Clothing Company to load up on super cute Bear Lake gear. Then we had a mini photo shoot to document said gear, on our way out of town.

Monty threw a few rocks into the lake as a final farewell.

 Bear Lake is  now one of my favorite places, I am already counting down until next summer. I love the laid back vibe of lake life. No make up, comfy clothes, lots of relaxed beach time, good food, beautiful views. It just has it all.

Until next time!