First Trip Up River

We spent the weekend up the St. Joe River at Huckleberry Campground with our good friends the Andersons. Rayelle, Mike and Julia are so fun to camp with; we always have a great time.

The campground was nearly full when we arrived on Thursday afternoon.  We spent the late afternoon hours setting up the camper and trying to get in contact with Linda's parents. Because of past experiences, we are not able to go to places where we can not keep in touch with her folks. Huckleberry has set up an area that provides WIFI this year. It became a necessity when the campground went to a reservation-only system. Now you can get online to check email or make a reservation for an open campsite. We use our phones and the Skype App to call her parents and check-in. 

The Andersons arrived at about 6:00 PM. They set up their trailer and got ready for the weekend. After everyone ate we gathered by the campfire and caught up on each others' lives.  It was so good to just laugh and talk.

At the Avery Museum fish pond.

On Friday we loaded in Mike's truck and drove upriver stopping at all the tourist sites. The Forest Service Station, Avery Train Museum, and the town of Avery proper were all huge on our sightseeing list. As we left the metropolis of Avery, Rayelle kept pointing out places that she thought they had used, a long time ago, to enter the river for an innertube float trip. By the time we got to our turn around point at Turner Flats, every road pull-out, side road, or wide spot was mentioned as a possible location of historic adventure from Rayelle's past.

We walked across the footbridge just above the Turner Flats Campground and hiked to the ridge top where we got a good view up the river. Once we were back in the truck all that was talked about was ice cream from the Idaho Fly Fishing Shop back in Avery. We stopped and purchased some delicious cones and then completed our tour of the St. Joe River back at camp.

The Avery Train Museum Dining Car.

Back at Huckleberry, Linda and I fixed dinner and then Julia beat everyone in a rousing game of Dark Quarkle. Dark Quarkle is just Quarkle played outside in the dark using Luci Lights for elimination. Julia, being young, had a definite sight advantage over the rest of us more mature players.

Early Saturday morning the clouds rolled in and we got rained upon. Everyone was tucked in bed, but when we woke up the clouds were still covering the sky so the day was a bit cooler. After a delicious camp breakfast prepared by Mike and Rayelle, Mike and I went for a drive and found a secluded spot where we could shoot his firearms. Mike was very patient with me and explained how they were used safely. I don't get many chances to shoot guns so this was a very fun and interesting thing to do.

Mike and Julia where they belong.

Linda, Rayelle, and Julia stayed back at camp where they tried to find the sunshine. Most of the day was spent reading and keeping warm.

We ate dinner over at the Anderson camp and then sat around the campfire. We moved inside to the light and played Quarkle again and this time I was able to squeak out a victory. I believe it was because we could see all the tiles clearly.

On Sunday we packed up and drove back to civilization. It was a great weekend break and we truly enjoyed being together with our good friends.

On the footbridge above Turner Flats.

Baldfaced Hornets!