My First Snowshoe Experience

It's great having a ski resort right in your backyard. Brian and I for the second time braved the wicked and nauseating 16 mile drive up to Bogus Basin that includes 162 switchbacks and 3,000 feet of elevation gain with little or no guardrails.

Boise Fact #1

Why is Idaho known for potatoes? Because of J.R. Simplot. Simplot innovated the use of chemical fertilizer as a substitute for crop rotation; he was an early user of the electric potato sorter; and he went on to advance the possibilities in new product development, economies of scale, vertical integration, and company research.

Today, his company is the largest supplier of french fries to McDonald's. In 2006 he was estimated to be the 80th richest person in America, with $3.2 billion. At 98, he is the oldest living billionaire on the Forbes 400.

Above, you can see his signature hilltop home that he and his wife donated to the State of Idaho for use as a governor's mansion.

But once we safely arrived, we put on all our ski gear and got fitted in snowshoes. Minutes later we were following what I called the "Tiki Tour" and snowshoed our way through the night up and around the mountainsides. Even after I spent the afternoon reading my photography book, setting my camera for night pictures, and practicing taking pictures in the dark, I still didn't get good pictures of us snowshoeing.

If you had a pair of night goggles on - this is what Brian and I would've looked like.



Overall, snowshoeing is fun and at the top of a mountain it is very windy!

Boise Fact #2

Why is it called Bogus Basin? Back in the 1880s, when two prospectors loaded a shotgun with a few dollars' worth of gold dust and blasted it into the walls of a worthless cave near Shafer Butte. They galloped down to Boise where they slammed their "find" on a local bar and sold shares in the "mine" to gullible patrons. By the time the new owners realized they had been fleeced, the swindlers had disappeared.

I Like Potato Bread...

...so does that mean I will like the potato state? I sure hope so because we are moving to Boise, Idaho! I know erase that strange look on your face that clearly is saying "why in the world are they moving to B-O-I-S-E? To answer that strange look, Brian got a great promotion (congrats, baby!) and we obviously decided to take it. His first day is right around the corner on Oct. 23rd. So, we have house hunting, packing, and moving to do in the next month and half. We will miss Houghton Lake, but we know better things are in store for us. Even National Geographic says Boise is the place to be.

Good-bye retirement community on the lake, hello college town in the mountain foothills with 234 cloudless days a year.

18 Hours on the Farm - Endurance Mountain Bike Riding

This past weekend (Aug. 19th - 20th) Andy competed in an 18-hour endurance mountain bike race. Each lap on the course was 9 miles of rugged and twisting single track (the picture to the right shows the single track) with sharp climbs reaching 1320 feet of elevation gain.

This being Andy's first bike race, he was hesitant to register for the race and was nervous all week long. But, Andy rode the race with true Welch heart and determination and dominated the race. He completed 15 impressive laps (135 miles for those who don't do math), took 1st place, and put in more laps than 192 registered riders. Plus, if my math is correct he was just shy (520 feet) of climbing the same elevation (19,800 feet of 20,320 feet) as the highest point in the United States - Mt. McKinley.

The race started at 4pm and continued till morning. Even when his headlamp died he continued to press-on; surviving on peanut butter, bananas, energy blocks, and Gatorade. Overall, an impressive showing, and I wish I could've been there.

If you think I am biased (which I am) check out what others in the biking community are saying (be sure to read page 2 if you know about the Floyd Landis scandal) at http://cyclingcentralva.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6529&hl=

Congratulations to Andy on an inspiring ride and thanks to my parents for supporting him throughout the event.

Floating Flip Part 2

Here are eight more pictures and some quotes showing what you losers missed. Suckers!

"I'd want to live there just so i can say 'yous guys' and not get made fun of" - Erin "hands" Walker



"I had a blast. It was worth every one of the roughly 27 hours I spent in an automobile getting there and back. I'm in favor of making Lake Weekend/Week an annual event." - Dan Toxie



Allan: "I used to be autistic"
Brian: "Yeah, he lost his math skills but kept his social awkwardness"



"I went to michigan to flip a dixie cup on its end, but had more fun sitting around a fire more-or-less sober watching glass bottles melt into puddles.
I never knew that parking garages could be so much fun, nor that IV drips could be so effective.
Canoes rock, yous guys are great, now lets all go wash our hair in the lake." - Allan Sheeley



Erin: "Don't worry I am a professional rescuer"
Allan: "A professional wrestler? "
Erin: "No that comes later"



Brian: "Where's your quote?"
Becky: "I don't need a quote, I wrote the whole damn thing."

Floating Flip Cup

Aug 11 - 14th goes down as one of the greatest weekends of my life. Security restrictions on planes, mono, rental car flat tires, trips to the Emergency Room, and a near drowning didn't keep our gang from having an awesome weekend on the lake.

Once everyone arrived safely, flip cup was immediately started. No bathroom breaks for the weary drivers, no practice for the rusty players and newbie - just free flowing beer chugging.

After we polished off the 24-pack of beer, we switched to tequila shots. Well some switched to tequila, but I only like mine one way - in a margarita on the rocks with the tequila kicked in the side with a pair of steel-toed boots.




We rose early the next morning searching for Gatorade pancakes (sadly, none were found) and headed out to the lake with a cooler full of food and beer. Upon arrival we realized Brian was in serious pain. First, we chalked it up to him being hung over so we tried to get him some food and water pronto. But, as the stomach pains got worse and the situation got more serious we decided to have an EMT on staff check him out. After he assessed the situation - it was determined he had to go to the Emergency Room for fear it could be his pancreases or gallbladder. But, Brian couldn't go to the ER in one ambulance - he had to have two escort him to the next town. A thousand dollars later, it was determined that it was most likely just severe indigestion (no he will never live that down).

With the all clear by the doctors, we headed back to the lake. We cruised around an island in the middle of the lake, found the sunken island (with the bottom of the boat), and had a kick ass time. The weather was a perfect 80 degrees with no clouds in sight. And I owe a major thanks to Allan and Erin for saving me in my near drowning accident. (Yup...I still hate swimming in water where I can't touch.)

This entry wouldn't be complete without the diving pictures. Below is my sad attempt at trying to get a picture of each guy doing his final dive.





The rest of the evening was spent grilling tasty hamburgers and chicken wings. Sitting around the bonfire and enjoying the time together.


The next morning Dan and Hendrik left bright and early while Erin, Allan, Brian and I headed to the AuSable River for some canoeing. Had a great time learning how to canoe and relaxing on the river. "Rudder Becky now Rudder Erin!"




All in all, excellent times. Thanks to everyone for coming out to Podunk Michigan (as Erin calls it) and for giving me one of the greatest times.

--Becky
"Play Flip Cup and Be a Champion"


What is this I found today??!?!?!??!?!?

Enjoy!