http://www.flickr.com/photos/livefromboise/sets/72157620656494248/

We pulled into Mountain Home at 09:10, and met up with Nolan and Nicolas in the Walmart parking lot, and departed south through town, and onto ID-51 for a 15 mile or so jaunt toward the Snake River.  After crossing over the Snake, we hung a left, and it was a few miles up for the turn for the Bruneau Dunes State Park, and then a hop, skip, and jump to the dunes.  We pulled up and parked near the smaller dune, and walked about 250 feet or so to the base of the dune.  The weather was exquisite — while you may hear wind in a few of the video clips, it was more a factor of the nice breeze catching the mic of the iPhone.  The temperature was around 74 or so when we arrived, and did not crest 80 by the time we left about three hours later.  There was not a cloud in the sky, so the sun was out in full force, pounding on the sand.  We were a north facing slope, so things were quite mild and pleasurable with the breeze washing away any hint of heat.  On the south facing slope, the sand temperature was much higher, and hot to the touch.  Nora seemed to be the only one NOT concerned with it — that’s my girl.

One is allowed pretty much free reign on the dunes in terms of activity.  We hauled up our little camp to the ridge, and the kids would shovel, load, dump and play for a few minutes, then want to go down in the sled.  The first couple runs were a little slow going, but once we figured things out, we were able to get the sleds up and cooking fairly well.  Unfortunately, we had to walk back up each time.  The boys had no problems getting back up on their own, but Nora requested Mommy and Daddy carry her.

After several hours of playing, sledding, and digging, we packed up the camp, and headed down the dune for the last time.  Back at the cars, we cracked open the peanut butter, opened the jelly, and the kids continued to expend massive amounts of energy as they frolicked throughout the Tahoe.  Flossie and I had some non-child interactions with an adult (yes, a real conversation that did not consist of one of Tyler’s various “jokes”) for a bit as the day warmed, but the nice breeze continued to make it a gorgeous, sunny day.  After filling up the bellies, we drove up to one of the two lakes that split the dunes.  The kiddos tossed some rocks into the lake (pond), and we hiked around for a short distance among the brush to the base of the large dune, looked at it, thought oh wow that is a long way up, and meandered back to the car.  By this time, Nora, on Flossie’s shoulders, had taken up a relaxing laze upon her mother’s head — eyes were open, but she was sapped of energy.  We loaded back up in the vehicles, and took a quick jaunt back to town to wrap up the day with some ice cream.  Nicolas had no problem finishing his — Tyler was a bit on the disgruntled side with his choice and not being able to go back and pick a different kind.  Nora was flat out zonked, and slept in her car seat through the affair.

All in all, a wonderful day.  We meandered back to Boise taking the long route…following the tracks west out of Mountain Home on along the old highway, then onto the dirt road that parallels the north side of the tracks past Cleft and Simco, where, we jumped back on the interstate for a few miles, then peeled off on the back door route via Kuna Road.  Tyler napped for a bit, although the dirt road rocking and swaying did pop Nora out of her slumber.

You can see all the photos and videos from the day in the Flickr set, enjoy ! You can also see our GPS tracklog of the adventure as well.