Island Park/Yellowston September 2013

 Bob's family gos to Island Park each year.  Bob's uncle has a trailer up there.  We decide we would go this year thanks to our "new ride" (more on that later, but I must say our "new ride" made the drive heavenly!).

We arrived at the cabin in time for dinner. (Thanks Ruth!)  Then enjoyed the evening.  The kids slept pretty well, that is until they ended up in the twin sized bad that Bob and I were already sharing.  Not much sleep going on around 3 am.

The next day we headed to Yellowstone.  The skies were cloudy and there was rain off and on, but I love taking drives in the rain.  (My dad is a farmer.  So as a kid my only summer "vacations" were days that it rained and we would go for a ride.  Usually ending up somewhere in Idaho.  But I loved it.  McDonald's and soda pop.  It was a treat.)

Anyway, back to Yellowstone.  The animals we saw were Buffalo, Elk, and we almost hit a coyote that ran in front of us.  Tayo loved the buffalo.  He was mesmerized by them.

 

So we bought him a little toy buffalo. I love that he is fast asleep with the buffalo tucked into his arm!  To this day he still carries it around everywhere (when it isn't lost).

We stopped and a few different places, not sure what any of them are called, but they were beautiful!  It was nice that it was raining because it kept the crowds away.

 Tayo and Uncle Bill

 This is Grandma's walker, but it had a nice little seat so Hannie hitched a ride.

 The weather was quite cool causing lots of fog.

 Old Faithful

Did you know Old Faithful is not very faithful any more? They can only predict when it will go off.  I remember coming to see it as a child and they had the exact times it would go off posted.  Also, it isn't as big as it used to be.  To be honest it was quite pathetic.

 This was my favorite stop.  I can't remember the exact name but it was something like Dragon's Breath.  It was a cave with steam coming out, but every once and a while you would her a bubble growl.  It was so cool.  Hannalee could not be convinced otherwise that there was not a real dragon living in it.

Our last stop in Yellow stone was the Upper Falls.  I have never been here before.  It was breath taking!

 The Whole Gang

Grandma, Me (Britney), Hannalee, Bob, Tayo, Jeff, Ruth, Bill, Steve

By the time we got home and ate dinner, we were tuckered out.  

The next day was Sunday.  We went to their local church and then went to visit Johnny Sacks cabin.  It is located at the top of big springs.  He built it and everything in it.  It is truly beautiful.  He found a way to keep the bark on the logs and it is preserved that way.

Hannalee decided she would be the photographer for a while.

The next day, before we packed up to leave, Bob and I floated down the Big Springs river.  It was quite slow and relaxing.  We did see a Moose and baby moose who crossed the river only seconds after we passed.  That scared us a bit.

It was a wonderful vacation.  The kids did great and the scenery was wonderful.