{#10} Go to yellowstone! {#13} Go Camping {#32} Stay in a Hotel

This past week we spent in Island Park, Id.

with my entire family.

It was heaven.
Perfect weather.
Delicious food.
Beautiful lodging.
And great company!

First we headed to our beautiful cabin.
It slept all 16 of us very comfortably and it was gorgeous!
My type of camping, for sure.

After checking in we decided to go see
Mesa Falls. They were breathtaking!

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to
Old Faithful.
I couldn't wait to take my kids to Yellowstone.
I have such great memories of my childhood here,
and have so many pictures of my cousins and I
in these same places.

It was something special watching my kids
and their cousins experiencing the same
things. So much fun!

Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

Love the awe look on their faces.
They loved it!

All the cousins together.
They are a good looking group!
After Old Faithful we headed to fishing bridge.
Maybe my favorite spot in Yellowstone.
It's just so beautiful!
I love this shot of my dad telling the
kids about the time he got chased by a grizzly at
fishing bridge when he was a young boy.
His love for Yellowstone is infectious.

Then we headed to the mud volcano hot pots.

The buffalo were loving the warm pots and this

once crossed the boardwalk about 2 seconds ahead of us.
We were a tad bit scared...

And after the smelly pots, we headed to the upper falls.
I've never seen the falls quite like this,
they were so powerful and really beautiful!

The next day the boys did some fishing/golfing,
and the girls spent the day shopping in West Yellowstone
for souvenirs and going out to lunch.
I adore the women in my family.
Love this shot of their matching hair dos.
And then the boys met us at the Bear/Wolf discovery center.
Sweet Lucy was exhausted from all our shopping!

The kids loved getting a good glimpse of the bear and wolves.

The next day we headed back into Yellowstone.
Our first stop was at Norris to see some hot pots.

Me and Goose.And then to Mammoth for ice cream.
We all remember doing this with our cousins, so it was
fun to take the kids.

Our goal the entire trip was to see a bear.
We've been so many times, and never have seen a bear,
and were starting to think it was all a myth!
After Mammoth we decided to head to Tower Falls.
We'd heard that this loop was where most of the bears
were being spotted, but were kind of figuring
we were out of luck...

All the sudden the car about 6 in front of us slammed on it's
breaks so hard that it almost caused a little pile up.
I looked out my window to see why he stopped,
and saw something black, and then we all freaked
out a little bit.Sure enough, we got to see a black bear,
right next to the road.
The timing was so perfect because we didn't have
to wait in a traffic jam to see it,
and as Cody and Amy (who were 2 cars behind us)
drove away the bear was heading back into the woods.
We got really lucky, and it made our whole trip.

Then headed to Tower Falls.
We were bummed to see that we couldn't
hike to the bottom because of an
"animal den" on the trail.

We were able to see 2 more grizzlies off in the trees, but
from much farther away.
It was a great to end the trip!
Sure loved spending time with my
silly, rowdy, crazy family.
Love them all!!

(We were able to check off #10-go to Yellowstone,
#13-go camping (This is as close as we come),
and #32-stay in a hotel. (We are running out of time, a cabin is close enough!)