Smokey's Wilderness

Family Pic at Artist Point, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This black bear walked right towards our truck as we were driving by. The bear then turned sideways along the road and walked nearly 10 feet from us! What a way to seal our Yellowstone experience!

Little man posing at a viewpoint outside Montpelier on our way to Jackson

We just got back (last Saturday) from Jellystone National Park, home of Senor Smokey the Bear. We left Thursday and stayed in Montpelier Idaho on the way up. The next two nights we spent in Jackon Hole. Sunday night we stayed in Colter Bay, Grand Teton National Park. Monday through Thursday we found ourselves in West Yellowstone. Friday we were in Ririe, Idaho and Saturday we came home! What a trip. We had an absolute blast from day one. I especially liked Colton's "freak-outs" that came like clock-work around 1:30pm. jk He was a very good boy but occasionally he missed his naps and morphed into a crank-machine. Despite some hairloss, I survived.......well, nearly survived. We went on a fun scenic float trip on the Snake River and then all those with wimpitis got out and Kurt, Brad, Madison, Kami, and I cruised on to raft the whitewater! They said the water levels are at record highs, flowing as much as 20,000+ cubic feet per second. It's impossible to recap the entire Yellowstone trip.......we saw a total of 6 bears (1 Grizzly with two cubs and 3 black bears), one wolf, two coyotes, a family of foxes, and a hole lotta elk, bison, buffalo, and tatanka. We enjoyed our daily road delays caused by a free-roaming bison that felt like taking a stroll in the fast lane. We also enjoyed all of those individuals who felt it vitally necessary to stop in the middle of the road and take 16 pictures of Mr. Buffalo on the side of the road. Thank you to all of you who tested my patience........ :-)

Most every night we set out on "Wilderness Adventures" during which we would spot for animals. The most successful event came in Colter Bay. We saw 42 elk, a few bucks, a cow moose, and a calf moose. The most exciting night came when we told our nieces that the park would shut the gates if we didn't make it out in time....the story continued to our only glimmer of hope hanging on the need for everyone in the vehicle to duck as we passed the West Yellowstone entrance.

I casted a few lines. Unfortunately I cannot even admit that I fished, because I merely casted, re-casted, changed my flies, and casted again :-) But, don't worry, I would have much rather been back at work like the rest of you poor unfortunate souls.

We toured all over the park and saw a lot of the wilderness we hadn't previously seen (i.e. Mammoth, Tower, Canyon Loops back through West Yellowstone). What better way to spend our 5th anniversary than at the place we went on our honeymoon, this time with the in-laws! They kept it down enough for us to enjoy our anniversay.....jkCarson and Colton got stares the entire trip and we were frequently asked if they were twins. We always responded, "Nope, but they're best little buddies."

Who could forget the 2 hour flat bottom boat float down Henry's Fork at Mack's Inn????? We paid $6 for an hour of splashing around in the slow stuff and they took us up river on accident. We oared our way through and luckily made it. Oh the memories!

Oooooh, we get to go see Miley Cyrus on Friday night......I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!