brendaNdoug and fam: September 2013

For many a year, friends and acquaintances have traveled north, crossing the Utah boarder to holiday. "Why", you may ask yourself. "Why would anyone want to leave the comfy, cozy, confines of Utah?" "I tell you Max, I don't know why I ever leave this place. I've got all the company I need right here."The Grinch Many travel to a spot called Island Park, ID. So, the fam decided that we might try that as well- don't tell anyone- they might not let us cross the boarder! "...And on Sundays I elude the eyes and hop the Turbine Freight to far outside the wire where my white-haired uncle waits..." cpt. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful place! Check the pix. The first one is a view just outside our cabin door. Everyday we would watch osprey dive into the water a catch fish.

Emery thought it was so cool. She would always want to sit on the rail and watch for the birds look for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Here are a few pix of Mesa Falls from different vantage points. The falls were about 15 minutes from where we were staying. It was quite beautiful as you can see.

"Sister! Sisters! Never were there such devoted sisters!"

Did Sydney get hold of the camera again?

And since Yellowstone National Park is so very close to Island Park, we thought we'd make a SHORT visit there. We were driving in two separate cars but thought we'd be able to stay with each other. Well, you can always count on slow people in Yellowstone and yep, you guest it- we got separated. The cell service isn't the best up there so it seemed like we spent most of our time looking for each other. We were on our way to Old Faithful and just figured we'd be able to find each other with no problem. Old faithful is probably the biggest attraction and has the most parking lots, so, it took a while. Luckily text messages were sporadic. The other cars' passengers were waiting for us at the geyser!

Here we have a picture of the faithful, both young and old, waiting on Old Faithful. As you can see, their wait was not in vain as Old Faithful lived up to it's name. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"Wizard of Oz

Grandma with the wee grand daughters- teaching them the finer points of crossing the stream. There were some little fish in there, so I don't remember if Isla was freaked out about that or was it that the water was just so danged cold?

Well as I mentioned, it was a very SHORT visit to Yellowstone, so I didn't get a picture of a griz- dang!

Brenda took her bonus money she had gotten from work so that we could do a float trip down the crazy Snake River. As it turned out, we really didn't need those life vests. We didn't get the rattlesnake part of the river, it must have been the roadkill garden snake fork. We had to get out and push the raft off as we got high-centered a several times. But we soon figured out how navigate the river. We had our kayakers scout out the deepest part of the river to avoid getting sandbar-ed and having to get out and get our feet wet. It was a blast though- we'd do it again for sure.

As we were coming around a bend in the river, look what was hanging out. It made me back-paddle a bit and hug the opposite side of the river. I had Emery in the kayak with me- who knew if mama moose would charge or not? As you can see, she had her wee babe in the brush... although it was quite tall itself. Didn't get a picture of a bear, but got some moose and I didn't even have to worry that it was going to eat me.

Grandma Great and Emery just getting back from the hunt. Looks like they fared quite well against those furry little beasties. PETA is going to have a field day with this though.

One day, Rory's animal instincts flared up and he decided to go for a run through the woods. As it happened, a deluge decided to come in whilst he was gone- it came down! We were hoping he'd make it back OK- yep, he did, except he was wet, soaked through and had a bunch of burs stuck in his hide.