Yellowstone Bear World

Having lived in Rexburg and having visited Yellowstone a few times we've driven past Yellowstone Bear World a few times and have never been in...until this trip!

We decided it would be a fun thing to do on our drive home and made plans to stop there!  I think it is a place to go once.  It was really cool, but very expensive!  I guess bears aren't cheap and it's kind of an Animal Kingdom kind of adventure.  You drive in and are let into the Bear Area with instructions to keep your windows up and keep moving if the bears approach your car.  There were probably 50+ bears that we saw and more that were sleeping or in the brush that you couldn't see.  It was cool.

 
Several of the bears came near the car and many of them were playing or sleeping nearby.  We saw one bear climb up a tree!  It was really neat!

They also have a petting zoo, baby bear area, and a carnival for small kiddos, so it was an adventurous stop.  I'm glad we were able to go and see it!

Yellowstone...the grand loop in one day!

On our trip to Island Park we were excited to make our way to Yellowstone National Park and explore!  We took the whole day to do the Grand Loop of the park from the West Entrance clockwise all the way around.  We stopped at lots of amazing places along the way.

Our first stop was Gibbons Falls.  We were driving by and saw a beautiful waterfall that was just a short overlook away and so we piled out and went to see it.  We love waterfalls and this one was very pretty!

Our next stop was Artist's Paint Pots where there are numerous hot pots of different colors and textures.  We really like the "hot flinging mud" hot pot that reminded us of boiling Elmer's Glue flinging around the area!

After a very brief stop at the 1988 fire overlook (wow..things have grown back since I was there in 1998) we headed around further to Artist Point.  This was such a beautiful area of the park and hard to believe it was real.  It reminded me of the feeling I've had at the Grand Canyon when your eyes just can't seem to take in what you are seeing.  It was so picturesque with the huge waterfall and the enormous canyon and river at the bottem.  I loved this area and could see why it was named Artist's Point.

While continuing around the loop we came upon a traffic jam and realized that one of the resident buffalo was out for a stroll.  He was walking straight down the road as a snail's pace!  All the cars gave him plenty of room and time and just waited until he finally decided to veer to the left and off the road a bit so we could pass.  He didn't seem to be bothered by all the commotion and the kids thought it was cool to see the buffalo up close!

Our next stop was the Mud Volcano, which was more hot pots and mud pools.  We enjoyed the little bit longer hike here as a chance to stretch out legs.  We ended up going backwards on the trail and doing the bigger hill...but we are tough!  Denali was a soldier and managed to make her way down from the top with a sudden bloody nose experience!  Thanks to some Chinese tourists we got some tissues and were able to get things under control near the bottom!  We decided maybe she's allergic to the horrible sulfur smells that were really strong at this Mud Volcano area.  Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures in this area since the phone was dying and we wanted to be able to take some pictures at our next stop...Old Faithful!

The drive around from Mud Volcano to Old Faithful was a bit longer than the other drives and everyone fell asleep so I missed stopping at the West Thumb Geyser Basin (maybe next time?) and pushed on to Old Faithful.  Unfortunately as we rounded the hill overlooking Old Faithful I could see it was erupting, so I knew that we were going to be in for a long wait before it erupted again.  Oh well, the area is beautiful and we were able to explore the surrounding hot pots and visit the Visitors Center and get some Huckleberry Ice cream while we waited...and waited...and waited...until...the rain came!  It got really windy and started to sprinkle, but we waited it out bravely and were rewarded by seeing Old Faithful erupt right on schedule!

After our rainy and cold experience at Old Faithful (and 8 hours into our day) I couldn't get anyone interested in stopping at the Fountain Paint Pots (one of my favorite places, but I've already been there), so we drove on by and headed back to our home in Island Park.  All in all, it was a beautiful day in one of the most amazing places!  Yellowstone...we will be back!

The pond

After we finished our horseback ride we changed into swimsuits to enjoy the pond that was there at the ranch.  We paddled the boats around and then enjoyed the chain swing that they had rigged up at the pond.  At first, some of the kids were afraid, but in the end most of them went off!  It was a little tricky for the smaller kids just to reach the bar to go swing...but with some help they did it!

Horseback riding trail ride

Today we ventured out for a trail ride with all the kids.  Ethan was apprehensive after a bad experience 6 years ago on a trial ride.  He remembers his horse freaking out and his having to jump off the horse...

This time was pure success for everyone.  We all had very nice horses and enjoyed a two hour ride through the beautiful hillsides in Island Park.

I was even able to take a selfie while we were out on the trail.  My horse, Rocket, was so gently and sweet...until he decided to bite the horse in front of him at random intervals.  I think he was just bored...the fast we'd go the sooner he'd be home.

Upper and Lower Mesa Falls

We ventured out to Upper and Lower Mesa falls today.  What a beautiful canyon and majestic waterfalls!  We stopped first at the Lower Mesa Falls overlook and were able to view the falls from across the valley.  You look down and across the river to the falls.

Just a short 1/2 mile up the road is the turn off for the Upper Mesa Falls.  We pulled in there and walked along the boardwalk down to the top of the Upper Falls.  It is a large waterfall, but not as tall as the Lower Falls.  The cliffside around the falls was covered in moss, mostly green, with a little orange moss too.  It's constantly being misted with the mist from the falls, so it's a fertile jungle.

 At the Upper Falls they have a visitors center.  We were able to view an osprey nest through the telescope.  The osprey are nesting right above the falls.  They also had a small room full of animal furs that you could try and identify.  We were good at getting most of them, but struggled with recognizing the wolverine and the marmot.  We were also surprised how small the weasel was!

After exploring the visitors center we were outside walking when we saw a snake on the sidewalk.  When we looked closer we realize the snake had a fish in it's mouth.  We watched the snake devour the fish...it was fascinating!

We finished off the day by walking the 1 mile to the top of the Lower Mesa Falls.  This was the same waterfall that we had viewed from the overlook, but this time we were down at the top of it.  It was a fun nature hike down to where the falls were.  Once we arrived, we were perched above the Lower Mesa Falls on a cliffside looking down to the raging water.  It was a site to see!

All in all it was a perfect place to explore.  The scenic by-way was beautiful and the actual canyon was also beautiful.

Hidden Falls and beyond!

Today we ventured up Big Cottonwood Canyon to find Hidden Falls.  We parked near the S Curve and found our way to the falls pretty quickly...like in 10 minutes!  We didn't realize that it was literally across the street from the parking lot.  We also found an old mine, but didn't explore too much due to the caution signs and the wetness inside the mine.   So after that we decided that we should hike up in the canyon a little more to enjoy the beautiful canyon!

We hiked up and around the Olympus Wilderness area.  It was a beautiful spot in the canyon...but it was hot!  There wasn't a lot of shade and we were there right around 1pm, so it was hot!  

The kids stopped at the creek on the way down and dunked their feet and later their heads in the cold stream.  That was a real refresher!

Fourth of July fireworks!

This year we decided that we would like off some fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July.  McKinley didn't have many memories of our firework get togethers from Texas (those were epic!) so we got together with our neighbors and set off some fireworks together.  It was fun to go and pick out the ones we wanted and then gather together and light them all off!  

Sparklers are still one of my favorites fireworks to do.  It's so fun to swirl and sway the lighted sparkler around in the air.  Of course we write our names and spell things out!  They are just simply fun!

Thanks to the Pope's for letting us set them off at their house...just in case the fire department came!  We had a good time!

McKinley is 10!

McKinley's birthday was a happy occasion as always.  She was very excited to celebrate another year and to celebrate turning 10!  We love seeing our little girl so happy and excited.  She is such a joy to our family!

We started off with presents and ended the day with cake and ice cream with lots of family!  Her smile says it all...it was a good day!

Now we're all so excited that we are all double digits!  McKinley says that will only last until "Dad turns 100"...so we've got some time.  Until then we'll keep celebrating every year!  Happy Birthday McKinley!