Incredible Idaho Adventure

 We are driving home from an incredible Idaho adventure. I calculated an estimated 2,500 miles of driving which is… insane. 

Last Friday, I drove with the kids up to Kassidy’s house. We packed a ton of yummy snacks and made good time. The kids were excellent in the car and we had fun chatting and listening to another book in The Series  of Unfortunate Events. (We listened to 2 of those books throughout the week). Kass made us a yummy pasta dinner and the kids had fun playing while we talked. We stayed up kinda late chatting but it was so nice. I really love Kass and Bridger. Bridger won a 5 gallon bucket of ice cream from Handles! Woah!

Saturday we left Kassidy’s and drove up to Lava Hot Springs and met Nicole and the kids there for some swimming. I’d never been there before and it was cool! It was super crowded because it was a really hot day and it was the weekend. But we found a nice spot to eat snacks and stayed mostly in the pool. The kids LOVED jumping off the platforms and it was good to be with Nicole. 

After Lava, Kaitlin invited us all over for a BBQ at her new house! AND, she invited us to spend the night there which was so nice! The food was amazing- grilled chicken and fresh corn on the cob, and it was so wonderful seeing Kim and Monte again. The kids were in heaven playing with their cousins and I had the best night of sleep at Kaitlin’s big new house. That felt really good. 

We went to church with them the next day and since they teach primary together, I went to Sunday School all alone. It was kinda awkward, but one sweet lady came up and said hi to me. Kaitlin and Travis are obviously new to the Ward so not every one knows them yet. But I was asked to introduce myself at the end of the lesson and I was able to give a comment on the lesson. I said that I was up in Idaho visiting family and that about a year ago I was sitting in the temple contemplating how best to raise teenagers (the second time around). One thing that really stuck out to me was the importance of family and giving my children the opportunity to have strong relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who live far away. So that’s why I was there!

Straight from church we drove back to Kassidy’s house in Ogden for sweet baby Josie’s baby blessing. She was surrounded by loving family and Bridger gave a beautiful blessing. We had a yummy meal together and it was a really nice time. We drove back to Idaho and spent the night at Kim and Monte’s. I read to the kids before they went to sleep and we are getting the hang of packing up and unpacking and sleeping in different places each night. 

That’s a good thing because we left Monday morning for Island Park to spend 2 nights at the Marriott and explore Yellowstone National Park. Kim followed us up there and stayed at her sister’s cabin which was only a few minutes away. She helped us know where to go to float down the river and drive us back up so we could do it again. Floating the river was on my Bucketlist and I’m so glad we figured out how to do it! It was so fun and one of our major memories, for sure. The water was clear and warm and the floats were perfect. I can’t wait to do it again! We ended the float right at our hotel and jumped into the hot tub with some hot chocolate before heading up to our room to shower and get ready for the play. 

I had an extra ticket to see The PrinceLESS Bride at the Yellowstone Playhouse (Formally Mack’s Inn where Shelley worked one summer and we saw her perform Into the Woods). I invited Kim to use Tanner’s ticket and I’m so glad she could come! We enjoyed dinner before the show started which was really yummy and the show was hilarious! It was a spoof on The Princess Bride and the man who owns, operates, and writes the scripts is a guy that Shelley knew that summer long ago and she was so embarrassed to admit that she made out with him! He was hilarious and Jack LOVED his character (a king but impersonating Donald Trump). We all enjoyed the show so much and I definitely want to do that again, too!

Tuesday morning we woke up super early, ate breakfast from the buffet in the lobby, and headed out for Yellowstone National Park! This day was highly anticipated and it did not disappoint! There was so much to see and the highlights were for sure seeing Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone Lake, and driving like a bat out of hell around the West side of the park when we accidentally made a wrong turn.  We saw it all and enjoyed a couple scenic picnic’s, too. My favorite was the lake side time when we felt like the only people on earth. My least favorite was wasting time back tracking and our $55 lunch which was a total rip off. Old Faithful was cool to witness and of course we couldn’t have done it without our trusty Shaka Guide!

We got back to West Yellowstone really late. It was dark but we were hungry so we ordered a pizza from Wild West Pizza before calling it a night. The kids were a little freaked out walking around West Yellowstone at night- we had to walk into a pizza joint/bar to use the bathroom and they were worried about “the drunks and tweakers”. (These people were no where to be found). 

The next morning, we took our time eating a yummy and gorgeously located breakfast and I let the kids relax while I packed up the car. It was WAY more crowded getting into Yellowstone this day which was unfortunate. (Why do people ever complain about crowds and prices at Disneyland??) But we made it through and stopped for a picnic lunch before headed out of Yellowstone at the South end and making our way through Teton National Park. 

Our favorite stop was Jenny Lake and I was happy to hear how the lake got her name. Back in the day, my roommates and I would always go to Beaver Dick Park near Rexburg and thought the name was so funny. But we learned from the Shaka Guide that Beaver Dick’s real name was actually Richard Leigh. He was a famous fur trapper and married a girl named Jenny. Together, they had 6 kids and were the cutest family. Everyone loved them and Jenny and Dick were even asked to lead an expedition through Yellowstone because they were such a knowledgeable couple in the area. Tragically, Jenny and all 6 children died when a smallpox epidemic swept the area after an infected man passed through. This was during Christmas of  1876. Later, he married a Shoshone woman whom he’d helped birth 16 year earlier. Her mom was in desperate straights during the delivery and without Beaver Dick’s help, they both would have died. So the chief of the tribe promised Dick that the baby would one day be his bride. Well, that worked out, I guess!

Jenny Lake is breathtaking and we enjoyed swimming and basking in the glory of our surroundings for a little while before hitting the trail again. We ended in Jackson Hole, WY and though we would have loved to stop and explore the town, there was super bad traffic so we trudged along. Throughout our 2 days exploring those 2 National Parks, we saw license plates from 44 states and 2 Canadian Provinces! Holy cow! It was fun to look at all the cars and add more states to our list. 

When we got back to Blackfoot, around 8:30 on Wednesday night, Monte made us some delicious crepes and we all crashed into bed. We slept in SO late the next day! I didn’t wake up until 10! It’s a good thing Travis Nelson agreed to pick up Tanner! By the time Tanner arrived, we were up and ready and so happy to see him! We did a great job exploring without him but it’s always better when we are all together. We quickly got ourselves organized and headed up to Rigby to play in the reservoir with Nicole and her kids. Kim brought Travis and Kaitlin’s kids because they both had to work so it was fun having lots of cousins to play with. And it was HOT so the lake felt really good. The kids kayaked and played on the stand up paddle boards. I inflated a couple of our tubes and Ella and I floated for a little while. As we were leaving, we ran into Tabi and Kayla Tayco! What are the odds?!? It was so good to see them, and Kayla’s new little baby, Lively. Tabi is due in 2 months!

We went back to Nicole’s for a yummy BBQ and I joked that it felt like I was on an all inclusive vacation with all the yummy meals we were getting. Again, it was so nice being all together and the kids had a blast running around in the summer’s afternoon glow. We stopped by Rupe’s for dessert because Marley was working and it was cute to see her and the ice cream was delicious. 

Friday, I wanted Tanner to be able to do the things in Idaho he wanted to do.  He has a hard time with that but luckily Travis Peterson made them a tee time and he was able to go golfing with both Travises and Monte. But not before ripping up all the carpet in the family room for Monte! Oh boy. While the boys played golf, Kim and I took Kaitlin’s boys and mine to the indoor gymnastics place that Nicole has access too. The kids ran and played for a couple hours and it was only tainted when Nicole discovered 2 mice in the toilet! Ew!

Tanner and Monte took Jack and McCoy to the dump to unload a bunch of carpet and junk and Kim and I met Kaitlin and Rupes for more ice cream. Yum. The boys met up with us and then Kaitlin took her boys home and Monte showed Jack how to shoot a gun and took Ella out to ride to ATV. I'm glad he got to spend a little one on one time with the kids before we left. We ended the day in Pocatello going bowling with Kaitlin and Travis and the boys. Apparently, Jack and Ella had never been bowling before and we had a lot of fun. Someday, we'll all go on a cruise together and it will be fantastic. We grabbed some Thai food on the way home and got to bed late, per the usual.

It's not Saturday and we didn't rush to get up or get going and hit the road around 10:30am. Kim and Monte were great to let us stay for a few nights and I hope they enjoyed having us. Maybe they'll come down for the MCO concert! We made a quick visit to see Kassidy and Bridger and then had an uneventful drive all the way home. 

This trip was long and exhausting but we made some pretty great memories. Jack loved the play at Yellowstone Playhouse and spending time with cousins, Rayleigh loved everything, and Ella loved playing with her little cousins and floating the river. I loved the time adventuring with my kids, checking off 2 more National Parks, and exploring new places together. I'm glad Tanner could join us for a couple days. Maybe next time he can be with us the whole time! 

Where to next?