2 1/2 Weeks

First I have to say that usually we only visit Idaho for one week every summer so it was a real treat this year to be able to visit for 2 1/2 weeks! Spencer, Cooper & I left on Wednesday, July 14 and drove the Montana way. It's always beautiful but full of construction.

First Stop Wildhorse
We arrived at our first stop which was Wildhorse Campground located in the beautiful Copper Basin which is about 35 miles NW of my hometown. It is beautiful as I said and features a gathering of some of the Vaden clan (we are not allowed to call it a reunion). It features hiking, four wheeling, mosquitos, crafts (for kids & grown-ups alike), sleeping in tents (for those of us who don't have campers or motor homes--personally I like the tent), mosquitos, playing in the water (although this year it was too cold for jumping in the beaver pond). In otherwords it is a lovely time--despite the mosquitos.
Here's one of the crafts the kids did this year. They had a ball painting their blocks of wood and mod podging on paper (yes, you can still mod podge!). Doesn't Cooper look like he is trying to cheat off Alec??
Just a shot of how beautiful Wildhorse is. It is a beautiful valley with Wildhorse Creek running through it.

Spencer with Riley on the way back from our hike to the waterfall. We saw three of them on our hike.

Next Stop Yellowstone

After a few days at Wildhorse we went to Mackay where we showered, relaxed, Cooper & I played golf one morning and just hung out. We convincec Celiac to take a three day trip with us to Yellowstone. See her blog link for some of those details. She takes much better pictures than I. It was a lovely whirlwind trip--alot of driving but totally worth it. I hadn't been since I was a very little girl. You forget how beautiful and amazing it actually is.

Spencer & Cooper really did have a good time--despite what their faces might say otherwise.

The first night there we drove out of the park down to the Grand Tetons National park to stay in a "rustic cabin" (translation--no coffee maker or blow dryer in the rooms--oh how does one cope under those circumstances?) Here is a shot of the rustic (?) cabin.

Here is a shot of one of the two bedrooms we had in the rustic (?) cabin. Each of us had our own bed. It was quiet and serene in a beautiful setting. There was a scooter gang across the way in another cabin but they were tame. Notice the writing desk and there were about a bajillion towels we could use in case we need to shower several times in our overnight stay. All in all it was absolutely beautiful and I would stay there again in a heartbeat (in fact a few nights there would have been totally lovely, because we really didn't have time to explore the area much). Coulter Bay Cabins in the Grand Tetons in case you are wondering!

The next night? Well not so serene and peaceful. We decided to stay in West Yellowstone rather than drive the three hours home to my mom & dad's place--bad decision. Should have known it was a bad omen when they didn't have our reservation (despite my spelling my e-mail twice over the phone). The guy at the desk really was nice and tried to help. He had one room he had "saved" for us and accommodations being scarce this time of year in W. Yellowstone we took it (ask me about the hotel we almost got in Big Sky Montana by accident some time). Anyway, when we got the the room, this is what we found.

Air conditioning with a view...straight out to the pool!

Air conditioning installed by real professionals. And boy did it work well. NOT. By 11pm we were roasting so Celiac called and asked for a fan. They gave us another room instead (someone hadn't shown)

I guess cleaning thouroughly is not a high priority at the West Yellowstone Inns & Suites.

The next stop was actually river rafting in Riggins, but I really didn't take any pictures there other than Brian trying out his new birthday raft in the pool. So,

NEXT STOP MACKAY

Here's just a few shots from our Mackay visit.

Mowing grandpa's lawn (actually for Cooper the blades were not in operation)

The cousins on a "scavenger hunt" that required photographic proof.

LAST STOP REDFISH LAKE

We tagged on with Randy's family for a visit to Redfish Lake which is located near Stanley Idaho in the Sawtooth mountains. We had pretty good weather in between the thunder storms that rolled over the lake. We did manage to get in some good water fun.

Tucker wakeboarding at Redfish Lake.

Dennis waterskiing at Redfish

Me before waterskiing at Redfish. I was just thrilled that Icould still do it! This was just before my second run that day. I did pay for it the next day (or two) in soreness!

Two & half weeks of absolute fun. Love my family, love my home state. Loved the whole trip!