Welcome Scouts!

The scouts from our home ward came to Island Park for their high adventure this year.  While they did not stay with us, we were able to support them a bit. They floated the river twice,

fished,

went into YNP, and ....

enjoyed cooking by their leaders Brad and Todd.

New Paint for the Old Tub

While in West Yellowstone last week we wandered through The School Room, a lovely store full of interesting things to fill your house or cabin with.  They had two claw foot tubs as decorations filled with pillows and blankets for sale.  I loved the color they had painted the outsides and decided to try that on our tub.  

I figured it couldn't look any worse than the lousy wall paint that someone had painted it many years ago.

Then I decided maybe I was wrong about that...

Once it was finished I decided I did like it better than the way it was before

Kelsey and Chelsea's visit

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting our daughter Kelsey and her friend Chelsea, and our two grandsons, Jack and Jackson.  

They walked along the nature trail,

where Jackson found and took very good care of a wild strawberry,














and enjoyed a campfire.

The boys each caught fish.

and rode the ATV.  Saturday they went into the Park.  It was a very nice visit.

A Four Moose Walk

This morning Brian and I went for a walk.  It was a long walk as we looked for the elusive moose.  Just as we came back in sight of the cabin we spotted a cow and calf on the trail.

She really wanted to be where we were standing and so went around us.

While watching them we could hear crashing in the trees behind us and then heard splashing in the river.  These two were coming towards us.  When they saw us they turned and ran off into the woods where they had come from.

We continued watching the cow calf pair until they disappeared.

Fourth of July Party at Cray's

We spent the evening of the Fourth of July at Cray's wonderful cabin.  Lots of food, friends, and fun.













For the fireworks several of us launched boats and canoes to watch them on the water.  I didn't get many pictures, but here's what I did.  A great time was had by all.

After the fireworks they shot off 'reservation' fireworks, those purchased on the reservation. 

Visit from Brynne's family and a new road at the boat launch!

Brynne, Ivy, Spencer, and Livy, our neighbors from home, were up visiting their family and wanted to float the river.

Ivy is the one in the pink chair.  She was pulled along by one of the kayaks.  There was some question as to whether they would make it under the bridge okay, but as you can see they did.

On our way out of the boat launch we were thrilled to see that the road has been repaired!

I wish I had taken a picture of it last year.  It had worn down badly and had huge potholes that were two feet deep.  A car could lose a bumper on that short piece of road.  The truck and trailer had an awful time negotiating the holes.

There are even drainage pipes under the road.

Chad Bauer, owner of Mack's Inn got some volunteer help to rebuild the road and they just finished yesterday.

 What a great thing for everyone! Thank you, Chad!

Evening ATV Ride to Two Top

Tonight three of us went on an ATV trip to Two Top Mountain.  I had not been there in 35-ish years, and have been looking forward to this for a long while.  Brian and his friend Brent, drove and I rode on the back of Brian's.

 The smell and sight of the flowers in the meadows on the way up was amazing.  The views from the top were a little hazy from fires in Oregon, but breathtaking nonetheless.

  

Geocache under the rock

As I wandered around at the end of the trail, which actually ends before reaching either of the two tops, I stumbled upon a geocache.  When we opened it up there was a bit of history.



There was a nice picture of several people in their riding gear with someone who had since died.  There was a real nice monument to his memory not far from where the geocache was stowed.  His name was Brad Hill.

What a great place for a memorial.  Very thoughtful of people who miss him.  A few minutes of searching on google yielded nothing to tell me about this man.  He was 51.  A mystery for now.

Family Reunion of trees

 On the way back down we saw several groups of pine trees which appeared to be multi-generational.  The ones in the very center were the tallest and some were dead, with a circle around them of shorter trees, encircled around the bottom by little trees.  In between the circles there were trees of intermediate heights.  They looked like they were having a family reunion.