Dinner at Elk Creek Ranch

Tonight we came into Island Park at dinner time, so rather than open another can of chili, we went to dinner at Elk Creek Ranch.

The lodge sits on the Buffalo River.  There are some darling little cabins for rent.  The lodge has a kitchen, dining room, and a lovely living room that serves as the other dining room. 

The Lodge

 The living room is furnished with beautiful furniture and a nice collection of trophies.

The menu is determined by the night you are there.  We were there on a Monday so prime rib was on the menu.  Potatoes and honey glazed carrots were the sides.  The lemonade was wonderful! It was only slightly sweetened with sugar so it was good and tart.  There were sugar packets at the salad bar for coffee if you chose to sweeten it up more.

Apple pie was for dessert.  We took it home for later.






Here is the weekly menu.

Monday  - Prime Rib
Tuesday - Salmon
Wednesday - 10 oz. Rib-eye Steak
Thursday - Turkey Dinner
Friday - Pork Tenderloin
Saturday - Tenderloin Steak
Sunday - Country Fried Chicken

Reservations are required.  Chef David answers the phone to take your reservation.  Brian says he is funny to talk to.  208.558.7404

We will be back.

Cousins Camp Goes Home

This morning all Brian's cousins went home with their Angel Mother and Auntie, Stacy.  We were sad to see them go and I heard through the grapevine that at least one was sad to leave us.  We sure had a great time getting to know them them better, and wish them safe travels on their way back to Utah and California.

The Rest of Our Day

Joey wrote his first postcard today.  He mailed it on our way to go swimming in the lake.  It was to his mother.  Awww....

 

Joey's front flip

 Then we went off to West Yellowstone for ice cream and shopping.  

While we were there, each cousin picked out two postcards.  One was to send to himself or herself, and one to send to anyone else they wanted to.  When we got home, they wrote their postcards.  

Then I had them fill in an empty United States map with all the states they could remember from our license plate game we played while we were in YNP.  They had filled out one before we went to the park so I was anxious to see if our game improved their knowledge of US geography.  All the kids improved tremendously, with the exception of RJ, who knew them all before we went into the park!

Danny and Grace

Olivia

Wood Movers

After breakfast today we enlisted the cousins' help in moving wood that was stacked against the back of the cabin into the crawl space.

It was quite a job and they were amazing helpers!  

 

They all worked hard and happily.  We moved about a cord of wood in about an hour.  Uncle Brian and I couldn't have done this job without your help.  Thanks, guys!

More Early Morning Fish

RJ - the mighty fisherman

Brian took the boy cousins fishing again this morning.  (Apparently some of the cousins could not wake up and were not happy later on.)  RJ caught another one today.  The other day he caught one that was tagged. We have not ever found a fish with a tag before so that was pretty exciting.

Then Brian and RJ cooked the fish.  Joey and I made scrambled eggs and we all had a wonderful breakfast.  Thanks kids!

Happy children, yummy fish!

Cousins Camp Goes to Yellowstone

After breakfast today we took Brian's cousins to Yellowstone. They came up to visit with Aunt Stacy.  Thanks, Auntie!

We lots of beautiful birds, pretty scenery, and geysers, but no large animals!

Brian and his cousins wistfully wishing at Firehole Swimming Hole.

We had lunch at Whiskey Springs picnic ground and then went on to Old Faithful.

 We visited the Old Faithful Inn.

Then we saw Old Faithful erupt.  The children were not exactly impressed, sad to say.








But they liked splashing in the Firehole River best of all.

Tired kiddos.