Friday, May 8, 2015

Island Park May 2015

We've been anxious to get up to the cabin and go through the park, so last weekend we headed north. We always look forward to a trip to the cabin, but Jackson was especially excited this time to take his motorcycle and ride it there for the first time. 



We were lucky because all of the snow had melted, so he had a lot of riding options. It was really warm for Island Park for the beginning of May-- mid 60s, and it was so nice!

Bode loved the four-wheeler rides, of course. 



One of my favorite parts of the trip was a stop at Big Springs. I have avoided going here for the past few years because it is closed in the winter and in the summer it is always so crowded and overrun with seagulls. I've decided we went at the perfect time of year because we beat the summer crowds and had the entire place to ourselves. The fish were hungry and the seagulls hadn't shown up yet.



Hanging out at the cabin

On Saturday we drove into the park. My parents have told us about the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone for a long time and we wanted to go check it out and look for wildlife. 


We stopped in Mammoth for lunch

...and ice cream :)

Elk hanging out in Mammoth

We were really hoping to see a bear, but we didn't want to get our hopes up too high. Lucky for us, we spotted one not long after lunch on our drive to the Lamar Valley!

It was nice because it was far enough away that I didn't feel in danger, but close enough that we could see it fairly well (this pic is from my cell phone and zoomed in a little). 

Checking out the bear from the back of grandpa's truck

I took these with my nicer camera and zoomed in. 




I guess this mama black bear had two cubs with her, but we never saw them because they were hiding out in a tree. The boys (well, all of us!) thought it was so cool to see a bear in the wild.

The next morning we all took a ride together before packing up. 


Even Davis got to come along!

A short pit stop in Idaho Falls for a Model T ride with grandpa and then we headed for home. 

We already can't wait to go back!

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