Comet Neowise

Our family decided to take a trip to northern Idaho at the end of July and we used Island Park as our pit stop on the drive up. The night we stayed in Island Park, we drove out to the meadows near my parents' cabin to see if we could see Comet Neowise. We had the perfect night for it! It was clear, no moon, and very little light pollution. We were able to see the comet really well and it was so cool! It's amazing how many stars you can see in Island Park. My dad and I had fun taking a stab at astrophotography and propped our cameras up on the hood of his truck for the long exposures. We were really excited when some of the shots turned out! It is a night I will fondly remember for the rest of my life, I think. 

Sawtell is on the bottom left of the photo with the little red dot on top.

Fourth of July 2020

All Independence Day events in Idaho Falls were cancelled this year, so we headed straight up to Island Park to celebrate with my parents and with the Heinholds. I am so grateful we have the cabin as a place to escape-- especially this year! 

My dad recently bought a few kayaks and we took them out almost as soon as we made it to the cabin. Sean, Jackson, Bode, and I floated down Henry's Fork and it was so fun! We all loved it and it was such a beautiful night. We even saw a moose and bald eagle.

We had such a great time, Sean, Jackson, and I decided to wake up early the next morning and go kayaking again on Cliff Lake. It was such a gorgeous morning. We had the entire lake to ourselves, and the water was glass. We had fun paddling around some of the inlets and we saw several bald eagles. 

Bald eagle

The color of the water is my favorite.

We spent the rest of the day in Yellowstone. It was nice because it didn't feel quite as busy as normal during the summer/holiday, though we did notice license plates from all over the United States. We kept track of how many different state plates we saw and we saw almost 40 of 50 states throughout the day! We took the Artist Paint Pots trail and then drove over to Mammoth for lunch. We stopped at a little hike on our way out of the park Sean has always wanted to check out called Harlequin Lake.

The lily pads on Harlequin Lake were in bloom with big yellow flowers and it was so pretty!

The next day, on the Fourth of July, we decided to hike to Whits Lake and Upper Whits Lake. It is one of our favorite family hikes. 

The kids loved hearing about my dad and his friends burying a time capsule somewhere around this spot in the 1960s. One of these days we'll go try to find it!

We ended the day watching fireworks at Island Park Reservoir. The moon was the biggest full moon I have ever seen that night! 

A few more pictures from the weekend

Catching frogs at the pond

As I said, I am so grateful we have the cabin as a place we can escape and visit whenever we want. It has always been a special place to us, but this year it has also been a refuge and lifeline and I feel very, very fortunate my parents have provided this happy place for us.