Tifftown

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Family Reunion 2015

After a long drive through Montana and North Dakota, we finally made it to Minnesota. We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the family in the hotel lobby. So we snatched up someone to take a photo of the momentous occasion.

Wednesday started as a rainy day full of sleeping in followed by trampolining and shopping and then the big dinner at Kevin & Karin's house.

Scott explained some of Grandpa's military trappings to a Kevin & Hugh.

Dawn prepared an amazing gluten and dairy free blueberry tart for dessert.

Caleb & Callie are all grown up and full of fun ideas. Our kids are having a blast with them. I'm so excited they can meet.

We all kept Kevin company while he grilled for about 20 people!

Next we invaded the downstairs dining room. It was an impressive gathering. Everyone brought food to share. So delicious! But the best part was the company.

Here's Dawn's dessert.

Here is Kate with little Jay (age 2). And Kate will have a baby in October.

Brandon & Abby (Jay's parents) are on the end. What a fun group!

Karin plays grandma (Guaca?) to Evan and Jay.

After dinner we each painted a bowl. A little wine, music & good company. Fun bowls!

Amira took photos of everyone at the bowl painting. Caleb is goofy!

Rica, Caleb's girlfriend.

If you slap Scott on the back when he makes this face, it could stay that way forever!

More adventures tomorrow!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Cheesy Tourist Photo

Monday, July 6, 2015

Yellowstone Park, WY

After a couple hours drive through Idaho and the edge of Montana we arrived at the Madison Campground on the west side of Yellowstone. What a great campground! Shade, picnic tables, bear boxes, fire rings, flush toilets and dishwashing sink. (No showers though). And we did not see the mom or baby grizzly bear about which the Rangers warned us. Apparently she'd been through this campground three times since April.

We explored and played some cards and got a little slap happy at the 6,800 foot elevation.

The thunderstorm was polite enough to wait until after dinner and lasted quite a while. It was nice to be in a dry tent!

Now, although we stopped to see wildlife at Bear World in Idaho, we got the real deal in Yellowstone! This place is lousy with bison.

The park had amazing topography that changed at every turn. We saw colorful pots of bubbling water and mud everywhere. We also crossed the Continental Divide at over 8,500 feet.

Of course we stopped in to see Old Faithful! We had gotten there just after it went off. So, we spent the next 90 mins having a picnic, exploring and checking off state license plates in the parking lot.

Watching these guys hold this pose for about 15 mins while waiting for the geyser to go off was also quite entertaining. The dismount was good for a laugh.

Woo hoo!!! Old Faithful Rocks!

Small wild life on the way out of the park.

Rexburg, Idaho

Along our Wilhelm Summer 2015 Western States Tour, I stumbled upon an app called Roadside America which finds your location and points out quirky little places of interest and slices of Americana along the way.

Departing Idaho Falls, I found Yellowstone Bear World where we were "guaranteed" to see bears (deer, elk, rare white elk, bison, etc). Keep the windows up and doors shut at all times as you drive through this park. We saw a ranger vehicle with a completely mauled windshield.