Island Park, ID

The Bishop Family gathered in Island Park, Idaho in August from Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Utah. Scott's parents and the 5 brothers and sisters with families all bunked in a 25 person cabin. I had heard of Island Park only in the past few years and have since heard about it multiple times - it seems to be quite the destination. In fact, Sarah and her family were there just the week before us at their Croft family reunion. 

The city is about 30 minutes from West Yellowstone and is truly beautiful and relaxing.

We floated the Henry's Fork river. it was fairly shallow and bitterly cold. Took us about 3 hours to float the 5 miles of river but the whole family could enjoy. We saw a nest full of baby eagles and the others (not me boo!) saw an elk come right into the water to drink.

There was plenty of ice cream! Isn't that what makes for a successful summer vacation anyway?

We visited both Upper Mesa Falls and Lower Mesa Falls. Beautiful spots that reminded me of the power of a river to carve deep, lush canyons.

Maddy loved playing with cousins that she sees maybe once a year, twice if we're lucky. It's always fun for me to watch Scott interact with his family and to enjoy their company. I am so blessed to have such great in-laws - and to have learned about the game banana-gram! Between that and the slap game (and bloody knuckles for the grown ups), I was able to relax and recharge. Great vacation.

A spot of fishing, though not successful, was nonetheless enjoyable.

There were so many signs about this being bear country and in fact, at Sarah's cabin the week before a bear came knocking on the front porch. We kept our eyes peeled hoping to see one but never did.

So, when we drove past Bear World we decided to stop in for a bit. I figured that we might see one or two bears but was pleased with the huge number of them. There were also elk and deer, wolves and buffalo. They had a petting zoo and even a few amusement park rides as well.