Mack's Inn and Yellowstone, 2023

So our trip to Idaho this year was a bit different - just four of us went. Jonas was still in South Carolina and Emmy had a cross-country camp that she didn't want to miss (and it was good she didn't for many reasons...). But we wanted to take Miles up there one last time before his mission, and it would be a good vacation for the rest of us as well! My parents joined us up there and that was awesome. 

We got up to Mack's on Sunday evening. On Monday, Ben and I went for a run to start out our day. Then the four of us rode our bikes to Johnny Sack's cabin. As always, it was gorgeous. Riding our bikes made for a fun trip, too. My parents ended up there, too, and so mom joined us in the cabin. On our way back, we saw 3 moose - a mama and two babies. Awesome.

After lunch, we headed out on a float trip down the Henry's Fork river. I could do this everyday! It's just so great and so gorgeous. We saw another moose and one baby. :)

We ended the day with a yummy dinner (prepped by my mom and grilled by Ben) and chillin' at the cabin.

On Tuesday, we all headed to the park. My parents did their thing and we did our thing. We brought our bikes along and that was something fun and different! We headed to one of our favorite spots: Imperial Geyser, via the Fairy Falls hike. We parked at Fountain Flats trailhead and biked to the Fairy Falls trail. From there, we locked up our bikes and hiked the 5-mile roundtrip of Fairy Falls and Imperial Geyser. I love this hike and the geyser! The waterfall is pretty, too!

After the hike, Miles and I headed over to the Grand Prismatic Overlook because why not? Lucy and Ben hopped on their bikes and headed back to the trailhead/car because I guess they had a reason why not...

After that, we headed to Lone Star Geyser. It's one we discovered a couple years ago and some day we might actually time it right to see it erupt! But it was one where we could ride our bikes and it's just a beautiful trail/old road. It makes me happy! :) This geyser goes off about every 3 hours. It doesn't list it's prediction anywhere . . . but there is a log at the geyser. Which told us we had missed the eruption by 30 minutes. Dang! We weren't going to hang out there for 2 1/2 hours, so that was a bummer. But it's still a beautiful trail in and a cool looking geyser spout! (My brilliant idea: have the log-book at the beginning of the trail so people can gauge the time better...)

We finished the day at the park by stopping in at Old Faithful. The timing wasn't going to work to see OF erupt, but we did get huckleberry ice cream at the lodge - but, sadly, it was gross. Ha. 

We made our way out of the park and visited a few stores in West Yellowstone. We then met up with my parents and had our traditional and delicious dinner at The Gusher. Followed by the always-enjoyed show at The Playmill. We watched Beauty and the Beast and it was really great! (At least my family thought so - not sure about my parents . . . ??) We got home close to midnight - so a long, but fantastic, day.

Wednesday the weather started turning south (actually, on Monday night there was like the biggest thunder/rainstorm I had ever heard - but all cleared by the next morning). We had planned on a chill day at the cabin and so that's pretty much what we did! We did the fire tower hike and while I enjoy the hike, I do not climb the tower. Well, I did like the first two sections and then that's good for me. Ben, Miles, and Lucy enjoyed their climb and view at the top. Fun for them. :)

Crazy kids - and Ben! I am sure Uncle Randy is still disappointed in me that I don't climb it. Oh well, ha!

The rest of the day we sat around the cabin, painted these alphabet blocks I was doing for a friend's baby, watched a movie, ate dinner, etc.

My mom, after playing a couple of games earlier in the day with my dad, played some Scrabble with Miles and Lucy. Good times.

Thursday was another park day and we started early! We left by 6am so we could get in to Hayden Valley early and see all the animals . . . Usually, especially when early, you can catch at least a couple hundred buffalo, maybe a bear or two, and perhaps even some wolves. Well.... we saw a total of 3 buffalo! Ha! It was actually pretty rainy and so not sure if that's why. But it was so weird to not see the herds out. So that was a bit disappointing, but it's still Yellowstone and still gorgeous and so it wasn't a total bust. Plus, as we were leaving Hayden Valley and heading to the Lake Lodge (to get some rain ponchos for our hike...), we did see a mama bear and two cute and bouncy cubs. So that was cool! 

While we only saw three buffalo, but this one was pretty great! He had stopped traffic, of course, as he was just leisurely walking down the road. It was about as close as we've been to one - and thankfully we were in our car!

We had to wait a few minutes for the lodge store to open, but they finally did and we got our rain ponchos (and maybe a few other things) and headed to our next adventure for the day: Mt. Washburn. It's the tallest peak in Yellowstone. We've never hiked it. It wasn't ideal weather at all - heavy clouds and rain, but it was still beautiful and quite an adventure hiking in the fog and all! You are supposed to have this amazing 50-mile view up top, but we were socked in by clouds. There is a weather station and fire tower up top and so we were able to get some cover and dry off a bit before heading back down (It was probably 45 degrees at the top that day). The wildflowers were incredible and just the whole scenery was beautiful. Rolling green hills. We'll definitely be doing this again and hoping for clear weather! But it was an adventure we won't forget!

We did make one stop at the Mud Volcano loop - it's always a fun one! So many oddities - love Yellowstone.

Now on to the hike...

We ended our day at Mammoth. The kids and I hiked the big loop, while Ben got a nice hour-nap in the car. :)

Mammoth is so unique!

We then just made the drive out of the park and back to Mack's. My mom had dinner all ready for us and we watched a movie that night. Friday we basically just got up and packed up and helped clean up. It was another dreary day... We left a couple of hours before my parents, but they beat us home because we had a few stops on our way: first, at the Army Surplus store outside of Idaho Falls; second, to visit with the Joe Maxwells as they were in Pocatello helping get Sam situated as he is attending a master's program there; and, third, in Layton to pick up a gift from Lila to Lucy. Unfortunately, Lila forgot to leave it on the porch and no one was home. Haha. 

Joe, Grace (in BYU's nursing program), Sam, Nicholas (10th grade), and us. :) We were missing our kids, plus Emma (at BYU) and Brittany (taking the picture).

As Ben just said while I've been typing this up: "That was a great trip and I wish we were still there." Yep, that's about how we all feel about Mack's Inn/Yellowstone! :)