Camping on the Salmon River

We met up with the Johnsons, Jess's bro's family, and Lee and Deb at Whiskey Flats campground on the Salmon River. There are only 4 spots at this campground, so we took over the whole thing. It was awesome!

I doubt anyone else would've been brave enough to camp by us, anyway. I mean, look at these renegades:

Everyone 12 and under was required to do the Klive Birthday Dip Challenge. They jumped in the freezing water and went clear under. Tukk and Klive even did 10 pushups in honor of Klive's double-digits day.

We even had a spa-worthy hot rock treatment for warming up after swimming in the cold water. 

Jess had a fishpond for the party. Even the teenagers had fun participating. 

Here are some of the fishpond prizes, worn with Tukk's usual flair for fashion. 

Rand didn't take his skeleton mask off the rest of the trip. He thinks it's the coolest.

We fished, threw rocks, tried unsuccessfully to catch crawdads, listened to Jess's talented family sing and play guitars and ukeleles and fiddles, taught the kids how to play solitaire, and snitched candy out of the tackle box candy trays Jess gave all the kids as party favors.

And we enjoyed the incredible sunsets... 😍😍😍

 

Shoshone Falls

After our Bear Tooth Pass road trip, I worked for a whole week before ditching out to go on another trip. I'm such an overachiever!

This time Kolby's family invited us along for Klive's birthday trip to Redfish Lake in northern Idaho. 

We took the long way up so we could stop by Twin Falls and drive through Sun Valley. 

Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls is pretty incredible. 

Definitely worth going the long way to see it. And now I've added a trip to Sun Valley to my bucket list, because I really need to go back  and spend more time there. 

 

Soda Break

 

What? Serial killers can't take time out for a cool, delicious drink on a hot summer day?

Caulder Finally Wanted a Souvenir

Sometimes, even when we're buying, Twist is only interested in a tiny spoon or giant pencil. He's just not really a souvenir guy. 

But this trip he actually wanted something. You'll never guess what it was...

Yep. A hoodie. I think they're like a security blanket for him. But at least now he has two he'll actually wear.

My Favorite Picture from Yellowstone

💗💗💗

The Tetons & Greys River

The last leg of our epic road trip was through the Tetons, down into Jackson, and camping on the Greys River.

I've seen these mountains quite a few times, but I'm amazed every time. 

We wanted to hike Jenny Lake, but there were too many people already on the trail, so instead we made breakfast at an overlook, and then Rand took us on a little hike. 

The scenery doesn't even look real.

We also thought about stopping in Jackson Hole for some more huckleberry ice cream (we might have a problem), but there were approximately 17 bajillion people in Jackson. There wasn't even open room on the sidewalks - it was just hordes of people packed in everywhere. 

Soooo.... we just kept driving. 

We drove up the Greys River canyon and found a beautiful spot to camp right next to the river.

Rand was so excited about throwing rocks in the river that he literally couldn't stop longer than 4 seconds for a picture. 

One picture....

Reaching for a rock 4 seconds later...

We had another campfire that night. Rand and Pa Babe spent about an hour gathering up firewood to make sure we had enough wood. 

We spent most of the next day just relaxing, making breakfast omelettes over the campfire in the toasters, playing blitz, and throwing more rocks. 

This kiddo was seriously in heaven. He had so many swollen mosquito bites that he was starting to look like Quasimodo, and he didn't even care. Being outside, putting wood on the fire, and throwing rocks is basically nirvana for him. 

Late in the afternoon we headed into Star Valley to see our friends the Collards. We stopped for more huckleberrry ice cream (okay, we definitely have a problem), then started making our way toward Utah. 

We spent the night in Ogden Canyon, another first for me, and headed home Saturday morning. 

We had so much fun. Redneck motorhome dreams really do come true!

Redneck Achievement Unlocked

After driving over Bear Tooth Pass, we got into Cody late one night and were too tired to try to find a camping spot, so we leveled up our redneck ranking and camped out in a Walmart parking lot.

It just felt right.

Central Yellowstone

After Bear Tooth Pass we drove over into Red Lodge, Montana. It's such a fun little town. We stopped at a candy shop and hunted through a souvenir shop for some bumper stickers for the motorhome. Then we had lunch at a little drive-in burger joint. We ate bacon cheeseburgers, French fries, and huckleberry shakes til we thought we were going to explode. 

It was amazing.

Rand got this cool hat for a souvenir. 

We spent that night in Cody, Wyoming, then headed back to Yellowstone the next morning. We went through the central portion this time. We saw some hot springs and Yellowstone Lake. 

I've always been fascinated by all the hot springs and mud pots here. I think they're so cool. Maybe the sulphur smell just reminds me of my childhood when Kolby was on his baked potato/boiled egg kick? Fact: Yellowstone's hot springs smell better than Kolby's butt after 2 solid years of eating that for dinner.

We pulled over to play in the lake for a bit. Rand's been trying really hard to learn how to skip rocks. He thinks Cole is the master of it, and he's totally impressed.

Then we drove and drove and drove and drooooooove to find a camping spot. Everything was full, because Wyoming has about 3 dispersed camping spots in the whole state. It's bananas. You can drive down an entire canyon of open area and only find 1 spot. 

We said some bad words, but finally found a spot right off the highway, behind a gravel hill, that we could call home for the night. We were able to have a campfire, though, and toast some PB&HH (peanut butter and huckleberry honey) sandwiches with Yaya and The Babe's fire toasters, so that's really all that matters. 

Bear Tooth Pass

The second leg of our adventure was driving Bear Tooth Pass in Montana.

It is so incredibly gorgeous.

We stopped on the way up to see this beautiful waterfall and river.

Then we headed up the pass. Look at these views.

This is at the very top. It's so windy. You feel like you're standing on top of the world.

I love love wildflowers. I can't believe these little guys can survive the wind and cold.

And the sky. Man... it was seriously breathtaking.

We drove down the other side and stopped at a view point.

There were a million chubby squirrels all over the place who've obviously been fed by humans a little too much.

We joined the jerk humans and shared some of our peanuts with them. 

Look at this chubby dude. He's so cute!

This place is amazing. I want to go back!