Island Park, Idaho

After returning from the cruise, we got settled in and then the next day started heading east. Finally, headed toward home!

We actually made a few stops along the way to Island Park. We spent the night in Spokane, Washington and took a short trip in the car over to Post Falls, ID. We found a park by a river that was crystal clear and it had a swimming area so we took the kids down there to check it out.

The kids and I waded out knee-deep in the water and I asked Tom to take our picture thinking that would make a cute picture for the blog. This is what I got:

Honest, we're in the water.

Of course, I didn't know this was my cute photo op until we were back in the RV. Bless his heart. (Love you, honey!)

Anyway, our route also took us through the eastern part of Montana. What a beautiful state Montana is. We spent a night in Butte, MT. Butte's not so beautiful but it was a good stopping point at the time.

When we finally made it to the Yellowstone area, we were a day ahead of schedule so we found a little campground in Island Park, ID called the Red Rock RV Resort. This place was next to Henry's Lake out in the middle of nowhere.

The lady who owns it, told us to be careful when we drove in because a bull moose and his family were living down the road you take to the campground. We really hoped to see them but alas, they were hiding out too well for us to see.

There were cows roaming around everywhere. I guess you would call it "free range beef". When we were driving down the road, Tom pointed to something along the road and all I could see was 3 big black butts walking into a shady area. I thought they were moose and I got so excited that I almost flipped the camera out the window! Tom looked at me kind of funny and then I realized that they weren't moose, just cows. He started to laugh because he realized what I did. Now, whenever Tom or the kids see a cow, they say, "Look, Mommy, it's a moose!"

The campground owner was so helpful and really encouraged us to look around the area. We went to Big Springs and saw the largest natural spring in the US. There were suppose to be large trout that live under the bridge. She said to bring bread and feed them but we only saw 2 fish there. Another woman said this is the second year that there have hardly been any fish around. (Maybe they all died from eating too much bread.)

A muskrat swam up and took our bread though along with some seagulls.

A muskrat at Big Springs in Idaho.

Kaitlyn & Andrew feeding the birds and a muskrat.

At Big springs there was a small log cabin built by Johnny Sack, a man who settled in the area in the 1800's. Johnny built everything himself, even his furniture. When you see the craftsmanship that went into the place and then find out that he was only 4'11" tall and he logged every tree by himself, you're just amazed at what this guy did.

Johnny Sack's cabin (upper left) and the spring house (lower right).

His kitchen stove had the shortest legs he could find.

Andrew is as tall as Johnny Sack.

After our visit to the spring and touring the cabin, we headed over to Mesa Falls to, well, see the falls. We walked down the path to the overlook and sure enough there was a snake sunning itself in the middle of the path.

No one saw the snake until I started screaming. Yes, I started screaming and jumping. I guess I get that honestly. My mom couldn't even see a snake on TV without freaking out. The kids can do a pretty accurate imitation of me the next time you see them.

After I scared the snake away with my little freak out, it was funny. Although I was shaking like a leaf the entire way back to the car. Tom wishes he could have gotten that on video. Not only would he have a video to laugh at the rest of his life, he is certain it would have won $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos.

Still laughing at Mommy and the snake.

As if that wasn't enough fun for the day, that evening we headed to a local rodeo up the road from the campground. It was actually a summer riding camp for kids. They got to show off their new riding skills and then they had local cowboys who rode some bulls. It wasn't the PBR but it was fun to watch. Now Kaitlyn thinks she should go away to riding camp next summer.

There was a large family from England there to watch the rodeo too. I had fun people watching and listening to them talk in their British accents. I told Tom it was like being at the rodeo with Harry Potter and his friends. LOL

Relaxing at the rodeo.

A bull rider at the rodeo.

The campers putting on a show at the rodeo.

Unfortunately, we were only able to stay at the Red Rock RV Park one night but this is somewhere we would come back to in a heartbeat. At night, there aren't any lights in the campground or the surrounding area so you can see a ton of stars and based on all of the pictures hanging up in the office, Henry's Lake is full of fish just waiting to be caught. We'll be back soon.

Our view from the campground.