Fishing at Cave Lake

 After the race, we wandered along the beach at Cave Lake. Some nice guys from Las Vegas were fishing and let Desert Boy reel one in. He was so excited!

 Desert Boy was intrigued with the whole process.

 Like the duck in the background?

 Here he is with the fish.

 The hook was in pretty deep, so it took some serious plier work to get the hook out.

 Don't you love Desert Boy's expression?

 Next it was Jenna's turn.

She also had a great expression that cracked up the guy.

We really appreciate them taking the time to share their fishing experience with the kids. They caught their limit fairly quickly. We're going to have to go back and give it a try some time. Apparently Zeke's Powerbait is the magic tool.

A Walk in the Woods

Shoes? Check.
Cameras? Check.
Water bottles? Check.
LOTS of snacks? Check.
Pirate gear? Check.
Princess paraphanelia? Check.
Train sounds? Check.
We were ready to go hiking, a little walk in the woods.

 I was on the lookout for photos for a photo challenge, with this week's theme being fruit and flowers. I found some Oregon grape (Mahonia repens) berries.

 Desert Boy had expressed some interest in taking photos, so I let him use my old camera. Desert Girl just wanted a snack.

 Redroot buckwheat (Eriogonum racemosum), one of the prettiest late summer flowers.

 Our hike suddenly got exciting when we found we could eat some of nature's bounty. The wild raspberries were delicious.

 A butterfly landed on my shirt. It turned out to be a Pine White.

 The currants were at their peak, and the kids quickly learned how to forage for them.

 Yum!

 I saw this dragonfly (or is it a damselfly?) and that made me take the photo, but I didn't notice the spider dangling underneath till later.

 We made it to our destination, a bridge where the kids snacked and spent twenty minutes throwing sticks into the water. They really didn't want to leave, but finally conceded it would be okay as long as they had hiking sticks.

 The sun peeked out from the storm clouds and made the mountain mahogany seeds glow.

 The trees look so cool!

Here are the kids sharpening their wood pirate and princess knives. They made up lots of games on the hike back, which made me delighted as in the past I've had to make up games for them. They also thought it was lots of fun to run down the trail, and Desert Girl would yell out, "Running," and then take off. They already want to hike again today, so I think that means we had a successful day.

Catching Crawdads

 I forgot to mention in my past post that one of the highlights of the swimming was catching crawdads. With the extremely low water levels, plenty of mud was exposed, along with holes that the crawdads like to hide in. The kids quickly found their favorite spots and started catching them.

Desert Boy wasn't so sure about actually picking up one of the crawdads with his bare hands. He tried using the shovel method, but didn't have much success. The convince-a-cousin-to-pick-it-up method worked for awhile, but eventually he was on his own, and had to give it a try.

He doesn't look too sure of himself, does he? Probably for good reason. I don't consider crawdads to be particularly appetizing creatures--by any definition!

Nevertheless, he did it. He was really proud of himself.

He loaded it into a bucket and during a weak moment, I let him convince me to bring it home. Yep, we had a pet crawdad. Fortunately I get to use the word "had." Past tense. Our new pet survived a few hours. We didn't hold a burial for it. In fact, I'm not sure where it went. Maybe I don't want to know. I'm just thinking that one pet crawdad for the summer has met our quota of extraneous pets, and now we can go back to enjoying life with our awesome dog, Henry. He's a wee bit more appealing than the crawdad.

Day 3 - More Yellowstone

 Later in the afternoon we encountered a bear jam--a traffic jam caused by folks who wanted to see a bear.

My brother Ed took the wheel so I could hop out and see the bear.

 A grizzly was lunching nearby.

 We later encountered another bear jam. I wondered how fast the bicyclist could leave the scene if the mama grizzly got mad at him and charged.

We were hungry so we stopped at a picnic area and made dinner. We had the picnic area to ourselves. If you're ever in Yellowstone and everything seems crowded, try a picnic area. It might just be a quiet spot.

 From there we headed to Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest one in the park. I love it; it seems so otherworldly. The evening light made the Porcelain Basin seem even starker.

 The kids did awesome walking the boardwalk. I think Desert Boy walked about five miles that day between the bear hike and the geyser basin.

 The kids saw their first geyser--Constant Geyser. They didn't know what to think.

 Desert Boy was very curious about all the dead trees.

 It was really nice having my brother along, and the kids appreciated having their uncle joking with them.

Ah, this was the quintessential Yellowstone day: wildlife, traffic jams, geysers, and a feeling of serenity.

Day 3 - The Bear Hike

 Part of the Yellowstone Fish Crew reunion was a hike to an old bear den led by the park's bear biologist. We headed out on a trail and enjoyed some great views.

 Desert Girl did a little hiking with her new friend Josie.

Then, all of a sudden, the folks ahead of us got off the trail and waved us off. We had an inkling of what might be up ahead.

 A bear! Actually, two bears, a mom and her cub, were walking down the trail towards us. We moved well off the trail to give them plenty of room.

 I was grateful for my new camera lens with more zoom and for post-processing cropping!

 The bears were spell-binding, and we watched them for quite awhile.

 The little one wanted to get a better look at what was going on so stood up several times.

 Mom went back to eating, but the young'un kept an eye on us.

Finally they meandered out of sight, and we continued our hike to the bear den.

 The den was under a tree, a shallow hole. Desert Boy climbed into it.

 The kids thought it was pretty cool. I was surprised by how close to the surface the den was. It didn't seem like it would give all that much protection in the winter. The bear must have made it, though, as it wasn't inside!

On the hike back, my former boss took Desert Boy, which was a welcome relief. Desert Boy was a demanding train, so it was nice to get a little break.

We all enjoyed the spectacular views of Yellowstone. We saw lots of other hikers on the trail, soaking in the beautiful day.

Day 2 - To Yellowstone

 We picked up my brother Ed from the airport the afternoon of Day 1 and proceeded to head up the country. It wasn't too long till we were tired and stopped for the night. The next day we proceeded up I-15, stopping at a rest stop in Idaho that promised a geologic site. Well, that rest stop should have given their geologic site much bigger notice. It had a mile-long geologic trail through Hell's Half Acre, a neat lava field about 20 miles south of Idaho Falls.

We were the only ones on the lava flow trail, which was paved and easy walking. Although we did see a family do some geocaching at the picnic bench right at the beginning of the trail. We might have to give that a try on a future vacation.

 The kids weren't real enthusiastic hikers, but they did love the rocks. They had to choose their two favorite rocks. That caused a real dilemma.

Then it was more driving, with great scenery, like the west side of the Tetons as we approached West Yellowstone.

 We were only a few miles into the park when we had our first animal sighting--some elk in the river.

 We stopped to see a hot spring, which was fortunately uncrowded despite it being a weekend.

 Then we headed north for a fish crew reunion. One of the National Park jobs I held before I moved to the Great Basin was at Yellowstone, on the fish crew. I hadn't seen some of these folks for many years, and it was so nice to catch up with them. The kids had fun with the other kids there, and one of the highlights was roasting giant marshmallows and making s'mores.

 Desert Girl did her best to contain the mess.

 How much fun can you have with s'mores?

A lot!

We posed for a photo. I love how all the kids are holding hands. And the dogs just couldn't resist being in the photo.

It was a wonderful summer evening, and just the start of our fun adventures in Yellowstone.