Thunderbirds

 The US Air Force puts on an air show during Frontier Days. This year marked their 63rd year. Unfortunately, everyone else was busy traveling, working or sleeping;) ....

but it was fun to have a little date with Emmrey.

 The show was at LCCC and they provided a shuttle so you didn't have to deal with traffic and parking. I was so glad we chose that route because it was crazy with people.

The show was supposed to start at 9:30, but ended up being delayed until 11 for a weather watch. It was really cloudy that morning and they had to make sure it was safe. Since we had shuttled over, we couldn't really leave, so we just hung out for an hour and a half. Once the clouds cleared and the sun peaked out the show was on!

The sun felt great, but it made it hard to see the jets when they were right above you.

Because you could hear them before you could see them, it made it tricky to get any great pictures. Plus ... those Thunderbirds are so fast. I wish that I would have been prepared for the initial test run because that one flew the lowest right over our heads.

We loved the show and Emm couldn't stop talking about it. It was pretty cool! We grabbed some lunch and then headed for home. About half way home the sky darkened and it just started pouring buckets. I'm talking serious business where you couldn't see in front of you. The picture looks like nothing, but I promise it was not safe! We pulled off the interstate along with tons of other cars and waited until it let up.... crazy stuff!

Backpacking Twin Lakes

There are so many things I dislike about the girls growing up. One of the perks that makes it not completely awful is that we can sneak away once in a while and they are independent enough to manage without us. Mark and I did just that for a quick backpacking trip.

We explored Twin Lakes in the Snowy Range

It was definitely a more mild hike than Mark would have chosen. 

My body wasn't up for anything too strenuous.

We set up camp on a ridge above the lake. It was so relaxing .... chatting while we ate our tasty backpacking meals.

Mark did some fishing 

I did some reading while trying to avoid insanity from the mosquitos. I had zero shame in wearing this screen and was glad we had it ... the wet year made them almost unbearable!! 

 but ... it also made the wildflowers pretty incredible

The evening was calm and quiet with only two other campers in the area

 I woke in the middle of the night to lightening and by morning it was a constant drizzle. We stayed in the tent hoping it would clear.

It did for a short stint. Barely long enough for Mark to go down to the lake for a few casts

view from the lake when the storm rolled in

When we finally accepted that it wasn't going to improve, we decided to head out earlier than planned.

 It was short but sweet. Love spending time with my best friend!

West Yellowstone '18

After our hike we made it to West Yellowstone just in time to get ready for the festivities. 

The Grand Marshal of the parade!!

We sat at the beginning of the parade route so we were able to cut down to Pete's for some pizza before the parade had made it to the end of the route. 

We got a table right away ... a rare occurrence. 

We walked the streets a while before heading to the park for Frisbee and the concert. SLAMABAMA was back again this year!

Waiting for the fireworks ...

Being the cruel parents we are, we planned an early morning trip back into the park. We knew it would warm up and didn't want to hike when it was too hot. Our destination was Sentinel Meadows. When we pulled up there was only one other car in the parking area.

sunblock is a must

The hike was fairly flat, hot and so bug infested!! We could not hold still or we got bit do death. We were literally beating the person in front of us to keep the bugs away. 

The trade off for the tree-lined bug parts of the trail, was the sun-blazin' exposed parts. 

approaching the three sentinels

If I am being honest, it was a pretty miserable hike! Another time of year there would probably be more to appreciate.

We had lunch at Nez Perce and enjoyed a much needed cool off in the creek.

We also made a stop at Old Faithful for some ice cream. That place was nuts and there were lines for ice cream like we had never seen before!

There were several hours in between of exploring and getting cleaned up before we went looking for dinner. After a lot of back and forth, we settled on Taqueria Malverde. 

I thought it was strange that my burrito said "with fries" ... an odd side dish. When it came out I was even more surprised to see that the fries were not on the side. It was actually really delicious ... and super unhealthy too;)

We did a little window shopping and Emm ended up spending a few bucks on this guy .... "Skeeter" (named in honor of our hike earlier)

We surprised the girls with tickets to Newsies at the Playmill. 

The show was great ... the theater was a hot box!

We headed for home on Friday. Mark was feeling really cheated from the lack of fishing, so we stopped stopped near Moran and fished Pacific Creek.

Emm kicked butt on this outing!

I think Kars caught a few, but she was mostly off doing her own thing.

Bay had a little luck too .....

Mark spends most of his time trying to ensure everyone has success, but he always manages to get in a few casts.

Split rock provided a nice little break when the driving became too much! 

Sunlight Cabin 2018

We left Bear Lake and headed straight to the cabin at Sunlight for our annual Yellowstone loop.

It was evening by the time we arrived, so after some "housekeeping"(it's definitely a work cabin;) we got started on our campfire pizzas.

Because we had been on the road so much the days before, we decided to just take it easy the second day. The water was COLD and the outside temp wasn't as warm as years before so these two were the only ones who braved the floating.

Emm couldn't get any more takers despite her attempts;)

"FREE TUBING AFTER LUNCH"

Kars did quite a bit of fishing. She gets more and more independent about it and really just likes to be left alone for the most part.

They were trapping bears in the area, so we stayed pretty close to home. You never know what you might find along the beach ... a version of a foam hand🤣

We relaxed A LOT ... which was great. Bailee and I got some reading in ....

Mark had hoped to spend the third day fishing in the Beartooths, but the little rain storm prevented that. Instead we played games ...

Watched movies/episodes ...

And later when it cleared, we made our foil dinners and enjoyed some time outside!

It's become a bit of a tradition to take a pic in front of the cabin before we leave. It's funny how an old (kinda smelly) structure can become so meaningful. 

This place holds a lot of special memories for us.

We headed into the park for a little exploring and hiking. We saw 5 bears within about ten miles of each other. In all our Yellowstone years, we have never witnessed a scene like this. A black bear under a tree with a carcass ... then another black bear (blonde) sniffs out the kill from up on the hill. We watch with a crowd as they get closer and closer together... and then a chase ... right across the road where we are all parked and up the other hillside. We were a safe distance, but man it was CRAZY! It's pretty entertaining to listen to all the commentary of ordinary folks who suddenly become experts when observing wildlife. The funniest was this cute Indian lady who repeats "don't run, don't be afraid,  they are in their natural element" as she is scurrying for her car;)

Just as our adrenaline settled a bit, we drive around the corner and Kars spots this cub in a tree. We see mom down below. So cool. A little further down the same road, we saw another black bear just hanging out.

After our bear sightings we were more than ready to hike;) Mark is always looking for trails in the park we haven't done. Cascade Lake Trail was on the agenda. 

We ate lunch at the picnic area and then took off from there. The trail is about 2.5 miles each way ... but relatively flat. With crowds everywhere for the 4th, it was nice to get some solitude. 

We only ran into a few other groups.

It was so pretty, but also pretty buggy!  

It's been a wet year and as we got closer to the lake it was hard to find any dry route. We decided this was close enough as other hikers told us it only got soggier.