Just Axe'n

We are now in Winchester, Idaho.  Our plan is to just stay here two nights.  On our way in to the area we drove past these vibrant yellow fields of canola.  Never seen that growing before.  We hiked this morning and fished this afternoon.  I am an absolute nightmare to fish with.  My line is always stuck or  I'm swinging my hook towards Chris and my attention span is that of a 6 year old. I know you're all thinking you want to fish with me!   He caught two baby trout and his sock and I caught nothing.

Our video's show that we have learned different ways to entertain ourselves.  As you can see my skills are superior.  If we have to live off the land I will use the axe and he will fish.  Headed further north tomorrow!

 We bought granola bars to take hiking with us, that I've never really liked.  Today I realized they looked, and probably taste, like the pile of wood shavings we walked past.

Boise - Boysee

Tonight is our last night in Boise.  We learned while we were here that the locals pronounce it "boy-see", not "boy-zee". We came here because years ago a woman I worked with said this was her favorite place she had ever lived, and she had lived all over.  I must say it has not disappointed.  Prior to coming here I was feeling a little burnt out with hopping around.  We stayed for a week, which wasn't our original plan.  We decided to stay in an RV park which isn't always our favorite, but the reviews all referred to the "Green Belt" that it backed up to.  The Green Belt is 27 miles of uninterrupted bike/walking path that is amazing.  Whenever we visit a possible landing spot we look around at housing.  It certainly is not cheap here, but the taxes are way less than Illinois.  Initially we saw some places that just looked like squared off boring subdivisions and then someone mentioned Hidden Springs.  We had taken Lilly for a great hike in the foothills and stumbled across a road leading out to the area.  It is a small area nestled in the foothills that we really loved.  There were hiking trails all around the area.  This is definatly a potential landing spot.  Today we road our bikes down to Boise State University.  It is a really nice looking campus.  Didn't see in ratty looking dorms around, although they were probably there somewhere.  The river runs right thru town and you can tube down it during the summer.  We went to different musical festivals.  One of them was right next to the RV park, and I must say, the most exciting part about it was the incredible people watching.  We had a few beers, ate kettle corn, and took in the sites.  I have really been missing my friends and family terribly.  On Thursday our RV Park neighbor Mike rolled in for a girls softball tournament.  Other team families also came to the park.  The Hodges (Mike and Megan and their daughters Molly and Claire) and Junz (Ryan and Sara and their kids Sidney and Drew)were the nicest families. I don't know Candy and Jeff's last name and I think they had 15 children with them : ).  All of these kids were so polite and silly.  It was nice to be around kids again.  We went to watch the girls play a few games.  Their hospitality was so heart warming.  I really needed a dose of friendship, and I got it.  Tomorrow we are heading straight north in Idaho, of course we don't know exactly where but we will figure it out, as we always do.  I don't have many pictures to post, just a few from hiking and a picture of the stadium.

 The "blue turf" football field at Boise State University.

Grand Tetons

We spent 3 nights in a hotel in Bozeman, MT while we were getting the RV fixed.  This was not on our list of places to visit but it was beautiful.  I would absolutely consider it as a place to live, except they get 70 inches of snow a year.  It was a nice break being in the hotel! Everything thing about the area was beautiful, but I just can't do that much snow.  One of my pictures is of a one acre lot we looked at!  We literally decided at 9:00 am on Saturday that we would head back to visit the Grand Tetons on our way to Boise ID.  A little back tracking but not too bad.  I found us a nice little campsite in the National Forest.  The only problem was the weather was terrible.  It rained for 1.5 days.  We were able to hike the first day with Lilly and then drive around the park on day two but after that the weather didn't cooperate.  I think I like the Tetons better than Yellowstone.  In order to get to the park we had to drive thru a pass which was very steep and would have  been a problem if we were doing it in the RV and not just the Honda. On one of our trips over the mountain we hit snow.  We were actually above the clouds.  Once again, we made a last minute decision to take off for Boise when the rain was going to continue...off we went! 

Here's the one acre lot we looked at in Bozeman, MT.  It's in the foothills of the Bridger Mountains.

Father's Day hike.

Our campsite outside of the Grand Tetons

We hit snow driving over the pass to get to the Grand Tetons.

This is the spot at the top of the pass that we would pull over at to get cell coverage.

Yellowstone...Wolf, Bear, Elk & Bison

We spent more than a week enjoying Yellowstone.  We stayed two days outside the park and then 3 days at two separate locations in the park.  I never realized how big Yellowstone is.  It is approximately 95 miles north to south and 95 miles east to west.  The speed limit tops out at 45 mph so it takes awhile to get around.  We loved all the wildlife and diversity within the park.  In the evening we would go drive around the park when the wildlife is most active.  What a nice way to finish the day.  It is finally feeling like I've adjusted to our life.  I know that probably sounds crazy but it really has been an adjustment.  Chris and I are still happily married and the dog continues to be part of the mix.  We will be going to Bozeman, MT for a front end alignment and possibly two front tires.  The RV was so out of alignment that it wore the outside of our two front tires dangerously threadbare.  Those tires are only $500 each : ( .  We spent our last night visiting with a really nice couple, Andrew and Emily,  from Canada, that are on a 5 week honeymoon.  I think they are off to a great start!!!  Very interesting to share perspectives on our different countries.  Don't know where we are going after Bozeman, but we will figure it out.

Love these big boys!

 This is called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  Two spectacular falls.

 This was Fairy Falls.

 Old Faithful.  Chris sprinkled some of his Mom's ashes here.  They had come here as kids.

 These two pictures were from the lake when we stayed outside of the park.

 Elk!

 Snow still on the ground.  We drove through snow flurries when we changed campsites in the park.

 This was called Dragon's Breath

 Grey Wolf!

 Grizzly bear right along the water line, bad picture but that's all I got.

 Prismatic overlook.  The colors were spectacular.

 Chris sprinkling Dot's ashes at Old Faithful right after it erupted and the crowd thinned out.