Happy Friday! Look at this crew that I got to travel with last week:
This was everyone's first trip to Idaho - such a friendly, wide open place. The cabin Jodi rented was 55 minutes from here without much in between. In fact, we had to get all of our groceries in Idaho Falls when we landed - no delivery of anything where we were!
There it was, at the end of a lane set off by itself! It was STUNNING.
At one point there were 13 of us there and we all had a bed! Jodi did a great job finding it.
And this was our backyard view. Can you believe we ever wanted to leave it???
Those are the Grand Tetons in the distance and our full-on view from the back deck! They were two hours away - don't let this proximity fool you!
And if you are a FB friend of mine I believe this sunrise was my first "Good Morning from Ashton, Idaho" post!
- FOOD!
Our first evening meal was 
supposed to be Mississippi roast on baked potatoes BUT I had used roasters (the cabin had two) instead of crockpots and didn't account for the extra water needed - two of the 4 roasts were TOAST so we punted and grilled some of the chicken we had. It all worked out in the end.
We were all able to sit around the table!!Day two was taco bowls:
Another night Stephen and Brian cooked elk loin and bison burgers that they had picked up when they were in West Yellowstone together. The red on my plate was a huckleberry sauce that the butcher suggested to Brian to go with the elk:
The last morning I used up all veggies, eggs, sides, etc and made some frittatas and fried potatoes.
These favorites are in NO particular order - I don't think there was anything that I didn't enjoy - there were a few activities I didn't do but I didn't feel left out - they were things I didn't want to do :) One day almost everyone went fly fishing but Tom and I chose a UTV adventure instead:
A stop at Johnny Sack's cabin
This is at the top of Sawtell Peak. It was SO COLD. So cold. The guide had offered me a jacket on the way up - and Tom took mine! He didn't even want to take his helmet off b/c it was so cold. The sights were unbelievable and worth the trip up there :) We had visited the lake in this picture the day before for lunch.
BEING TOGETHER
On our way to the airport Saturday we stopped at Bear World - four of the five Bell kiddos and Noah. I told them I needed "just one more" - appreciate that from them - 30 years to 22.
A final walk with Jodi the morning before we left - Brian was taking Anna to the airport, the rest of the kids were packing or sleeping in. . .
Hopefully I'll get to the horse story. . .we did get to ride, it just didn't go according to plan. . .
We were in two "crews" this day - some had gone back early (including me) - glad they got this photo together!
Tom and I opted out of this hike too. . .I believe this was Angel Falls? Rainbow Fairy trail? I don't know - it was Thursday and we just didn't want to hike anymore. These are the hearty ones who love a good hike :)
Our five getting pictures.
Her four. . .can't wait to get these back!!
This might have been Day One Hike One. We were there too :)
Day One Hike One - not sure where Ellie is? Me and the four I birthed on Coffee Pot Rapids Trail :)
Our trip to the Tetons - Brian drove the 15-passenger van, Stephen took the photo :) We all fit comfortably for the 2+hour drive there and back.
- WHITE WATER RAFTING
This is not something I have done before. Ellie had elected not to go, Abby didn't want to, Erin had flown home that morning and when Jodi was presented with the option of white water rafting or hiking she chose hiking ;) Not many pictures here since we didn't have our cameras but Brian had a pretty cool 360 camera that he got a lot of footage with. It was pretty cold - the hearty ones got in when it was calm (or were pulled in!) and I was positioned exactly in the middle so didn't get "as" soaked as the ones on the sides and in the front.
Pre-river ride - Tom's getting good at this!
And heading back - it was a FUN trip!!
I got a few pics of the Snake River on our way back.
Earlier that morning, when Tom and I were driving into Jackson Hole after dropping Erin off at the airport I saw this group going out - it was COLD. . .we were all glad we had the 1 p.m. tour!!
THE SCENERY
I blew those up (none of these have filters applied and I didn't crop/change them in any way - this is just how beautiful everything was!!!) and now when you walk in or out of our garage hallway you see this:
Coffee Pot trail
Henry Lake
Driving down the lane to our cabin
Big Springs in Island Park
A view from the top of Sawtell Peak
The weather station up there - it kind of felt a little sci-fi
If not, here's an idea. . .again, the scenery was so different from what we have in the eastern part of the United States - worth capturing!!
Gorgeous Jenny Lake
Moose Pond (same hike/adventure - we took the ferry halfway across the lake then hiked the two miles back, passing Moose Pond on the way)
While everyone else went to do another hike in the park, Tom and I stuck around this area and climbed to the Observation Point to watch Old Faithful erupt again from another vantage point :)
The geysers were fascinating and beautiful to me
Driving through the park was just beautiful. . .it would be easy to spend 3-4 days here!
Different scenery as we rode through another part of Island Park on horseback
I have dozens and dozens just off the back deck at our Air BNB. 
And sincerely, I always love a view from an airplane. If I have a choice, I choose a window seat!
HORSEBACK RIDING
JACKSON HOLE
Simply stunning!
We met up with everyone else on the way back - Ellie, Robert, Tom, and I took a side trail for one more sight.
Well-earned ice cream from an iconic place in town
Another night, another ice cream place :)
Dinner and after-dinner fun on Wednesday night
Ellie said this is her favorite picture - I love it too! She and Jodi walked (hiked?) to the top of a ski slope while we were white water rafting.
RANDOM FAVORITES
Tom and I didn't go on this hike, but this was a geyser that the others saw in Yellowstone. 
Brian caught the biggest fish the day they went fly fishing!
Playing games together - I hope this is something we do forever and ever together. 
When everyone else went to hike the Fairy Falls Trail at Yellowstone, we stopped by the The Old Faithful Inn. Tom remembered eating breakfast there when he went car camping at Yellowstone with his mother and my brother back when he was a senior in high school.
This random Root Beer Stand in Ashton, Idaho. A couple of the kids had gone up there earlier and the waitress let them go behind the counter and make their own floats! We went back after the unfortunate horseback riding experience for some more treats :)
If Anna was in this photo it would be complete - the three (four, if you count Anna) who MOST love hiking and would do a trip like this every year of their lives.
Aw, here is Anna and Laura - they are 3.5 months apart in age. . .I have a picture like this of them in the post I linked to at the beginning from 15 years ago :)
Some of us had not yet met Anna's new guy - APPROVED! They make a beautiful couple, right??
We only got to do this once because of the high winds. Most nights would have been perfect for it though.
Porch sitting :)
Another picture I randomly found in our shared album - I believe this was Hike #2 on Day One.
The kids made the MOST clever "Guess Who" game, using pictures of the family as the backdrop!!! I thought I had a picture of the card but can't find it right now.
My favorite FAVORITE of all the favorites - my sister. I really am the luckiest person in the world to have her by my side.
I'm linking up with Erika and Andrea to share ALL the highlights from this trip :) It was EPIC, to say the least.
A little background - Aunt Jodi (my sister) has been hosting "hiking weekends" for over a decade now (this was the first one!) for whatever family/kids/friends want to come. Tom and I do "lake weekends" in the late summer, she does her weekends in the early spring, generally. Last year, at our Family Lake Weekend, the idea of a huge family trip out West took root, she booked the place, and a vacation was planned :)
We flew into Idaho Falls - all in all, by the end of the trip, we will have made three trips there between picking people up and dropping them off - not everyone could stay the entire time nor did everyone fly out of the same city so different flights were needed.
There it was, at the end of a lane set off by itself! It was STUNNING. 
At one point there were 13 of us there and we all had a bed! Jodi did a great job finding it.
- FOOD!Food is always a concern, right? I genuinely like being the one who provides and cooks these meals for all of us. I'm surprised I never took a picture of our lunch station - each day we were going to be gone all day we set up sandwich fixings, chips, fruit, and snacks for everyone to pack their own lunches for later in the day. 
My first meal was a big breakfast - that is 3 lbs of bacon, two dozen eggs, two cans of cinnamon rolls, 8 sausage patties as well as fruit and yogurt. The kitchen was easy to cook in and everyone could serve themselves from the bar:
My first meal was a big breakfast - that is 3 lbs of bacon, two dozen eggs, two cans of cinnamon rolls, 8 sausage patties as well as fruit and yogurt. The kitchen was easy to cook in and everyone could serve themselves from the bar:
Tom and I had brought in enough groceries for the first half of the week when we showed up late Saturday afternoon!
supposed to be Mississippi roast on baked potatoes BUT I had used roasters (the cabin had two) instead of crockpots and didn't account for the extra water needed - two of the 4 roasts were TOAST so we punted and grilled some of the chicken we had. It all worked out in the end.
We were all able to sit around the table!!
The night we did family pictures Noah, a family friend who spent the week with us, put this charcuterie board together for when we were done with the photos - isn't it the BEST?!?
The last morning I used up all veggies, eggs, sides, etc and made some frittatas and fried potatoes.We went out to dinner in Ashton one night and in Jackson Hole one night. I also didn't take pictures the night we grilled chicken, burgers (I had purchased 6 pounds of ground beef and 2 dozen chicken breasts total I believe), and roasted Brussel sprouts. We did pretty good on all that food - in the end we went out to lunch on a day I had planned to have us eat the chicken salad and extra lunch meat I had purchased so unfortunately we did have to throw some stuff away. Overall, the planning was pretty good. No one went hungry ;)
These favorites are in NO particular order - I don't think there was anything that I didn't enjoy - there were a few activities I didn't do but I didn't feel left out - they were things I didn't want to do :) One day almost everyone went fly fishing but Tom and I chose a UTV adventure instead:
BEING TOGETHERI'm going to go ahead and throw this one in here now, just in case I don't get around to "finishing" this post. This was the favorite, favorite of everything, right??? Just having this time together.
On our way to the airport Saturday we stopped at Bear World - four of the five Bell kiddos and Noah. I told them I needed "just one more" - appreciate that from them - 30 years to 22.
Hopefully I'll get to the horse story. . .we did get to ride, it just didn't go according to plan. . .
Our five getting pictures.It was something that was really important to Jodi - to get family pictures while we were out there :)
Her four. . .can't wait to get these back!!
This might have been Day One Hike One. We were there too :)
Fly Fishing - Tom, Abby, and I opted out of this adventure
Day One Hike One - not sure where Ellie is? Me and the four I birthed on Coffee Pot Rapids Trail :)
Our trip to the Tetons - Brian drove the 15-passenger van, Stephen took the photo :) We all fit comfortably for the 2+hour drive there and back.
- WHITE WATER RAFTING
This is not something I have done before. Ellie had elected not to go, Abby didn't want to, Erin had flown home that morning and when Jodi was presented with the option of white water rafting or hiking she chose hiking ;) Not many pictures here since we didn't have our cameras but Brian had a pretty cool 360 camera that he got a lot of footage with. It was pretty cold - the hearty ones got in when it was calm (or were pulled in!) and I was positioned exactly in the middle so didn't get "as" soaked as the ones on the sides and in the front.
Pre-river ride - Tom's getting good at this!
And heading back - it was a FUN trip!!
I got a few pics of the Snake River on our way back.
THE SCENERYGosh, the scenery just couldn't be beat!!! I printed 25 of my favorite photos this week and asked Tom to pick his favorite 6:
I love them!! I had bought and framed other art years ago - it was time to change it out!!
Coffee Pot trail
Henry Lake
Driving down the lane to our cabinA view from the top of Sawtell PeakThe weather station up there - it kind of felt a little sci-fiDriving through the Caribou-Targhee National Forest (I don't know if this will upload or not)
If not, here's an idea. . .again, the scenery was so different from what we have in the eastern part of the United States - worth capturing!!Gorgeous Jenny LakeMoose Pond (same hike/adventure - we took the ferry halfway across the lake then hiked the two miles back, passing Moose Pond on the way)
While everyone else went to do another hike in the park, Tom and I stuck around this area and climbed to the Observation Point to watch Old Faithful erupt again from another vantage point :)Driving through the park was just beautiful. . .it would be easy to spend 3-4 days here!Different scenery as we rode through another part of Island Park on horseback
And sincerely, I always love a view from an airplane. If I have a choice, I choose a window seat!
HORSEBACK RIDINGThis was something Ellie and Abby had looked forward to all week. I set it up for us, Jodi, Robert, and Noah (Erin and Jackson were gone, Tom wasn't interested, and the other four went to ride side-by-sides in the sand dunes). 
It all started out great - meeting and feeding the horses
Getting instructions
Being assigned our horses (there were 12 of us in this group)
Hanging in the corral waiting for everyone to get mounted (Jodi is in orange, Robert and Noah are behind her, Ellie is in the back). . .
Hey! Cash and Robert are looking good together!
Aw, Ellie, this is going to be FUN.
And, back at the barn,
Ellie was loving on the horse that threw Robert off - the owner was with them. I can see the pain Robert is in in this picture. 
And I love this picture of Jodi and her horse:
It all started out great - meeting and feeding the horsesGetting instructionsBeing assigned our horses (there were 12 of us in this group)Hey! Cash and Robert are looking good together!Aw, Ellie, this is going to be FUN.Until it was not. This was not a favorite.
We all were mounted and heading out for our trail ride. We had crossed a stream and were waiting for all the horses to get together and Robert's horse just took off. He wasn't sure what to do - this is a kid that NEVER falls off a tube on the water at the lake - and he couldn't get the horse to stop running in circles. He decided to let go and landed HARD. We were all stunned - the guides even said this is something that never happens (all these horses are between 12-30, retired from various other jobs). Ellie was by his side in a minute and then Jodi dismounted and went over when it appeared he was having a hard time getting off the ground. Skipping to the end. . .he and Ellie did NOT go with us, he has no broken bones or other injuries but was very, very sore and since he has a physical job, the beginning of this week was difficult for him. Because Tom didn't ride with us but drove us there, he, Ellie, and Robert hung out with the horses and owner of the business while we did our trail ride. It was so unfortunate - especially since this was something Ellie had really, really been looking forward to (she could have come with us still but understandably was too shaken). The four of us had a good ride despite this unfortunate event.
Ellie was loving on the horse that threw Robert off - the owner was with them. I can see the pain Robert is in in this picture. 
And I love this picture of Jodi and her horse:
JACKSON HOLEAlthough we didn't stay there, we went over twice and I really, really liked the town. The first time we went over it was to go to the Tetons, the second time we all went but in two separate waves - Tom and I dropped Erin off at the airport at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning and headed over, then the rest of the crew came over to have brunch at a place their fly fishing guides had told them about. We hit up the drug store for ice cream, pizza for dinner the second time we were there, and some went to the Cowboy Bar to finish off the evening. LOTS of places to shop too :)
Simply stunning!
We met up with everyone else on the way back - Ellie, Robert, Tom, and I took a side trail for one more sight.
Another night, another ice cream place :)
RANDOM FAVORITESI'll wrap it up with pictures and memories that are favorites :)
It is now one of the 6 prints hanging in my hallway :)
Playing games together - I hope this is something we do forever and ever together. When everyone else went to hike the Fairy Falls Trail at Yellowstone, we stopped by the The Old Faithful Inn. Tom remembered eating breakfast there when he went car camping at Yellowstone with his mother and my brother back when he was a senior in high school.Aw, here is Anna and Laura - they are 3.5 months apart in age. . .I have a picture like this of them in the post I linked to at the beginning from 15 years ago :)Some of us had not yet met Anna's new guy - APPROVED! They make a beautiful couple, right??Brian, Stephen, Jackson, Anna, Jodi, Erin, Laura, Ellie, Robert, Noah
The Tetons/non-Jenny Lake ferry riders - I LOVE THIS PIC!!! This is the hearty crew - Tom, Abby and I took the shorter route.
Another picture I randomly found in our shared album - I believe this was Hike #2 on Day One.The kids made the MOST clever "Guess Who" game, using pictures of the family as the backdrop!!! I thought I had a picture of the card but can't find it right now.My favorite FAVORITE of all the favorites - my sister. I really am the luckiest person in the world to have her by my side.I can't believe I finished this!! Probably because I have the extra time on my hands right now (new job was eliminated from the group I was transferred to while we were on vacation) so here you go!! Oh, losing my job and Robert falling off a horse weren't the only two rough things that happened while out West - this happened too - 
Stephen flipped his side-by-side while in the sand dunes. His sister was with him - Uncle Brian and Anna were in the other vehicle. This cost him a pretty penny!! Just keepin' in real over here in blogland. . .gotta take the tough with the good, right??
Stephen flipped his side-by-side while in the sand dunes. His sister was with him - Uncle Brian and Anna were in the other vehicle. This cost him a pretty penny!! Just keepin' in real over here in blogland. . .gotta take the tough with the good, right??If you're still here and want to read about other people's Favorites (or add your own post) head here!
Until next time. . .
Love,
Jenni
That sounds incredible!
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