Idaho October 2012 Recap!

Calum and I took a quick trip to Idaho earlier this month. United's new direct flight from SFO to IDA eliminates the slow and painful stop in SLC and makes extended weekend trips up there possible. Here's a quick look at what we did! On Friday morning, Calum and I went to Yellowstone Park. Of course, one of the first things Calum had to do once we were in the park was to take a poop. Fortunately, I was well prepared with portable toilet, wipes, a lot of time to spare, and my camera.

 

 Then, Calum got to see a buffalo, and tried to make friends with him. Yes I know I haven't rotated the video, just watch it and bear with me and I'll fix it later.
 

 Calum also got to stop at the geyser right before Old Faithful and check out the pools there. The master photographer captured the moment here:
 

Calum could not be separated from Kiki's felt green hat! A short 10 minutes later, we arrived at the main geyser area. Of course, Calum fell asleep in the car during that 10 minute drive thus making our time at Old Faithful mostly full of protesting as to why he was not able to stay in the car and sleep. A bag of kettle chips at a geyser restaurant changed his attitude around with 1 bite. He quickly reverted though and insisted that I buy him an ice cream. I did this, with an almost 40 pound child in 1 hand and wallet + ice cream in the other. Of course, immediately after purchase, he refused to have anything to do with said ice cream. And I wondered who was in charge here... That night, we had a nice chicken curry dish from Kiki, and I made mashed potatoes for the first time. The next day, we picked tomatoes!


 And Calum helped us (safely) start a fire. Notice him wearing Kiki's hat!

 We feasted on amazing fresh rolls and a ham from Kiki. On Sunday, we made a trip out to Meadow View Restaurant, which is 25 miles from the house and a sharp right turn just before you get into the mountains on I20 on the way into West Yellowstone. We had amazing sourdough pancakes and giant sausages that Calum couldn't get enough of. The hosts were glad to see us.

 After our pancake feast, we went to Big Springs to see some fish below the Big Springs Bridge.

 Calum experienced the best moment of his life when Papa gave him some graham cracker to throw down the fish below the bridge. They gobbled it up. Then, Calum once again experienced the best moment of his life when some ducks swam up and gobbled up his graham crackers. Just 1 minute later, Calum yet again experienced the best moment of his life when 2 muskrats came from nowhere and gobbled up more of his graham cracker!

 On our way home we stopped to see one of Calum's favorite things - heavy machinery aka "a bull dough".
 

Papa and I took a brief man moment that afternoon to go to Pond's lodge and have a beer. We wrapped up that night with an amazing dinner of rosemary + balsamic vinegar marinated grilled pork chops, an amazing salad of romaine lettuce, blue cheese, fresh tomatoes and avocado from Kiki, and a viewing of Johhny Depp's Dark Shadows movie. Papa went to work that next morning and Kiki took us to the airport. Amazing trip!