R & R Time

 After leaving Craters of the Moon we headed to our cabin at Eagle Ridge Ranch in Island Park, Idaho.

We used to have Maloney Family Reunions here.  I think the last one was in 2013.  I always had a great time at the reunions at Eagle Ridge, but for some reason they have stopped or maybe the Bates family isn't invited anymore.

We rented a little one bedroom cabin with a hot tub.

The first order of business was cocktail hour by the campfire.

I got the world's largest mosquito bite before it occurred to me that we should put insect repellent on.

I absolutely love campfires.  I don't think Irv is a big fan, but he humored me and kept the fire going for a few hours.

The next morning my darling took me for a rowboat ride.  It looked like hard work to me especially with the blowing wind.

We rowed to the other side of the lake to check out the horses.  They didn't even acknowledge our existence.

Then we walked over and checked out the horse corrals.  Horse rides are big business at the ranch these days.  They used to include a ride with your stay, but no longer and that was okay because I wasn't interested.

Here we all are from the 2013 reunion.  I sure do miss spending time with my brothers, SIL, nephew and grandson.  Life has changed so much since then.  I don't know if we'll have more opportunities to hang out together as a family.  I'd like to bring Georgie here next summer.

Then we checked out the archery range.  Lots of fake animals to shoot at.

A little different from what it was back in 2013 when Shiloh was with us.

We played a little horseshoes and then checked out the swimming and boating lake.  This is an improvement since we were there in 2013.  Kids were having a great time swimming and flinging themselves off the dock with the tire swing or jumping on the trampoline that was in the water.  Looked like fun.

We sat around and did a lot of reading.  That little fawn almost walked right up to us twice.  Then he would run back and lay down flat in the grass.  

My first instinct was to capture the little guy and take him to the closest ranger station since his mother had obviously abandoned him because that's what tourons tend to do.  But wait, I did a little research and a doe will leave a fawn for up to 12 hours so that it's not but in danger while she's foraging.  They have a natural instinct to lay flat and still in the grass while she's gone.  Mom probably wouldn't be too happy to know that he was up trying to make friends with humans.  He was still out there by himself when it got dark, but when we got up the next morning mom was there with him (or her).

This was one of the largest dandelions I've seen.  It might make an interesting painting.

The next morning we packed up and drove an hour to Rexburg to see the Oppenheimer movie which was really good and taught me things I had never known.

On our way back to West Yellowstone we stopped at 511 Main in Ashton, Idaho for their famous Darth Tater pizza.  Yes, it's Idaho and they even put potatoes on pizza.  We stope there at least once every year because it's delicious.

It was nice to get away from the chaos at the West Entrance.  Only seven more weeks to go!