One thing that I learned when we were on our 16 day journey, is that you have to pack a lot. And when you pack that much, it is hard to get away quickly. We arrived in Yellowstone on Saturday, stayed Saturday and Sunday nights and headed for Idaho Falls on Monday morning. But we had to pack and it took a bit longer than expected (because we had so much stuff). Then we had to go shopping. I should have known that, but it didn't register. And we didn't see any places that we had to stop at, until we got to West Yellowstone. So we shopped. Aunt Janet had emailed me that Nancy had made reservations at a restaurant for 6:30 that evening. Our original plan was to stop between Yellowstone and Idaho Falls for a hike, but suddenly, we were running out of time. After we played some phone tag we got Aunt Janet live and found out the eating establishment was called the SandPiper. We got to our hotel on the Idaho Falls Greenbelt (which was beautiful) and we could not have picked a room closer to the Sandpiper. Our room was on the end of the hotel closest to the Sandpiper. And while we did not have time to go for a hike, we got to go on a great run around the greenbelt.

Shelly and I walked over to the Sandpiper and met Uncle Pete, Aunt Janet, Rick, and Nancy. I hadn't seen Rick or Nancy in 12 years, and Shelly had never met them, and of course you can never get enough of Uncle Pete and Aunt Janet. We had a wonderful meal and of all the things Uncle Pete could have brought, he brought his famous credit card. Oh, and it was my 40th birthday. It all comes full circle....Mom came out for Nancy's 40th, I came out for my 40th. It could not have been nicer. Afterwards we were stuffed, but Shelly and I googled desserts in Idaho Falls and came up with Scottie's. The burgers looked so greasy, we had to get one of those too. It was a good thing we went for the run.

We met at Nancy's the next morning for a wonderful breakfast. Afterwards Uncle Pete and Aunt Janet took us for a tour of all of the old stomping grounds that we used to stay at when we would come out for the summer. The old house, the lava flow, the canals,...it really meant a lot to be able to revisit such an exciting part of my youth and share it with Shelly. We then dropped off Aunt Janet at home, and Uncle Pete took us through Wolverine Pass and around Taylor Mountain to Bone and back. (at least that is where I think we went). Uncle Pete should have been a real estate agent. "You could probably get a ranch up here for 40, 50k these days, Shelly could ride her horse,..." She was sold until he mentioned the lack of electricity and plumbing.

We dropped off Uncle Pete and went back to the hotel to get ready for the BBQ they were having for us that night. Uncle Pete gave us great, simple directions and I blew them and went the wrong way. We realized it after a couple of miles and turned around. About this time I was calling Kelly in Boise to make plans for the next day. The phone was ringing and Ahead of me about 200 yards away a Tahoe was making a uturn, not looking where it was going and got nailed by a tractor trailor. That's when Kelly answered. "Kelly I am going to have to call you back". Shelly thingks that the tractor trailor is going to hit us too and she is screaming. She calms down and calls 911. She tells them what happened and she asked me where we are. "We are on Highway 20" "Where at on Hwy 20?" "It's the Arco Hwy." "Where at on the Arco Highway?". "I don't know. Tell them that if you were coming from Uncle Pete's to our hotel and turned the wrong way on Hwy 20 for two miles and turned around and came back a mile, that is where we are at". She wasn't amused. But the driver of the Tahoe ended up walking around and being OK. It was a miracle.

Anyway we got to Uncle Pete's for the BBQ and it was great. In addition to our previous crew the night before, we also had the privelege of meeting Merri's son James and Rick and Nancy's son Eric. Oliver and Eli got to play with Eldrich, James' bulldog. The food was wonderful, but who would have expected anything differently. The highlight was a zuchini cake Aunt Janet made for me. She revels in the fact that she could get me to eat zuchini when Mom couldn't get me to eat, well, anything green. We got to ride on Uncle Pete's segway too. But most of all, we got to swap stories and tell tales that people who haven't seen each other in years get to do. And we decided that we have to do this more....and we will. The only disappointing part was not being able to see Merri, but that just makes it a necessity to go out again real soon. I don't currently have Idaho Falls pics as I write this, but I will throw them on at the beginning of my next post....The journey to Boise and beyond....

More later...

Ding