I need a vacation after my vacation!

WOW!

I had a busy 5 days!  I visited 4 states (Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana) and crammed canoeing, hiking, and sight-seeing into just a few short days.  It was both relaxing and exhausting all at the same time!  Hubster's family came up to Idaho on Friday to combine with my family (WIN!) and we made a weekend of it.

As you saw from my previous post, I spent Thursday with my Pa in Yellowstone checking out the Canyon area and doing some really short hikes.  It was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was perfect!

Mammoth Falls

Lower Yellowstone Falls

Me and Pa!

Friday was a nice relaxing day chilling with my sister and my nieces and nephews.  I saw my little Gracie crawl for her VERY FIRST TIME.  SO awesome.  That alone made the trip well worth it!  She's super duper cute.

Saturday was a BIG day.  We woke up bright and early, made some breakfast, and hit the road to drive to Island Park to go canoeing down the Henry's Fork on the Snake River starting at Big Springs.  It was a very cool morning (40 degrees!!) and us Utahans weren't quite used to the cold temps!  Luckily, we had some good hoodies to keep us warm.

Crystal clear water!

Bright red salmon

We should not be trusted in canoes...

After surviving the tipsy canoes, we got back in our vehicles and headed north to Yellowstone Park to see some other parts of the park with the rest of Hubster's family.  In case you've never been to Yellowstone, it is HUGE.  Seriously.  It definitely takes more than a couple days to see it all.  We decided to spend our time in the Geyser Basin and see all the geysers and hot pools.  They are unreal!  So many different colors...gorgeous!

Blue on orange--love it!

MASSIVE geyser.  And so pretty!

Grand Prismatic Spring--LOVED the colors!

I wanted to swim in this one...too bad it would kill me!

Old Faithful...as if you couldn't recognize her!

Did I mention I loved Grand Prismatic Spring?  Cuz I did...

We also went for a random hike at one of the hot pool areas.  We saw a sign that said "Mystic Falls--1.3 miles" and we decided to just go for it.  None of us knew if the falls was even worth the hike in bear country, but we were itching for some activity so off we went!  The hike ended up being well worth it!  We followed a creek the entire way up and it was so pretty.  The waterfall itself was a nice surprise!  Not only was it pretty large, it also had several hot springs that dropped into it right at the falls so it was STEAMING.  So cool.  We hiked all around it (and nearly burned ourselves several times).  Yellowstone is seriously magical.

Can you see the steam?

Hubster might have also stolen some kisses when I was least expecting them....

Kiss attack!!

After seeing Old Faithful and the rest of the geysers and hot pools, we took the scenic route home.  We drove past Yellowstone Lake and back up to Canyon and then around to Norris and Madison.  It took an extra 2 hours to get home!  The drive was worth it though--we saw herds of Elk and a wolf.  Awesome!

Sunday was spent at my other sister's house eating the most amazing BBQ in the world.  Seriously.  My brother-in-law recently took home the grand prize at a BBQ cook-off.  It was his first year entering and he beat out all the professional chefs that were participating.  Amazing!  It's a good thing that we don't BBQ very much together or all my efforts at losing weight would be long gone out the window!

Monday we decided to drive up to Mesa Falls area and see both upper and lower falls.  I've been there a few times, but they are pretty no matter how often I see them!

I swear there is a waterfall behind us...

There it is!

Lower Mesa Falls in the background

We also made a quick stop at the Teton Dam spillway.  It's about the only thing left after the Teton Dam failed clear back in the 70s.  There is an awesome amount of graffiti there, and I happened to find my name among the bunch.  Had to get a picture!

Becky was here!

The spillway is STEEP!  That's probably why people roll burning tires down it...

Anyway, it was a busy busy weekend!  We got home around 9:30 at night just in time to crawl into bed and have to wake up for work.  I was super tired this morning!  I definitely need a vacation from my vacation!  But I loved every minute of it.  Can't wait to go back to Yellowstone again someday!

How did you spend your holiday?