Fall Break October 11-13 2012

We rode from West Yellowstone, Montana to Big Springs, Idaho. It is a beautiful and scenic ride.

Big Springs, Idaho area.

Our friend, the muskrat.

Large fish use this area to spawn year round.

The willows turn a reddish hue in the fall. This is on the way to Black Sands.

A distant view of Lion Head mountain.

The next day we drove into the park and enjoyed the sights.

 Old Faithful

It was a beautiful day inside the park.

Elk walking alongside the highway.

Rory's 30th Birthday Family Party

Family Night up Payson Canyon

The colors in Payson canyon are beautiful as the leaves turn yellow and red.

We are allowed to have fires again in fire rings in campgrounds.

Emily made her own hot dog cooker in school. Looks good, right?

 It is still fun to roast marshmallows over the coals.

Mallows, anyone?

 S'mores do taste fine!

There are a lot of deer up the canyon.

We counted more than 40 going up to Blackhawk Campground and back.

Lumberjack Wannabes at Grandma's Cabin

We had a few problems felling trees at the cabin. This one fell the opposite way (180 degrees) and crashed on the cabin deck. Fortunately, no one was injured and the deck railing suffered only minor damage and none to the deck or the cabin itself.

Here is Ron and I sawing up the tree. It was a big, tall, and heavy tree, perhaps as long as 80 feet in length! I can't even guess the weight of the tree. It was good that the tree was so long as it fell on the upper hillside of the cabin which lessened the impact and weight of the tree on the deck.

Here is Brock and Drew in the background. We needed to drop the burned trees from around the cabin so they would not pose a hazard of falling onto the cabin in a future wind storm.

It was a lot of work cutting down the trees and then taking off the branches and finally cutting the tree into manageable-size logs. 

Here is another view of the tree that fell onto the cabin's deck. We did have another near-accident tree while the other trees went down without incident, which is good! Drew, Beau, Brock, Mom, and Emily were also there to help clear debris, tree limbs, and move cut-down trees.

Talia Belle Shaw Blessing Day

Here are pictures at Landon's following the blessing of their baby on Sunday, September 2, 2012. It was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed being together for this event.