We met up with Joe’s family in Island Park. The vast majority of the family was there, which rarely happens. We crammed over 50 of us into a very large Airbnb. We had a lot of fun. The first day was just driving and getting used to things. The next day, we went to Yellowstone. We intercepted with the family sometimes, but mostly explored with our own little family. We’ve been there quite a bit and picked our favorite spots, plus a few new ones. We did Great Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, drove by the lake, saw bison at Mud Volcano, and hiked to the brink of lower and upper falls. It was a nice visit.

The next day we went tubing. Tubing can easily go not as planned: going much slower than anticipated, shallow water, thunderstorms, stuck cars, grumpy kids…and you are stuck in a river without much else you can do besides just go down the river. So my advice is to pick a very short route if you’ve never done the run before.

We stopped by Mesa Falls, Yellowstone Safari Park, and Lava Hot Springs hot pools on the way home, which was all rather relaxing. It was great to see family, but it also ended up being an exhausting vacation. Good to be home.