Camping

I never went camping as a family while I was growing up. That may seem unheard of here in Idaho but it is not uncommon in many areas of the country. My first experiences with camping came with the youth activities at church, primarily girls camp. That is where my love for camping began. My definition of camping up until recently always included the involvement of a tent and sleeping in the ground. My husband got greaf from my kids when we were told how he will only camp in a camper. My kids had not known anything but camping in tents. Well, life has a way of changing things and now we have a camper. It was Jeff's dad camper which we spent several weeks refurbishing to get it in condition to use. Jeff and I do good work, it came out soo nice! Now we were going to have a pampered camping weekend as we were able to get it done in time to take the camper out for the 4th of July weekend.

We left on Thursday night in hopes of avoiding some of the holiday rush. As luck would have it, our truck broke down outside of Rigby, Idaho right across the highway from a campground. It took about two hours to get figured out and a tow truck to drag us over there. There weren't any pull through slots to put us in so we were parked in the parking lot. Did I mention it was on the beach! We camped there Thursday night and Jeff got up early on Friday to fix the truck. While Jeff was laboring on the truck, the Keli and Ronnie were able to play at the beach and Ronnie was able to go fishing. Ana kept herself busy with crochet and books. We were extremely lucky that we broke down where we were. One fuel pump, fuel filter and two batteries later we were back on the road.
Jeff working on the truck
Ronnie fishing in Rigby
Keli & Ronnie playing at the beach.

We arrived in Island Park, ID by 2pm. Island Park is a small town which is about 25 miles from West Yellowstone. We camped in a Targhee National Forest Campsite. It was BEAUTIFUL! It is not one of those overcrowded campgrounds where you could touch the next camper, we couldn't even see the next campsite from our site. Three days of outdoor bliss!

The first night in the campground, there was a Smokey the Bear outing at an outside theatre in the park. They had camp hosts tell the story of Smokey the Bear and they had a Fish and Game officer come and tell stories of the animals. She brought different pelts including a bear. Ronnie thought this was all so cool.




We had no specific plans for our camping trip other than getting some fishing in at some point. Jeff and I have so many schedules to keep to that we did not want to have to keep tabs on our watches during this trip. Our first day of fishing was Saturday. We went to the Island Park Resevoir. We didn't catch anything, but a man near us did. He gave Ronnie his rainbow trout which he had caught. The girls affectionately called one of the fish in the lake "Chester". Chester was a fish which was able to alude the hook but always get the bait. Chester had a sense of humor because he would tug on the line so we would know he was there too. It became the quest of the afternoon to see who would catch Chester. He was able to escape our quest this time, maybe next time...
My fishing spot at the reservoir
Ana's fishing spot at the reservoir
The next time we went fishing Jeff looked for a more remote site. A forest worker had told us about a quiet little river. Jeff found the spot. Ronnie & Jeff really enjoyed themselves while they were fly fishing. It was fun to watch these two. Ana and Keli weren't in to fishing this time. They had brought their books and just enjoyed the area and reading. This was Ronnie's first time fly fishing. He had just been to a fly fishing clinic at his cub scout pack meeting and was anxious to use what he had learned. I had sat at the banks in a spot where a fish got my bait the first time I dropped the line in the water. Ronnie had just started telling me that we needed to move areas because there weren't any fish biting. I told him that there was but he had to be patient. Just as I said that he turned around and he had a fish on the line. Perfect! He caught a rainbow trout which he released (it was too small).
The fish!
Ronnie fly fishing. He was so excited that I let him go stand in the middle of the river.
Jeff fly fishing
Ana with her quiet reading spot by the river

It was such a great weekend filled with laughter, relaxation, stories and marathon Pachisi games. Here are a few more pictures of our trip. If anyone has the chance, I highly recommend camping in Island Park with family and friends. When we were out on Highway 20, we could see that Island Park was bustling with people. However, you never would have known it if you were back at the campsite. Absolutely AWESOME!
My fishing spot at the river
Ronnie by the fire pit getting ready to cook the corn on the cob. Any time that we weren't at the lake or river fishing, the kids could be found at the firepit. Smore's galore!

Jeff was the chef for the weekend. He is the DUTCH OVEN KING!!
Sunday night's dinner.