ID, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons & Bear Lake, UT

It seems as if we've been to so many places and it's been awhile since I posted, so here's the update.
I made it to Mtn Home, ID and retrieved Kathy (who brought along a mtn man named Ron) and we headed toward Yellowstone. First stop was Idaho Falls at her moms where we stayed the night and had a wonderful dinner at my favorite place Olive Garden. We walked around the falls and saw the pretty temple as a backdrop to the falls. The boys got to sleep in Kat's moms motorhome parked in their driveway and LOVED it, it was a 1967-68 travel trailer and they felt like they were at the Marriott! LOL Kat and I slept together which was like our high school days and sleepovers again, FUN! Then we headed NE through Rigby where the first television was invented. Then we went to the awesome Bear & Wolf Exhibit (got pics) and had to stop by the infamous Yellowstone Park sign and got more pics--just have to figure out how to get them on here. We headed toward Old Faithful since I had to stop and get our Access Passes for the boys and myself which enables us to get in all Nat'l Parks FREE!!! It also reduces our rates at campground by half! I just had to show the proper documentation and then we were going to head to our campsite we had reserved, but....Old Faithful was about to erupt so we stayed and watched that amazing experience. We ate at the Old Faithful Lodge and finally headed toward camp. We were stopped for over 1/2 hr by bison grazing and trying to make it between the river & mtns to graze some more. They are much better to wait for than road construction! Finally around 5:00 we started our setup of camp. Kat brought a canopy that we placed between our 2 tents and that was awesome, I had my by camping kitchen w. 3 burners and a fire was started, we had the most perfect tent camping set-up around, all 5 chairs were perfectly placed around the fire, and we decided to not go anywhere else. Dinner the first night was chicken kabobs (that had marinated since Mtn Home)and baked potatoes & roasted corn MMMmmmm!!! Thanks Kat for a better alternative to burgers and dogs. The next morning, we headed toward Mammoth Hot Springs and saw all types of wildlife; more bison, eagles, cranes, elk, mtn sheep, moose (pics to come) a bear had come through our camp the night before we got there! He heard we were coming....
We went by Upper & Lower Falls and arrived in Mammoth where elk just hang around in peoples yards like their family pets would. We had some wonderful ice cream, a tradition Kat has with her kids when they go to Yellowstone. And then we went to the North gate to get a refund on the entrance fee we pd before we got our Access Passes. Then off to the actual springs.....WOW!! It was absolutely amazing how many there have been, the paths they take and turn from and form new paths. The colors were indescribable, you have to see them! Then we continued around the park to the hot pots, which I renamed hot pockets. It was all great. We took a shortcut across the center of the park to get back to camp because we were exhausted & the boys had seen enough--244 miles, just in the park!! Ron had dinner planned this night, it was sloppy joes & biscuits in the dutch oven! Oh my!! Another evening around the campfire and no s'mores?! Kat & Ron both stated they were over-rated LOL! Well.....check out was by 11:00 so by 7:00 the next morning Kat had chopped onions, bellpeppers, smoked sausage & leftover baked potatoes in the skillet before I even got up.....the least I could do was crack some eggs to scramble, THAT was a great fireside breakfast. We tried to keep Ron & Kat an extra day but work needed them both back in ID. What we did benefit from was that Ron had never seen the Grand Tetons either or Jackson and Kat wanted him to take in the whole experience in so we got to use his pull behind trailer to put our big cookstove in and other items that we didn't want to re-arrange our car to fit in. So by 10:59 we pulled out of the campground gate and headed south. The cloud cover didn't seem to dampen our journey. We arrived at Coulter Bay campground that I had chosen since there were no showers at our Yellowstone site. We set up camp and had a nice picnic lunch of cold cut sandwiches before Kat & Ron left. Then the rains came. It was cold!!! We got wet. I got a warning ticket for leaving our stovetop out (not the grill part which we cooked on but..) when we left to do laundry, telling us the bears would be dead if fed. Scary! We heard coyotes sporadically throughout the night.
The Tetons were more magnificent to me than any of the pics I've seen that depicted them, I thoroughly enjoyed that more than Yellowstone. Really!
We arrived in Jackson, WY, where it was still drizzly and I needed a haircut. My hair is too long for camping, so it's much shorter now. And I tried to get ahold of Space & Smiles since I knew she grew up in Jackson and could tell us the places not to miss while there, but no answer. We ate at Bubba's BBQ. Later in the evening she called us back, after we left there to let me know she's worked there!! Ironic huh?
Well we continued through some magnificent country down 89 back into ID then S. into UT, we are currently at Bear Lake at a KOA where we splurged and got a Kabin. I made spaghetti w. meatsauce in the Kountry Kitchen & we had a heater and beds to sleep on! The boys and I played putt-putt in the rain last night, it was so much fun! We then retired to the room and watched Terms of Endearment on our laptop laying in our beds. The boys want to rent some ATV's and go through the hillside and around the lake and they have just risen from bed. The sun is shining, there are blue skies, a light breeze and we are embarking on a new day. Our plans are to hit Lagoon near SLC, like the boys haven't had enough water the past couple days?! I conceded they haven't had the right equipment in all the water we've been in! Then we are going over to Arches, then down to Bryce Canyon on our way to Las Vegas to meet up with Janice, Darren & Parker our unschooling friends from CA who got their timeshare for 2 wks and invited us to stay with them the first week. WOOHOO!! I'm thinking......another bed with a roof & a pool. Life is Good!!! Toodles for now.......