"Dad,can I touch the boiling hot lava?"

Today was our first day not on the move with the RV and it was a fantastic break to get recharged. The temperature dropped down to the 30's last night and then climbed back up to around 72 and sunny today. It's amazing just how many stars there are when you get somewhere with no lights, buildings or other obstructions to the skyline. Michelle and I took a walk last night once everyone was in bed and felt so lucky to be in such a neat place.

Cooper woke us up around 6:30 this morning and was his usual ultra-happy self in the morning. He came into bed with us for an hour while we tried to let everyone else sleep and then he needed to get busy doing whatever it is that he does all day. Cooper and I headed into the little town of West Yellowstone to get gas for the Jeep and check things out before the day got started. We scoped out a little bakery and brought everyone back around 9:30 for breakfast. We then headed back into the park and eventually made our way to Old Faithful. Of course along the way we stopped at all of the amazing geysers, boiling mud pits and pools of almost hypnotic colors. Our trek took us to mid-afternoon and then we headed back to the campground to just "hang out" as a family.

This was almost my first real opportunity to get on my mountain bike in a place that I have wanted to ride for as long as I can remember. I went into town and talked with the owner of the local bike shop (which is also the hobby shop, taxidermist and kitemaker). He told me some very 'rough' directions to the top of a mountain where I could catch a single-trak snowmobile trail. As it turns out, his directions were right on and after about a 25-minute ride in the Jeep, i found myself literally in the middle of nowhere. It's not often that I pack a flare, buck knife and matches in my backpack but on this occasion I just wasn't sure what I'd find. Plus, I've always believed the best views come from the places less-traveled and this turned out to be exactly true today. I biked and biked in the most beautiful place I could have imagined and although every stump looked like a grizzly bear (and actually COULD have been a grizzly bear) I smiled like a little kid the entire time. Although at one point (see pic) I looked down and the entire trail was covered in bear tracks which were the size of my foot. I basically got the you know what out of there!

This evening we played mini-golf, biked with the kids, played at the campsite and now are BBQ'ing fresh fish and vegetables with some Firefly, good wine and a big cigar. Perfection! Tomorrow we will likely try to do something more 'structured' with the kids like take them to Bear World (a park that you drive-thru with bears, moose, elk, etc. all around you) and then a rodeo which is in town. Can't wait!