A New Season!

Summer 2026 is soon upon us! In recent weeks, the weather has been warm and pleasant. The chaos of spring winds and rains followed by freezes appears to be mostly behind us. As the weather has warmed, I've taken our little family on a few excursions and daytrips to locations such as West Yellowstone, Lower Mesa Falls, the St. Anthony Sand Dunes and the St. Anthony greenbelt, Palisades Reservoir, Island Park, and more. This Memorial weekend, we completed our first campout as a family of 3!

We scouted out camping locations at both the sand dunes and the Island Park region. We wanted a location more suited for a first-time campout experiment with our 1 yr old. Two campgrounds stood out to us in Island park. The first, Riverside Campground, a National Forest regulated site, was beautiful and clean. The facilities available to us included water spouts, toilets, and a picnic bench plus a fire pit at each campsite. The campground also include electrical hookups for RVs if that's more your style. The second location, Buffalo Campground, also a National Forest regulated site, was far larger by area and included 8 drive-able loops with 8-10 campsites per loop. The campsites included all the same amenities as Riverside but some were more spacious. We chose a spot close to the river with more distance between us and the nearest campsite. Both Riverside and Buffalo campgrounds were in the middle of the forest and offered river access. I have included a picture of the site fees (current as of this year) to give you an idea of cost.

Normally I'm not a fan of glamping, but with the new challenge of caring for a young child, I'll take all the help I can get. Plus, there really isn't much that can compare to a real nice camping trip! It soothes the soul. Surprisingly, our daughter slept through the night despite temps dropping into the 30s. If you are curious about our set up and how we camped with a young child, feel free to reach out and I can fill you in. Be mindful, this was our first try and we already have things we would change, but for the first try, we were pretty happy!

There is more I could say about these past few months, or even the past year, but mostly it has been an adventure tackling life with a new soul. Work has been a prominent part of my life too and free time is nearly non-existent. However, I wouldn't change a thing. I love this life of ours, though it is often difficult. I feel like I am learning so many things every day. We are grateful to have such beautiful nature so close and that we've had some time to get out and enjoy it.

I've included photos from our daytrips and excursions as well as this most recent camping trip, enjoy! Anyways, that's all for now, until next time, stay safe out there!