Vacation within our vacation

We may have forgotten that we are on an intense bike trip. We spent yesterday in West Yellowstone checking out every nook and cranny of the town like true tourists. We scouted out the ice cream shops, got a random cash donation from an older man, and met some more cyclists. That evening Ray came with the truck and picked us up to take us to their cabin for dinner and to stay for the night. We came in to find Jess, another cyclist they adopted, and TONS of their family members! We had such a fun night meeting everyone and being treated just like family. They made a DELICIOUS dinner that we enjoyed

among lots of stories and laughter. This morning we woke up to more amazing food. Homemade scones, French toast and bacon. The family had plans to drive into the park then do some biking around to see the sites. We got dressed for our day and prepared to bike that direction, but we were given an offer we could hardly refuse. They welcomed us to hang out and use the hot tub then stay for another night. Biking in the cold rain...sitting in the hot tub? Needless to say, we spent a whole day retreating in a quiet cabin in Island Park, Idaho. We hot tubbed, read, journaled, napped, wrote letters, and napped some more. Israel and Natalee decided to make a trek to the store, which ended up being much longer than necessary thanks to inaccurate information on Yelp! Next time we will just open our eyes. We got supplies to do some baking and still had time for more hot tubbing and napping before the family returned. We are now gearing up for another big dinner. Tomorrow we sadly must part ways with our new adopted family, as they are headed East towards South Dakota and we will continue South into Colorado. We are so thankful to have met them. We must make our way into the park and restart our bike trip. We are going to do a loop that should take a couple of days to get out of. From there we will exit into the Grand Tetons then be on our way! We probably won't be able to update until we get out of the park but you can be sure to anticipate lots of interesting pictures!