Island Park...The most beautiful place on earth!

I am so grateful that I got to spend last week with my family at our cabin in Island Park. I will always Cherish the memories I have from the cabin. My grandpa and my dad built the cabin 60 years ago. It sits in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees and wild flowers, and you can hear the sound of the Buffalo river that runs behind the cabin. When I was a kid we use to spend most of our summer in Island Park. My dad would go home during the week, and come back on the weekend with food, clean clothes, and sometimes he would bring one of our friends along. I remember spending lots of time at the river fishing, catching guppies, catching frogs, tubing, canoeing down the Snake River in the old red canoe, picnics at the head of the Buffalo River with my family while my dad was fly fishing, and even running into a moose on the river a time or too. My favorite thing to do at the cabin has always been going Huckleberry picking. It is so peaceful in the forest, the tall trees creeking in the wind, the smell of huckleberries in the air, and the fun of sitting down on your butt surrounded by bushes loaded with huckleberries. My mom would make a huckleberry topping to put over ice cream that is to die for! A few other memories I have are... going to the railroad ranch, horseback riding, feeding the big fish at Big Springs and getting ice-cream in the lodge, the paddle boats at Macks Inn, Messa Falls before it had stairs and railings, seeing lots of bears right by our car when we went to Yellowstone Park, penny candy and the swings at Ponds Lodge, walking to the dam pulling the red wagon.

Now I get to enjoy creating memories with my kids, my brothers families, and Grandma and Grandpa. Some of the same traditions we have passed down to our children, and there are new traditions as well. We have added dirt bikes, four wheelers, boating, jet skiing, and a rubber raft to our outdoor activities. Inside there are a few new games, time spent scrapbooking, and alot more noise because our family has grown. The cabin will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you Grandpa Ben for

finding this beautiful place called Island Park.