Visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Cousins in Idaho: Part 3 - Bear World

The day after we got back from the cabin and Yellowstone, we went with all the Idaho cousins to Yellowstone Bear World - a drive through park that has lots of bears (grizzly and black bears) as well as elk, deer, moose, buffalo, and other animals one could see in Yellowstone.  Bear World cropped up to ensure disappointed Yellowstone visitors who missed seeing bears in the park would see lots of bears and other wildlife there.

Here are some of the animals we saw during our drive through Bear World.  A bull elk:

A bison (commonly called a buffalo) scratching up against a fence post.

These albino elk were really interesting - a large bull in the background and a cow in front.

Here are a couple pictures of the bears (there were a lot more).  Some black bears:

I think this is one of the grizzly bears, but it is hard to tell whether it has the characteristic shoulder hump.

We went through in three cars with all our group (Grandparents driving us, then my sisters Allison and Kellie driving their kids through).  When we got out of the cars and got ready to enter the rest of Bear World, we had to take a group photo.  Unfortunately, our location meant people had to stare into the bright sun.  Oh well.

Inside the park, there were really cute bear cubs that had a lot of energy and would wrestle and play.

It was a lot of fun watching them climb and play.

This juvenile (I think - it was separated from the cubs and was bigger) was just lounging in its enviable perch.

I thought it was cute how Allison's daughters, Tessa and Brenna, seemed to latch onto Karina and Lydia.  I think some of it might have to do with the fact that they are in a house with each other and their brothers and Kellie only has boys too.  Guess it must be nice to have other girls to play with.  Karina and Tessa holding hands looking at the bear cubs:

Lydia helping Brenna get over to the petting zoo area.

Bear World has a large petting zoo that was a huge hit with all the kids.  Derek found a goat to admire.

Lydia and Tessa enjoyed feeding and hugging the goat.

The older deer were completely domesticated and had no fear of the kids who tried to feed it some grass.

The cute baby fawns were a little skittish but still willing to be touched as Derek and Ethan found out with Grandpa.

Brenna and Ethan, the two littlest cousins, found a duck to entertain them.

There were several trout swimming in the stream under a bridge waiting for people to feed them.  We spent several quarters to fill little hands with food and obliged them.

Tessa dropping some food to the hungry trout.

The biggest highlight for the kids was likely getting to ride the carnival rides they had at Bear World repeatedly.  Round and round and up and down on these dune buggies.

In this round of pictures with Derek, initially he looked terrified.

I have to think he was just experiencing the jerk of the buggy, because in the same burst, I also got this huge smile and I could hear him and everyone laughing and shouting the whole ride.

This train was mostly designed for the littlest riders.

I got pulled onto the spinning bears in an effort to keep ours from spinning too much.

Karina and Grant (the two oldest cousins there) kept going on the little roller coaster over and over.  I tried it too, it was fun.

Miles in the back riding with the twins, Dallin and Logan.

Cousins lined up by age - from left to right: Grant, Karina, Miles, Lydia, Logan, Dallin, Tessa, Derek, Brenna, Ethan.

Lydia and Grandpa playing Octopus Grandpa.

After Bear World, we got lunch at Big Judd's, a burger joint famous in the area for its 1-pound burger that comes out on a bun the size of a dinner plate and took it to a nearby church building with picnic tables.  Miles and Grant each devoured about a third of one of these burgers.

After eating lunch, the kids burned off some energy running around and playing tag.

Grandpa got into the act as well as they were all trying to tag him.

Grandpa lashed two sticks together for Derek to have another sword (he accumulated several during the trip).

Lydia, Miles, and Karina climbed up the trees.

It was great for the kids to have their cousins to play with after being in isolation since March because of coronavirus.  Having other kids to play with was a definite highlight and we made sure to spend lots of time together with them during the remainder of our trip.