Yellowstone

Mikayla and Mom had planned a trip to Oregon this summer, and for one reason or another, it didn't happen.  But both of them wanted to go somewhere and do something before summer ended and school started up again, so they decided to go to Yellowstone.  They invited us to join them, and while Kent was not interested, I agreed to come along with the children.  We rented a red minivan and spent nearly four days in it.  I like Yellowstone, but by the end of our trip, I remembered why it had been so long since I had been there--you drive A LOT when you go to Yellowstone.

We left on Tuesday, August 13, and drove to Idaho Falls where we stayed overnight.  Although the drive to West Yellowstone where we were staying was about six hours, we decided, for the sake of the children, to break it up into two parts.  We make a short detour off the freeway and went to Lava.  During my youth when Grandma and Grandpa Barnes lived in Idaho Falls, we never once stopped in Lava.  There are hot springs and a large Olympic size pool and diving platforms.  We figured a swim after a long time in the car would be a treat, and indeed it was.  Except for the weather.  The whole way there we had sun and blue skies, and about ten minutes after we got in the pool, it clouded up and looked like rain.  We swam outside for a while and went down the water slides a couple of times, but then it got chilly enough that we went to the indoor pool.  The kids crowded into the hot tub to warm up, and jumped off the inside diving board.  We didn't make a stop at the hot springs (down the road from the pool where we did swim), but we did stop at an ice cream shop for square ice cream cones before continuing on our way to Idaho Falls.

This was a very high, very fast slide the children couldn't go down because they weren't tall enough.

No big loss.

Neither of them wanted to go down it anyway.

Brick, waiting to go in the water.

All of us (less Mikayla who was with Brick) at the top of the slide tower.

Look at that dark, foreboding sky.

What were we doing in our swimming suits?

Mikayla was taking this picture from far away.

I'm standing by the pole and that's Brandt, just off the slide.

He looks cold.

Mom got separated from the rest of us and went back on the slide by herself.

We weren't the only crazies in the pool.

Upon arrival at our hotel in Idaho Falls, we went for a walk along the river to see the actual falls.  Our hotel was right along the river, but at the very farthest end from the falls.  The closer we got to the falls, we nicer the hotels got.  We were staying in a dive.  It was cheap and frequented by bikers, but adequate for our needs.  Only last month (I'm actually blogging about this in October), Blythe reminded me that the one night we stayed there, she was made to sleep on the floor while Brandt got to share the bed with me.  I hadn't remembered that, but leave it to Blythe to remember very clearly.  She chastised me for being "unfair."  What could I do but apologize?

The Idaho Falls Temple.

I asked for smiles and got pouty faces.

So then I said, "Let's all pout," and Blythe smiled.

Of course.

Grandma Sue talking to Brick.

He likes it!

Brandt took this picture.

He did a good job.

Brandt and Brick are watching something on the Kindle as we are preparing for bed.

I just love this picture of the cousins together.

We got up on Wednesday morning to head to Yellowstone proper.  We wanted to drive past Grandma and Grandpa Barnes' old house, where all during my youth, we would go and vacation.  I spent many a happy hour with my grandparents.  We drove around and around Iona, passing landmarks we recognized (the high school) and others we were certainly we recognized and didn't.  When we were last there, across the street from their house was open field with cows.  We drove down a road we were certain was the right one, but didn't see the house at all.  After some trolling, we turned down a road that couldn't possibly be it as there were far too many houses, and suddenly, there it was.  There are several houses across the street now; it's in a neighborhood.  But Mom recognized the bushes and circular driveway in the front.  It seems like a lifetime ago that we were last there, and it probably was.  Grandma and Grandpa moved away before I could drive, so it has been almost 30 years.

We headed towards Yellowstone, and not too far outside of Idaho Falls, drove past a huge sign advertising Bear World.  It sounded interesting, so we made a u-turn and checked it out.  It is sort of a nature reserve, with bears and other animals in open enclosures you can drive through so you get an up-close view of the wildlife.  After all the wildlife we didn't see in Yellowstone, it was good we made this stop.  We saw antelope, a moose, bison, elk, and of course, lots of bears.  You could drive through a large enclosure where the bears just wander free, and see them right outside the window.  A bear stopped walking right in front of our car and began licking smashed bugs off the hood.  It was super cool.

This is a white elk.

This is bear poop.

The children thought it was fantastically funny to see bear poop in the road.

They made me take a picture of it.

This is the bear that ate bugs off the car.

That is his furry body right outside the window.

Furry bear bum.

Grandma Sue and Brick having a chat.

A baby bear. 

The kids wanted to take it home.

Me too.

Blythe insisted I take a picture of this cute bear arrangement.

She wanted to buy all these bears.

There were a few very silly carnival type rides we could do as part of our entrance fee.  Usually Brandt doesn't like that sort of thing, but they were all pretty tame, so we did them all.  There were very few people there when we were, so we didn't have to wait or anything.

There was a little petting zoo with lots of animals; deer, goats, a pig (huge and fat!), and chickens.  There was also food to feed the animals which was fabulously popular with animals and children alike.

 

 

Brick is just loving this!

Proof of just how tall I really am.

After more driving--have I mentioned how much driving you do in Yellowstone?  In the car ALL THE TIME--we got into the park and began stopping every little bit to see something.  Hot pools of incredibly clear and stinky water with amazingly colorful deposits all around, geysers, a few animals.  We were desperate to see a bear in the wild, even though we had stopped at Bear World, but were disappointed.  

We made it to Old Faithful only a short time before it was scheduled to erupt.  Good time on our part, especially as we had no idea when to expect it.  There was a clump of trees with lots of fallen logs that the children climbed around in.  They played "house," building fires and hauling water.  They both have wonderful imaginations.

Blythe is holding a little stuffed dog she got at Bear World.

She named it Katie Lisa Snowy Barrus.

That's a lot of name for such a small animal.

Fire building

In an unusual twist, it is Blythe shooting Brandt with a stick gun, not the other way around.

Old Faithful eruption watchers

A bison!

It was right by the side of the road and caused something of a traffic jam.

Mikayla leapt out of the car to take these pictures.

Bison bum

I think this brings us to the end of the first day of our time in Yellowstone itself. Lots of driving with intermittent stops to see stuff.  All in all, a good day.  

Day two saw us in the car again, driving to interesting spots.  More time in the car, but more time out of the car too.  

I think the two below pictures are very funny. In the top one, Sue is playing cards with Brick on the bed beside her.  She doesn't appear to be paying much attention to him.  Then, in the one below, you can't see Brick anymore.  It looks like he's rolled off the bed, and that Sue just continues to play cards, unconcerned.  In reality, you can just see Brick's foot, so he's still on the bed, but it looks pretty funny.

If I wasn't actually blogging about this more than a year after we were in Yellowstone, I would mention where we were in these pictures.  But I missed blogging about this shortly after our trip, and so much time has passed, I'm just happy to have pictures to remember we went.  Rather than try to provide travel details, I will let the pictures largely speak for themselves.  We saw beautiful and interesting things, the children liked it when we got out of the car, but were fairly content in the car as they got to play on their Kindles.  

I'm top dog on this rock!

This picture isn't very clear, but it was taken from very far away.

I had hiked up a ridge with the kids, and Mikayla and Sue were down below with Brick.

We hiked the circular path and then I stayed with Brick while Mik and Sue hiked.

Chubby-cheeked Brick 

Car/Kindle time

While driving along, we saw this very large elk climbing out of the water and grazing a bit.  We did not see very many animals, so this was a treat.  Again, large traffic jam, but we did pull the car over and park, then get out and watch.  He is a majestic animal.  And big.

One of my favorite wild creatures in the park.

And the second of my favorite wild creatures.

We spotted these deer on a ridge above the road.  

There was a herb of probably eight or ten.

And a bald eagle.

I'm not sure how we spotted this bird in the tree as we were driving along,

but I was delighted.

Wildlife!

The pictures below are from our last day in the park and our way home.  We went to a lake as we headed out the south side of the park.  We saw the Tetons as we headed towards Jackson Hole where we stopped for lunch and a wander around to stretch our legs.  

In the morning, after an early start, we stopped at a geyser that had a sign that said it erupted only sporadically, maybe once a year or so.  It was incredibly active when we were there, and we sat and watched it do its thing for quite a while.  It was chilly, but we were the only ones there, and something about being the sole viewers of all that activity mesmerized us, in spite of the cold.

Elk on the shore of the large lake (whose name I don't remember).

Babies with their moms.

 

These last few pictures are of the Tetons, which we drove past on our way home.  We did get out of the car and have a look from the scenic overlook, but that was all.  No hiking, no camping, no driving any closer.  This was it.  We were still far from home and intent on getting there before night fell.

We had a marvelous time and enjoyed our trip.  It was fun to be together, the kids liked the mini van (Brandt especially), and they got along well as we went.  We had a good trip and made it home just in time to empty the car and repack for camping at Heber.  Yeah for summer!