Yellowstone Vacation

I actually had been to Yellowstone when a was a very small child but I don't remember any of it. We lived in Dillon Montana which is only an hour a 1/2 away from the West entrance. I remember seeing a few pictures like 1 of Old Faithful and then the stories my mom told me. One of the stories is that my dad was sleeping with his feet out of the car and a bear came up and licked them. True or not I don't know but it makes for a good story doesn't it?
Misty and her family wanted to go to Yellowstone and so last year they called us up and asked if we had a resort there with our Worldmark credits. I checked and we did so I invited Larry and I to go along with them too. It is a nice area. Larry and I wanted to get there the fastest route we could so I asked around and got several different opinions so in the end we had to choose. It looked to us that through Boise and up would get us there faster. Going that way we were also able to visit Larry's younger sister and their family for a bit. Coming home is a completely different story so stay tuned.
Yellowstone is a beautiful and unusual place. A place where literally the center of the earth has a profound impact on what we witnessed. Our journey begins...
Here we are at what is known as Fountain Paint Pot. The water is so hot it steams and boils. Their is bacteria in the water (not good bacteria) that keeps it so blue.

This is actually mud pots that have mud in them that boil and splatter.

David, Larry, Gabe and Clara. Gabe did a good job of holding onto hands because he didn't want to fall in like...

that guy.

More boiling water and mud.

We were on our way to Old Faithful and got stuck in a traffic jam. A horrible traffic jam. Much to our dismay the President of the United States just happened to be visiting Old Faithful at the same time we wanted too. It took us forever to get there. These are the helicopters that brought him in. He left and the traffic started moving better thank goodness. I was driving and Larry took the picture.

There she blows. Old Faithful that is. To be honest to me it was anti climatic after having to wait in traffic for so long and sooooo many people were in front of us. I remember from the pictures and this is the way Larry remembered it too was that we were able to walk pretty close to it. Times have changed in the last 40 years, eh?

We were headed down to Jackson Hole Wyoming and so we kept driving and driving south. David found that they had an Alpine slide to slide down a mountain on and some bungee jumping so he wanted to take his family there. We stopped along the way to see things. I can't remember the name of this waterfall but it was a nice break.

I was trying to ride this like a horse but kept slipping off. Larry is laughing at me I do believe.

Larry and I posing for a picture. He wanted me to stand up there with him NO WAY! I would fall off.

Pretty scenery on our way there.

We finally arrived at Jackson Hole and found the Alpine Slide so up everyone goes but Clara and I. Someone has to watch the baby so I volunteered:) I know, I know, Nathan and Aria could go down the slide and I was too chicken. Don't rub it in.

Larry and Nathan on their way up.

Weeee here comes Larry.

Nathan wasn't to far behind.

Next was bungee jumping. I've done this and it is scarier than it looks. Kudo to the kids for doing it. Gabe isn't quite sure what to think of it. He wants to bounce just on the trampoline like he does at home.

The worker though has other plans for him and gently helps him to go higher.

Nathan and Aria absolutely LOVED it. Their faces show it all. They laughed and giggled. That made the drive worth it.

Later the next day in the afternoon after church we head back to Yellowstone to see parts that we wouldn't be able to see otherwise because they were closing the road. We were treated to a rainbow.

We saw lots of Elk while we were there.

We saw 3 Buffalo. The sad part is that the best picture of the buffalo we could have gotten, it was standing right by the road, the guys (Larry and David) in the front car didn't stop so we could get out and take a picture. Cell phones don't work in the park and so we couldn't take the chance of losing each other.

This is beautiful. The Canyon, lower falls. Pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

Upper falls. The bridge looks so cool I think.

On our way back to the Condo we made one more stop before it got dark. We had to be quick because we had to get past a certain point in the road by 10:00 pm or it would be closed until next spring.

We stopped at Norris Geyser Basin. It was eerily peaceful.

The next day we went to the Grizzly and Wolf habitat center that was across the street from the Condo. Did you know that Grizzly bears are strong and HUGE? This one is scavenging for food.

The kids took a class to make Wolf sun catchers. Clara is just too cute here:)

David and Gabe.

Aria and Nathan. They turned out beautifully.

The wolves looked majestically in their habitat. We could hear them howl at night.

Here are three little wolves in this den I would take home anytime:) Nathan, Gabe and Aria.

Of course as with any good museum or whatever you need to exit out of the gift shop. They had this HUGE bear that we all had to have our picture take with. Larry and me cuddling on the bear. It reminded me of my moms huge bear that I would load on top of our car for my kids to take to Bear day at school. The looks we would get, it was probably 10 feet tall.

We went inside of a tepee and Clara just started doing the airplane all on her own. It was cute.

David and Larry were constantly playing scrabble on the iphones. I'm surprised they saw any of the park. LOL.

Monday was one of my favorite days there because we went out and did something active along with all the driving. We went to Biscuit Basin and then hiked to Mystic Falls waterfall.

The blue of the hot hot water is so beautiful.

Chipmunks are wildlife too:)

Clara had a nice seat on the hike. She started waving to me. It was cute of course:)

Mystic Falls.

What would any good photographer do? Climb on rocks and ledges to get the best picture even with a baby on her back. It's a good thing Misty has had a lot of practice all those years hiking with her dad.

Larry grabbed the camera to take a picture of me. It was so beautiful there!

Our little hikers. Aria, Gabe and Nathan did a great job.

Misty and her family went home so Larry and I had the next few days by ourselves. The first thing we did was find a golf course but it was an hour away. Larry just happened to have his fishing pole in the car and saw a good hole and just had to stop.

We were surrounded by mountains as we played. It was gorgeous.

I thought it was quite comical to watch these little critters watch Larry as he was hitting his ball.

Larry walked over the hill and with the sun behind him I wanted to get a picture of it cuz he looked so studly:).

Larry went fishing one day while I stayed in the Condo and read a book Nathan was so kind to leave for me. The next day he wanted to fish again so off we went together this time. I wanted to see some things still on our way down the southern road to the fishing hole in Yellowstone.

Another elk.

I had never seen so many lily pads all in one place. Enchanting. I like how the reflection of the Evergreens is in the water.

We stopped at Midway Geyser Basin. The largest hot water lake (I think) there.

Lewis Falls was the destination for the fishing trip. So out we go. I am armed with Nathan's book and Larry with his fishing pole. Can you see Larry on the point?

I had finished the book before Larry finished fishing so I did a short hike by myself. The light coming down through the trees on the stairs was pretty I thought.

A view driving back to the Condo.

Bald Eagle nest. Their was sign by the road that said no standing or stopping because of the Eagles but...

...what does everyone do when they see any wildlife at Yellowstone? Traffic jam! So I was able to get a picture of the Eagle and her youngster.

I just had to get a picture of the LDS church that was on Faithful street. We all need to be built on Faithful street. :)

We are on our way back home now. We are going up through Montana and over across the pan handle of Idaho. We stop at Lewis and Clark Caverns though. Here we are on top before we start our descent down inside the dark mountain 300 feet. I had to not think about where I really was as we were going through it.

Beaver Slide to get from one cavern to the next. It was very beautifully polished after 1,000's of bums sliding down it.

Some formations.

Can you see Santa Clause on the column?

We're in the pink room of the last cavern before we head out.

We decide to take the "scenic" route home to see what everyone was talking about when they said that Hwy 12 is beautiful but very curvy and watch out for wildlife. We thought heck we live on a country road and counter deer, bear, turkeys, skunks, raccoons and whatever else lives around us but...we usually don't have to look for moose on our road.

It was an enjoyable relaxing trip. I didn't feel like I had to go on a vacation after my vacation. I'm sure we've all experienced those kind of vacations, you know what I'm talking about. But Scenic Hwy 12? I've done it once (that I remember) I don't need to do it again, it added a lot driving time to getting home. I do have to say though that I felt much more relaxed after it got dark because then Larry wasn't craning his neck to look at all the good fishing holes in the River beside us. LOL

"Home Sweet Home".