Last week we took 4 day 3 night trip to Yellowstone. Matthew HATES hiking with a passion so we thought we would go while he was spending a week up at Camp K. In getting ready to leave we had to board Sophie at the Vet's office. We dropped her off Sunday afternoon and she was pretty upset. As soon as we walked in the office she started shaking. We tried to give her a treat to calm her down, but she refused to eat it which is really unlike her. The vet tech got some really good treats for her, but she refused them, too. I felt awful leaving her in a kennel as we walked away. She gave us the most pitiful look and I felt so guilty. However, the staff kept good notes on her and said she did really well. They let her play with the smaller dogs during the day so she could socialize. They said she had a lot of fun playing with them. It made me feel a bit better about leaving her when I read that. We left for our trip early morning Monday. We dropped Matthew off at Camp K and headed over to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Of course we had to get a picture with the antler arches:
After walking around and looking at different things we had a quick lunch and then we did the scenic drive to Yellowstone through the Teton mountain range. They are really pretty.
The Air Force has a bunch of trailers they allow their servicemen and civilian employees to use during the summer. We were able to reserve one for our family. They are the same trailers we stayed in on our last trip 10 years ago. Since it had been 10 years since we had been to Yellowstone that meant Josh was only 3 years old, Daniel was a baby and Sarah and Noah were just a twinkle in our eyes. This was all new to them and it was fun to see their reactions. Our first stop was Old Faithful:
There were so many tourists it was crazy! Luckily, we were able to find a seat on the boardwalk so we could wait and watch for Old Faithful to erupt. We made our own fun while we waited as you can see:
We hit it at about the right time. We only waited about 10 minutes and then it erupted.
It's pretty cool to watch:
After seeing Old Faithful we walked around the area and saw all the geysers and thermal pools around. It is crazy that they are just in random places. You can turn a corner and there is one just sitting there. We had fun looking at them all.
We did get to see our first buffalo of many while walking around. The buffalo was behind Josh. Noah was not impressed:
After a little while Noah was just done with everything. He insisted on being carried. I had to laugh when I turned around and saw this:
Who knew it was going to be a full moon!? Haha!
We got to see one of my favorite pools the Morning Glory pool. Sarah, Josh and Daniel were reading the sign about it in the background:
Walking around Daniel loves to hold anyone's hands. Daniel was the only one Noah would hold hands with so we didn't care.
There were a few more erupting geysers, but they weren't as impressive as Old Faithful, though:
Of course you can't go on vacation and not forget something! I had forgotten toothbrushes so we stopped by the store to pick some up. The kids waited for us on the rocking chairs outside the store:
Driving back to our trailer we saw a pretty sunset. We were driving so the trees were blurred in the picture, but it was a pretty sunset:
The trailer was tight quarters, but the kids didn't have any trouble sleeping:
Aaron and I got the queen bed, Sarah and Noah shared the double bed/fold out couch and Josh and Daniel got the bunk beds. It was small, but enough for what we needed.
The next morning after eating breakfast we headed over to Mammoth Hotsprings and the area by there. We saw a lot of hot springs and geysers.
We did have some excitement while we were driving. We saw a bear. It was pretty close to us, too.
It was fun to watch it for a few minutes, until it got too close for comfort and we got back into the car.
Even with the panoramic pictures you still can't tell how pretty everything was.
One of my favorite places was Norris Geyser Basin. It seemed to be one of everyone elses favorite places, too because there were tons of people around.
It was cool to have the kids read about the different geysers and tell us about them:
There was a lot of hiking so Matthew would have HATED it. He really HATES hiking if I hadn't mentioned it before. He had a lot more fun taking care of the horses at Camp K than he would have had hiking.
There are so many things to see in Yellowstone. I had forgotten how big the park was. Luckily we had checked out a bunch of books on CD that we listened to while we drove all over. Amazingly enough we got through three pretty good sized books. The kids really loved listening to the books. As soon as we got back into the car from seeing something they would ask us to hit play so they could start the book back up again. It was pretty funny. Anyway, we didn't see everything in the few days we were there.
We had to take a picture of the sign to prove we were there, right?!
The next day we visited Fishing Bridge. They don't allow fishing from there anymore. The water was so clear you could see the fish swimming around by the bridge.
We did get caught in an hour and a half traffic jam since a herd of buffalo decided to criss cross the road multiple times. They were right next to our cars.
The rangers kept trying to shew them away, but they would cross back into the road again as soon as the rangers would drive away in their cars.
One HUGE one crossed in front of us a few times. We only got one video, but it was HUGE!
We did stop by the Upper Falls water fall.
We hiked down to get a closer look. Here we are taking a rest:
It really was pretty!
In driving around everyone fell asleep in the car except for Josh and me. So we stopped and got a quick hike in to some more water falls while everyone had a nap.
I do have to mention that Josh had to come up with jokes about every geyser or pool we saw. One afternoon we finally had to implement a no corny joke rule because our ears were hurting from all the cheesy jokes he came up with. Crazy kid!
The thermal pools were all different colors and pretty in their own ways. I liked the clear turquoise ones the best.
We would stop for picnic lunches everyday. One time we stopped we ran into someone from our neighborhood which is crazy! It was fun to see a familiar face, though!
One night we had dinner and smores in our campfire by our trailer. We stayed in an RV park with showers so it wasn't roughing it too badly. We were right next to the south entrance to Yellowstone so it was a good location.
The last day we stopped by a few places we missed and weren't disappointed.
On our way home we drove right through Rexburg, Idaho. I had to stop by and see where I used to live at Ricks now known as BYU Idaho. It will always be known as Ricks College as far as I am concerned, though. I was sad to see they had torn down my old dorm where I used to live as a college student. This is where I used to live minus the dorm:
We stopped by to see the Rexburg temple:
After leaving Rexburg we stopped by the Idaho Falls Temple:
It was nice to get back home, but I am sad to be back to reality. Vacations are so much more fun. It was nice to pick up Sophie from the Vet. She was so excited to see us. We picked up Matthew from Camp K Friday morning and it was nice to see him again, too. It is great to have my family all back together again. I am trying to extend my vacation by ignoring the HUGE pile of laundry awaiting me from our trip. Ugh!! Oh well it was worth it and we all had a fun time. Until next vacation :).
