Yellowstone

We had such a great time in Yellowstone! I have way too many pictures to post and I'm having a hard time picking some of my favorites. So this may be overloaded with pictures, but I know I'm leaving out some really good ones. Enjoy!!


We went up on Friday, July 4th. I was behind of course, so we left later than planned. Our 7 hour drive turned into 12 hours because of a car wreck right at the entrance to Yellowstone. We had to wait about 3 hours for them to clean it up. I think it happened about an hour or two before we even got there. My parents were the only ones who made it through before the wreck, so my two sisters and I (and our families) were stuck behind to wait. We got to our campsite late, so rather than setting up our tent, Kevin, Rylan, and I slept in my parents trailer. We were so cozy and comfy and Rylan slept the whole night through...nice!


Our first day was full of mud pots and geysers and steaming pools. We made lots of stops on our way to Old Faithful. Old Faithful was scheduled to go off about 30 minutes after we arrived so we felt like we had pretty good timing on that one. Before Old Faithful erupted there were several other geysers nearby who erupted. One in particular was very exciting and we found out it only goes off once a day...lucky for us to see it! Compared to that one we were all a little disappointed in Old Faithful, maybe expecting it to be bigger and better. We figured that maybe the once-a-day geyser stole the power and force from Old Faithful. We were still happy to have seen it but even happier to have seen the previous geyser (it would help if I knew the names!).
We had a picnic lunch there by Old Faithful and then drove on to see more geysers and mud pots.
Our second day was the best for everyone. We drove through the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and it was a day full of waterfalls and wild life. It was a nice cool day with a few rain showers, but the cool air was very welcome! We were blown away by the gorgeous waterfalls and Rylan especially loved the water. He was continuosly asking to go into the water, which is kind of scary. How do we teach him how dangerous a waterfall is? But they sure were pretty. We took a hike down over 500 feet (which consisted of 328 steps and some decline walks) to see the Lower Falls up close. Kevin carried Ry in a back pack and after seeing the waterfall in all it's glory, Kevin helped me back up that 500 feet while carrying Ry. He was winded and sweaty by the time we got up, but I felt great!!


We also went to Artist Point to view the Lower Falls from up top, and it was spectacular! Seeing Dragon's Mouth was also a very cool stop, even though it was the absolute stinkiest stop we made. That sulphur is not a pleasant smell!

Our way back to camp is when we saw most of the wildlife...maybe because it was evening and they were all out enjoying the cool. We saw a bear, loads of bison, elk, birds, and my personal favorite, 2 white wolves playing in a field of purple flowers. It was so exciting!
Our third day there was mostly driving the scenic side of Yellowstone. We made a stop at Mammoth Hot Springs which was neat.

Other than the scenic drive and that one stop, there really wasn't much to stop and do this day. Oh wait, we did stop at the Petrified Tree where we saw another bear, but it was sleeping in the shade and didn't move much. We had an early dinner back at camp and enjoyed a bit of relaxing, and of course, some delicious s'mores!


We did set up our tent for the remaining 3 nights. Rylan woke up each night, we're guessing because he was cold. Kevin and I had cots to sleep on and we put Rylan in his pack n play. I was surprised he actually went to sleep in it but he almost acted excited to sleep there! Halfway through the night he would end up in bed with Kevin while I slept peacefully in my own cot :) The last night Rylan was up multiple times and was hard to console. Everyone else said they heard him but of course, no one complained. I just hope our neighboring campers were able to get some sleep! We had a sweet old man camping next to us in his motorhome. He came out on our last day apologizing for his loud generator. We laughed because our 8 kids were much noisier than his generator. He was sweet enough to tell us the sound of the kids was a welcome "noise" since all his kids are grown and away. Hearing the kids play made him happy...how sweet :)



So overall it was a fantastic trip. Of course the drive home wasn't fun, just because I just wanted to be home. Rylan was a little unhappy to be buckled in the car for 7 hours, even though he watched Curious George 3 times!! We got home around 6pm which was great for some cleaning up and relaxing. How happy I was to sleep in my own bed! Nothing is better than the comforts of your own home, even after a great vacation!!