Yellowstone National Park: Day 3 & Going Home

Day 3 Started with cereal & cocoa for breakfast and then we packed it up and headed for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone for our hike. On the way, we came across more buffalo and even drove past one right off the road!

We decided to hike Uncle Tom's Trail, which is a steep, short hike down into the canyon. Going down wasn't too bad or too long, but going up was quite the hike! The view was gorgeous! Halfway back up, Cruise needed to use the bathroom, so he and I and Jett booked it up as fast as we could, fighting gravity and high altitude. Poor Dave pretty much carried Miles all the way back up.

Once we got back up, we drove over to the restaurant nearby and ate lunch. And, of course, had to buy the boys more souvenirs. We got them each an animal hat that attaches to mittens. Cruise got a wolf and Jett and Miles both got bears. They were too cute to pass up and surprisingly inexpensive.

After lunch, we drove east to Yellowstone Lake. On the way, we came across a huge group of bison just hanging out by the hot pots. It was a pretty neat sight!

We got to the lake and spent a half hour getting our tiny little boat registered. They have a lot of rules and red tape at Yellowstone, but it pays off because everything is beautiful and well maintained. We then drove a little ways and stopped by the side of the road and walked down to the lake to play. It was pretty windy and the water was really cold. The wind caused waves to come in, so the boys didn't make it out very far in the boat. But they still had a lot of fun. The sand was pretty neat because it was mostly black with obsidian.

Miles wasn't too thrilled about all the water the boat kept taking on, so he came and hung out with me and we played in the sand together while I snapped photos. Eventually everyone came back to shore and buried Jett.

We decided to call it a day once Dave cut his foot in the lake and the kids were too cold. So we drove back to camp and I think I slept most of the way because I have no recollection of going back. Once we got back to camp, I attempted to make the planned dinner but half of it burned and what was good just didn't taste very...good. So we made sandwiches and munched on snacks. After dinner, Dave wanted to go back to the river to try to find some hot spots, but I think everyone was pooped except the toddler, so he took Miles and they visited the river while the boys and I sat around and played games and cleaned up dinner. Dave was able to find a couple spots with small springs, but it had too much bacteria growing in it to get in the water.

We finished off the night with more s'mores and then we put the kids in the van to watch a movie while Dave and I started packing up a lot of the stuff and getting things ready to leave the next morning. Then we got to have some time to sit and talk, which was a nice change of pace. That night, Cruise slept with me in the van and unfortunately I woke up at midnight because my mattress had sprung a huge leak, so I had to let all the air out of it, double up Cruise's and my mattresses under us so it wasn't so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, we only had thin blankets to cover us with and it was the coldest night we had had while we were there, so I ended up turning on the car eventually and turned on the heat. Needless to say, it was not the best sleep. 

That morning, we had what was left of the eggs, sausage, and cereal, and then packed up camp. We got an early start because Jett decided to wake everyone up at 6:30. We didn't get a picture going into the park, so we got one going out after waiting in a long line of Chinese-speaking tourists. 

Seeing that we left for home on a Sunday, the drive home was much faster due to no construction. But it seemed like we couldn't get home fast enough because Miles whined and cried most of the way home mostly because he didn't want to be in a seatbelt. We got home around dinner time, bathed everyone, ate some dinner, and enjoyed our comfortable bed. 

And that was our Yellowstone trip! As stressful as it can be with the kids, it was definitely worth visiting. I highly recommend it. In fact, it was nice to get off the grid and not worry about phone calls, e-mails, internet, etc. And the only thing I needed to clean were meals. Definitely a nice change of pace to our crazy, messy life!

Yellowstone National Park: Day 1 & 2

This year's vacation we decided to go off-grid and visit Yellowstone National Park. We wanted to go before global warming completely destroys it. But seriously, it's a problem people!

Anyway, the map told us it would take 5 hours, but add in stops for food, potty and the stupid roadwork, it took almost 8. Seriously, roadwork on a two-lane road! It was dumb. And the kids let us know it. Over, and over, and over, and over again. At one point, we had had enough of their whining that we let them out of their seat belts since we were just sitting there for almost an hour not moving. But in all seriousness, I don't blame them. I really wanted to get out of my seat belt too.

We finally rolled into Yellowstone around dinner time and checked in at the Madison campground. Madison is one of the nicer campgrounds, meaning it has running water and you have to have reservations. Dave was only able to get us a reservation for the first night, but when we checked in, somehow he sweet-talked his way into getting reservations for all three nights. Although, it is possible he may have just slipped them a fifty...I didn't ask. I was just happy we wouldn't have to move camp three times. 

We got to our site and set up camp! I was impressed and how helpful Cruise & Jett were with setting up the tents. And they did a really good job! Dave got my bed set up in the van; both the big tent and the van had a queen blow-up mattress, and the small tent was used for storage (coats, fishing stuff, dirty clothes, etc.)

 

Once camp was up, I started dinner. I had prepared hobo dinners for us with red potatoes, chopped up steak, peas & carrots, cream of mushroom soup and seasoned with dried onion soup packets. The boys said dinner looked gross, but they all actually really enjoyed it! So, go me!

After dinner, we cleaned up and took a stroll down to the Firehole river to explore a bit. Dave wanted to see if he could find any hot spots in the river. There weren't any significant warm places, but it was breathetaking to just be out there. Everything was gorgeous. Cruise found a dragonfly with a hurt wing, so he picked it up and carried it on his stick for a little while. 

After our walk, we came back to camp and made s'mores with peanut butter cups. 

That night I slept in the van with Miles and Dave was in the tent with Cruise & Jett. Miles fell asleep very quickly which was super nice.

In the morning we had scrambled eggs, sausage, hot cocoa and orange juice.

After breakfast, we thought we'd make our way to the sights! Our first stop was Fountain Paint Pot, where there were a couple pools, geysers, steam vents and, of course, a "paint pot".

Next, we drove to Old Faithful. On the way down, we got to see a few buffalo wandering around, but overall, it was just scenery. No bears. 

When we got to Old Faithful, there was already a huge crowd surrounding it. It was super hot that day so we decided to hang out in the shade and let the boys play with the logs while we waited. It finally went off after a half hour or so and of course Jett was nowhere to be found for that first picture. We did eventually find him playing with a few other kids and got his photo. 

After the big show, we headed over to the gift shop and the boys bought a couple souvenirs. Jett bought a really nice pocket knife with a 'J' carved into it (that I was not super thrilled about but Dad already said he could get it), Cruise got a survival multi-tool and a wallet, and Miles got a little bag of rocks that he got to pick out. He was especially excited about his blue rock. Dave and I bought a baseball cap.

After shopping, we drove back to our campsite for some lunch and then put on swimsuits so we could cool off in the river. Dave started to get things ready to fish, when a couple rangers stopped him and said he needed a special fishing license, so unfortunately he didn't get to fish. But the boys had a lot of fun playing in the river and cooling off. Miles and I sat and tried to find big rocks to throw back into the river. 

After cooling off, we got dressed and decided to go for a little drive. Miles finally got a nap along the way and we got to discover the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and scouted out where we would go hike the next day. 

We went back to camp and made dinner. We had BBQ chicken breasts and green beans. Luckily it turned it great and the kids ate it...even though it doesn't look like it. 

After dinner, we decided to go to the Grand Prismatic since it was finally cooling off outside. On our way over, we came across a couple female moose and two baby moose. 

I think the Grand Prismatic was my favorite place other than the Grand Canyon because of the really neat bacteria mats. It was just so neat to see! 

We came back to camp and got ready for bed. It was Jett's turn to sleep in the van with me, and man, as much as I love snuggling with him, he is the worst to sleep next to! He's super chatty before bed, he snuggles up next to you all night, and then wakes up way too early and makes sure everyone else wakes up with him. But luckily I was so tired that night that I slept like a log.