Yellowstone

Last week was UEA break and we decided last minute to take the kids to Yellowstone. It's been something Dane has wanted to do for awhile now. We left around 10 in the morning and started the drive. Baby hates her carseat but actually did really well this whole trip. The other kids were great too. We didn't even have to bust out the iPod until we were about an hour away and it was for Mika. She started to get a little antsy. Right outside of Rexburg, ID they have a place called Bear World. Dane's co-worker recommended it and the kids loved it. I thought it was a little pricey but the kids said it was one of their favorites things about the trip. You drive through (with windows rolled up) an area where they have buffalo, elk, goats, wolves, and bears. The loved seeing all the animals. By the main gift shop you can feed the bears (for an extra fee), feed fishes, and a petting zoo to feed small animals. They also have some rides for the kids. Our kids thought it was grand.

Someone needs to teach me how to make my pictures into a collage so I don't have to post as much. Need to figure that one out. Anyways, get ready for some pictures...





The bears walk right up to the cars. They tell you not to stop or else they will climb on your car.




feeding the fish




These animals know what comes out of these machines. Once you put your money in, they come over trying to eat it out of the dispenser.





the littlest deer




where you feed the cubs


done and done. time to get to west yellowstone.


we stayed at comfort inn because they had great prices and we heard they were recently remodeled. It was a great place for the price. Every room had their own fridge and microwave. That was fun because after eating pizza at pete's, we went to the grocery store for some popcorn and hot cocoa. we also hit up the pool.



while we drove I told them about a game we use to play when I visited national parks as a child. we would keep track of all the different state license plates and write them down. see if we could get all the states. the kids really enjoyed having daddy "catch up" to the next car in front to see if it was one we didn't have. the first morning we were heading into yellowstone we found HAWAII. We actually found hawaii twice. we came home seeing thirty-five of the states license plates and five from Canada.

The first day we decided to do the top loop. We were going to do it counterclockwise but when we got to one of the roads, we found out it closes during the wintertime. we had to drive back and finish the loop through the other side. i wish we would have known that most of the places were closed because most of the bigger stops were ghost towns. no restaurants or hotels open. just the visitor center in mammoth. we drove into gardiner for some lunch at subway.



we saw a bear right off the road digging for roots


the sign coming back into the park from the north entrance


in mammoth they have elk EVERYWHERE. they tell you not to approach them, but REALLY, you have to walk past them to get places.








petrified tree which we probably should have drove past instead of taking out all the kiddies


after awhile we got desensitized to seeing buffalo. we saw a lot.


on the way out of the loop we saw a black bear


most of the time we would just drive past the sights and look from the car. it got to be too much work to take them all out every time. sometimes they were sleeping. so either dane or i would jump out and the other person would take a picture from the car. ghetto!



it started to rain on our way back to the hotel. we picked up mcdonald's and went to the room to eat. the kids begged to swim and we did for just a short time. it was lights out early.



the second day we checked out of the hotel and planned on doing the lower loop then continuing out through the south exit and driving to Jackson hole.

Another one of those..."ok, you jump out this time and I'll take a picture from the car!" This is what dane pictured Yellowstone to look like. Trees and a stream.


We drove to old faithful and went to the visitor center. When we were in Mammoth the kids decided to do the Jr. Ranger program. They got their books and filled out all the pages. The park ranger looked through their pages and asked them questions about their time in Yellowstone. She laughed when she saw Bray's answer about what geysers smell like. She said most kids put rotten eggs, but Bray put farts. She loved his honesty. When she gave them their badges she announced it to everyone in the visitor center. They thought it was cool.



junk picture taker




they estimate when old faithful will erupt and we had about ten minutes before we were going to head out. we decided to walk around and look at the exhibits. at one point i'm turning around to tell mika to follow us out and she is standing there with a weird look on her face. i immediately ask her if she has to go to the bathroom and she doesn't answer. i look at her feet and a puddle of poop is pooling around her feet. gross! i tell dane, look at mika's feet. he immediately picks her up and takes her into a little hallway. we start stripping and cleaning and it smelt AWFUL. luckily i packed her extra clothes in the backpack and we are changing her and throwing stuff away. i walked back to clean up the mess she left on the way to the hallway and as i get back, the movie lets out and tons of people stream past dane and the kids giving them funny looks because I KNOW it probably was very stinky. We pack up the bag again and hear the ranger say old faithful is erupting and so we grab the kids and are practically running to see it. i did not want to wait another hour to see the next one.



we made two more stop at sights before starting the drive to Jackson.






by the second stop the two little ones were out and only dane and ani went to see the waterfall.




on your way to jackson you drive through or by the grand tetons national park. it is beautiful from a distance. i made dane stop at the very empty visitor center just so i could get a stamp. when i was young we visited national parks a lot and i had this book (still do) of stamps from all the different national parks we visited with the date. i started one for ani and bray two years ago and started ones for mika and kiele in yellowstone. this is definitely more for me right now than it is for them. they have no clue.



we went straight to the hotel to check-in. we got this hotel through price line for half of what the going rate was for that night. it was a resort and very nice. the baby's pack and play was set up with a baby kit of everything she might need.



we went to the town to do some sightseeing... i remember these antlers from when i came twenty years ago with my parents and brother



kids had fun running around and playing in the leaves








we got some pastries and gelato. it's a fun place to walk around and see all the different shops. that evening for dinner we met up with a family from Utah that we met in west yellowstone. he was from Hawaii and she was from japan. We came to find out that we knew a lot of the same people. They told us that morning they were going to stop in Jackson Hole before heading back home. We told them to call us and we would do dinner. We had BBQ at Bubba's (where I ate twenty years ago). It really was fun. The kids got along great too.



Dane thought they were crazy to continue home when it was already 8:30 at night. They had a five and half hour drive still. We went back to the hotel. The older kids wanted to swim in the pool and so did Mika. we thought it wasn't the best idea to let her swim when she had the runs. i convinced her that watching a movie in the room was way more fun. the kids came back saying that hotel had the coolest pool. they wished we stayed there two nights instead.

in the morning mika still looked like she still wasn't feeling well. she crawled into bray's makeshift bed and sleep all morning until we had to check out. the hotel products were really nice. the girls' hair was so silky and smooth.









we checked out and went to eat breakfast at a place called e.leaven. it was really good. while we were eating we asked the kids what the best thing about our trip was and bray actually said breakfast that morning. you could tell it was good because we finished off everything. the kids ate all their food.



eggs, breakfast potatoes, and toast


nice. i had french toast. probably one of the best i have ever had and i like to think i am a french toast connoisseur.


chocolate chip pancakes


some kind of omelet


eggs. this girl loves eggs.


we had everyone hit up the bathroom, jumped in the car, got some gas and filled the tires, and started to drive back. The kids (including me) slept maybe the first two hours. We were so amazed that the kids did so well with the driving. I'm so glad we went and it really was such a fun trip. The last time I went to yellowstone was also twenty years ago and this has been on Dane's bucket list. Now we can check that off.