Family Vacation volume III

After a long 9 hour drive down from Glacier, we finally arrived in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. As we came into the park, the temperature gauge kept rising. We were going from 60 degree days in Glacier to 90 degree days in Yellowstone. Also, it seemed much more commercialized, and crowded. As we came through the north entrance of the park we were delighted to spot a grizzly bear hanging out in the meadow. But as soon as we stopped to look, so did 25 other cars. It was nuts! The campground we reserved was at the south end of the park, close to Lake Yellowstone. We got there at about 7pm and had to hurry to put up the tent. While the boys put up the tent, the girls made a quick dinner of cup-o-soup with crackers and PB&J sandwiches. Our campsite was large, but we had some VERY close neighbors. So close you could hear them snoring at night.

On Wednesday we decided to just drive around and see as much as we could see. We saw a ton of animals. There were beautiful elk, deer, bears, and bison.

Also on Wednesday we went to see Old Faithful. Something that I was told, shouldn't be missed. It really was impressive. But once was enough. We also stopped at a few of the geothermal places, but were grossed out by the sulphur smell.

Coming back from Old Faithful we saw a ton of cars stopped by the side of the road. We decided to go see what all the fuss was about. We were told that there was a mama bear with some cubs feasting on a bison, down in the water. It was very difficult to see, but with my zoom lens, I was able to snap a few blurry pictures.

I thought these bison were magnificent...just these huge beasts that seemed so tame, but are to blame for goring many people. This guy looked to be the oldest with his big beard, and horns. While we were watching this one, he was walking through an almost empty campsite. As we drove slowly behind him, we watched as he ambled close to one of the pit toilets...at that exact time a woman walked out of the restroom, and was startled by this bison. She gave out a scream and hurried back in. Poor thing, I think with the way those pit toilets smelled I would have risked the bison instead...

We stopped at this creek to see if Keith could catch a few fish. With only a few casts in, we found out that this particular area couldn't be fished. It was PACKED with spawning trout. Some were HUGE! So, since we couldn't fish it, the kids decided to get in. It was quite cold, and there was a pretty strong current, but they had fun cooling off. Savannah was mad that we wouldn't let her in.

When we got back to camp, the boys had promised to cook dinner for the girls. They had even shopped before we got to Yellowstone. They made sirloin steaks over the fire grill, they had corn on the cob, and they wrapped up potatoes in foil and placed them in the fire. To top it off we made some more ice cream. This time it was cookies and cream. It was so yummy, to bad they forgot to cook the minute they got back to the house. We cleaned up, then went to a Ranger discussion about bison. It was very interesting. At this meeting they had a huge open fire pit that everyone could sit around and keep warm, while they showed the presentation. When we got back it was late, so we went to bed. Everyone slept very well.

On Thursday we woke up and I made pancakes for everyone. Today was the day we were going to find the fish! Keith had waited all this time and was itching to catch some big ones. At first we tried Lake Lewis, which was very shallow and VERY windy. We didn't catch a thing. So then as we looked on the map we found a small lake called Riddle lake. Unfortunately there wasn't a marked trail. So we found the nearest pull-out to the lake and decided to hike in. As we got there we found a few people coming out. They said there was a small trail and it was about 4 1/2 miles but flat. We decided it was worth a try. This is what we got to look at while hiking back to Riddle Lake. BEAUTIFUL!

Keith was lucky, because right off he caught a fish. Not too big, not too small. It was a pretty little trout, who we threw back in.

It was a beautiful area. The beach was covered with black, pebbly sand. The water in places was covered with lillypads with bright yellow flowers, and the water was clear and cold. Meadows were filled with wild flowers and eagles soared above our heads.

Savannah played in the warm sand. Pretending to be a fish. She loved it!

Nathan found a great stick and decided to make a bow out of it. Unfortunately it didn't shoot very far.

Although the highlight for Keith was the fishing, the highlight for me was when Savannah found 2 eagle feathers (no she didn't pull them out of the bird) She was sure that if she flapped her arms fast and long enough she would fly. She just knew it! After a while when it hadn't worked yet, she changed from human talk to "cacaw" it was all she could say. At one point she was running very fast, and the wind was blowing hard on her face, and she was flapping her "wings" she thought she was really flying. It was so precious!

The 4 1/2 mile hike to the lake was a piece of cake. The walk back wasn't so fun. For the majority of the hike Savannah hung out on Keith's shoulders. Towards the end of the hike she was fast asleep, with her dead weight on Keith's head. Poor guy was sore for the next few days. It really was a beautiful day.

On this trip we were lucky to see so many animals... but we really wanted to see a bull elk, a bull moose and some big horn sheep. We weren't able to see the sheep, and missed seeing a moose, but on our way back to camp that night, we were able to see this big guy. He was amazing. Just hanging out, eating some plants.

During our last night at camp, we made some teriyaki chicken with pineapple and rice in the dutch oven. It was pretty good. After dinner we tried to finish off some of our supplies, so we made smores and grilled popcorn (Jiffy-pop) I took the girls to get a shower, and then the boys went to get one too. We planned to break camp and leave by 10 am.

On our last night we all slept well. We got up and going on time, finished off the last of the potatoes, sausage, bacon, cheese and eggs in a breakfast casserole. It was so good! As we were leaving the south of the park we were able to see a Mom and cub black bear cross the road and go off into the forest. I wasn't able to get a good shot with my camera, but it was still fun to see the cute, cuddly baby bear. The kids wanted to "hug him" I told them if they tried to hug a bear cub, the Mom would do more than hug them...

Our view as we left were the towering Tetons. I really loved this trip, and hope to try it again. Our family had a lot of fun together. and though we had a few mishaps...such as forgetting to put the rain guard on, and finally remembering during a rainstorm at 2am. Or thinking Savannah was with the other person, when she really ran off to sit on the dock in the middle of St. Mary lake...or Keith getting angry because I didn't get the perfect photo of the fish he caught "But it doesn't show it's thickness"

We were stinky, we were cold, but we ate well, had a lot of fun, and saw country that was out of this world!