We started our vacation by driving up to Idaho after Shawn got home and we got the car packed....we reached Grandma and Grandpa's house about midnight. Put the kids to bed and then got up really early and headed the rest of the way to Yellowstone. We stopped at West Yellowstone and let the kids spend some of their vacation money in the shops and then we headed into the park.
Since our campsite was reserved we first went to Old Faithful, but when we got there it was erupting...bummer, but we took pictures anyway. Ironically we ended up seeing it two more times after that, so it was no big deal. 
This is in our dirty camp ground. I really like Madison campground we just got an unusually dusty spot. It was literally 2 inches deep of fine dirt...simply walking around would kick up so much dust and the kids didn't just walk around--you know what i mean? So yeah we had to give them a bath in the sinks with cold water that night...good troopers though! (I don't know how many times Shawn looked over at me and said...we're camping...who cares!)
The next day we took the loop at Yellowstone to see Mammoth, Tower, the Canyon, Hayden Valley, and the lake. Simply, it was a long day in the car. Rusty made it more entertaining as we would hike some where by saying hi or hello and waving to everyone he saw. (it's amazing the power that kids have to get perfect strangers to smile and talk to one another!)
Okay, very funny story with this one. This is one of my favorite geyser's at Yellowstone, the Dragons Mouth. It makes a loud crashing sound and water and waves slosh around like crazy...it also stinks really bad, but that's not one of the reasons I like it. We stood over there talking about how cool it was when a bunch of steam drifted over to us, Emily started to gag and almost threw up. Even minutes later after we had moved on, she would start gagging because she could 'remember' how stinky it was! (later when we got home we talked about remembering the fun times about the vacation....you know instead of the whining, complaining and fighting that always seems to happen...well Emily pipped up and said, "I know one thing I'd like to forget" and when we asked her what that was she said "the time I almost threw up in the dragon's mouth!" Hee hee! that got us laughing again and so unfortunately for her...I don't think she will every be allowed to forget that!)
The next day we camped at Grant and then played in the VERY cold water of the Yellowstone lake. 
Our last night there we roasted marshmallows (again). And see our tent? That night is the night the zipper finally broke and we couldn't get the tent shut. (it's also the night I woke up to wolves howling!) One of the tent poles was slightly broken not to mention the other pole that we had to fix last year and the hole in the rain fly we fixed the year prior to that. We broke camp the next morning and our first family tent ended up in the trash can.
We headed down through Teton Nation Park. We stopped at a very cute little picnic spot just above Jenny Lake called Sting lake that looked more like a big pond and it wasn't very deep...it was incredibly pretty...it's a MUST see if you're going that way!
When we took a vacation 7 years ago to Yellowstone, we ended it with a trip to the Idaho Falls temple...we figure it was a good tradition, so we stopped again. Then home to G&G's house to spend a few nights.
This is the Shoshone Falls by Twin Falls Idaho. Rumor has it that it's got a very impressive water flow this year...I found a blogger (Sorry I can't remember where) who had pictures of a few years prior and it truly does look more impressive this year....so we took the 2 hour drive over there simply to see the falls. Everybody say ooooooo and awwwwww!
Now even if someone told me about the cute little lake above the Shoshone Falls...I don't know how keen I would have been to grab my kids' swimming suits and tell them to jump in....it's RIGHT ABOVE the falls! But now that we've been there...heck yeah, you should do it! They have a spot netted off for the shallow end and if you want to go to the deeper end of the lake you have to pass a swimming test while one of the life guards watch...it's way cool. People were jumping off the cliff side into the lake...it looked like great fun. afterwards we drove around and found the Twin Falls temple and then set off for more adventure.
Oh for heavens sakes...if someone ever tells you to go to the Cauldron Linn....don't do it! It's a miserable drive, hard to find and really not that 'cool' once you find it! But if you are curious...email me and I'll send you a picture! The Cauldron Linn is a very dangerous stretch of the Snake River it goes from a very wide river to an incredibly narrow one really fast and then down a good drop into a falls. It's name 'cauldron' is because the water really looks like it is boiling...it's crazy-scary looking. It's called a Linn which is supposedly a Scottish word for Falls. So here is our family and Uncle Bear in front of the Cauldron Linn.
When we got back to Grandma's house Josh was really excited to help Uncle Bear take care of the animals...he was also happy to help Rusty feed the Alpaca's and sheep
And scooping poop! He WANTED to do it! He VOLUNTEERED...and of course Bear wasn't going to say no! ☻
Taking time to relax with grandma and grandpa.
Ross Park Zoo...woo hoo! We were invited by family to go play at the zoo, the thing I like most about this zoo is the grizzly bears...they are so close to the sidewalk you can get a real good look at them. Also just a hint to anyone who goes there...make sure you bring a package of wipes...they're great for wiping red sand off kids as well as tricking the coyote out of their hiding place! I don't know something about crackling plastic makes me think another visitor comes and feeds them (shame-shame!) Another fun thing about this zoo is the giant tree house that they can play on. Oh and if you have a Hogle Zoo pass you can get into the Ross Park Zoo for FREE! Our kids were then invited to spend the night with their cousins and had a fantastic time...they love to play with their Idaho cousins.
We got back to Utah slept for a few hours then went to see a movie and play at the splash pad in Herriman with some Utah cousins. (they've got quite a few Utah cousins!☻)
Then the next day we invited all of Shawn's family over to our new house for a Pioneer day BBQ & fireworks. It was fantastic to be able to host something so big...but I forgot to take pictures! Then the kids got asked for another sleep over at their cousins house and even got to have "letter pancakes" the next morning--so cool! Later in the day we headed up for Snowbird, our annual family trip. Although we were sure missing Great Grandpa this year. We decided to go hiking and we actually found the right path to get on the Gad Valley trail. We made it all the way up the the Restaurant...the kids were troopers, I was so proud of how far they went!
One of my favorite pictures of the hike...What do you see?
Watering the trees so they grow healthy and strong! Sorry...It was too funny!
Swimming at the bird
Relaxing at the bird
The End.
4 comments:
sounds like a ton of fun! We need to be more adventurous and take off like that sometime... maybe another year when the baby is bigger!
Adam and I just went to Yellowstone last week too! Neither of us have ever been. Too bad we didn't bump into you guys there, that would've been funny.
Looks like a great time and a lot of time in the car. Glad you all had soo much fun!
Looks like you guys had tons of fun this summer! My sis lives right by that park in Herriman and I have been wanting to check it out. It was really fun getting to know you guys a little better last night. We will have to get the little ones together soon!
Post a Comment