Bye-Bye Yellowstone...Onto The Most Beautiful Drive In America and Home Sweet Home!

On Friday morning we got up bright and early since we had to make it all the way from Old Faithful to Billings, Mt. to catch our 5:30pm flight. Or so I thought...more on that later!

 

We were going to drive north away from Old Faithful and then cut over to the northeast exit, but then we calculated it on the map and it was actually shorter for us to backtrack to Lake Yellowstone and head north from there. We hit a bunch of construction on the way out of the park and it ended up taking 4 hours just to get to the park exit! One of the coolest things was on the way out in Lamar valley we saw 2 wolves. Jack had been wanting to see a wolf the whole time so I was so happy he got to...even if it was a ways off the road.

 

 

Right before getting to the exit of the park Zeke was dying to eat so we pulled over at this cute picnic spot by the river and let the kids do their favorite thing...throw rocks!

 

 

They had already been in the car for quite awhile so it was nice that they got to stretch their legs.

 

 

As you can see it was a bit windy!

 

 

Michael really enjoyed the panoramic feature on his phone. It was a gorgeous place to stop. We didn't stay long though since we still had a ways to go.

 

 

We didn't take a picture when we entered the park so I made sure we took one on the way out. Can you find Owen or at least part of him?

 

Once out of the park it was only about 4 miles until we came to Cooke City. This is the last town before you got over the Beartooth mountains so we had to stop for lunch. Of course being a small town there is no such thing as MCD's there. I walked into one cafe to see what was on the menu and when I saw that a plain ol' grilled cheese cost $7 I walked out. We ended up going to a cute sandwich place and got sandwiches to go since according to the owner we still had a good 3 - 4 hour drive and by this time it was 12:30 and we needed to be at the airport by 3:30! You can imagine that by now my anxiety was building up!

 

Once out of Cooke City we started driving on what Charles Kuralt the traveling CBS Journalist called "The most beautiful drive in America!"

 

My Dad had urged us to take this drive since we would be so close. At first I wasn't interested because it was going to add about 2 hours of drive time to our trip and with 4 kids you honestly want to be in the car as few hours as possible. But...once I started thinging about it I just couldn't pass it up. I mean Charles Kuralt has traveled all over America and this is THE ONE road that he said was the most beautiful!

 

Of course my pictures don't do it a bit of justice, but if you ever get a chance to drive this road...DO IT!

 

 

There were tons of mountain lakes to be seen.

 

 

Lots of curvy roads!

 

 

You can see the highway in the distance switchbacking up the mountain.

 

Glaciers!

 

 

 More curves!

 

 

Finally at the top which is over 10,000 ft above sea level...the highest I've been in a car, Michael got out and took some panoramic shots. It was as you can imagine quite cold up there and seriously windy. Michael said it took all his strength to keep himself on that rock to take the pictures. Also when he came back to the van he almost couldn't get the door open.

 

 

It was...

 

 

absolutely...

 

 breathtaking!

 

 

During this time a miracle happened....ALL 4 kids were asleep at the same time!

 

Shortly after coming out of the mountains we made another stop so I could feed Zeke and the kids could run around. After finally getting cell service I decided to check in for our flight using my phone and maybe possibly looking into getting us on a flight for the next day if we couldn't get to the airport on time. It was during the checking in that I noticed it said our flight didn't leave until 7:35pm. I thought that our flight had been delayed, but then I looked at my iternary that I had printed out for our trip and nope...7:35pm! In my mind I had told myself that we needed to be at the airport by 5:30, but somewhere along the line my brain turned that into our flight was leaving at 5:30! Oh well...it ended up being perfect since we needed to have time to stop and buy some snacks for the plane (Wal-Mart where I forgot to shut Zeke's door and all our stuff was in the van and no one took a thing.), get gas and clean out the rental van. Why clean the van you say? Oh I don't know because our 3 older children are pigs! This is what the floor of the van looked like...

 

 

It was awful! Stuff was EVERYWHERE!

 

 

Once we got pass security we settled in at our gate and I went through and reorganized all the kids backpacks. They had taken everything apart...all the colored pencils were out of their art cases and all the removable felt pieces for their quiet books were misplaced...it was a mess! Since I'm an organizational freak it was driving me crazy!

 

 

The kids had been watching the portable DVD player in the van and the battery had run out so we had to plug it in so it could charge.

 

 

Zeke had some laughs with Daddy and Ella and I went in search for something to eat where I spent the most I've ever spent on a thing of yogurt - $2.35! Those small airport eateries are highway robbery!

 

The flight was pretty non eventful...we did switch up the seating arrangement though. Ella ended up sitting with Owen and Jack sat back with me. It was SO much nicer for all of us. If Ella can see me she will just sit there and say my name over and over again.

 

 

While we were landing it was fun since it was almost dark and everything was lit up. I was able to tell the kids when we were flying over certain places....we're over the SuperMall, there goes Emerald Downs, we're flying over our house, there's Fred Meyer's.

 

Our friend Al that took us to the airport came and picked us up and we were home and in bed by 10:30pm. Exhausted and oh so happy to be home and in our own beds!

Midway Geyser Basin & Old Faithful!

On Thursday after leaving Lake Yellowstone we set out for Midway Geyser Basin. Again we decided to drive on by our hotel for the night and see the sights first.

 

 

I have to be honest during this part of the trip I had been bitten by a grumpy bug. I was seriously a grouch, but while walking around and see the cool things that God designed I did cheer up a bit.

 

 

 

Yellowstone River

 

 

Cute, curly haired girl crusin' in style.

 

 

Daddy was curious if the water that was flowing under the boardwalk was hot so he touched it...it was actually cold. Of course the boys saw Daddy do it so they had to feel it too. After this picture was taken an boy that was a little older than Owen walked by and said, "Don't touch the water...it's like 200 degrees!"

 

 

Excelsior Geyser Crater

 

 

Grand Prismatic Spring

 

 

The Grand Prismatic Spring was the reason I wanted to go to the Midway Geyser Basin. Unfortunately the pictures they show you in the brochure are from above so you can really see how beautiful it is. When you are on the boardwalk it's hard to get that same effect. Michael did get this gorgeous panoramic shot though.

 

For a long time geologists thought that nothing could grow in the extremely hot conditions, but in recent years they have found that there is tons of bacteria that grows in the hot springs. The different colors are a result of that bacteria.

 

After we left Midway Geyser Basin we were going to go have lunch up at Mammoth Hot Springs, but realized it was too far away. We thought there would be some place to eat at the next place on the map, but there wasn't. So we turned around and started heading to Old Faithful. We did decided to make one detour down a road that leads you to Firehole Falls. This road was a one way road and I closed my eyes a bunch because it was like a sheer cliff in some places.

 

 

Michael got out and took pictures of the kids. I was freaked out! There were a few big rocks, but no guard rail or anything to really keep them from falling over. I stayed in the van in Zeke...away from the edge and took pictures of Michael taking pictures!

 

 

Our second night in the park we stayed at Old Faithful Inn. We've stayed there before, but it was 10 years ago. They've changed a few things in regards to the road...it's like a freeway now!

 

Once we got in the room Ella, Zeke and I laid down for a nap. This is when the trip was starting to take it's toil on us. Michael knew that no one was going to sleep if he and the boys stayed in the room so he took the boys out.

 

 

He took the boys over to see Old Faithful, but they had just missed it. Owen was very insistent that they stay so they wouldn't miss it again. Ella, Zeke and I never did get to see Old Faithful go off...I've seen it before though. The next morning when we were driving away Ella was pointing at it steaming and saying, "it scary me!" so I think it was a good thing that we were napping while the boys went and watched it.

 

 

Old Faithful being...faithful!

 

One of the funniest things that any of the kids said on this trip was when Jack, Owen and I were out looking at Old Faithful steaming from the balcony of the inn. Jack and Owen were just crawling all over the benches that are out there when Jack all the sudden says, "Mama when you were young they called it New Faithful!" I love that kid!

 

 

When Michael came back with the boys it was his turn to take a nap.

 

 

The kids got to play with the Play-Doh that Aunt Stephie bought them.

 

 

This little guy certainly is Mommy's Major Hunk!

 

That night we said goodbye to Ga-Ga, Pa, Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie since they had a tour to go on early the next morning and we would be leaving for Billings to fly home. I wish we had had at least another day in the park to see more, but I guess that just gives us an excuse to go back!

Lake Yellowstone!

Holy Cow it's hard to blog about a week long vacation when you go camping a week after getting back. Also my computer has been lagging a bit so that hasn't made blogging very fun! Ugh...sometimes electronics just plain stink!

 

Anyways...

 

On Wednesday morning we left Thermopolis and headed for Yellowstone National Park. We decided that instead of heading to our hotel we would do the tourist stuff first and then come back and check in.

 

 

So we drove right on by Lake Yellowstone and went to see the sights.

 

 

This is the Dragon's Breath...it makes this cool noise and smokes like a dragon is hiding in the cave. I'm pretty sure this is a huge hit with every boy that enters the park.

 

 

This is a shot of the Hayden Valley one of the best place to see wildlife. It is GORGEOUS!

 

 

 

Once we drove pass the Hayden Valley we went to the Lower Falls.

 

After checking out the falls we started to head back to hotel since we had dinner reservations at 5pm.

 

Our first night we stayed at the cabins at Lake Yellowstone. Jack lovingly referred to them as 'The Shed'.

 

 

I think they looked more like shipping containers, but they were really nice inside. It was also nice not having to tell the kids to be quiet since we were in our own little house.

 

 

Steph I borrowed these two pictures of the cabins from your FB pictures since I didn't take any!

 

 

Here is the actual Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

 

For me it had the same feel as an old time cruise ship and in a way it reminded me of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

 

 

There was a little patch of beach across from the hotel that we took the kids so they could play in the sand. Michael did the same thing the night before with the older boys while I stayed at the cabin with Ella and Zeke. I wasn't really concerned with them walking around, but then once the sun went down and I was reading the brochure thing that was in the cabin (no TV's in Yellowstone) that talks about you know the fact that there is wildlife like bears that could maul you...I got a bit freaked out. I ended up waiting until almost 9:30pm and then I locked Ella and Zeke in our cabin...they were both sleeping. I walked to my parents cabin which was only about 50ft away (no cell service either) and asked my Dad if he would drive around and find them. Then when I walked back to the cabin Michael and the boys were there. I had to run back to my parents cabin and tell them. I was so freaked out that my husband and kids were being mauled to death by a bear!

 

 

Enjoying the hotel sights right before we set out for our next destination.

 

 

Such a cute couple!

 

My traditional water picture with Michael. I have pictures of Michael next to water in our dining room from all sorts of different locations - Sequim, Wa - Friday Harbor, Wa - Santa Monica, Ca - San Francisco, Ca and now Yellowstone. Michael loves the water and hopefully one day we'll have a house or a cabin on the water somewhere.

 

Wyoming Dinosaur Center!

When we got to Thermopolis our first stop after checking into the hotel was the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. I thought it would be fun for the kids to see the dinosaur bones. Of course having little kids means you can't spend much time reading the information.

 

 

The Dinosaur Center was just outside of town a bit and one of the cute things I liked was when you got closer they actually painted dinosaur footprints on the road leading you to the center.

 

 

The kids liked this exhibit since it showed the mama feeding the little babies.

 

Then Daddy decided to be silly with his camera...

 

 

Ahhhh!!!!

 

 

Yes...I married a nut!

 

After hanging out at the Dinosaur Center we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. Our hotel was actually inside the Hot Springs State Park. We were right across the street from a nice play area. My Dad went to the store and got chicken for dinner and some relatives that live in the area came and joined us for dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel and went swimming with the kids for the last time during this vacation. The pool was great and the kids had a blast. Ella is completely fearless!! Aunt Stephie and I also decided to take a dip in the spa that was filled directly from the hot springs. We only made it a few minutes though because it smelled so gross we couldn't handle it!

 

Unfortunately this ended up being our worse hotel experience in regards to sleep. The kids did fine....with the exception of Jack sleep walking. The way the hotel was designed there were these corridors and people were opening and shutting doors until almost midnight. Our room also had a bunch of water noise...it sounded like a bathtub was being filled and drained all night long. I called the front desk and they checked the corridor, but there wasn't anything they could do about the water noise. It was awful!

Buffalo, Wyoming!

On Tuesday morning after breakfast we left Gillette, Wyoming headed for Thermopolis, Wyoming. On the way there we made a stop in Buffalo, Wyoming because a certain 3 month old needed to eat. This is when our smart phones really can in handy...Michael would tap the local button and find a park in the area. Best thing ever!

 

 

We found this cute little park right in the middle of town. What I didn't take a picture of was the HUGE and I do mean HUGE pool that was to the right of this play area. It was so awesome for such a small town and to top it off it was free!!! If we had had more time we would have absolutely went swimming there.

 

 

While Michael took the kids out to stretch their legs I got to chill out in the air conditioned van with this cutie!

 

 

Sweet and sassy Big Sis!

 

 

Wee!!!

 

 

All smiles!

 

 

Zeke even got in on the fun!

 

After playing around for a bit we decided to walk up the hill that was behind the play area to see if we could find a bathroom. What we found was a bridge that took us across a creek.

 

 

Throwing rocks in water absolutely tops my kids list of fun things to do.

 

 

Zeke loves being in the action.

 

 

After throwing rocks for a while and trying to make sure the kids didn't fall in the river it was time to go check something else out.

 

 

Just across the creek we found an even more awesome park!

 

 

There were actually a totally of 4 different play areas within walking distances from our van. It was crazy how awesome the parks were in this little small town. Loved it!

 

When I was planning this vacation I knew that I could plan for most things with the exception of Zeke's appetite. I knew that he would need to nurse and it would mean we were going to have stop, but I didn't know where those stops would be. When I think about the trip as a whole these random stops were actually my favorite part of the whole trip. We had to stop, Zeke had to eat and we had to make the best of it and we did! It was so fun exploring places that we most likely wouldn't have if we didn't have to make those stops.