The Yellowstone

Last weekend Michael was able to see the reason Yellowstone National Park was named Yellowstone.

I have grown up visiting Yellowstone and sometimes take it for granted. My mom grew up in Idaho and worked at the Old Faithful lodge during the summer so she made sure we also had a love for it up there. Michael's family reunion was located in Harriman State Park, about 30 min south of West Yellowstone. Michael had only been to Yellowstone once and it was literally a drive through. (He drove from the Tetons to Old Faithful (which was going off as he pulled into the parking lot) and then straight to the fire hole to swim.) Since the reunion ended on Thurs we decided to spend the weekend in Yellowstone.

First, let me say the reunion was a blast. Harriman State Park is such a beautiful area. We arrived on Tuesday night in time for the tail end of the talent show... and the talent was abundant but we didn't have our camera out. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed out on a short canoe trip down the river. Jonathan didn't really love his PFD at first but once he laid down in the bottom of the boat the gentle rocking lulled him right to sleep. He woke up during the middle of the trip but I think the rocking overcame him because he fell back asleep and ended his trip laying down in the canoe again. After some lunch we headed out on a quick hike next to the river. There had been a moose and her baby sighted in the area but we were not lucky enough to see them... or we were lucky enough not to get between them, however you want to look at the situation. We did see a Great Blue Heron, beaver, snake and plenty of bugs. After dinner we learned some fun family history and then off to bed. The next morning the reunion was over and we headed off on our own to Yellowstone. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall and ate lunch.

We didn't have a campsite reserved but several of the campgrounds inside Yellowstone are first come first serve. We drove down to Lewis Lake since it was the only campground with possible openings. Nothing was left so we headed down to a campground just out of the park. We set up camp and decided to just stay and hang out by the fire. We had a low key night with hot dogs and smores over the fire.

The next day we packed up and headed back up to the Lewis Lake campground. There were plenty of sites to choose from so we picked one out, set up camp and then headed out for the day. We stopped by some hot pots next to Yellowstone lake and then made our way up to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone... where we ran into some neighbors from my old neighborhood. This is also were we were met with a torrential downpour. As it rained Jonathan and I hung out in the car while Michael ran to see everything. He returned as the rain stopped so we all ventured out to see everything. We stumbled on the Uncle Tom heart attack hike and decided to head down to the bottom of the canyon. It was well worth the trip even though I am terrified of heights and had to hold onto the railing with both hands at times... there was also a Frenchman with the same dilemma. After leaving the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we headed up towards the rolling hills with a lot of Buffalo. It is such a beautiful part of the park. Michael was most impressed with the herd of Asian tourists crossing the road from their tour bus to take pictures of the Buffalo. He didn't think to take a picture until they were already scattered. At the crossroads we decided to take a trip up to Mammoth, which turned out to be a mammoth disappointment. Most of the water had stopped flowing and so we found we were walking around looking at white dirt. I would say the trip up wasn't worth it but this is where we saw the only bears of our trip, 3 sightings. (We think we might have seen one bear twice but the second sighting was not very close to the first sighting so we aren't sure.) Next we headed back to see Old Faithful and made a few stops to see things along the way. Just as luck would have it Old Faithful was going off as we entered the parking area. It was nine p.m. so we decided to head back to camp and come back in the morning for the Old Faithful experience. As we pulled up to our campsite we noticed our tent didn't look right, the wind had blow it over. We left Jonathan in the car and went to asses the damages. One of the poles had snapped and ripped a hole in the tent and the rain guard. With our MacGyver duck tape and some towels to soak up the gallons of water, we made some temporary mends and again had a place to sleep for the night. I fed Jonathan dinner and put him down for the night. Michael and I sat by the fire to enjoy our dinner of hot dogs and smores... again. As we were cleaning up and putting all food and food related items in the trunk we heard a pack of wolves at the other end of the meadow. They sounded like they were fighting. I looked out into the meadow almost expecting to see the whites of their eyes, then I looked at Michael and said, "You go get my baby out of that tent right now." He quickly ran to the tent, pulled Jonathan out of the tent where he was sleeping soundly and put him on the back seat of the car. We finished cleaning up dinner, and getting ready for bed and then pulled Jonathan back out of the car as we all went into the tent to bed together. I slept with Jonathan's crib and a lantern right next to me. (The lantern was the only thing I could find to use as a weapon.) I didn't think I would get any sleep but actually didn't wake up at all until the morning.

The next morning we made our way back to Old Faithful where Michael was successful in seeing the geyser go off. We ate some huckleberry ice cream and then started out on the road. We made our way home by way of the Tetons and Jackson Hole. We stopped at several of the lakes in the Tetons and stopped for pizza in Jackson. Then we hit the road and headed home. It was such a great trip and we had a blast... we even saw a moose in Jackson. I'm just so glad to have a little camper in our family. Jonathan seemed to love all of the time spent outside (even though he was done with his car seat by the time we made it home).