Yellowstone or Bust: Day 6

(written Thursday, August 27)

In case you didn't figure it out- today is a RELAXING LOUNGE AROUND THE CONDO day.  We've swam (we've actually done that every day), we've played games, played at the 'park' on the property here, rested, read, and blogged.  The kids are currently building a fort of sorts while playing Webkinz.  We've had such a fun time so far, but we have been BUSY.  I brought a bag full of books that I haven't cracked yet, and I've only taken one nap!  Today has been a welcome reprieve!

Yellowstone or Bust: Day 5

(Wednesday, August 26)
Wow, today was an incredible day.  .  .  and also incredibly long.  The kids want to see a bear (or a wolf, or a bighorn sheep) like nothing else, so we decided to make an early go of it.  We were up by 6, and out the door not long after 6:30!  We likened it to a "Magic Morning" at Disneyland!

The other reason we were up so stinking early is that one of the major roads is closed in Yellowstone, which really makes driving around inconvenient!  See, we are staying where that red dot it.  And that thick black line, is the road that's closed.  (The one that says "Closed!"  See?)

So to get anywhere on the North Loop we have to drive a LONG time.  It may not be long in miles, but with the speed limit at 45mph, and all the bison/elk/eagle/marmot stops, it really takes a long time.  We figured we'd better just get it all done it one day.  So.

Our day started with a bald eagle sighting.  It's a juvenille, (under 5 years old), and that is why it doesn't have the white head feathers.  It was pretty exciting though, we were literally under the tree it was in!

We saw elk again, and so many buffalo- on every hill, it seemed.  Some just stood in the road as we slowly passed by, and we could see the morning dew steaming off of them, and their breath in the cold air.

After driving forever (see map!), we arrived at the Canyon area.  We took a short walk to see the lower falls and the actual canyon.  The colors are so unique there, and the waterfall is gorgeous.

So, I obviously don't know how to take a picture of people in the shade and still get the waterfall in the background.  Any help, picture people?  Flash, maybe?

We got back in the car and drove just a little bit to a trailhead.  The hike was more of a descent than hike, down into the canyon to get a very good look at the water fall.  There were like 380+ stairs, and it was intense!  The high elevation (around 9000 feet here, I think) definitely contributed to my shaky legs afterward.  It was such a cool view though, and the kids and I were pretty proud of ourselves.  Joel stayed around the halfway point with Carter.

Down.

Back Up!

We loaded up again, and headed to Mammoth Hot Springs.  As you can tell, it's not really that far away from West Yellowstone, but it took us hours and hours to get there because of the closed road.  We ate lunch in the parking lot (we'd packed food), and then headed to check it out.  All the pics we've previously seen of this place is like this:

(pic from Wikipedia)

so we were quite surprised to find it looking like this:

I overheard several conversations that included phrases like, "It's really changed!"  Or, "It sure didn't look like this last time . . . " I looked online and it said that the amount of water leaving the hill side is still about the same, but some springs are inactive right now and other ones (newer, maybe?) are flowing more.  It was still beautiful and amazing.  (Running out of adjectives here!)  I was in constant awe of how many completely different geological features Yellowstone has.

After we left Mammoth, we drove around (A LOT) to find our next destination.  Boiling River.  This was a highlight for me.  We'd found out about it before we left home, and it was on the top of our 'to do' list.  It was tricky to find, but definitely worth the extra driving!  The Boiling River is the runoff from Mammoth Hot Springs.  It goes underground through the hills, and comes out 20 or so yards before it dumps into the icy Gardner River.  It's illegal to swim in any body of water fed by hot springs in Yellowstone, so you can't get into the Boiling River, but where it dumps into the Gardner River, there is a designated 'swimming hole.'  And how.  I didn't have my camera with me while we were swimming (for obvious reasons), but I went back after to take a few pictures.  My feet were killing me though (wet shoes with no socks), so I didn't walk all the way down there.  I've searched the internet for a great picture of it, but none do it justice.  Between the sound of the rushing water that the Boiling River made as it cascaded down the limestone, to the Garder river swirling past us, to the muted laughs and squeals of children splashing around.  And then the extremes of the water- from almost too hot (but not quite!) bath water to freezing ice water and every degree in between, always changing.  Words can't do it justice.  We found perfect sitting rocks and just as soon as I thought I was getting cold, I'd be immersed in warm water and be feeling perfect.  It was bliss.  The current was strong, so Carter was in our arms the whole time, and Garrett was within an arm's reach.  We took turns floating/swimming down the long pool with a very happy Maddy.  If it wasn't FOUR HOURS AWAY THANKYOUVERYMUCHROADCONSTRUCTION, I'd be there at sunrise tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that too. 

Gardner River- at the beginning of the hike to Boiling River

It was like something at a high dollar man made resort- this hot water cascading down.  You can't really see it, but at the far left of this picture the part of Boiling River that looks like an actual stream pours in as well.

So crowded here, but we somehow hit it between groups of people.  It was busy when we first arrived, but most of the time there were just a few people there.

We finally dragged our very wrinkly selves out of the water and treked back to the car.  At this point we were almost to the North Entrance and the thought of driving around 150 miles at <45 mph did not sound even a little appealing.  We knew it would be at least a 3 hour drive either way, so we opted to go north to Bozeman, have dinner, and then drive back south to West Yellowstone.  It turned out to be a good choice- it did take about 3 hours, but we had a fun dinner together and it was great to get a small taste of Big Sky Country.  We arrived back at the condo about 10pm; 15ish hours after we'd left, and many experiences richer.  Best day yet.

Yellowstone or Bust: Day 4

(Tuesday, August 25)
This morning we headed towards Old Faithful.  We pulled into the parking lot, and I ran to get information while Joel unloaded the bikes.  I found out that Old Faithful was set to erupt at any second, so I (literally) ran back to the car, we put on helmets and rode over there as fast as we could.  And just in time!  It was very, very cool.

After that we continued our bike ride down the trail, Morning Glory pool being our destination.  Along the way we saw some amazing stuff though, and I think Castle Geyser was our favorite.  Some of us think it may be even cooler than Old Faithful, but I won't name names.  It was pretty amazing to be riding our bikes through Yellowstone and getting to see all these incredible things.  One time G got a little tippy and rode into the grass.  It was no big deal, but he told Joel, "I almost fell into one of those hot pools!"  Riding was a little tricky a few places because of all the people, but the kids sure did good.  Carter boy was in his seat on the back of my bike, and that worked well too!

 

Grotto Geyser:

Morning Glory Pool:

After our bike ride we headed back to town for a picnic lunch at a park, and catching up with a family member who was passing through town.  Good times, for sure.

That evening we went to the IMAX right across the street from us and watched, what else?  Yellowstone.  The movie's exit, was of course, right through a gift shop, and while this was a little out of our price range, we had to snap a pic:

Yellowstone or Bust: Day 3

(Monday, August 24)

We were beat from our long day of driving, so we planned to sleep in, swim, relax at our place, and explore the town. We did all of those things, and then it was still early afternoon and we were all excited to get into Yellowstone! We bought our ticket, received our map, and hit the road!

We were majorly on the lookout for wildlife, and we were not disappointed! A few minutes into the park we saw several elk grazing in a meadow. The kids were thrilled. We checked out a ranger station and decided that was a good intro for the day and headed back to the condo for rests.

Once we got up, it was such a gorgeous evening, we decided we'd better go back into the park and see what we could see. We saw the elk again, along with a bald eagle, some opsrey, and many chipmunks. Whenever someone spotted a bird, Carter would yell, "BIRDS DON'T COUNT!"

We hit the wildlife mini jackpot though when we came across a herd of bison grazing. (I say, 'mini jackpot, because obviously the grand jackpot would be a grizzly or a wolf!) What I don't understand is all these people getting out of their car and walking up to these 2000 pound bison. Hello? When we entered the park they gave us all this paper work about goring and trampling and all those other lovely things, complete with clip art depicting someone flying through the air after getting charged. Maybe I'm a wimp, but it was enough to scare me. (Although herding cattle when I was a kid scared me to death also.) It was cool to see them though, and the kids loved seeing them up close (from our car, where we could speed away at any second), and seeing the babies.

Terrifying!

We also visited several springs and mud pots. So incredibly cool. I forgot how unreal this place is. It was even more magical in the pink evening light. We drove around Old Faithful, just missing the geyser, and then headed back for the night. Happy parents, happy kids, good day.

Not blurry- the steam was so thick at this hot spring, for a bit I couldn't see them at all, even though they were just a few feet in front of me! It was a cold evening though, so the hot steam felt good, even if it was a little stinky!

Yellowstone or Bust: Day 2

(Sunday, August 23)
These photos are a mix from cameras and iphones- sorry they are all different sizes and quality!

Today we woke up early, went to breakfast with the fam, and hit the road. First stop was Twin Falls, Idaho. I wanted Joel and the kids to see the falls, plus we wanted to stock up at Costco. Somehow we ended up hanging out in Twin for over 2 hours. A wrong turn on the way to the falls, thawed meat leaking all over the cooler, potty breaks, gas stop . . . 2 hours goes quickly when there are 5 people to consider!

Finally we hit the road again. This time we were headed towards Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was nearing evening at this point, and beginning to drizzle. We were ready for adventure though! Our sweatshirts were buried in the trunk, under the bikes and bike rack. I dug the kids' out, but Joel and I had to make due with blankets we'd thrown in. Embarrassing! Also, M, G, and I were hiking in flip flops- dumb! I thought we'd just be following some paved trails though. Little did I know we'd be actually spelunking through a lava cave- no trail, no board walk, just crawling up and over lots of very big rocks. Carter kept checking on me, "You otay, Mama?" (I was.) It was fun and adventurous, and it was all we could do to keep Adventure Boy Garrett within our sights! He was LOVING it. At the end he said, "Man, that should have been a LOT longer." Meanwhile, when we acsended from the depths of the cave, we were in the middle of nowhere and had to crawl over the CRATERS OF THE MOON back to the actual trail. It was crazy- raining, flip flops, and 5 happy Gibsons.

Garrett was all about the caves. He was big on being the leader.


Maddy was awesome with her flip flops, dress, dual sweatshirts, and headlamp. She rocked the caves. At one point she shone her light on pigeons that were making noise above us. She said, "Oops, they're on a date!" and left them to have some privacy.

We made it out alive! No, seriously, we had to crawl out of that little hole at the end!

And then? Once we were out? We had to walk/crawl across THIS back to the trail. There were sticks we were supposed to follow so we wouldn't, you know, fall to our deaths or anything.

Why, yes, we totally ARE the Griswolds- spelunking in flip flops and without flashlights. Great planning!

After another much longer than anticipated detour, we hit the road again for points North. It was POURING rain by then. Driving was not fun, the rain was so hard that it was hard to see the lines on the road. We were pretty thrilled to get to our pad in West Yellowstone around 11:45 that night. We love where we are staying, and we all slept great that night.