Yellowstone

So for all of you who didn't know, I LOVE Yellowstone. I make Delton take me every year, even though he hates it. :) I just love seeing the geyers, Old Faithful, and all of the animals. We have gotten lucky with seeing bears almost everytime now. I am still waiting on the Mountain Goats though. :) So here are some pics of our little trip.



We started out at 6:30 in the morning, with the plan to make the full loop. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. We had hoped by waking up that early the kids would just transfer and sleep in the car. Then when we got to West Yellowston, we would have breakfast and change them out of their PJ's. Well...it didn't quite work out that way. I think they were just as excited as I was and the were wide awake the whole way there.




Once we got into the park, we headed away from Old Faithful and started our trip. The first set of geyers we stopped and took the long walk way around. Keegan wanted to be the photographer of the day. So almost all of these pics are from his eyes. Cameron was just fine hitching a ride on his stroller. I thought maybe we would want to run and play but he was content in the stroller. I think 6:30 is a little early for him. hehe




We were lucky enough to have plenty of time to stop and take all of the little roads that are out of the way. We saw some very pretty waterfalls, creeks and just little hole in the wall places. I love seeing all the waterfalls. Keegan and Cameron thought they were great too. Cameron calls all water, Juice, so everything was "Juice Mama"...."Ohhhh Juice". It was quite cute. Keegan kept asking questions on what would happen if we went swimming around the waterfalls and took tubes down the waterfalls. So we had a fun time making up scenerios for him.




We stopped at Mammoth Springs for lunch. Of course there were a TON of elk cruising the town. Keegan wanted so bad to see a "daddy" elk but we just lucked out seeing the females and their babies. Gabby enjoyed getting out for a little bit and eating our scraps. This trip was a little different with the animals though. We usually see herds and herds of Buffalo and Elk and then the occasional Antelope and Bear. We only saw 2 buffalo and a just that one herd up in Mammoth of Elk. We did see one Black Bear but that was it. It was like they were all hiding from us. We saw enough though for the boys. They had fun just watching out their windows for something new.





My most favorite of all the geyers are the mud pots. I love watching the bubble and sputter. Keegan and Cameron thought they were pretty funny too but a little too smelly for them. We took another long walk around the mud pots and enjoyed some new ones that I have never seen. I had to get a "smelly" picture of the boys, since that is what they were doing throughout the day. Cameron hated the steam though from the geyers. He kept saying "hot Mama hot" and waving his hands in front of him hoping the get the steam away. It was really adorable.






The next major stop was Yellowstone Lake. We took a nice walk along the shore and watched a nice HUGE storm rolling in towards us. Keegan was amazed how there were some little geyers in the lake. He found a little bird walking off the path and he thought it was pretty cool that the bird wasn't getting burned. Delton and I had a nice little talk with him before we got in the park about staying on the path and not stepping off of it since he can get burned from the hot ground. So when he saw the bird, we had to revise the talk a little bit and explain not everywhere is hot but you never know where a hot spot would be. That seemed to satisfy him enough. So he had to get a picture of the little bird.



There were a TON of motorcycles in Yellowstone. I actually think there were more of those then cars. When we got back from the lake, we saw this little trailer behind a motorcycle. Keegan thought it was soo cool and of course had to get another picture of it. He actually wanted to wait around for the owner so he can ask him what the little trailer was for, but I talked him out of that. I just got him to give me ideas of what it could be for. I had no idea when the owners would be back so we just went ahead and left. We ended up seeing them on the road and Keegan wanted us to chase him down. It was funny to see how interested he was in the trailer.




On one of the walkways, Delton had found some animals tracks in the cement. So we had a little guessing game with the boys to see if they could figure out what they were. Keegan was actually pretty close. So once again had to get some shots of the tracks.




Our last and final stop was Old Faithful. We got alot of oohs and aahs from the boys and we also toured the lodges that are around Old Faithful. Got the boys some souviners and enjoyed the show. We had just barely missed Old Faithful when we got there so we had a nice little break to just walk around and look at things before the next eruption.


We ended up back in West about 7:00 pm, so we had dinner at this little hole in the wall Burger joint. It was so delicious. Didn't get a chance to stop in to my Christmas store or the Fudge shop, but that was ok. It was late and I know I was exhausted so the boys had to be too. We got home arounf 10:00 pm. The trip was a success. The boys had just as much fun as I did and I think Delton enjoyed himself too.