Our family trip

Tyson had a hunt coming up in Wyoming during his birthday. He is always hunting on his birthday. Fun for him! Lame for us.

Then he told me how close his hunt was to Yellowstone. We've been wanting to go there since we married. We've wanted to take the kids there since they were old enough to remember it.

"It's only 3 hrs away!" he said.
"It will be easy!" he said.

Let me say right now: The trip was very worth it!
Was it easy? NO.
Was it only 3 hrs away? NO.

But we went a different route that I can't imagine us ever being on again, and we saw beautiful back country that was to die for. Wyoming, I love you!  I've decided that something wonderful must have happened in that area and that is why God blessed it with an abundance of beauty and wonders.

We were not prepared for the forecast change, and we bundled up in 3/4 layers. We were the only family there with more than two children. We were in a sea of retirees, wealthy hippies, Europeans and Asian tour buses. We stuck out like a sore thumb. The Yellowstone Inn was breathtaking! Well, what we saw for the 3 minutes we were in there before two kids had a meltdown and we dragged them out kicking and screaming. And we were right next to a tour guide explaining the natural wonder and history behind the architecture. Lovely.

We used the priceline app to bid on hotels just minutes before checking in and got smoking deals on beautiful rooms with breakfast included. For our family that saves us lots of $$. We pretty much cleaned out every buffet. You should have seen Phoebe and Rodney on the cantaloupe platter. Ravenous wolves I tell you what.

I will let the pictures do the talking.

 Oh, and the forecast changed every so wonderfully for us and went from a high of 70* to a high of 51*. YIKES! We were layered and freezing the entire time.

 Carrie Smigelski and I watched Austin Powers here in college, memories.

 Our DVD player is non-functioning, so these rascals entertained themselves for hours upon hours.

Lucy was extremely embarassed taking this photo.

reality

 Old Faithful lodge, the littles and I watched from the warmth of indoors

And the Europeans watched Phoebe feast on mac n' cheese like a monkey

 Old Faithful Inn for 3 seconds

 Because of the temperature, you could spot geysers and hot spots miles away, pretty neat.

 Upper falls on the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, just gorgeous. The snow made it a unique sight.

 Our marriage survived through my navigation skills. That is saying a lot.

 Don't the kids look excited?

 Lucy's wish came true and we saw every animal she wanted. Black bear,

 Elk, antelope, a wolf, Trumpeter swans. We were very lucky.

 The Grand Tetons are hiding under the clouds.

 There is a mother Moose and baby moose in this picture, I promise.

 

 Cold girls.

 Dragon's mouth was exactly what you would think. Deep, dark, stinky, gurgling, spewing and moaning. The gasses rise up and get stuck in underground caverns and it was really a sight. It was Ty's favorite, and mine too.

 Lots of bison

Lucy and Old Faithful (he was faithful for us)

Rodney was a time bomb. Everyone kept a distance from him, considering he went 5 days without naps he was a champ.

It was a wonderful trip. I am absolutely exhausted and apologizing to the kids for yelling at them from Cedar City to home non-stop. But hopefully the "good" memories theywill hold on to and pass on the tradition of exploring the beautiful parts of our country with their children.

It saddens me all those people that were there the next day that had to leave and all the people planning to go. Yellowstone is once in a lifetime for most people and families, the fact that it is shut down is just maddening. We were there the day before the shutdown, thank goodness. When it reopens, I highly recommend you place it on your list of family vacations. We cant' wait to go again (when the kids are all older!)