The Big Trip

We've had quite a lot of adventures since we left Cody, Wyoming. The rodeo in Cody was a big hit with the kids. The cowboys were cute too. Even Elise got into the spirit. There was bronco riding, calf roping,  barrel racing, and the biggest attraction of all for some reason, the bull riding. What a tough way to make a living.

We arrived at Yellowstone National Park the next afternoon after a glorious ride through the Big Horn Mountains. Jack was mesmerized as he is old enough to sit in the pilot seat of the coach. He could not believe such sights existed. We let the girls come up front a few minutes to see the snow capped mountains emerge on the horizon and for the rest of the week Elise kept saying I see the snow mountains.

Yellowstone is one wonderful amazing sight after another. Any attempt to capture its essence with words and pictures is inadequate at best. Unless one is inside with a 360 degree vision in all directions, the total splendor is lost. A few years ago when we were planning a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park I began to think that with today's technology in photography and cinematography, we don't need to leave our arm chairs to appreciate the richness of our world. Then I was inside the park and saw what only the human eye can see for real.

We spent the first day exploring the thermohydro ?? Whatevers. Meaning geysers, mud pots, hot springs, and things like that. Jack told us when planning this trip that he wanted to go into a volcano. Well, he got his wish. I never knew that Yellowstone was in the world's largest volcano.

Of course, we started with Old Faithful. We were all amazed as it spurted into the air right on time. This is our third time to see it and it hasn't lost its wonder. We then took a hike around the geyser fields and saw a few more eruptions and admired the chromatic pools.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the "hot spots of the park". Elise finally said no more geysers; they are hot and stinky. We finished off the day driving through Firehole canyon where we stopped to admire the waterfall and ended up the day with a swim in one of the rivers. Yes, Phil, that's me in the water again with my clothes on.

The next day was long and spectacular. We hiked an unbelievable number of miles straight up and straight down exploring the upper and lower falls of Yellowstone dubbed the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is what gives Yellowstone its name. In order to appreciate the power and magnificence of this river you have to get into it. These children were amazing in their stamina. Even 3 year old Elise toughed out much of the rigors of the hikes with a little help from Mom and Dad at times. Her mom has super human capacity for hiking with an extra 30 lbs. on her hip until she finally gives up and Elise is forced to accept a piggy back ride from her daddy. She did, however log a significant number of miles on foot. Ella amazed herself at her ability to hike. She doesn't particularly like to walk, but rather than miss out on anything she went along like a good sport and found herself actually enjoying it all.

Of course, we expected to see lots of buffalo in the park but the sight of one actually prancing down the middle of the road was a surprise to all.

We all had a great time trying to sight the wildlife and we were able to rack up quite a list: buffalo, elk, moose, coyote and even a big black bear.

Our last stop for the day was Mammoth Springs. The springs were only slightly disappointing, as they are dry at the moment so the bright red colors are not so vivid. I guess you have to get lucky because there is no rhyme or reason to the amount of water going over the springs at any one time.

We spent one day driving through the Grand Tetons National Park then on to Jackson Hole for lunch and a ride up the gondola in Teton village. The amazing thing about the Tetons is that they just seem to rise up out of flat ground without the gradual incline through foot hills and smaller mountains. Another rather rigorous hike took us around Jackson Lake to the cascades. The great thing about this hike is that at the end we took the option of a ferry boat ride back to our starting point.

The Gondola ride in Teton Village was great fun. It is so cool to experience these things through the eyes of the children. Elise reacted like it was her favorite roller coaster ride floating over rooftops and trees and sometimes offering the illusion of crashing into cliffs on your way to the top of the world. It was very windy and cold at the top of the world and a little breathtaking at the increased altitude.

These were very long and active days for all of us. Don and Amy took a couple of unbelievable bike rides on these steep mountain roads while we entertained the children.  The children were real troopers as long as we kept the peanut butter sandwiches flowing. Amy is contemplating making a Jiff commercial. They loved the camper and make themselves quite at home.