Yellowstone!

Ian was able to get some time off from work, and needed to get away from home for a bit.  We discussed a number of options, and finally settled on a drive up to Yellowstone.  I generally like to plan my trips-- know where the rest stops are, which hotels I will stay at, what all the attractions are, etc, but this wasn't one of those times.  We didn't have a whole lot of time to plan, so we just played it by ear.

After Sarah got out of school on Monday, we loaded up the car and drove to Jackson, Wyoming.  The next morning, we drove to the Visitor's Center and had fun looking at the displays, and learned a little about where we could go and what we could see.

Sarah took a nap in the bear den display

We drove up along the Snake River,

Through the Grand Teton National Park

And up into Yellowstone.  I don't have any pictures from that first day in Yellowstone, because the battery died.  I guess the battery dies a lot faster when you leave it in the car in below freezing weather overnight.

We headed up to see Old Faithful and check into one of the hotels in the park.  On the way we stopped at a few overlooks, had a snowball fight, and changed a pair of underwear.  (Not mine!).  We reached Old Faithful just after 5pm (when the Visitor's Center closed) and missed watching Old Faithful erupt by just a few minutes.  We also learned that all the lodgings in the park had closed in mid-September or October.  Now we had to figure out where to stay.  And where to eat-- all the restaurants were closed too.  And to do it with hungry, cranky kids.

We headed to the west entrance of the park to look for a place to stay.  On the way, Ian and Sarah checked out some  of the "hot spots" in the Midway Geyser Basin while I fed Samantha, we saw a herd of elk, and we found a decent hotel just outside the park.

After a delicious breakfast and a stop at the local market for some fixin's for lunch we headed back into the park.  Wednesday, like Tuesday, didn't start out very promising.  It was pretty foggy.

But we were still able to see the elk,

How many elk do you see?

watch a Bison standoff in the middle of the road,

The big guy on the right won.

Those bison were impressively huge.

and check out a waterfall in Firehole Canyon.

Then we stopped to look at the Fountain Paintpots.

While at the Paintpots,  we had fun walking along the boardwalk,

Even Steven enjoyed the massaging ride over the boards.

looking at the bubbling mud,

and watching the local wildlife.

They were cheeky little buggers, begging for food.

We also posed for a picture.

By the time we arrived at Old Faithful, the skies had cleared, and we had time for lunch, before the next predicted eruption.  We checked out the new Visitor's Center and their displays about the geological features of the park.  Both Steven and Sarah had fun pushing the buttons and moving the levers on the displays.

And we were able to watch Old Faithful do its thing.

It was fun to watch the geyser spout, but I think I enjoyed watching White Dome Geyser do its thing.  It was a smaller geyser, but I was positioned just right to watch the steam create a rainbow.  It was beautiful.

The rest of the day we drove around the park and got some closer shots of the herd of elk,

saw some scenic vistas,

Above Gibbon Falls

Across Yellowstone Lake

observed a couple coyotes,

and nearly fainted from the smells coming from Sulfur Caldron. (actually the mud volcanoes smelled worse, but I don't have a picture of them, because we didn't get out of the car to look at them!)

And we had to join a herd of bison on the road before we could leave the park for the day.

We spent the night in Jackson again, where Samantha showed off her skills in mobility,

and drove home on Thursday.  I need to remember not to take naps while Ian is driving on rural roads.  We take such delightful detours.  This time, we didn't have to backtrack, but took a nice route through Idaho, past Bear Lake, and through Logan Canyon.  There was some nice fall foliage to make the trip nice, and I think the mileage was about the same.  I'm just glad that we had our trusty road map in the car.  We made it home in time to put everything away before putting the kids in bed.  Sarah and Steven adjusted well to being back home, but Samantha needed to be held a little more, after spending all that time in the car seat.

All in all, I really enjoyed the trip (while learning to take more food, especially for the kids!) and thought there were a lot of wonderful things to see in Yellowstone.  I'm glad we went this late in the season, because there was hardly anyone else there.  Unfortunately, some of the roads were closed, and we didn't have time to see everything, but I would like to go back some day-- probably when all the kids and walk and follow directions-- so that maybe we can hike to some of the attractions that are off the road.