June Bits

 The pieces of our June puzzle.

{Sports summer camps are in full swing. This is Jacob at wrestling camp.}

{Mason and Joe Pa have started a weekly golf club with just them two.}

{Camryn takes weird pictures on my phone and then I find them.}

{This girl had her annual check up where we learned that she is tiny. But also does weigh nearly 70 pounds. One quick shot a series of asinine questions and we were out the door.}

{We are building a house. Meet the builder.}

{We are also selling our house.}

{This dog was incorrectly advised that she could be a couch dog. And she is on board.}

Yeehaw! Wyoming Trip: Day 7

The day we tried to get home. And after more than 5 hours of advance-notice delays, we were on the plane heading for Chicago. Delays can be a bit of a drag (especially when you have loosely made plans to watch your town’s fireworks celebration), but with delays come extra time to enjoy your day. So we did. 

We headed back to Jackson through the Tetons, and stopped a second time for lunch at the 50s diner at the Jackson Lake Lodge. Though the view was a bit foggier than our stop a few days prior, the lodge was just as welcoming as before. 

Jackson Hole airport is so quaint. The entire rental car parking lot is roughly the size of a Target lot, the cell phone waiting area is about 100 yards away from the pick up area, and both also happen to be in the same lot as the rental car drop off area. Mason timed our journey from the airport entrance to the gate seating area: Six minutes. And we could still see our rental car from our seats at the gate! 

Heading outside to catch our plane. We had to head up a steep ramp to board. After all of the tough hikes we had been on, this may have been the hardest. At one point, Camryn looked at my mom and said, “C’mon, Mimi, you’ve been training for this!”

We flew over Keo on our journey home!

Landing way later than we planned, but just a touch too early to catch fireworks from the sky. Bummer!

This trip gave us a week full of memories that we get to share with others and keep for ourselves. It was perfect!

Favorites:

Mimi: Going back to Jackson Lake Lodge. 

Morgan: Camryn’s hilarious quip to my mom as we were boarding the plane. 

Caleb: When our flight time became our flight time. 

Jacob: Going to Jackson Lake Lodge.

Mason: Flying over Keo. 

Camryn: Seeing the Tetons one final time. 

Yeehaw! Wyoming Trip: Day 6

Our last full day in Yellowstone, and the first time any of us have been in Montana. We grabbed breakfast at a local joint just outside of the park and a few miles into Montana. They had pancakes. They had cinnamon rolls. They had internet service. It was glorious!

You can’t visit a state for the first time and not grab a picture of the welcome sign!

It’s amazing any of us were able to survive this long without reliable internet! 

After breakfast we explored the cute downtown area, where we found several things we didn’t need. 

It was then time to head back to Wyoming to tackle the north loop of Yellowstone. 

Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin where we hoped to see Steamboat Geyser not erupt. It is completely unpredictable, but seems to leave the area devastated every time it goes off. 

Steamboat Geyser has completely destroyed the trees and other vegetation near to it. There are signs in the parking lot warning that your car will be damaged if it is parked there when the geyser erupts. Yep, don’t want to have a front row seat for that! 

Emerald pond is on the walk toward Steamboat Geyser. It is filled with yellow bacteria, which gives this blue pond a green glow! 

The north loop is mostly a driving loop, except for Mammoth Springs. We stopped here for lunch and to walk around the melted marshmallow looking geysers. It seems everyone else in the park had the same idea. This place was packed! 

The second half of our loop was spent driving through the mountains, meadows, rain, snow, and slushy hail! 

We did stop at this scenic overlook before getting caught in a sloppy snow storm! 

With a disappointing first trip to the lower loop at Grand Prismatic because of the steamy fog, some of us took a quick trip back there after we got back to our Inn.  

The steam had lifted, and we were able to more clearly see all of these vibrant colors from ground level. Worth the second trip!

But maybe what made the second trip even 

more spectacular were the bison parading down the road on our drive back to the Inn!

Just as the first bison passed and we thought we were in the clear, this guy came grunting through on the other side! 

That was so cool!

Mason and Caleb capped off their final night in Yellowstone with a post-dark viewing of Old Faithful erupting across the starry night sky. 

Favorites of the day:

Mimi: Seeing the bison walk down the road. 

Caleb: Going in to West Yellowstone, Montana and having breakfast. 

Morgan: Watching the bison walk down the road right past our car. 

Jacob: Seeing the bison from the road. 

Mason: Seeing Old Faithful at night.

Camryn: Seeing the bison walk down the road. 

Yeehaw! Wyoming Trip: Day 5

We spent our first full day in Yellowstone exploring the expansive south loop of the park. This is a favorite of mine because it is filled with waterfalls, canyons, and tons of geysers! 

Our first stop was the Grand Prismatic lower walk. With temperature swings of nearly 40 degrees throughout the day, the hot geysers were very steamy when mixed with the brisk morning air, which made viewing the Grand Prismatic in all its splendor a bit challenging. But we were able to see wolf, bison and bear prints etched into the surrounding area! Just a few days before our visit, a bison fatally wandered into the Grand Prismatic. Though I didn’t specifically see the remains, the kids swear they saw it through the steam. Who knows! 

I will never not be in awe of the colors produced by nature here!

A mini Grand Prismatic of sorts. 

After getting back on the road, we headed for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone where we had a couple of stops planned. 

First stop: Down the quarter-mile trail to the base of the falls. Much easier than it sounds as there is a 600 ft elevation drop in the switchback trail leading to the base. Easy to get down, a true test of the body to get back up! We all made it, and, depending on who you ask, the hike was most certainly worth it! Before making the trek, my mom and Caleb tended to a girl who passed out upon returning back to the top. That was a scary moment! Though she was of little medical assistance, my mom came in clutch with a pocket orange to offer the girl who clearly needed a sugar and hydration boost. All’s well that ends well! 

We then hit up all of the super stinky geysers and muddy bubbling puddles. We rounded a corner and found ourselves feet away from a group of seven bison relaxing near the geysers. It was just as amazing as it was frightening! 

This video shows just how close we were to those lazy loungers. The end of the video shows Jacob on the boardwalk with his back to a bison who was sleeping. We ended up passing through the area to continue our walk, which made Mason incredibly uncomfortable because (his words) “animals hate me.” He’s not wrong. I do recall a goat incident in Yosemite that did not end well for Mason. Anyways, we all made it. Perhaps his curse is broken… 

This geyser wreaked of rotten eggs, blew hot, moist (ha!) air at us, and looked like wet concrete. Yuck! 

We made an unplanned stop at the West Thumb trail of geysers both adjacent to and in Yellowstone Lake. We missed this on our first trip to Yellowstone, and I am so glad we saw it this time around! 

There were actual geysers bubbling within the Lake. Reason enough for me to never want to take a boat ride across the surface of this super volcano! 

Yellowstone Lake looked perfectly blue until you saw it against the vibrant colors of the surrounding geysers, which made it look a dirty gray! 

Those colors make me just want to jump right in! 

What a great little walk along the lake! 

Knowing the hike to the upper viewing area of Grand Prismatic would be slightly challenging, we saved that for the end of the day once all of the earlier steam dissipated. The storm clouds and rain that rolled through as we were hiking to the top were a bit concerning, but by the time we reached the top, the sun had pushed through the clouds and the Grand Prismatic was glowing! We couldn’t have picked a better time to see it! 

I’m so glad my mom got to see this in person. It may just be my favorite part of Yellowstone! 

One more quick stop on our way home for the night. 

Caleb was reading up on our bear spray. My theory is that if you have it, you won’t need it. Let’s hope that’s correct!

The sun sets late in Yellowstone, and it left us this beautiful purple and pink glow!

What great day!

Favorites of the day:

Mimi: I loved the canyon because I love waterfalls, but I have never seen anything like the Grand Prismatic so that was my favorite. And even seeing the bottom of Grand Prismatic was great because the steam made it eerie. 

Morgan: The hike around West Thumb and the geysers in and around the Lake. 

Caleb: The hike and the view around Lower Falls

Jacob: The top of Grand Prismatic and walking with Mimi to get there. 

Mason: Not getting head-butted by the bison. 

Camryn: Seeing the view at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and then racing back up to the top.