This summer we did what we did last summer. The kids and I were gone for six weeks and one day from Thursday, June 22 to Friday, August 3. Only this time we didn't have to pack like mad people to move as soon as we got back. Thank goodness for that!
Duncan was once again part of a week long work trip with AHS that rotated out west for this year. They switch back and forth between the west and the east. Last year, we were in Stowe, Vermont. Two years ago we were in Park City, Utah. Obviously it was a hit because this year we went back although staying at a different hotel in the area. Two years ago we ventured in advance of the conference out to national parks in eastern Utah. This time we decided to head north to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons since neither Duncan nor I had ever been.
We took a direct flight on JetBlue which left at 8:30 pm and arrived in Salt Lake City at 10:05 pm. Of course, that was really 12:05 am for us. The three oldest didn't fall asleep at all and Colby only fell asleep at the end. They are night owls for sure.
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| The three "C's" sat together. |
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| We have basically phased out of strollers so we were thankful to have this carrier with us. |
We had a mini van from Avis reserved. It took a little bit to get it and as the lady sent us off with the key for it, we noticed it said "Toyota Sequoia." We knew that wasn't a minivan but we thought maybe it was a big SUV which we wouldn't necessarily mind. But then when we opened the trunk to put in our five big duffle bags, it was seriously the tiniest trunk on a big vehicle I have ever seen. There was no way we could fit even two duffle bags in it let alone five. What a pain to have to go all the way back to the rental desk and wait again to get the right vehicle all at basically 1:30 am for us. I don't know what the lady was thinking. Finally we got our black Grand Caravan. I tell you, there is nothing like a minivan! And fortunately, I had booked a hotel (Comfort Inn) right next to the airport.
We had a great continental breakfast in the morning and then it was off on our four and half hour drive to West Yellowstone, Montana which is the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It is very expensive to stay right in the park and we didn't even know for sure we were going there until a few months beforehand so we opted to save some dough and stay outside the park. It was a beautiful day and the drive was very picturesque. You drive through Idaho for a ways to get there and we were excited to check another state off the list.
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| Lunch in Ashton, Idado. A really cute, little restaurant. |
We arrived mid-afternoon and after checking in at the Super 8, we headed over to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center where we spent a few hours.
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| Calleigh, Aubree, and Brady got to put out food in the bear habitat (obviously they were put elsewhere during this time). We were sad that you had to be five to do the activity and even though Colby would be five in two months, they would not budge one iota (he could easily have done this.) Oh well! |
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| We watched the bear for a little while but she didn't immediately go to the hidden food. |
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| West Yellowstone was a cute town. It definitely reminded me of the west. |
We walked around the town for awhile and just couldn't decide on a place to eat. We ended up stopping at a gas station not far from the hotel and grabbing some stuff to take back to the Super 8 with us. While we were there at the gas station for those ten minutes, a car ran a stop sign at a high rate of speed almost smashing another car and then a vehicle next to the gas pumps almost ran over the boys. I'm glad we got out of there!
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| Our free breakfast in the morning. |
We left the hotel by 8:00 am so that we could get to the park at a very reasonable hour. We knew we would be driving around for most of the day. Yellowstone is huge! Thankfully there was hardly any line to get in and also thankfully, we had a nice lady at the booth. Because Aubree was in 4th grade, we could get in free to the national park. But when we read the fine print, we realized we were supposed to bring a printed pass, not just show it on your phone. She waved us in anyway so that was very nice!
After talking to Ricky, we had planned our route the night before so that we could hit the highlights of the park all in one day.
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| This was actually taken at the end of the day and it had gotten a little chilly. |
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| Picture to show I did a little hiking. |
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| The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It really did look like it! |
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| We saw a lot of wildlife including this bison that we got pretty close to. However, I did not get out of the car and taunt it like I just saw an idiot doing. |
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| Do people really squat like that on toilets??? |
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| One of the many geysers. |
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| Grand Prismatic. When we got back to the hotel that night, I looked up all the stories of dumb people who got too close to geysers and died. This site was one of them. |
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| Old Faithful. We had about a 35 minute wait to see it once we got to the site. It still goes off religiously every hour to hour and twenty minutes. |
We were tired out by about 5:30 so we headed south out of Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons. Our lodging for the night was in Jackson, Wyoming which was basically in the Grand Tetons.
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| No pictures of the Grand Tetons could do it justice. We took a bunch but they were junk. They are amazingly majestic. Better than I had anticipated! |
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| Breakfast Sunday morning at the Super 8 in Jackson. I made sure to book hotels that had free breakfasts. |
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| Our first stop of the day was at Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons which was about a 45 minute drive back north from Jackson. |
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| It was a stunning day and I didn't mind the hike. Of course, it ended up being like a 4 or 5 mile hike instead of 2 but that was okay. Fortunately, we were able to take a ferry back so we didn't have to hike bike the same way we came. |
Our next stop was Jackson Hole which is the ski resort nestled in the Tetons. It is a very impressive place especially when you drive around and look at all the gorgeous houses surrounding it that cost millions of dollars each.
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| We took a gondola ride up to the top which is 10,000 feet. |
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| A little restaurant at the top that served waffles. |
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| Snow! There were, in fact, people skiing up at the top even though it was the end of June. One lady actually tore an ACL skiing while we were there. |
Our lodging for the evening was about an hour south of Jackson. We stayed at the cutest little cabin place. The only problem was that it was Sunday and there were no restaurants, at all, open in this town on a Sunday night. We had to get supper at a gas station and the Dollar General. I'm glad we had a microwave, fridge, and sink in our little cabin!
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| Cabin Creek Inn, in Thayne, Wyoming. Not sure that I'll ever pass this way again but if I do, I would stay here again for sure. We had our own little cabin and it was just so lovely. |
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Where breakfast was served in the morning. We noticed some kids cooking and clearing the tables which happened to be the owner's kids which I thought was neat.
From there on a Monday morning, it was on to Park City for the conference. I'll pick up there on the next post. |
