I must have been restless last night because at 3 in the morning I rolled off the blow-up mattress onto the tent floor while tangled in my sleeping bag - quite the rude awakening! We made scrambled eggs and pan toast this morning for breakfast and then headed over to the marina to pick up the trailhead for a hike to the Yellowstone Natural Bridge. It was an easy walk (about 1 1/4 miles each way) and the end result was totally worth it. The bridge was 51 feet high with a span of 29 feet - not as big or impressive as the arches in Utah, but quite nice. We came back to the campsite for lunch and did a little truck cleaning and rearranging in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We let the girls decide what they wanted to do on their last day in Yellowstone and they opted to go back to the sand spit. This time it was windier and the waves were lapping at the shore. They walked all the way to the end of the spit, enjoyed watching the geese while avoiding the goose poop and had to tuck their hair into their shirts on the way back to avoid whiplash. No one had walked out and disturbed their driftwood names so they will probably stay on the sand until the next big storm comes and washes them away. The girls built a small fort out of driftwood, walked in the sand at the edge of the water and as a by product, exfoliated the bottom of their feet on the volcanic sand. We went up to Fishing Bridge for showers and an early dinner, figuring that if we ate out tonight we could play some cards with the kids and get to bed earlier so we can get on the road faster in the morning. We have already packed up the stove and dish tubs so we have a head start on tomorrow’s packing.
Monday, July 10, 2017
July 8 Saturday Yellowstone
Last night we played a few dummy hands of pinochle with the girls to remind them of how the game is played. They caught on fairly quickly.
Today we took a ride down towards West Thumb. We stopped to take a walk down to the water, but the path through the woods was quite challenging as we were swarmed by a squadron of mosquitoes. I think we each donated a pint although Dave said he earned his two gallon pin. We didn’t actually get to the water as the path ran out and the area we would have to cross over was very swampy. When we got back to the truck, we found we had about 30 hitchhikers, which we smashed against the windows. We then had to clean the windows of carcasses and blood smears. I can’t imagine how it would have been if we hadn’t sprayed with repellent before our walk! We drove further south and found another area, which turned out to be perfect as we were able to walk out on a long sand spit with water on both sides. The girls dipped their feet and declared it cold! The sand was interesting as it was composed mostly of obsidian. We spent some time there enjoying the walk and the water and the girls spelled their names in the sand with pieces of driftwood. We then drove down to West Thumb and stopped to walk the geyser boardwalk. The girls especially liked the hot springs that spilled over into Yellowstone Lake. We were guessing that the water is a bit warmer there. We came upon a ranger giving a talk about the geysers and stopped to listen. The girls loved the part where the ranger held up her right index finger and said, “Repeat after me: This is not a thermometer!” She explained that we could judge the temperature of the water by its color. The sky blue color is the hottest - about boiling temperature. We then went into Grant Village and ate our pb&j sandwiches and checked out the general store. The girls persuaded me to take their photo with a giant stuffed bear ranger. We drove back and dropped Dave off at camp for a nap (the altitude here is getting to him a bit) and we continued on to Fishing Bridge to do laundry and get ice cream for the girls. We came back to camp and the girls made balloon animals, which they gave away to the little kids camping behind us. The girls made blueberry pancakes and bacon for dinner last night and then we played pinochle in the tent vestibule. Ella and Dave won the first game and Zoe and I won the second. We will have to have a play off tomorrow night and then switch partners. At 9:30 we walked over to the amphitheater for the ranger talk on grizzly bears. It seems hard to believe that before 1970, people used to hand feed the bears from their cars! Now the bears are further away from the people and campers are much safer.
July 7 Friday Yellowstone
Somehow I think I lost this day's post so will have to recreate it later for look for it harder.
July 6 Thursday Yellowstone
Everyone slept in this morning, but the girls discovered the spot they chose for their tent was a bit hilly and lumpy (mostly due to buffalo hoof prints when the ground was muddy) so we will pick it up and move it today when everything has dried. Their books that they had taken into the tent got a bit wet so we will dry them in the truck today. We had cereal and blueberries for breakfast this morning and after washing the dishes, we headed to Old Faithful. On the way, we saw a beautiful young elk stag. He was so close to the car, we could see the velvet on his antlers. I took a photo from the car. We got to Old Faithful and gassed up the car, got the Junior Ranger booklets for the girls and then went out to wait for her to erupt. The rangers give you a time when they expect her to erupt plus or minus 10 minutes. In our case, she erupted 8 minutes after the prediction. It was quite magnificent and the girls enjoyed it. When then went up to Midway Geyser Basin to see the largest hot water pool in the park - temperature of the water was 244 degrees! The water from the pool spills over in several waterfalls to the Firehole River below. The girls tested the water in the river after the mixing and thought it was about 80 degrees or so. We spent some time looking at the sulfur staining the rocks next to the pool and then headed back to the truck. We decided to head over to Fishing Bridge for a late lunch as we forgot to pack sandwiches this morning - we had everything in the truck except the loaf of bread, which was in the bear box. Everyone had a good lunch and I bought a huckleberry soda for everyone to taste (way too sweet for me) and even Zoe tried it as it was not heavily carbonated. We went to the visitor’s center after lunch and the girls got their badges. We came back to camp and had to sit in the car for a half hour as it was showering so I read another chapter of Caddie Woodlawn. The girls are excited as they added another state (license plate) from the parking lot at OF as well as two more provinces. There doesn’t seem to be any cell service for the new phone anywhere in the park so I am writing the blogs offline and will publish when we get to Jackson Hole.
July 5 Wednesday Yellowstone
There was absolutely no cell service in the park so have had to wait to post the blogs. Will have to do pics later, but I will copy and paste the texts so that you won't think we have fallen off the edge of the world.
Last night was a blast (that is a Dave pun)! We went to the rodeo, which was great fun - bronc and bull riding, calf roping, bare back relay races, roping, etc. Some of the participants were quite young as the kids here learn to ride about the same time they learn to walk. The girls loved it! At one point, they decided they need to use the facilities, but when they saw that they would have to wait in line, they chose to go back to the stands so they wouldn’t miss the next event. The fireworks were set up quite a ways behind the stadium, but the wind was blowing our way and the smoke, grit, and even embers also came our way. Ella had a dime sized piece of burnt paper in her hair and got grit in her eyes and Zoe had a small ember land on her, but no one was seriously hurt. We left for the car before the fireworks were finished and very slowly made our way back to the house (there were many cars heading out a bit early) to wait for Charlie and gang. We had to drive slowly and swerve around fireworks set up on the street as we made our way back. The people of Lander must spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on fireworks as they were shooting off all over town.
The girls were reluctant to get out of bed this morning because they went to bed much later than usual and the local fireworks noise didn’t stop until close to midnight. We got them up and everyone had cereal and fruit for breakfast. We put last minute items in the duffles and packed up the truck, said good-bye and hugs all around to Charlie, Barb, Heidi, Chris, and Jason and were on our way. We stopped in town to gas up the truck and I noticed we call a text message from Charlie that we had left our chairs standing in front of his garage. We went back to pick them up and Barb came out with mayo and butter we had stored in her fridge. Wow! Talk about forgetful! We got on our way again, but this time with a full load on the truck and a full tank of gas. We all had a great time with C + B and were thankful for their great hospitality. They said they would try to come out this fall for a foliage tour - we sure do hope that works out. We drove up through Riverton and Thermopolis and stopped for lunch at Grannys diner in Cody. We had stopped here with the boys five years ago and remembered that they served a great lunch - they still do! We stopped to pick up groceries and then drove another hour plus to Yellowstone. It was another 40 minutes to our campground, but on the way, we admired the scenery and a one point stopped to let the girls play in a snow field close to the road. We set up camp and then a huge bull buffalo wandered over and plopped himself down for a rest in the grass about 20 feet from our tents. We stayed well away from him, but unfortunately, he was settling in for a nap. The other unfortunate thing was that he was about 10 feet away from our bear box where we had stored our dry goods that we had just purchased. The girls were making burgers, but the rolls were in the bear box so we dug around in our food box on the truck and found a few stale rolls and a half loaf of going-stale bread and managed to eek out a meal. We cleaned up and headed to Lake Village to call the girls’ folks as we have no cell service here. When we got there, we discovered there was no AT+T service, but there was Verizon, so we were able to use the old cell phone to call home. We got back to camp and headed into the tents as we could hear thunder coming closer. We had a huge thunder and lightening storm for about an hour and then everyone was able to fall asleep.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
7/4/17 Tuesday Lander
Happy 4th of July everyone! We went to the parade downtown this morning. It was a real old fashioned small western town parade - lots of horses, kids floats, square dancers, pioneer wagons and Indians. The kids were disappointed when Charlie told them that the town banned water balloons this year as someone was knocked off a float last year and required stitches, but not to worry, the people watching as well as the people on the floats were equipped with super soakers. Everyone who wanted to got wet and then at the end, the fire trucks all stopped at one corner (nearest to us) and turned on the hoses, some of them from the top of the ladder trucks. We told the girls they could join in the fun and I'm not sure if the photo shows it, but they got soaked to the skin! We came back to the house and walked to the buffalo burger BBQ in a nearby park for lunch. On the way back, we passed a shed full of junk and I took a picture of the sign posted in front. We are now back at the house and the girls are writing in their journals and reading while Charlie, Barb and Dave take a nap. Heidi, Chris and Jason went back to their motel for a swim in the pool and they will be back for dinner. After dinner, we will go to the rodeo and fireworks if everyone can stay awake long enough.
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