Yellowstone: Day 6

We spent the morning packing up camp and then took our time going home through The Grand Tetons and Jackon, Wy.  It was fun to visit some of the old places I used to hang out in and hike around.  I even showed my family the water fall I'd jumped off of with the singles ward peeps back in the day.  We stopped and had lunch at the Merry Piglets downtown Jackson and wandered for only a little bit before heading back on the road.  We stopped just once to see the overlook of Big Kahuna rapid to watch a few rafts go through.  (Man I wanted to be on one!)  Malcolm was a champ on the way home and even after hours and hours in the car, he pretty well entertained himself except for about 1.5 hours of DVD watching.  We separated from the rest of the family, but we all made it home about the same time.  

Yellowstone was such a fun trip!  The weather was so nice, and I had forgotten how neat all the geothermal stuff was.  I really loved the scenery a whole lot too.  It's absolutely gorgeous there!  I need to upload more of the pictures from my iPhone too.  So I guess I still have yet another post to do.  

I can't remember the name of this falls now, but it's one of the last stops before leaving Yellowstone National Park.

Hello old friends.  I spent a good chunk of my river guiding summer up in this park exploring the many sites of these beauties.  Plus, Laura, Jordan, Dad, and I climbed the tallest one that summer too.

At Merry Piglets, Malcolm was eating SALSA.  He didn't get any chunks of anything, just the sauce, but it was still plenty spicy.  Malcolm loved it though.

Yellowstone: Day 5

Andrew was starting school on Monday, so Laura and Andrew left early and we spent another day without them.  Mom caught their bug, so we missed her in the morning. 

We all headed to the falls.  First the Over look of the brink of Lower falls, then the over look of Lower Falls, Then we took the long stairs down to near the bottom of Lower falls. We stopped last at Artist's Viewpoint for what Dad said would be a view of both Upper Falls and Lower Falls.  It was just Lower, but well worth the view. We only ever saw Upper Falls from the distance.

We had lunch at the bottom of Uncle Tom's.

The traditional picture of Dad on the stairs.

Bridget did every step of this trail all on her own.  She was never carried!

I know, awesome, right?

We met up with Mom and took a long drive to the northern part of the park.  We saw Tower falls, ate dinner at the Roosevelt Lodge, then went to Mammoth to soak in the river.  The Boiling River flows right out of the ground and pours into the other river who's name I don't know, and makes a lovely place for a soak.  After soaking, I was too tired to see Mammoth Hotsprings.  Mostly because they've changed so much so many of the features are now "dead".  So we skipped out after ice cream and headed to camp.  We still got back late and pretty much went right to bed.

Tower Falls

Where the Boiling River comes out of the ground.

Yellowstone: Day 4

Day four, the Titensors were feeling much better.  We headed to Norris Geyser basin.  Malcolm wasn't tolerating the backpack carrier, so he probably walked close to a mile on his own.  Ryan kept him motivated by saying, "Ready, set, go!" and  then Malcolm would take off running for about 6 steps and stop again for Ryan to repeat the process.  Over and over and over.  Mal is such a distracted hiker...

A local fire in the park that made things quite smoky on many of the days depending on which way the wind was blowing with us vs the direction of the fire.

We did one of our favorite Yellowstone past times, and that is swimming in the Firehole river swimming hole.  It was just as much fun as I remember, and if the midwives had seen me jumping into the rapids as much as I was they would probably be shocked at the pregnant lady.  After swimming (I'll have to steal Laura's only pictures of us at the river, I left my camera in the car), we stopped by a few more sites, including some water falls and the Artist Paintpots.

Our oranges filled with chocolate cake cooking in the fire.  Yummy!

Ladies and Gentleman, a genuine Ryan smile.  Not a fakey, or a posed.  This is the real thing.    

Yellowstone: Day 3

Day 3 was Ryan's 32nd birthday!  What a way to celebrate on vacation!  Unfortunately, it was also the day we spent without the Titensors because they came down with a nasty stomach bug.  They spent the day at camp while we took Denali around to our activities.

Malcolm wakes up way to early when we camp.  It's like daylight just starts creeping and Bing!  He's up.  Good thing Grandpa and Bridget also rise early.  So Mal went with Grandpa and Bridget to one of the overlooks of the Yellowstone falls.  Along the way they found some wild raspberries to snack on.  For days after and even sometimes now, Malcolm will tell us about waterfalls and raspberries with Grandpa and Bridget.  He had a good time.

We headed to both the Middle and Upper geyser basins.  We stopped for lunch in a picnic ground where we found a table in the shade.  However, it was probably the only time of day it is in shade all day due to the placement of the trees around it.  We lucked out!  Malcolm enjoyed suckers from his Auntie Kell and leaning over many more boardwalks to say "Wow!" Ryan fulfilled his expectations by seeing the "Great eye" looking geyser pool advertised on some local billboards for Montana.  (The Grand Prismatic Spring as it's really called isn't even in Montana.  Only a fraction of Yellowstone Park is.  That's advertising for you.)

We headed home to camp a little early to set up for Ryan's party and make dinner.  We made bread pudding and even ice cream!  It was lots of fun.

Malcolm ended the night covered in dirt again, and entertained all the people he passed on his way to the showers with his dirt covered face.

The Grand Prismatic Spring.  This is the only time I can remember being able to see anything but steam.  The colors were impressive and it was one of my favorite geothermal features we visited.

Our party decor.