Yellowstone National Park Trip
May 15 - 20, 2013
1 minivan
2 adults
2 children
1 in car DVD player (thank you SO MUCH for that Papa Kennedy!)
Countless snacks
Over 2000 miles traveled.
We did it! And I think now that it is all said and done, we would do it again. : )
Day 1 - First stop: (unplanned) 2 hours in to the trip was to some road side gas station - as Kathryn had started to vomit all.over.everything. Well, ok not everything. But she doused herself and her car seat as well as other parts of the van pretty good. I had the audacity to say, "Kathryn STOP that!" As if she could, poor thing. My fear was that we were embarking upon a viral bug and the trip would go way south starting then. Fortunately it was a one time occurrence.
2nd Stop: Spokane.
To stretch legs, play a bit and have some lunch. Very nice town, Spokane is.
The first 4 pictures below are Spokane.
3rd Stop: Missoula, MT - LaQuinta Inn.
(there were a few other stops- just not news worthy)
Very COLD, dirty pool, but the kids didn't care. They swam and had fun.
Also got the chance to eat at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Good, home style food and cheap! Fed the 4 of us, with drinks and desserts for about $30. That's impossible in Seattle.
That day was about a 9 hour van ride.
Day 2
Off to Yellowstone. We made it in about 6 hours, after an unplanned sit on the road outside of Yellowstone for some rock blasting. Set us back about 45 minutes.
Got there too early to check in so we set out to visit the Bear and Wolf Conservatory, across the street from the condo. Next 2 pictures are from there.
Check in to the condo - extremely nice and the kids remarked - TWO bathrooms, we don't have to share! Coming from a one bathroom household, this is a nice change. : )
Pool time. The pool here was fantastic. Big, warm and perfect. They had a kiddie pool, larger regular pool and 2 sizable hot tubs. We were all happy. When we ask Ryan his favorite part about this trip, we get "THE POOL!"
Day 3
To the Park. I had never been and did not realize just how much driving we would do to see all of the park. We split it up in to 2 days and did a fairly good job at seeing all there was too see....without going on any hikes. The weather was the pits. Cool, rainy, windy.
We saw many bison and bison babies.
Other animals seen:
Elk
Marmot
Chipmunks
Ravens
Bald Eagle
Deer
And by far Paul's favorite: a black bear.
Day 4
More of Yellowstone, including Old Faithful.
The Park is truly something to see and experience.
Day 5
Packed up, headed out - went back into Yellowstone and out a different entrance/exit to travel through the Grand Tetons. The picture below of all the snow is what we encountered on that drive. The Tetons were socked in by clouds.
Paul wanted to take a different way home, by way of Jackson, WY and Crater of the Moon National Park.
Jackson is a cool little town - that's where the pictures from the bench and the elk statue were taken. On the way out of Jackson, we saw a Moose! Having a snack, just taking it easy. Our destination was just outside of Boise, ID. Craters of the Moon National Park was huge, but really nothing to see. It does look like craters on the moon, but that's it. We were in the car for about 8 hours this day.
Another stay at a LaQuinta in Idaho - great pool, the kids loved it once again.
Day 6
Home bound. Another 8-9 hour day with not much else worth mentioning. Except that we did it, and enjoyed it. Ryan watched Madagascar 3, SIX times. He laughed out loud through the whole movie every time. Kathryn's favorite was Sid the Science kid, DVD. She watched it 3 times. The DVD's made this trip possible. The kids did amazingly well for 2000 miles traveled while being strapped in to their car seats. I am so proud of them.
