The Blanding Bugle

Volume 16 Issue 7

July 2007

Satisfactory

Day one and two of trip: Friday and Saturday

"Just to let you know mom, this trip is quite satisfactory. We should do it again," so said Matthew just a few hours down the road on the way to our summer vacation in Yellowstone National Park.  Now Steve and my goal was to make sure it stayed that way for the rest of the 10 days they were away from home. Not an easy task with three teens, three kids and a lot of unknowns.

We have to start at the beginning for this grand adventure.  Back in January this trip was a four day quick tour of Yellowstone on our way to Chicago for Steve's youngest brother's, Paul, wedding.  Then Steve found out he couldn't be gone the three weeks while the family hit all the sites between Seattle and Chicago going and coming.  Then gas prices soared and they really couldn't do it, so back to the drawing table the family went. 

In a family council (minus dad) the children and I decided that they really didn't mind missing the rest of the trip, but they really wanted to go to Yellowstone.  Yes, we wanted to see the cousins and such at the wedding, but then we found out that only the girl cousins were going.  It also was a financial impossibility unless we had a winning lotto ticket and since we don't gamble, well...

So a week long trip to Yellowstone was planned.  We decided that the budget was so tight that we were going to have to camp and prepare our food.  Not a problem, we have an ex-scout master, a mom who spent years camping with her family, an eagle scout and two boy scouts as well as two cub scout and a little wannabe scout.  We can handle this.  Out come the camping and cooking merit badge and the meals were planned.  See how simple that was.

The boys had a blast making sure all our tents are in working order and we have bare spots on the front lawn to prove it.  I think more homework got done with the tents up than with them down.

The car and trailer were loaded and off we went on June 1st.  We made great time and stopped somewhere in Montana at a rest stop around midnight so that Steve could sleep.  We did the best we could with 8 bodies in the van.

About 8 miles from the North Entrance of Yellowstone Park, Steve commented to me that the car was pulling to the left.  He had me look at the trailer on my side. I couldn't find anything wrong.  I, the dutiful and loving wife that I am, advised that the next opportunity we should pull over and have a look. Before Steve could find a suitable place something went wrong.  Behind us was our tire rolling down the road.  It seems that our front left tire had become flat and come right off. 

(While leaving the park we realized how lucky we were as this blown tire happened at about the only spot where Steve could safely change a driver side tire away from the flow of traffic.)

We happened to find a dirt and gravel pull out in front of a row of houses.  Kray had the brilliant idea of praying and so down on their knees in the middle of the gravel and so all travelers could see kneel six tired kids, asking for guidance and safety.  Heaven sent help, tire changed on our way. 

The little town, Gardiner, that sits outside the park has a tire shop that is open Monday through Friday, this happened on Saturday. So we would be traveling without a spare for a couple days.

Because we wanted to save a few dollars, we didn't reserve a camping spot and were going to take our chances at the "first come, first served" camp sites.  As providence will have it we got into the best camp and one of the best spots--if not the best!  The campground we found was Norris, which is on the "dry" side as well as not too high (important later).  It was also very centrally located so we could go to any part of the park (in particular all the "major" spots) within 30 minutes, that is if there wasn't a bison jam.

Well, that takes us to getting there!

Editor's note: for more pictures of the family at Yellowstone and for the scenery and animals.

Our tire--ok, what is left of it.

Changing a tire with lots of help.

New tire in place!

At least the view was beautiful!

Day one in the park:  Saturday

(This actually finishes the above story since we arrived with our blown tire on Saturday)

We found a great site inside the Norris camp ground. It was near the bathrooms and running water.  We didn't have to send buddies every time someone needed to use the bathroom! WHEW! The kids put up four small tents and the big tent for mom and dad.  We had enough time that we decided to go explore the Norris Geyser Basin since it was so close. Remember we have no spare tire and we don't want to go to far away from base.

We were in utter awe at the beauty of the hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles and geysers. 

Back at camp we prepared tin foil dinners for the camp fire.  As we were peeling the vegetables, Mike noticed Zippy (yes, we named him), a HUGE bison walking from the camp across the road into our camp site.  I grabbed my camera, Steve grabbed his and the shutters started flying.  We pulled the cameras away from our faces in time to see that Matthew was in the way of Zippy's leisurely stroll through our camp site.  Matt was so close that he could have turned around and petted him like a dog, a big dog that is.  We told Matt to slowly walk away, but then changed the instructions to move just a little faster. 

Smartly we put the picnic table and fire pit between Zippy and our family and prayed that he wouldn't walk over our tents.  We thought about inviting him to dinner, but decided that we really didn't have that much food to spare.

Dinner was delicious and the s'more hit the spot.

Jessie with her notebook ready to jot down any animals she sees.

You could see forever

It was a long day for our hero: Steve

With six kids this is about the best way to take their picture.

Zippy and the very tip top of Jessie's head and this is not a telephoto lens.
We think he needs a hair cut, but we didn't offer him one.

The red chair is where Matt was sitting. The open tent is Kray's and the large tent is ours.
Zippy proceeded to rub his backside on that tree.

Zippy coming for a visit.

Day two in the park: Sunday

Day two was filled with adventures as we went to Old Faithful. On our way we hit a few spots along the road.  We made it to Old Faithful just before it went off. We watched it go off, went and had lunch and then decided to walk the Old Faithful geyser basin.  As we started our hike around the basin Old Faithful went off again!

It was a wonderful and hot walk! 

Jessie was complaining her toes were hurting her.  I looked at her shoes and realized she brought her old tennies, the shoes that are too small for her.  I asked her why she didn't bring her other shoes. "Because I didn't want them to get all dirty camping." See, they have princess stuff on them. We eventually had her take her shoes off and have her walk in her socks.  Thankfully it was either boardwalk or pavement. 

Our little walk around the basin turned into a little bit more as we searched for the geysers and springs we had read about in our preparations.  So as we came back to Old Faithful we got a chance to see it go off for the third time that day.

As we drove home we stopped to take pictures of a bunch of coyote cubs that were out playing along side the road.

Waiting for Old Faithful to let off a bit of steam.

Waiting for a geyser to erupt.

Reading about a geothermal feature.

Waiting for a geyser to erupt after walking for miles.

Chris and Steve at Morning Glory Springs.

A couple of coyote cubs we watched play by the side of the road.

Watching the coyote cubs.
Notice Jessie's stocking feet.

Day three in the park: Monday

Today was the day we left the park to get our tire fixed.  Out to Gardiner we went to purchase a tire.  They needed a few hours so we came back in and toured the Old Fort.  While there we got to see an owl and her huge nest.  We saw the jail where they take those that disobey the rules. (That came in handy many times during the trip.) We also saw a mule deer up close and personal.

We had lunch just outside the park in front of Roosevelt's Arch.  After lunch we finished with the tire shop and spent the afternoon touring Mammoth Hot Springs.  Not only was the water hot (although we didn't touch it) the air temperature was very hot.  There was little shade along the boardwalks and the walks were steep.  Between that and the altitude, we all started feeling it.  Mike got a touch of heat stoke, but thankfully it was all "down hill" from that point.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner and more s'mores!

Roosevelt's Arch!

On the way down, thankfully!

The family, minus Doreen

The children

Day four in the park: Tuesday

Today we let Christopher pick what we did and he wanted to go see the canyon. That was fine with us. After three days of lots of walking it was kind of nice to be in the comfort of the car and have air conditioning blowing on your face.

We started at the visitors center and were glad. It was like a class! The diorama was cool and the geology lessons were great.  Of course all my kids said, "Mom we already knew that."

Breathtaking! That is all you can say once you stick your head out over the first canyon wall and look at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We also can understand why the Natives, French and Americans named it Yellowstone. The walls are truly yellow.  (see pictures here)

We did all the little hikes off the drive and were never disappointed.  Some of the walks were a bit steep going down and somehow got steeper coming up!  We even did the 328 steps down!

That didn't quite take the whole day so Chris decided we were going to go drive up through Tower/Roosevelt on our way home.  We are so glad we did.  We happened to spot an abundance of wild life.  We got to see a grizzly bear dart across a valley, Ok, Steve did and somehow I happened to snap the picture but I didn't see him.  Then a few miles further on we notice a bunch of cars off to the side of the road and we see a black bear!  It was no more than 30 yards from the road way!

Of course we stopped to take pictures. 

As we continued on the road we found a coyote bringing home take out.  We then came upon another black bear this time only 5 feet from the edge of the road. We stayed in our car this time to take pictures.

We got home very late and had a wonderful dinner and OREO's!

Because of a wet tent and sleeping bags, Jason, Jessie and Mom slept in the van.  Maybe the tent will dry out by tomorrow night.

Kray at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park

Looking at the canyon

What do you see Steve?

Hiking down.

Chris at the Grand Canyon

Matt at the Grand Canyon

Proof Doreen was there.
Chris took this picture.

How many steps?

Kray and Jessie

Jason

Mike

If you could read the sign it says that there are 328 steps that descend about 3/4 of the way into the canyon. We know it is true, we counted and we climbed every one of them!

Day five in the park: Wednesday

We woke up to water in the tent.  It had rained hard during the night and our big tent was in the middle of a gully, not just leaking. We had to bale our tent out! Not fun, but we managed. 

The agenda for the day was to see a few things on our way to Rexburg to see Doreen's good friend, Penny Hughes and her family.  We were also going to beg to use their shower and visit a local grocery store for the few items we ran out of or didn't bring.

Before we left the park and so we didn't imposition Penny too much we hit a few hot spots (literally) on the way out. We also got caught in our first bison jam. Boy, do they take their sweet time walking down the road.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

It rained on us all afternoon so we are glad that we looked at the forecast and decided that Wednesday was the day to be out of the park. There is also a hint of snow overnight, so while in Rexburg we stopped by Kmart, picked up Jessie a new pair of tennies and a huge tent.  Thankfully it wasn't snowing too much when we got back to the camp site and we got the tent up with very little moisture inside.  I think we set the land speed record of erecting a large family tent. The kids were very helpful and did exactly what they were told. While we were gone, the kids in the little tents had their stuff get wet so it is now their turn to sleep in the van. 

We ate dinner, pizza, at Penny's and it too was delicious.

We stopped to look at this geyser and were walking away when it suddenly erupted!

Bison Jam!

Day six in the park: Thursday

The snow didn't stick! Well, at least at our camp site. Prayers can be answered!

Today is Matthew's day to pick what we do and he wants to go to Lake Yellowstone.  He really wants to go swimming in the lake, but we have news for him.  Thankfully, this will be another day of a lot of driving and little walking.  My knees are beginning to feel my age and we are still having trouble with the altitude. Going from around 300 feet to over 6000 feet above sea level is very noticeable!

What a lovely Lake!

We also hit the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  Magnificent!

Steve and Kray saw a pair of wolves, but the rest of us didn't.

That white stuff is snow
We had to drive a bit to find it, but it did snow on us, honest! Thankfully it didn't stick where we were camped.

The kids in West Thumb with Lake Yellowstone in the back.

Day seven in the park: Friday

Today we went to the Grand Tetons.  What a beautiful range.  We really wish we had more time to spend at the park, but it was a quick down and back trip.  Even that was worth it.

We finally saw a grizzly bear up close and personal.  On our way back from the Grand Tetons we came upon a mother and three cubs. These cubs looked big enough to be yearling.  Of course we were way too close and made the kids stay in the car, but we did get out and take a few pictures of the family ambling down the side of the road. Magnificent animals.  It was a bit unnerving when the mamma bear stares at you and so we didn't stay too long.

With that sighting all we needed was a moose and we will have all the big animals. (Well, some of us still needed the wolf.)

The Grand Tetons!

Day eight in the park: Saturday

We had some discussion about leaving a day earlier than planned and going home, but we decided that we would stay for today and we are so glad we did.  We decided to go back to the east side of the park and search for our moose.  We drove almost out the northeast entrance, but cut it short so we could get back to the camp site with time for dinner and some pull down.  With 13 hours of driving to do tomorrow we didn't want to spend half of the day packing up. 

While off on a trip around the northeast part of the park.  We spotted a pair of wolves across the river in the tall grass hunting for lunch.  This time we all got to see them.

Around one of the bends we saw a mass of people and a ton of cars pulled off of the side of the road.  We had to stop as well.  It had been rumored that bears could be seen on this road and yep! They were confirmed.  It was another momma grizzly and two baby cubs.  This time there were rangers and since she was very close to the road the rangers were pretty cautious on how close we could get.  We didn't stay long as once again, when she looked at you, you felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. 

As we continued on the road we finally found him--our moose! He was a young thing, but we watched him walk around this lake eating and just taking his time with a mid day snack!  With that we had seem them all! We could go home happy.

We stopped in Mammoth one more time, but this time for ice cream!

Shooting our moose!