Yellowstone Camping

We woke up quite early and drove about 11 hours to our campground in West Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons of Wyoming were very impressive. We set up our tent, Alise and I cleaned out our spots in the car in an effort to create more room and the rest went to the camp store to buy some very expensive hot dogs for dinner. We started a fire and cooked our hot dogs. Somehow they always taste better cooked over a campfire(: It's no secret that mom is not the biggest fan of camping so part of our nightly ritual included blowing up air mattresses for mom and dad.
The next morning we woke up and took our time getting into Yellowstone Park. Our breakfast wasn't much and we drove into town around noon. We first stopped at a grocery store to get some supplies for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next couple of days. We drove into Arby's and grabbed a quick lunch then headed off to the Yellowstone Park. We drove around just looking at the wild life and amazing natural wonders of the national park. We saw some elk bedding down on a small island in the middle of the creek and got some good pictures.
We stopped at the Canyon Visitors Center so Evan could pick up a "Young Scientist" packet. This is a program that allows children to explore the park more in depth. It asks questions, has you draw pictures, measure temperature, etc.
We explored the small museum in that visitors center for a while and then headed to another side of the shop and had a quick snack of Chili Nachos and then some ice cream, YUM!(:
Then we went to see the Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. They were absolutely incedible! A magnificent sight to see. The hike we took down to see the Canyon was about 2 miles there and 2 miles back. Going down was easy, coming back up... not so much, but you can bet we all had fun. Alise and I decided to take a "short cut" and go up the side of the hill. When we got to the top we discovered a sign that said "Prevent erosion, stay on trail". Whoops! We had a good laugh over it though(: We headed back to the visitors center so Evan could turn in his packet and get a patch for his hard work. Alise, Connor and I stayed in the car and got quite the surprise. While we were sitting there a huge Buffalo walked through the parking lot, not 5 feet from our car. We were all too in awe to do anything and by the time we got our phones out to take a picture of this magnificent animal, it was behind us. Still an amazing sight to see(:
We then drove through the park again, saw some more wild life and headed back to camp. We had a nice dinner of hamburgers... in the dark. Cooking dinner in the dark requires A LOT of flashlights. We managed and it tasted oh so good after such a long day(:
Our night ended and began again too soon. We woke up the next morning to have french toast and sausage for breakfast. Our day began a bit earlier and we drove in to see Old Faithful. Evan again picked up a "Young Scientist". This one for the geysers. They gave him a backpack with materials in it to measure temperature and other things. Dad sat down and read the booklet on how to use the materials. One of the materials was a thermal thermometer. Direction #1 was "do not point at people or animals". We didn't read the directions first so what do you think was the first thing we did when we got the thermometer out? We measured how hot everyone in our family... (and occasionally other families)... were. Oops!
We walked around on a 4 miles pathway called geyser hill and watched Old Faithful erupt from there. The water and steam shot high in the sky and inspired on lookers with awe. We walked around the geysers, looking at the colors and wonders of the geysers. We finished there and headed into the gift shop for some last souvenirs. We then drove back into camp and took some time relaxing in the pool and hot tub there.
We made dinners that night that the boys call "hobo dinners". Something they learned from their Royal Ranger camp outs. We put together beef, hash browns, and corn. Then we wrap it up in tin-foil and stick it in the fire to cook. They were VERY good(: We ended that night again with s'mores and a family game of Mad Gab.
We woke up and had a leisurely morning with another french toast breakfast. We got ready and 5 of us played a game of mini-golf while dad packed up the tent and our things.
Mom wasn't too upset about leaving camping behind although the rest of us could have stayed another night.
We headed into the park one more time and had a little picnis near Mammoth Falls and then exited through the north entrance. We had about a 5 hour drive to our hotel in Butte, MT and then relaxed at their pool. There was a water slide that was a lot of fun!
We finished there and headed to change and then go to Mackenzie River Pizza down the road. The warm dinner and cold dessert felt nice.
We woke up this morning, had breakfast and headed out. We stopped at an old ghost town and in Philipsburg. A small, quaint town in Montana. We are heading to the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, a traditional Montana stop(:
the drive will be about 5 hours long. ALMOST HOME!! 45 days and almost 10,000 miles!
"Home sweet Home!"
Soon to come: Family reviews(: