We had the awesome opportunity to spend a week in Yellowstone at the beginning of June (maybe that’s why I’ve been so lax on blogging this month, still in vacation mode). We had a great time, and while I could fill the blog with the 700+ photos I took, I will attempt to limit it to highlights of each day and some photos from there.
It wasn’t Clint or my first trip to Yellowstone. He went in 1989 when he was 6 and a year after the huge forest fires and spent less than a day there and remembers little to none of it. I went the summer I was 15 and learning how to drive (and I got plenty of practice on those back Wyoming roads). I remembered a lot more of it and have always wanted to go back.
We started looking and planning well over a year ago. Part of me was real hesitant to plan any sort of vacation with Edric not being home yet. But then the more I thought about it, I realized that at his age, he wouldn’t really remember it anyway, and I plan on going back when all the boys are bigger and we can camp and do longer hikes. I debated for awhile about camping vs staying somewhere. The boys have done great in the past when we went camping, but in the beginning of June in Yellowstone it still gets down to the 20s at night, and Caedmon is still a little guy. Plus my idea of camping is not staying at a campground with 100s of other people 10 feet from somewhere else, but backpacking in and actually really camping. While I have a friend from high school that does all sorts of things with her little ones and blogs about it at Bring The Kids . I didn’t think the boys were quite ready for that sort of adventure yet. And so we opted to stay in a little cabin just outside the park.
In reality Day 1 wasn’t all that exciting. We drove a lot. A LOT. Actually it was only a little over 8 hours and the boys were champs. Granted Leighton got scared of the videos that he picked out from the library (Charlotte’s Web? Seriously, he’s a little super sensitive), so it was a lot of playing the alphabet game, reading books, rescuing match box cars that had escaped and listening to audio books.
Since we had been in the van for more than enough time, we decided to drive right into the park and go on a little hike to stretch everyone’s legs. We entered the park from the East side, and it wouldn’t be complete without the classic touristy photo in front of the sign.
We drove to the trail head and then went on a little hike. I’m pretty sure there was a bear watching us the entire time….There was very fresh bear poop all over the trail and both Clint and I felt like we were being watched the whole time. Luckily the bear must have thought that we smelled far too much like being in a van for too long and not like the dried cranberries and pineapple we had consumed and opted to leave us alone and let us enjoy the beauty of the hike (all the while checking over our shoulders frequently).
We learned later when we stopped to fill up with gas that there had indeed been a number (like say 22) bears seen in the area and especially the area that we had just been hiking in. Again thankful that we did not look like tasty bear food that day.
We drove back to check into our cabin, which we learned was built in 1920 (but luckily had been updated-ie had indoor plumming). All the food we had packed was still frozen solid (thankful for a good cooler?) and so we opted to eat at the resturaunt that was on site at the cabin. We did get to watch a couple buffalo come up and wander around the grounds while we were eating.
We made it an early night to bed and got things prepped for a busy day 2 of adventures.
Hiking Mommy 