Yellowstone: Final Tally

When I was about Pearl's age, my parents took me and my brother, Jesse, to Yellowstone. I don't remember what month we went, but it was sometime in the fall. Like when you risk getting snowed in to the park. 

Um, yeah. That happened.

We traveled in my Grandpa Allen's old yellow pick-up truck (which I drove in high school). My parents and Jesse sat in the front and I sat in the camper, with the window open so I could talk to my mom and dad and they could pass me snacks. It was quite an adventure in my little mind. 

I remember seeing what seemed liked millions of elk. Everywhere we went there were elk. We stopped at one of the gift shops and my parents let me get a straw that made an elk sound when you blew in it. And I remember seeing a bear who had made a kill on the other side of the river and watching it for a long time.

I remember the snow and cold. We got snowed in the park... no one was allowed to come in or out of the park. We camped in our truck and camper bed next to people's fancy, warm, and roomy RVs. While they were enjoying a nice meal inside, we were shivering around a picnic table trying to eat our stew and hot chocolate as fast as we could before the snow piled up in it. I'm sure we were a pretty pathetic and funny bunch... two little kids crying that the snow was falling into their food. I remember there was only one rule I had to follow. That if I opened the door to the camper and didn't see my Dad, I wasn't allowed to go outside because the bison had literally set up camp in, well, the camp. There was a huge bison just sitting in front of someone's RV munching on whatever grass it could find! 

Now, my parents were anything but rich. Taking this trip was a huge sacrifice for them. They had calculated down to the last dime how much they thought it would cost in gas and food to drive there and back. We barely made it home... my Dad said they literally coasted in on fumes and faith. After making one final stop to get us something small to eat (they told Jesse and I to eat all the free Saltine crackers we could with our soup) and fill up with some gas, they had 10 cents left. Not even enough to make a phone call home. Now that's what memories are made of!

But what I remember the most was keeping a tally of all the animals we saw along the way. My mom had a notebook and every time I saw an animal, she would write it down and put a tick mark next to it. I'm sure she still has it somewhere. And I'm also sure there really were a million elk.

In keeping with Yellowstone tradition, I took a little notebook for Pearl to keep track of all the animals we saw. Jeff teased me about it at first, but in the end everyone helped me relive one of my favorite childhood memories. 

In total we saw:

976 bison (give or take a million)
55 geese
28 "zits" (a white horse... another childhood memory of mine)
26 bighorn sheep
11 ravens
10 birds
9 ducks
5 waterfalls
4 wolves
4 pelicans
4 deer
3 bears
3 herron
3 Smokey the Bear signs
3 chipmunks
2 nests
2 muskrats
1 antelope
1 rabbit
1 squirrel
A whole lot of fish

Yellowstone: Hotel Shenanigans

What's the point of going on vacation if you can't cause a little ruckus in the hotel?

At least in our family, it's the only acceptable and encouraged place to do things like...

Play in the pool hours past bedtime.

Eat pizza in your pjs and on the bed.

Throw things at your sister and when that doesn't work, kick a ball at her.

Jump on the bed.

Or better yet, jump from one bed to another.

Or better even still, get your Dad to jump from one bed to the other, while barely avoiding a direct hit with your mom's camera.

Yellowstone: Old Faithful

If you ask the kids what their favorite part about Yellowstone was, Cole will tell you the bison. And Pearl will tell you watching Old Faithful. I for one thought she's pick the gift shops. 

Old Faithful Inn is really beautiful. I'm kind of a sucker for historical buildings (I mean, I do live in a century + old home). The Inn came dangerously close to being destroyed in the wildfires in 1988. I'm so glad they were able to save it. I don't remember how many stories the Inn is... I'm thinking maybe five or six? It's really cool to look up and see all the lodge staircases, ceilings, and what appears to be a clubhouse at the very top like you'd dream of if you were in Swiss Family Robinson. We also got to eat lunch in the lodge and of course spend all of Grandpa's money in the gift shop.

I loved the doors and the hardware on them!

Since we were at the lodge, we decided to just sit on one of the covered porches and watch Old Faithful erupt. Plus, it was really cold and rainy. We woke up to snow on the ground. And I may or may not have forgotten my coat at home and the kids refused to bring or wear their nice winter coats. Being old, Jeff and I were freezing waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. Luckily, Grandma came to the rescue and bought us all a delicious, creamy hot chocolate.

Here goes Old Faithful!

Truly amazing to think for eons, Old Faithful has "faithfully" erupted every 60-90 minutes around the clock.

Yellowstone: Falls, Eagles, and Two Missing Persons

It's been too long and I'm getting too old to remember the names of these falls. I want to say the lower and upper falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone but that seems to obvious.

Whatever the name, each stop brought with it it's own fun adventure.

First up, the lower falls with all the whining and "my legs are broken" and "carry me" and "I'm tired" and "I don't want to keep walking".... you get the idea. It's not even a real hike! And my kids were complaining about it. Apparently it's just not worth expending precious energy walking around this beautiful earth to see all that God has created when one could be watching Wreck It Ralph for the 100 gazillionth time instead!

Whiners.

At the next stop at the upper falls, Jeff and I decided to check it out solo. We watched a pair of eagles flying back and forth to their nest for quite some time. If you look really, really closely, you can see one of the adult eagles flying around the nest (to the left), sitting on this rock. It was really quite amazing and pretty humbling to think we're just these teeny, tiny specks next to the canyon and rocks. 

We apparently stayed a little too long eagle watching because when we got back to the truck, Pearl and Grandma were nowhere to be found. They had told Grandpa they were going to walk down to find us - which was only about 20 feet away from the truck - but they never made it. Trying not to  panic, we started walking around looking for them. We looked and looked and looked. By this point I was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't think Jeff's mom would dare go on the trails with her knees or with Pearl but maybe they did and now they were hurt or lost. Jeff and I started running up and down the trails and asking everyone if they'd seen a Grandma and little girl together. No luck. By now I was really freaking out! I mean this place has wolves and bears and bison! We didn't have a clue where they might have wandered off to and I was thinking the worst like Pearl had slipped and fell into the falls and Gwen went over trying to grab her. And there was no possible way they'd be crazy enough to have walked back down to the bathrooms at the lower falls... so naturally thinking the worst was the only logical thing for me to do.

Never underestimate a 6-year-old with a full bladder.

When Gwen and Pearl strolled up like nothing had happened - oh and did I mention we sent Grandpa and Fern back to the lower falls to look for them - I told them they were grounded, which was much nicer than the ear full they got from Jeff and his Dad. I mean, it totally makes sense that instead of asking for a ride back to the bathrooms (which I failed to mention "stunk" which is why Pearl refused to go potty in the first place), you'd walk five miles back down to the bathrooms yourself without telling anyone, barely making it before peeing your pants, all while being in wolves and bears and bison territory.

Pearl and Grandma are still not allowed to go anywhere unsupervised :)

Yellowstone: Norris Geysers

I find the geysers and hot spots really fascinating so I was glad the kids were up for a walk around the Norris Geysers. It's amazing to see this vast white-covered earth with hot spots spurting boiling liquid out, steam billowing everywhere, gorgeous greens and golds and blues from minerals in the earth and water, and smell whiffs of stinky sulfur. Our Heavenly Father really gave us a special treat when He created Yellowstone!

 

I was kind of bummed the visitor center wasn't open yet... but then again, going early in the season was a fantastic decision because we didn't have to wait for the crowds anywhere or share the bear, wolf, and bison jams!

We warned the kids that they needed to stay next to us and not go anywhere off the trail because the water was super hot and they could get burned. We didn't realize we had instilled total fear into them - or that Jeff's mom and dad had also had the same talk with them before we started our exploration - because the kids were terrified of this place. Oops.