Back to Idaho (again) and Beyond

First, a disclaimer about why it has taken me sooo long to post something about this trip. After getting back there was the usual lag of going from vacation mode to normal mode; I had about 1 week before I really got serious about planning Mom & Dad's 40th anniversary party.So for the first 2 weeks of October were spent planning and preparing for the party and as soon as that was over, I had to do some damage-control before I started making 2 Halloween costumes. Of course as soon as the costumes were taken off I had to shift gears again to get a game ready for Jon's sister's baby shower the next day. So now I've had since Saturday evening to finish writing this journal/post and get ALL the pictures into a slide show. And so you know I tried to keep people from nodding off during the slideshow (which I'm doing now, by the way) I took off about 20+ photos. Of course, you would never know since there are still about 75 pictures! Hey, it was a long trip! Anyway, sorry if it's boring.

I don't know what it was about Idaho this year but everything we wanted to see and visit this year happened to be either in Idaho or, this time, through Idaho. So on Tuesday 9/16, two days after Ethan's birthday party and one day before his actual birthday, we headed north once again with (west) Yellowstone as our destination. We were hoping to leave somewhat early in the morning but I don't think we left until about 11:30. The ride up was pretty pleasant. We had a couple issues of Garrett crying and needing to be convinced to fall asleep but made it almost the entire way without stopping. We were only 20 miles from our hotel when we needed to make a pit stop. We used the potty, got snacks, and filled the gas tank.
By the time we got to the hotel in West Yellowstone and brought our stuff in, we were needing dinner so we ventured to the heart of town and did a little walking to find where we wanted to eat. Unfortunately it was so busy in that place, we had to turn around and walk out. We ended up at KFC. The kids only lasted at the table for maybe 5 minutes and from then on we were embarrassed by the whining, running, destruction, etc. By the time we were done there and walked back to the van we were ready to retreat to the hotel and "relax".

It seemed like forever until the kids were ready to fall asleep but it eventually came. A couple hours later, Ethan went to use the toilet. He came to me after that and said he thought he was sick. "Sick how?" I asked. He said, "Like barfing sick." So, to the bathroom we went...and sat...and waited. We were awake for over an hour and he did nothing. I had, at one point, convinced him to lay on the floor with a blanket outside the bathroom door but that only lasted about 10 minutes. He then came to me and wanted to get in bed with me. I told him absolutely not but he could lay in the bed next to me and we would move Tanner over. (He was in the same bed as Savannah on Jon's side.) He woke up in the morning and used the bathroom and said he thinks it was because he was constipated and hungry. It's too bad there's not an invention that can tell moms exactly what your child is feeling so you can tell them, "no, you're not going to throw up, you just feel sick because you're backed up and you didn't eat enough dinner."
So when morning came (and Ethan's real birthday) I was extra tired and probably didn't move as fast as I should have. It seemed to take all morning to actually get out of the hotel and on our way. As we got into the park a little bit we saw our first bison and stopped to take pictures in front of them. For the next little while we seemed to not drive very far before we would see something of interest, pull over, get everyone out, take pictures, and load everyone back in; repeat. Most of these sights were of hot springs and geysers. The kids didn't enjoy the sulfur smell they emit. The last place this day was the Old Faithful geyser area. We sat for probably 30-40 minutes waiting for the show. While we waited we watched another geyser going off about 1 mile away that kept going and going. We wished we were there instead of this 'faithful' geyser that kept teasing us. After the show we walked around to see all the other geysers and pools. At one point we saw a herd of buffalo and made it down the path just before they decided to cross over it. There was one male that kept doing this loud grunting sound.

This whole time Garrett was sleeping in my wrap carrier which made it quite hot for us. He eventually woke up and started squirming which made him go in the stroller and Tanner out but we wished we had two double strollers since they all kept complaining about being tired. It was really quite pathetic at one point: Jon was holding TJ in his arms and S was on his back, G was in the stroller and Ethan was standing on the back of the stroller, on the frame of the basket. Keep in mind this is a glorified umbrella stroller. I also had Ethan on my back for a few minutes while I pushed the stroller. We were all pretty pooped by the time we made it back to the van. I think we were walking around for close to 3 hours.

By the time we made it back to the hotel it was about 7 pm. We hadn't eaten yet but decided to send Jon to the grocery store to find some soup for the kids (cheap) and get a small pizza for Jon and me. While we waited in the hotel room I kept reminding the kids that they needed to not be so loud...over and over and over. Finally the phone rang and it was the front desk saying they had a complaint about the noise. I understood the frustration from their standpoint but at the same time it was only 7:30, it IS a hotel, and how quiet can you keep a 17 month old that likes to squeal and scream. So after the lecture, they quieted down considerably but still needed reminders.

The next day we got out just about as late even though the sleep that night was better. We decided our destination that day was going to be the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Before going there, though, we decided to check out the Grizzly & Wolf Habitat about 2 minutes away from the hotel. This is a tiny not-for-profit place and it is designed to be a learning environment for people and a refuge for grizzlies and wolves. There are 4 wolves and about 6 bears. They only rotate 2 bears at a time into the courtyard/viewable area. By the time we made it through the inside and all of the learning stuff, the 2 bears they had out were heading back in. The rotation apparently takes several minutes and we didn't wait around. The wolves were all taking it easy, laying in the shade so we decided to go get some lunch and head out since our tickets to this place were good for 2 days.

We went across the way and got some lunch at a Mexican/American restaurant which was pretty good, pretty pricey, and pretty slow. We finally headed into the park around 1:30. The Canyon area didn't take too long to get to but we were limited on how to get the main sites due to construction. I'm having a hard time remembering this now, but I believe our intent was to see the Lower Falls, Upper Falls, and just the canyon depth itself. After going to the visitor center, talking to the host, and getting a map, we determined there's just a couple options open to us, having 4 little kids. (i.e, I wasn't about to walk down and back up 300 steps with a baby on my back!) So we drive to a lot, and go to a viewing point to see the Lower Falls, but can't see a whole lot because of how many people were around. We saw enough though and decided to follow this trail that the host at the v.c. told us was pretty flat but over a mile long. So with the belief that it was flat we started on this trail from the viewing area with Ethan in a stroller and the two little boys in backpack carriers. (And, yes, Savannah complained that she had to walk.) At first it wasn't too bad but it got more narrow and more hilly. Long story short, we got lost, (back to the parking lot) decided to ditch the stroller and make Ethan walk, found the right way to the right trail and hiked 1.5 miles up some extremely steep (at times) hills to eventually end up at the "artist's point" to see the upper falls. And when I say "steep" I mean "afraid you're going to lose your traction" steep. I thought many times I wasn't going to make it. And to top it off, when the trail ended it was to the sidewalk on the side of a new parking lot!!! We could have driven! But anyway....when we finally got there the sun was getting low in the sky, there had been lots of clouds and rain at times, making a beautiful scene. The unfortunate part was that my camera had almost no battery left. There was a lady w/an English accent that offered to take our picture thank goodness. We were lucky enough to get one good shot at least. After taking in the sight we headed back. I was soooo close to having Jon hike back, get the van and pick us up. He convinced me otherwise and we trekked back the way we came.

Seeing as how it was getting quite dark by this point we headed back to the hotel. I think for dinner this night we had leftover pizza and ramen soup. (Things are so expensive there.) I think this was the night that Garrett had trouble going to sleep. I think Tanner might have gotten up during the night to go potty at some point too and then I couldn't go back to sleep. Garrett kept me awake because he kept tossing and turning. I mean he would hold still for about 30 seconds and then move. This went on for about an hour before I finally fell asleep.

This was the "questionable day" before we left--were we going to check out on this day or stay one more night. Knowing that we had yet to see another major landmark we decided to stay. There was still the issue of no camera battery though so we went to the only camera store we had seen hoping to find a new battery, since the two rechargeables weren't holding their charges very long anymore. The guy didn't have my kind of battery but he had what was probably the better deal--the car charger for my battery. After buying it and getting the battery charging, we headed out (later than desired once again) to see Mammoth Hot Springs north of where we had been so far. We hadn't made it too far when I noticed that the roads were considerably windier than we had experienced to this point. After our previous trip 3 years ago to Yosemite I knew to keep an eye on Ethan. So I asked him how he was feeling and he said he felt a little sick. As we kept driving I kept checking with him and he fairly quickly got to the point that he asked for something to throw up in. Luckily at this point was when a bunch of other cars had pulled over to look at a mountain goat waaaay up on the mountainside. At first I thought we had stopped in time to prevent his own geyser but he did a little bit anyway. Savannah bailed out of the back right after we stopped. We spent the next while dealing with this--is he good to go?...trying to convince Savannah to sit next to him still....how to keep him from getting sick again?.... I realized the best solution was to have the two most motion-sensitive people (Ethan and me) sit up front and send Jon to the back. This was how we did the rest of the trip in Yellowstone and we had no more incidents!

We made to Mammoth Hot Springs at last! These were impressive formations, and stinky, just like all the others. There were a series of boardwalks and stairs to get to the pools and springs. Many photos later we drove to a grassy area with a couple picnic benches so we could pull out our lunch meat, crackers, apples, juice boxes, and goodies. (This was also our lunch the last couple days.) The weather wasn't very cooperative at this moment as it was windy and had some rain pour down for a few minutes. As we were laying everything out I noticed a bull Elk not too far off in the distance and he was on the move. I was in my mind, figuring out how I was going to get my 4 kids and all our stuff back to the van when he came charging towards us but luckily I didn't have to put that plan into action. He meandered to our right and stayed there most of our eating time but then walked back to where we first spotted him and then kept going.
We finished lunch, packed everyone/thing back in the van and got back on the road. We took the slightly longer, unfamiliar road to the hotel. We had a couple places we wanted to check out on this path anyway. The first one was the petrified tree. Garrett was sleeping so I stayed in the van while Jon took the other three. The next stop were some more falls. Again, Garrett was sleeping so I stayed with him...

As we headed back to the hotel we had some of the most amazing views from the road. I had to stop once or twice just to take a picture. We were getting close when Tanner said he needed to go potty. Jon pinpointed from a map how long until a restroom/picnic area so we pulled off into this one-way road that took us on a narrow road alongside a small river. Very pretty but 4 miles extra we didn't plan on. When we made it back to town, we went back to the Grizzly and Wolf place again and saw the same 4 sleepy wolves but saw a couple bears that had recently gotten out to play. We stayed until closing time at 7 p.m.

We ate dinner (don't remember what now) and then Jon took 3 kids to the swimming pool at the hotel. I stayed to bathe Garrett and do a load of laundry. The next day we packed everything and checked out. As we were trying to get out of town it was raining and we were thankful it had been such good weather for us (low to mid 70's) up til that point. We had to eat lunch and get some souvenirs before we could finally hit the road. I dropped Jon, Savannah, & Ethan off at the gift shop by the grizzly and wolf place since they had spotted stuff there they wanted. After several minutes the rain turned into a downpour. Just before it did there was a bolt of lightning just behind us and let me tell you, that was one of the loudest claps of thunder I think I've ever heard! The lightning was so much closer than I thought that it scared me when I heard the thunder so quickly! As I sat there I realized that the side of the van they're going to get back in on is the side that was getting pounded by rain. Just as I started backing out to change where I was parked, they came running out and down the sidewalk. It was perfect timing.

So after all of our shopping we got back on the road headed for home. The weather wasn't too bad for about an hour or so and then we hit the mother of all rainstorms. It was terrible. It was just soooo much rain all at once. Anyway, we made it through the worst stuff soon enough and made it back home in one piece.

I'm so grateful we were able to make this trip. My life since this trip has been so hectic and busy I wish I could go back to this kind of stress!

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