YELLOWSTONE

Well hello everyone! Where has the time gone? Our adventures these past few months have been non-stop, fraught with riveting highs and even some perilous lows. We’ve put many miles behind us since we last posted, but hate to skip a single bit of our great RV adventure…so I’ve got some catching up to do! Let’s travel back to August when we finally made it to Yellowstone!!!!!

Looking forward to this part of our trip from day 1, we arrived in West Yellowstone, MT, which is the most convenient town to enter the park. We couldn’t wait to set up at the notorious Grizzly RV Park…not just for it’s reputation, but mostly because of the visitors we’d been anxiously awaiting!! I’d missed my parents & my family so much since our departure. Yes, I’m one of those daughters that called home in college about every day. Even living 3 hours south of them in Tampa was hard for me. So, needless to say, this had been the longest stretch of time since we’d visited in person. The day after we set up & CLEANED every dusty inch of “The Beast” (our camper), we picked them up at the airport, just 5 minutes away.

One of the coolest things about the town of West Yellowstone is just how convenient it is to EVERYTHING. We walked or rode our bikes the 2 blocks to their hotel several times every day. Rylie & Caden made sure not to miss a single day of breakfast with them in the hotel restaurant. It may as well have been Jacksons at Harbor Island as far as Rylie was concerned because the buffet was huge & the infused water in the lobby drew the kids back even after my parents left for home!!
Our visit with them was SO FUN!! We experienced everything the town & park had to offer & left no corner untouched. Taco Bus got plenty of our business (Jacksonville sure needs one!) & we hit every other attraction with exuberance. We were even there for the Mountain Man Rendevouz, which is an outdoor exhibit of REAL mountain men & indians. Now that’s something you don’t get at home. The arts & crafts displayed were wonderful!

But the main attraction…THE PARK!!! Packed into the truck like sardines, we hit Yellowstone with ALL the other tourists. When our first sighting of the strange, smoking valleys came into view, it was really exciting. What a wonder-filled land it is! To take in the boiling “paint pots” & the grand prismatic spring…awestruck to say the least. To think that the omnipotent God simply SPOKE this into existence! What a gift that we can see & experience these wonders!

Good Old Faithful blew right on time & then we went to explore the best lodge we’ve ever seen. Whoa, talk about a great tree house adventure…the Old Faithful Inn is awesome & I have a feeling it was one of my dad’s highlights.

Trucking down the road on our 2nd visit to the park that week, we headed for Artists Point & Lamar Valley. Time for waterfalls, hiking & bison herds. Once again, we were not let down. We had some great laughs as we peered over the steep cliffs of the hike. A predominant Hidalgo trait is major nervousness when it comes to cliff or mountain edges of any kind, so to experience this again with my parents made it equally exciting & antsy.

Laughing at the funny grizzly bear signs we’d seen around the town, but realizing just how true they were, we picnicked in the woods watching our backs & then set out for the most ultimate bison experience yet. Herds awaited us in the Lamar Valley & it was sight. What I hope never to forget are their sounds…a mix of something like mooing cows & snorting pigs!!

 
Adventuring over to Quake Lake was another incredible way to spend a day! We ate the famous Camp Fire Lodge breakfast & took in a hike along the Madison River & the site where an earthquake caused a massive landslide in August of 1959. When the landslide blocked the river, that area, which was sadly filled with vacationing campers, began to flood. While some were able to escape to the higher ground of Refuge Point, sadly others died that night. Our hike took us past Ghost Village, where you can see the remains of cabins that floated away. The area filled with water & created a lake 5 miles long & 190 feet deep! Other than the scattered fly-fisherman, we had the serene trail to ourselves, sharing it only with a mama moose & her baby…what a sight!

Enjoying camper time…& great food! Yes, even lobster & filet mignon is served from our camper kitchen on special occasions!!

7 days was a perfect visit…but it had to come to an end…so we said our goodbyes to Mom-Mom & Poppy and went back to our normal routine…for a few days…….
……then we had our Round 2….with Josiah Jenkins!!!

How fun to have another kid in the house! We had a GREAT week with Jo! We gave him the shortened version of Yellowstone, packing everything we could into a single day. Can you say Wiped Out & Car Sick?!?!

We laughed because these kids did not stay still for a minute. Actually, they biked about 80% of the time…then 10% on the ropes course (3 days in a row), 5% eating…& the last 5% was split between sleeping, relaxing, horseback riding & of course, hitting the rodeo HARD! I think Jo stumbled on to the plane ride home & may have fallen asleep before take off. I was just thankful he made the flight since Ken & the kids tried to fit in one last bike trip up “Kid Hill” (an impossible dirt hill) & didn’t notice the time!!

Back to Quake Lake…& Camp Fire Lodge for breakfast!!

Our 3 weeks in Yellowstone was really special & we will cherish our memories forever…but 3 weeks is a long time to stay put so it was time to head on to the next big adventure.
Coming up…more tales of Wyoming, Idaho & Montana…with even more family & friends!