August 10th - 14th
Friday, August 10th - On the road around 7:00am. Several hot stops and 7 hours later we arrived at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, Idaho. Thank god for AC and seat coolers! It was in the upper 90’s and low 100’s from Ellensberg onward. It was 109 degrees in Kellogg! A smoke haze has blanketed us since home. It is everywhere! Our room was ready and we eagerly checked in and changed for the Silver Rapids INDOOR Water Park. It was exactly the kind of family fun we needed after a long day on the road. Note: Allie has decided she likes gum, strawberry gum! I can't tell you how many times over the past several years she has tried gum with the hope that someday she would change her mind and like it. Although, she still only chewed it for a few minutes before needing to spit it out.
The bickering continued on the playground, but they settled down as we hit the road at 8:00. Our camper must have been watered with the lawn because the roof was wet. Steve rolled his window down as we rolled out of the parking lot (to take a picture of Silverwood gondola/mountain for me), and the water ran off the roof and into the open window! After the morning we had and the the mood he/all were in, I was certain his reaction could only have been negative, so I quickly laughed and made a joke of it. Surprisingly, he mellowed out and Day 2 on the road began. 30-minutes later, we crossed into Montana and the great expanse of road We listened to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, on audio. The kids played car bingo. As I write this, now 10am, our first potty break is only a few miles away, and all is well.
We ate our lunch on the road. The afternoon drive felt long. We decided to altar our course and added about an hour and a half to our drive to Yellowstone, plus more drive/sight seeing time enroute to our camp site. Instead of entering Yellowstone at the west entrance, also the location of our camp site (Madison). We entered at the north entrance at Gardener. Per Dan Gilday's suggestion, we stopped at Yellowstone Forever for info, National Park passport stickers, etc.
Hot, tired and crabby, we ventured into the park for our first impression. Our first stop (3:30ish) was Mammoth Hot Springs. It was over 100 degrees. The kids nearly melted and were crabby, but they did it.
Hot, tired and crabby, we ventured into the park for our first impression. Our first stop (3:30ish) was Mammoth Hot Springs. It was over 100 degrees. The kids nearly melted and were crabby, but they did it.
We hiked most of the board walk trail. As we worked our way back down to the parking lot at 5:00, I knew we couldn’t go any farther without food. Our 11:30 lunch, plus snacks were hours ago. We popped into a fast food diner for burgers. Cooler, fed, hydrated and feeling somewhat better, we climbed back into the car and began the 1.5 hour drive to the Madison Campground, limiting stops and soaking in the surroundings.
Set up at the camp sight was smooth, but late. We were in bed around 8:30/9:00. Happy and lively campers around us made sleep difficult. The kids were probably asleep by 9:30.
Sunday, August 12th - Despite the late night, morning came early. Allison woke and in her persistent, lack of understanding/awareness for others’ needs, woke the whole family up. She did agree to a cuddle; a playful, chatty, demanding attention kind of cuddle. We were eating breakfast before 7 and on the road to Geyser Country and Old Faithful by 8:30. It was surprisingly chilly. Dressed in shorts and T-shirt’s, with hoody’s over the top, we were slightly cold as we climbed into the truck and comfortable as we started our hike. It wasn’t long into the hike before we were removing our outer layers. We didn’t need them again. Our timing was great at Old Faithful. We had about 30-40 minutes to do the Observation Point Hike for our first viewing of Old Faithful. It did not disappoint.
Afterwards, we headed back towards Madison, stopping at Midway Geyser Basin. We popped the top and ate a proper lunch first. There are many pros and cons to a pop-up truck camper. This is one of the pros.
With conflicting and vague guide book descriptions, we weren’t entirely sure where we were headed, but we hoped to get a view of the Grand Prismatic Springs. After a bit of backtracking, we made it to the view point. It did not disappoint.
Surprisingly, just as we parked, changed and walked down the trail to the Firehole River, clouds covered the sun and there was a breeze. I was comfortable, but my swimmers were very chilly after they braved the crowd, the cool deep water and the strong current. The kids are "just" old enough now and the Firehole River was ok. When they are a few years older, or if it was less crowded, they would have enjoyed it more. Still, they will remember that swim hole and will be able to embellish how deep, strong and crazy the water was!
After dinner we walked the camp trail down to the river. It was a gorgeous evening light and would have been a calmer, better place to relax and swim.
Monday, August 13th - We were a bit sleepier this morning. I didn’t hear a peep from Allie until 6:35. Peyton was still sleeping/resting silently, although, he aroused a few minutes later. They cuddled with me and it was after 7:00 before we got up to eat, and they needed a bit of coaxing to do so! Our turnaround this morning was also slower because we dumped and filled our water tanks. I think we were on the road toward Norris Geyser Basin around 9:00. It was cold again this morning and even though the sun shown at camp, there was a cloud cover and mist/rain sprinkles on the road.
We stopped off to do the Artists Paint Pots Hike. It was a fabulous little hike through woods to thermal activity right up close. We could hear the whistles, hisses, hums, drumming, bubbling and boiling of steam, water, and mud (which shot right up into the air!). My pictures did not capture the experience. Allie’s quote, “I think it’s cool to see, but it’s kind of boring to watch it for a while.” We easily could have ended our geyser tour here.
Norris Geyser Basin, which is also "other worldly" was underwhelming after 3-days of similar bubbly, boiling, gushing and steaming surroundings. Although, it still felt good to get out and walk a bit. We enjoyed a snack along the way, but the kids were really into their imaginations all morning and just pretended they were Pokémon creatures the whole time. They were having more fun “playing” than enjoying the sights. It was fun to witness their play and ebb in and out as they invited us.
Back at the camper, we grabbed a couple of hard boiled eggs and refilled our waters. Then, we buckled up for a long drive around the upper loop, backtracking towards Mammoth Springs. Fortunately, we hit the road construction traffic just as they allowed our lane through and we did not experience the expected 30-minute delay! Exhausted mentally and physically, we let the kids enjoy screen time enroute. We made a quick stop in Mammoth for gas and I checked out the general store with a list of several items. I came out with eggs and garbage bags. Not a total waste, but not what I expected. The kids hardly looked up. It was after 1 and we were starting to get really hungry. At 1:30 we capped screen time and observed the new scenery as we made our way through Tower region, stopping at Roosevelt Lodge for a picnic. We shared a table with a couple from Anacortes.
It was 3:30 by the time we were off again enjoying a few stops to peek down at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
We stopped off to do the Artists Paint Pots Hike. It was a fabulous little hike through woods to thermal activity right up close. We could hear the whistles, hisses, hums, drumming, bubbling and boiling of steam, water, and mud (which shot right up into the air!). My pictures did not capture the experience. Allie’s quote, “I think it’s cool to see, but it’s kind of boring to watch it for a while.” We easily could have ended our geyser tour here.
Norris Geyser Basin, which is also "other worldly" was underwhelming after 3-days of similar bubbly, boiling, gushing and steaming surroundings. Although, it still felt good to get out and walk a bit. We enjoyed a snack along the way, but the kids were really into their imaginations all morning and just pretended they were Pokémon creatures the whole time. They were having more fun “playing” than enjoying the sights. It was fun to witness their play and ebb in and out as they invited us.
It was 3:30 by the time we were off again enjoying a few stops to peek down at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
It was a long afternoon drive. We finished Paddington, on audio, saw some wildlife: bison, geese, ducks, etc...
and decided to stop for dinner at Grant Village, on Yellowstone Lake, instead of cooking late, back at camp.
Bedtime around 9, but it was loud around camp and Peyton was restless. It was 10:30 before he fell asleep and even then, he was restless. He cried out at 11:30 and 1:30, but was unresponsive and we resettled him. There were loud campers (a cougher and someone who kept starting their truck engine all night, plus a wolf pack howling. Steve and I also slept restlessly.
Tuesday, August 14th - Not a peep until almost 7. It was frigid this morning and predicted to be cooler today. Low 39 and high 73, in the Lake area. The kids had a blast playing stick baseball and Allie set about making a hideout. They could have stayed there all morning playing.
Obviously they are hungry for unstructured, unscheduled, no-expectations play time. Instead, we back tracked up to Canyon, hoping to pass through Hayden early, to see the wildlife, but we had to make a stop at the Visitor Center/General Store to find a fuse (our battery is not charging) and the kids found stuffed wolf pups to spend their $10 vacation allowance on. It was almost 10 before we were on the road. The kids were immediately in their imaginary world. In fact, off and on for most of they day, they were in wolf pup world and Peyton narrated an entire pretend baseball game (on the way home in the afternoon) and they were completely unaware of their surroundings. Uncle Tom’s trail and The South Rim Hike are closed. We also heard that Inspiration Point in the North Rim was closed for renovations. We did stop at Artists Point and enjoyed a stunning view of the Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
We decided to do the 2-mile hike to Lily Pond, beginning at Artists Point, that followed along part of the Canyon for about 3/4 miles with several stunning views of the canyon walls, the Yellowstone River and Upper Falls and then headed back through the woods for about 1/4 mike to Lily Pond. We enjoyed chatting with a father/daughter, a snack and watching a mommy duck and her babies, among other small insects and bugs.
Back at the ever increasing crowded parking lot, and time of day (now close to 2:00) we decided that we were done. Anything more was going to be too much for us to really appreciate. The fact that we still had to drive back and traffic the previous day had been slow, was another deterrent. Mostly, we needed to just relax. We made no further stops with the exception of viewing a few more bison and a female elk, until Bridge Bay. There, we enjoyed a brief viewing of the animal display at the Visitor Center and stayed at the lake shore for close to an hour.
With no hesitation, the kids were at the waters edge playing and building a sandcastle the entire time. Again, if it wasn’t for hunger and time, they could have stayed content much longer. At 4 we had to tear them away with the promise of food in the car. The last 30ish minutes of our drive back to Grant Village we snacked and sang aloud. We made a quick stop at the same General Store in Grant Village that we started our day at (leaving the kids in the car) and bought a few grocery items. Next stop, the showers. There hasn’t been one available since Silver Mountain. 4 full days is a long time to go without a shower. It almost seemed like more trouble than pleasure, but we decided to do it anyway. I did feel better after a good shower and with Allison, it's always entertaining! Finally, just after 6:00, we made it back to camp to set up and make dinner, exhausted, but clean. Again, the kids played their baseball game and needed no intervention while we chored, planned for tomorrow and made spaghetti dinner. We ate late (7:00). Peyton was reluctant to come in and was really too exhausted to do anything else, let alone eat. Allie had a good appetite, but was practically sleeping and eating. We were ready for bed shortly after 8:00. Both kids enjoyed quiet time. Peyton read and Allison journaled about Grey, her wolf pup. Then, I read the first chapter of The Penderwick’s, a new read-aloud book. I think we were in bed with lights or before 9:00 and both kids seemed to fall asleep quickly out of sheer exhaustion, not because it was peaceful. Camp was loud again this evening. We all feel satisfied with our Yellowstone trip and no one feels like there was a must-see we missed. We did discuss that we didn’t do any Junior Ranger activities, so we might visit the nearest Ranger Station to inquire on our way out of the park. We are Grand Teton’s bound no matter what tomorrow.
Obviously they are hungry for unstructured, unscheduled, no-expectations play time. Instead, we back tracked up to Canyon, hoping to pass through Hayden early, to see the wildlife, but we had to make a stop at the Visitor Center/General Store to find a fuse (our battery is not charging) and the kids found stuffed wolf pups to spend their $10 vacation allowance on. It was almost 10 before we were on the road. The kids were immediately in their imaginary world. In fact, off and on for most of they day, they were in wolf pup world and Peyton narrated an entire pretend baseball game (on the way home in the afternoon) and they were completely unaware of their surroundings. Uncle Tom’s trail and The South Rim Hike are closed. We also heard that Inspiration Point in the North Rim was closed for renovations. We did stop at Artists Point and enjoyed a stunning view of the Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
This was what Allison has been talking about since she read about it at school last spring, the big water fall! Her only comment, when asked, "I thought it would be longer." Underwhelmed, she transitioned back into pretend world and that was that.
With no hesitation, the kids were at the waters edge playing and building a sandcastle the entire time. Again, if it wasn’t for hunger and time, they could have stayed content much longer. At 4 we had to tear them away with the promise of food in the car. The last 30ish minutes of our drive back to Grant Village we snacked and sang aloud. We made a quick stop at the same General Store in Grant Village that we started our day at (leaving the kids in the car) and bought a few grocery items. Next stop, the showers. There hasn’t been one available since Silver Mountain. 4 full days is a long time to go without a shower. It almost seemed like more trouble than pleasure, but we decided to do it anyway. I did feel better after a good shower and with Allison, it's always entertaining! Finally, just after 6:00, we made it back to camp to set up and make dinner, exhausted, but clean. Again, the kids played their baseball game and needed no intervention while we chored, planned for tomorrow and made spaghetti dinner. We ate late (7:00). Peyton was reluctant to come in and was really too exhausted to do anything else, let alone eat. Allie had a good appetite, but was practically sleeping and eating. We were ready for bed shortly after 8:00. Both kids enjoyed quiet time. Peyton read and Allison journaled about Grey, her wolf pup. Then, I read the first chapter of The Penderwick’s, a new read-aloud book. I think we were in bed with lights or before 9:00 and both kids seemed to fall asleep quickly out of sheer exhaustion, not because it was peaceful. Camp was loud again this evening. We all feel satisfied with our Yellowstone trip and no one feels like there was a must-see we missed. We did discuss that we didn’t do any Junior Ranger activities, so we might visit the nearest Ranger Station to inquire on our way out of the park. We are Grand Teton’s bound no matter what tomorrow.
Yellowstone through the eyes of our kids:
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