The Yellowstone Trek - day 5

...actually, the end of day 4, and then day 5.

The last night in WY (actually, our first night in WY, since we officially stayed in MT) we went out to a local steakhouse in town. I grabbed one of the pamphlets that told about the local history of the town - it was a Pony Express and a Union Pacific railway stop for many years before the interstate came through. We talked about going on a ghost tour of the town, but decided maybe not-- we didnt want any visitors following us home that night.

The meat was melt in your mouth fantastic, with a side of big baked potato and veggies, and the boys all had fun. Actually, they were smiling cause I mentioned they could go swimming afterwards.

The view from outside our hotel - neat geologic formations surround this town, completely different from where we had been that morning.

The town had a bunch of sculptures along the main drag, and we got out at the boys insistence to go ham it up with some of them. We never saw bear in Yellowstone, so why not here?

Day 5 dawned with us driving south to Flaming River Gorge national monument, on the border of Wyoming and Utah. The drive south from Green River was boring as all getout, until all of a sudden you come upon this flaming gorge:

Mom! Mom! We gotta stop so we can take a picture next to the dinosaur sign!! Oh, alright. We were pretty close to Dinosaur national monument, too, but we didnt swing by there as I heard the visitor center was closed for renovations.

We had taken a vote earlier in the morning at breakfast - do we head south an hour to see Flaming Gorge, and then head back up north an hour to I-80 and over to I-15? Or do we continue on south on a two-lane road for most of the state of UT and see the back ways? Popular vote was the back highways -- grandma Elta would be proud!

Along the way at one point, we got stopped by another herd of wild animals. Not bison, but cattle this time. I swear they were being wrangled by the Marlboro Man.. The kids didn't know who I was talking about (thank goodness!).

Most of the day we were winding through a mixture of deserts, forests, and steep grades up and down mountain passes. We spent the time counting those cows again, and seeing who could guess the closest time from the lightning up ahead to the rain hitting the windshield. There were three different stretches of scenic road that we drove through, and I would do it again someday.

We had lunch somewhere in the middle of the state, and pulled into Cedar City, UT that evening right around dinner time. We took a poll and decided that popcorn and candy while watching Toy Story 3 was a way better dinner than dinner out somewhere else.

The next morning we planned to hit Cedar Banks and a tiny bit of Zion National Park, but the rain and flash flood warnings decided our fate for us. We zoomed back through the little corner of AZ, on to Las Vegas, Barstow, and finally home that afternoon.

Zion, Bryce, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon - you're all on the slate for another road trip....which may or may not be before a return to the lands up north.

The Yellowstone Trek - Day 4

The last day in the parks, and we finally take our token picture with the Yellowstone sign. Only because it was 8am and no one else was there hogging it!

This was a meadow we drove through first thing every day, and the morning clouds were just so neat on the horizon. Thunderstorms were heading our way, we made it just in time.. One day I want to return, and just sit by a river and soak in all the quietness that we don't have in LA.

On our pass through the south loop the first time, we skipped by this turnoff. Today we stopped and I jumped out to take a look. Wow - right off the road is all this beauty, and we drove right by it the day before. What else is out there that we missed?

We continued on, on to Grand Tetons National Park. (You know, the green one on the map, just south of Yellowstone.) Have always wanted to visit this park, too, and now I really just want to go back!

We had packed up the maps in the car earlier that morning, but I mean, how hard is it to get there? Just follow the signs! Well, I took the road that went due south instead of the road that veered to the southwest. Spectacular sights on the road, but not the close up ones I was thinking of. We drove all the way to the southern end before catching the road that goes up by the Snake River. Doh!

After trekking our way back north (shh, dont tell anyone we were backtracking), we stopped at Jenny Lake, right at the base of the mountains. Kevin was conked out in the car, but the other two boys got out to mug for the camera.

Spectacular clouds and bright blue sky against these mountains - I took a TON of pictures! The boys climbed over the wall here and down the embankment to the shore of the lake. I was too tired to complain at this point, and figured they needed to get their legs stretched. I did get tsked tsked at by a passing German tourist, though. Oh well.

We continued our trek for the day, down to Jackson Hole... past cool cabins, the Elk Refuge, and into the town of Jackson. Yet another place I want to return to! We stopped for gas, ice cream, and a short walk through the town center. Lots of neat shops that reminded me a little bit of Big Bear.

A gorgeous sunny day, and I can only imagine how it would all be with everything covered in tons of snow and twinkling lights in the winter.

The drive on to Green River, WY, took us out of the mountains, and down across prarie - through very aptly named "Big Sky Country".

The Yellowstone Trek - day 3

Our 2nd day in this park, and we started out early... so early, that Matt still had not put on his shoes when we saw our first bison of the day munching on his breakfast. Actually, Matt didn't want to put his shoes on any time he was in the car - something brought up every time we stopped.

This family of deer was out grazing on this little island in the river, which was great until they started to head off toward the folks on the shore. The folks start running toward the deer, like they are going to pet them or something! It was neat that we saw them, but who knew what would happen if someone got too close.

Jacob and Kevin showing off all their handsomeness.

We drove up the road toward a geyser basin, and made a bathroom pitstop. Right there, hanging out with us, was another family of deer. By the time we left, more folks coming up to see how close they could get. Close is great, folks, but not when the momma gets defensive! This is like an enormous living museum - look, but don't touch! Stupid people. (Man, do I sound like my mother?)

Continuing on up the road, we are heavy into geyser country now. It was neat to look out and see steam rising from multiple points on the horizon, wherever you looked. Even neater was no fences or rails or man-made structures - just wide open spaces.

Jacob had sprained his ankle by this point, but he was a trooper and walked around as much as he could to see things. Some areas allowed you to walk around by the geysers, and were only marked by rocks and a small warning sign.

Old Faithful was one of the reasons we came all this way, so we definately had to stop. Fortunately for us, we found a close parking spot, we didn't have to wait too long, and we found these perfect seats. None of that sitting out in the open under the hot sun for us, the Old Faithful Inn had rocking chairs on the porch, in the shade, just waiting for us. Very neat to sit there and soak in all the history around us while watching the most famous sight around.

We continued on to Yellowstone Lake, a ginormous body of water, the largest alpine lake in North America.

Further up the road, we run into a traffic jam. I was suprised that while we saw folks, it wasn't jam packed like I expected. Of course, jam packed to me is not being able to move through crowds at Disneyland. Hundreds of square miles here means everyone was spread out more! Anyway, we had learned by this time that if you run into cars that are stopped on the road, some type of wildlife is nearby. But we couldnt see anything here for awhile.

Turns out it was a large herd of bison that were on the side of the road. Both sides of the road. And in the road. Rangers were there as well, mostly making sure the citi-fied crowds didn't get too close. These things were the size of a small car! We had plenty of opportunity to take pictures and hear them breathing through the car windows. We waited for some to pass, a car or two would drive thorugh, then more came across the road... all over the space of a half hour or so.

Another highlight of the day was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We parked and hiked along this little trail right along the rim of the canyon, looking straight down hundreds (thousands) of feet. An absolutely gorgeous site, and sight, but not one I felt that any of us needed to experience any closer than that.

We finally headed back toward the hotel, having driven for miles, and having soaked in a ton of scenery. I really wanted to dip my toes in a river, but we still had road construction to get through before dinner. That evening we cruised through the little town of West Yellowstone and had a meal of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.

The Yellowstone Trek - day 2

Woke up bright and early in Provo, ate our "breakfast is included" meal at the hotel, and headed off. With pages of games and things to do downloaded from the internet, the boys settled on the "counting cows" game, and "finding license plates" game. But mom had a twist -- you had to find the state on the blank U.S. map, and cross it off there. Matt was the official map marker-offer.

After driving through Salt Lake City, on the perpetually under construction I-15, we hit miles of rolling hills and farmland. The first official viewpoint of the day, a few hours in, was Idaho Falls. I could live there, except for this little weather phenomenon called snow.

We pulled into MT around 1pm, where mom promptly declared the car a No Electronics zone. The PSP, the DVD player, and their mp3's had to get turned off. There was no way we drove 18-hrs to get here and they were going to have their heads buried in a movie they had each seen 184 times before.

Purchased an America the Beautiful pass and headed on in to do the north loop of the park. "Dont worry, it's a short drive, you can do it in five hours. Tons of wildlife on this loop". Are you kidding, lady? I've only been in the car six hours already!

But the promise of seeing lots of animals made us press on. We saw a deer grazing on the side of the road, and one bison in a meadow about 1000 yards from us. Lots of pretty scenery, but not lots of wildlife.

So we schlepped on, looking for geyers and driving through forest-y type landscapes. Came across tons of pretty scenery, including mountain meadows, rivers, several waterfalls, and eventually geysers.

We knew what NOT to do when we found animals, courtesy of a woman who had been charged by a bison the week before. Her fate was all over YouTube, so I showed the boys what we would not be doing if we found them.

The northern loop reminds me of Yosemite's back country.

Kevin and I briefly walked around Norris geyser basin, and found a couple enormous pools along the path. It was late afternoon, and we were pretty dang tired by this time of day.

The river flowing alongside the road in and out of West Yellowstone was just so peaceful. We saw a man sitting in a chair next to his car each morning just soaking it all in.

The Yellowstone Trek - Day 1

So we decided this was the year. We have talked about it for the last 14 years or so, but this was it. No more waiting.. time to bite the bullet and just go. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons were always a destination we wanted to do, but it was so far.


Plane tickets to Jackson Hole or Idaho Falls or West Yellowstone or any points in the MT or WY range, along with a car rental, were just too pricey. So we decided to pile the miles on a rental car and DRIVE IT from the OC. All 2000+ miles roundtrip.

We have never done a car trip like this one before, especially not one with two teenagers and a tweener. But we had to go before their legs grew any longer, their appetites would cost too much to appease, and their attitudes got any sulkier. In other words, now.

Six a.m. on a Saturday morning in July, we headed out, everyone super excited to get going. Never mind that the trek would have quite a few hours of Mojave Desert on the very first day. We were headed to Vegas, baby!

First pit stop was the worlds largest McDonald's, where each boy was given a stipend for the trip to spend however they wanted. Second pit stop was Baker, to visit the worlds largest thermometer. Record-breaking drive combined with record-breaking pit stops!



We pulled off in Vegas to drive through the strip -- I know, I know, it's not as pretty in the day, but was not about to hang around for the next 10 hours waiting for the glitz and the glamour and the lights and the nighttime fountain shows. Next time, boys... like when you are 21. It'll still be there.

Look!! A giant replica of the Eiffel Tower, perched on top of a hotel! No!! Don't look at the driving billboard proclaiming HOT BABES...I know it's stopped at every red light on the strip right next to us, but look over here... I know what your giggles and laughter is all about, but look THIS WAY INSTEAD!

We finally pulled into Provo, Utah, around 6pm... a few more pit stops and long stretches of highway since Las Vegas. Packing the cooler with sodas (yay!!) and sandwiches and chips and more soda (yay!!) and even a chocolate bar or two was a good idea. One boy in the backseat was in charge of the map and finding where we were when asked, and another boy was in charge of food and drink distribution.