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.

Summer Camp

After being gone for a week at BSA camp, the time came to go pick up Kevin. One of the cars scheduled to go was in the shop, so I was next batter up.

The boys went to Lost Valley this year, out about 40-miles east of Temecula in northern San Diego county. The first 30 miles was paved, the last 10 miles was a dirt road that required an amount of caution. I would have loved to fly through there with a 4wd truck though! It was very green and scenic with all the recent rains.

Finally made it there after almost 3hours of driving. The boys looked like great, dirty, stinky, happy, lumberjacks. The ones who needed a shave chose not to do so for the week.

We made the boys pose for a group shot before we would allow them in our cars. In the background is one of the tents they slept in. Every one had a great time but were happy to come home to the land of video games and facebook.

What's Keepin' Us Busy Now -

Oh man, what is NOT keeping us busy these days. Kevin and Matt and RJ and I have visited Angels Stadium for a few games with Esther and Cliff this season, and have taken some souvenir shots with the old camera phone. Kevin and I are wearing Snuggies, and helped set a world record for most worn at the same time. Or something stupid like that.

Matt had never been to a professional baseball game before, so he was having a ball at this one. It was a school night, and he got to eat hamburgers, fries, soda, popcorn, cotton candy - the works. He even got to watch a 9th inning homerun from behind the Angels dugout... high-fiving the total strangers all around him, too. I told him he had to not complain how tired he was the next morning, and he was a trooper.

April saw the return of Camporee, and for the first time for us, Webelosree. The theme was Scouting 100 yrs into the future, so we decked out our campsites and t-shirts with a futuristic space-theme. Kevin's troop decided to try to all cram into this one large tent - less setup and teardown, you see. That didn't fly the whole time- the larger boys were too crammed, and setup their own tents the second night.

Meanwhile, the Pack boys had a grand time, and they won just TONS of awards in multiple events. We ended up getting 2nd place Overall Spirit, and 2nd place Overall Pack, and winning a special Director's award for outstanding teamwork. They had a great time, and the adults took a much needed nap on Sunday afternoon.

On Memorial Day we joined Stephanie and her kids for an excursion up to Forest Falls for the day. There was just the perfect amount of water in the river for them to climb around and hike in , without it being too dangerous. I remember doing this as a kid in Azusa Canyon and having a blast; our kids felt the same way. We took a sack lunch, and stopped at the A&W in Mentone for root beer floats on the way back home- just like we did on the way home from Camp Cherith.

The kids got a great lesson in navigation as we went from one side of the LA map to the other, I showed them that this is where the Santa Ana river starts - the one that goes right through the middle of Anaheim.

This was only the small lower portion of the falls, that is probably an 8ft drop behind us. Next time we'll climb up higher.

We ended up this past weekend with the Pack graduation. Matt earned his Webelos badge, and his Compass for extra activities (just a little shy of a compass point!), and a bunch of belt loops. He is ready to take on Arrow of Light in the fall.

Kevin is cranking through his rank advancement, he just had his board of review for Star on Monday. He will go to BSA summer camp at the end of the month.. after we get through the end of the school year next week! We've also had Scout-o-Rama, merit badge days, awards banquets, tutoring sessions, and a birthday movie outing for Sam's 19th.