Old Faithful

Friday morning after a breakfast of eggs and thick cut bacon grilled over a wood fire, we packed up and headed toward our long anticipated destination of Yellowstone.  Upon entering the park, we stopped at the visitors center, got our information, and realized Old Faithful was scheduled to blow within the hour.  Pulling into the parking lot we realized that the mecca of tourism was in front of our eyes.  We just made it in time to watch her blow, an impressive display, and something we could check off our list as "done that".

It was hot, very hot; hot enough that we decided to go to our camp, set up and come back for the evening, hoping animals may be more active as well.  When we finally arrived at our camp site in West Yellowstone, Montana, we were disappointed how far it was from the park.  While we were only 6 miles from the entrance, the park itself is huge with the miles in between attractions causing much travel time.

Our return to the park that evening was rather disappointing, simply miles and miles of pine trees... the kids compared it to traveling to Minnesota.  We did manage to see some hot springs, buffalo, and one very nice elk that came within 10 yards of us...  We also viewed the Yellowstone canyon, a canyon with many colors from the minerals in the area.  Our highlight was spotting our first wolf, it was dark enough that pictures did not turn out too well.

After the grandeur of the Tetons, Yellowstone was a disappointment.  We are told and can verify that there are several different landscapes within the park; sadly, our first day was in what was considered the lest beautiful of them.

Old Faithful and her many viewers

Buffalo, one of the first of many, the strangest animal we've seen.

Yellowstone Canyon, the picture does not do the colors justice.

Our friendly elk, he came within 10 yards of us and wouldn't look at us.

Grand Tetons

We woke up Thursday morning to a perfectly clear cold morning.  Our plans were to get out fairly early, camping time, and take a hike around Jenny lake to "Hidden Falls".  The trail took us through a burn area, along rivers, and ultimately a fairly steep climb to the falls, it was a 6-7 mile hike.
We met numerous hikers along the way; at Darryn's urging we began to greet them with each one of us saying Good morning in a different language.  It was great humor to see the responses, even greater humor to watch Dwight try and say "Buenos Dias" without laughing.  The ultimate humor came when Darryn decided to greet them in "moose language"... MWAAAAHHHH. (Credit goes to the movie Princess Diaries 2).  Great times.

After we reached the falls we convinced everyone to go on up to "Inspiration Point" overlooking the lake.  It was a great view at 7200 ft elevation.  The trail continued going through a canyon next to the Grand Teton mountain deep into the mountain range.  Lyn felt "the mountains calling him" (credit Sound of Music), after failing to convince any of the kids to go with him, he took off to the end of the Canyon trail.  It was an amazing trek along along the river as it climbed to accept the runoff of melted snow.  Waterfalls, marshy bogs, bear, moose, marmot, snow capped mountains, steep cliffs, the list could go on.  It was a 13 mile hike that took 7 hours.

We made it back to camp and enjoyed a relaxing cool evening.  A few pictures are attached, many many others were taken, the beauty can only be experienced by being there.

The Tetons rise up out of the plains with no foothills.....

There must be a bear along the road - crazy tourists.

Jackson Lake in the morning

Hiking through the burn area in the shadow of the Grand Teton

Tourist trained chipmunks - kids enjoyed these fat little critters.

You can only imagine the beauty....

The Kid's swam in cold Jackson lake while dad hiked.

Jackson Wyoming.

After spending Tuesday night in Idaho Falls, Idaho we woke up and everyone wanted breakfast, a good thing after our illnesses.  Our road took us through some beautiful farming country, through the mountains to Jackson, Wyoming.  We decided to go right up to our campsite in the Tetons, set up camp and then head back to Jackson for the evening.  Jackson is a high priced tourist town, very nice but definitely tourist driven. Each evening they have a "shoot out" reenactment and many of the shops are western and wildlife themed.  The National Elk Preservation is just outside Jackson where 1000's of elk spend their winters, so elk is a major theme.

The "mayor" of Jackson

Shoot out reenactment

There were one of these elk antler arches on each corner of the town square.

Where's the spuds....

We had several options of traveling toward the Grand Tetons, since we weren't well, we opted to take the interstate which took us through Idaho.  It was one state none of us had ever been in.  We kept looking for the potato fields and finally began to see them as we got further north.  The little bit of Idaho we saw was impressive; green mountain slopes with fertile fields in the valley.  It's another one of those places " I think I could live here".  There is something about the wide open west that draws a person to it....

Beautiful Idaho potato fields

Oh nooooo... & World's Greatest Mom award.

Traveling toward Salt Lake City Monday night, we stopped for a sit down meal since our food that day was rather meager, we enjoyed a salad bar and a normal meal.  As we headed out across the Wasatch Mountains toward Salt Lake it became apparent that something was not right with our health.

A short time later we pulled over for Lyn to unload his dinner the same way it was loaded.  Jolene took over driving and Renae promptly mentioned that her stomach was not well.  Since we were in the mountains, it was several hours before we came to a town with motels, camping was now out of the question.  By then, Darryn and Devan were both not feeling well.

To summarize and save you the graphic details, Jolene earned super mom award as she took care of 4 sick people the same night, at times there were three people lined up for the bathroom; trashcans became vital necessities.  Renae said she lost track of how many times she upchucked.  By morning, Ericka and Dwight joined in the party as well.  I'll refrain from posting pictures with this post.

Needless to say, we parked at the motel until around noon, by then the stomachs were empty, but the pain was still prevalent.  We made our way to Idaho Falls, Idaho were we are again in a motel trying to gain our strength back.  Supper was a trip to Wal Mart for chicken noodle soup and some fruit.  I think we are mostly over it, Devan and Renae always seem to hang onto these bugs the longest.  I'm afraid to mention that now Jolene is not feeling the best....

We are a bit puzzled at what caused this outbreak, we didn't eat the same food, so we can't blame that.  We talked about something in the water we drank, but normally those illnesses don't pop up until several days later.  Whatever the case, we've never experienced anything like it before and don't wish it on anyone.

We were just saying that we have a "free day" with nothing pressing on our schedule, the illness fell on that day.  We are also grateful that we all got sick at once instead of having it drag on for days and days.

Hopefully tomorrow we can head out feeling better and ready to enjoy the Grand Tetons.  Jackson Hole Wyoming will be our first stop.

Arches National Park

We arrived in Moab, Utah Sunday evening.  Jolene really wanted to to go up into Arches for the Sunset.  When we got there, the visitor center was closed so we went on other information that Delicate Arch was the best place for the sunset not realizing that it was a 3 mile hike rated difficult.  We rushed to the parking lot and took off, the trail went and went uphill, as the sun set we realized our failure.  However, we pressed on, when we got there, many people had stayed to watch the "supermoon" rise.  Of course, we did not have flashlights for the return trip, but it's full moon, we can easily see the trail....

We enjoyed sitting up there as darkness descended and the moon rose, we did not know how to use our camera to get good moon pictures, so that was a bust.

We headed down the trail with others, who were wise enough to bring flashlights, they were slow, so around them we trekked.  It was going well until we met a hiker coming up who told us there was a rattlesnake in the trail 100 yards ahead.  That snakes feed at night in the desert never crossed my mind.  Needless to say we waited on the flashlights, then the challenge was to find the snake, which we never did.... so sad.  The journey back was long, we ended up eating supper at 11:00 PM and we still had to set up our camper.  Vacations are meant for spontaneous things, a bit more preparation may be wise...

Arches is a place worth visiting.  The stunning beauty of red rock formations and the many natural arches is amazing.  We went back up on Monday to hike to a few closer arches since it was in the middle of the day.

We left Arches Monday afternoon headed for Salt Lake City and on to the Grand Tetons.

Balanced Rock

Our trail to Delicate arch

Inspired by the "Joe Byler dozen" - we don't quite fill it up.

Utah Barren land

Sunday afternoon we left Colorado and traveled toward Arches National park in Utah.  We stopped at an overlook and I asked Darryn to take a picture, his reply "Of what?"  That was precisely what our opinion of Utah is, lots and lots of barren land.

While traveling across Utah's barren land, Jolene wondered what it would have been like for the early settlers facing this terrain and lack of water.  Lyn commented that they likely would have sent scouts out front to find suitable paths and water.  Devan chimed in with "They would have sent scouts out to find a Royal Farms and get a sweet tea".