The GOOD (in no particular order):
- Spending time with family, Eric's brother Greg up from CA and his wife and two sons and Eric's sister Lynne up from UT and her husband and two sons. They were great watching and entertaining our girls when we were together.
- Our campsite at Canyon campground. Most campsites were packed in tight together but ours felt very secluded and probably good for our neighbors (see bad below).
- Lynne stayed in a lodge so we were able to use her shower & bath which makes camping better being somewhat clean.
- Yellowstone is huge and has so much to offer. Since we were last there a company took over all the lodging and a lot more recreation opportunities and we took advantage of a stagecoach ride up by Roosevelt and a boat "cruise" on Yellowstone Lake.
- Tons of wildlife. We saw elk, deer, buffalo (strange I know), coyote, and on our way out of the park we spotted a grizzly bear and her cubs and one of 50 moose in the park.
- Beautiful scenery--we love waterfalls, trees, lakes, geysers and just all nature has to offer and the girls did pretty good on our short hikes.
The BAD:
- Sleep, or lack thereof; the number one problem with camping with children. Evelyn woke up crying a few nights even though she's a fantastic sleeper at home. Maybe next year being out of the pack-n-play and in a real sleeping bag will help. Also don't forget to pack up all your food and safely store it or else the food Nazi rangers will drag you out of your tent with lights a-blazing at midnight to put it away.
- Other people. So we got annoyed with the people that would stop their cars in the middle of the road to take pictures of a single buffalo on the side of the road. Come on people, just go around the bend and there's a herd of at least 100 plus there are things called pullouts for wildlife gazing.
The UGLY:
- Being sick on vacation. Elizabeth threw up the first night and Eric and I had stomach issues of our own the first few days.
Old Faithful, ever faithful
Share the Road
Exhausted and ready for a nap, weren't we all?
The coyote we saw
Dragon Cave
Our Campsite
Stagecoach ride
Upper Falls
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Our "cruise ship" just glad it wasn't a three-hour tour :)
On the northern road to Tower Falls before the fall lifted
Our cute family loving nature
The closest to a bear we wanted to get
When asked what the girls liked best about the trip, here are their answers.
Elizabeth: Just being together with my family.
Rachel: Eating ice cream. (Sounds like when we went to Disneyland and the favorite thing was a Mickey Mouse sucker)
We love you Yellowstone and am sure we'll make the 10-hour car trip back sometime.
We love you Yellowstone and am sure we'll make the 10-hour car trip back sometime.
Eric's addition: when Elizabeth and I were up in the night due to her throwing up I took her for a drive. She was getting all worked up in a frenzy and sad because she knew she was sick and would miss out on all the fun that her cousins would be having the next day. In an effort to console her I showed her the stars, there was no moon and you could clearly see the Milky Way. I told her that her cousins wouldn't see that since they were all sleeping. She was impressed with that. Anyway, we later made it to the tent and tried to sleep but she woke up and starting vomiting again. In between bouts of throwing up she said in the most pathetic, feeblest voice you can imagine, "thanks for letting me see the Milky Way dad." It was both hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time. It was obviously her one piece of consolation that she hung to when she felt miserable.
