Vacation: West Yellowstone 2009

After spending the day in Rockland (see post below), we headed off to Island Park to where the Munks have a family cabin. We all spent the night there and woke up bright and early (at least I think we were up before 10am) and headed off to West Yellowstone. We had a three vehicle caravan with the Munks leading the way and the Halls and us following behind.

I've visited West Yellowstone many times growing up since it's so close to Ashton, Idaho where my Grandma and Grandpa owned their farm, but I hadn't been there in about seven years. I think I was able to appreciate it much more than I did when I was younger and my kids actually really enjoyed visiting all the wonders of nature.

Photo op with one of the historic 1937 Yellowstone touring buses we saw parked in one of the parking lots.

One thing about Yellowstone is that you spend a lot of time in your car going from one place to the next. (This is definately NOT one of Jason's favorite parts of the trip) But the kids kept themselves entertained by making funny faces, making inventions out of the Wheat Thin box, and by just snoozing. The kids were so good during the trip and I don't remember hardly any complaining.... except from Dad.

Jason, Ethan, and Garrett looking at something pretty amazing...

... maybe it was this little chipmunk.

... or maybe something more like this little hot spring.

...or most likely this cool boiling and steaming hot spring

Ethan was a trooper. At one of our stops he was running and tripped and totally skinned up his knee. At first he was done and wanted to leave, but after the stinging went away, he was excited to go see everything again.

As we were pulling out of one of the parking lots, we noticed a big crowd pulled over on the side of the road so I jumped out to see what all the fuss was about and there was this huge elk right on the side of the road. I would have perferred to get a shot of the other end, but I wasn't about to ask him to move.

And my childhood favorite... 'Old Faithful'.

The gang...

West Yellowstone Rodeo
After our big day at Yellowstone, we ended it with a fun rodeo located right outside of the park. It was my first time at a rodeo and it was so much fun. The kids were really getting into it. They started off with some bareback riding, and then did a little bit of roping, and finished off with some exciting bull riding. The kids even got to try a little 'calf scramble', where they chased after a calf with a flag tied to its tail and the winner gets a prize. Although, they all got a prize in the form of a quarter for at least trying.

I didn't get very many pictures, because it was starting to get pretty dark by the time the rodeo started, and my flash obviously wouldn't reach across the arena, so this is the best I could do. It was A LOT of F.U.N!

Yellowstone Bear World
And no vacation to the Yellowstone National Park is complete without an adventure into the wild at Yellowstone Bear World. (I'm not sure if that is really true, but that is what their brochure says...) This was actually a pretty cool place. You drive around and are able to see elk, buffalo, deer, wolves, black bears, grizzly bears, and in some cases they will walk right up to your car. None got quite that close to ours, but we did get pretty dang close... probably the closest I'll ever be to a bear unless I'm being eaten.

We thought this bear looked so cute... like he was just holding up the sign for us. And it is a real bear!... Doesn't it look fake?

Geez... look at the antlers on this guy?

awww... so cute.

They also had an area where you could get out and pet some of the animals. James chased this chicken around and actually caught it and picked it up! Crazy kid!





And what park would be complete without a few rides for the kiddies? Of course... David was loving it!... and all the big kids loved it too. Dallin was especially thrilled. haha.

See Hannah... you can try to avoid my camera, but you'll never win.

David went on this train so many times... he went with Hannah, he went with Katie, he went with Madelyn, he went with Conner and James, he went with Blake, he went by himself... It was amazing that we could pull him away to go visit and pet some of the animals.

See Dallin!... Austin isn't afraid of joining in the fun!

Ashton, Idaho
These pictures are for my family. We drove through Ashton, but unfortunately didn't get to stop. Also... we passed over McCray's bridge about four times because the Munks cabin in Island Park is located about five to ten minutes from here. It made me a little sad to be in Ashton and to know I wasn't going to be able to visit the farm and to visit Grandma.

And that's the end of our summer vacation and what a blast we had. We visited Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and back to Washington in all of twelve days. (Although I guess we were only in Montana for all of about 20 minutes or so...) It was hard to go home, but nice to be home at the same time. We can't wait for next year! Thanks again to Kristin and Allan for always letting us come visit and to the Munks for inviting us to visit Rockland and Yellowstone with them. Fun memories!