This is a mega post - lots of pictures, lots of typing. It's for our family record. You've been warned.
August 9th through the 14th William, Henry, and I went camping with my dad, my sister Shannon and her 4 kids, and my sister Becky, her husband Matt, and their 3 kids in Grand Teton National Park. David couldn't go because it was finals week. I must say that Matt and my dad are pretty brave (or crazy) to go camping with 3 women and 9 kids (ages 7 and under).
Monday
Since Becky and her family drove out from Nebraska we decided to meet up in Jackson, WY. This was Becky's first time meeting Henry. It was a very happy meeting (despite Henry's head getting whacked while in Becky's care; she did a great job comforting him though)! We walked around the town square, took pictures by the Antler Arches, and then piled back in to our vans and headed out to get our campsite.
We camped at Colter Bay in 2 campsites that were across road from each other. Looking at the pictures above: My family camped in the little blue tent with the blue roof. Becky and Matt and kids were in the big tan tent next to us. My dad was alone in his little blue tent with the tan roof. Shannon and kids were across the road in our other campsite. You can also see the inside of my tent. William and I shared a queen sized sleeping bag. Henry slept in that bubble-type thing. Let me tell you, that thing was a lifesaver. It protected him from excited little children who wanted to play with him as well as keeping him up off the ground during the freezing cold and wet nights. More to come on our lovely adventures with the rain.
We didn't do much that day besides set up camp. It rained most of the afternoon. That night we celebrated Anthony's 4th birthday. It was my first time spending his birthday with him. It was great! I sure love that little boy!
That night when I went to bed I found a little wet spot on my sleeping bag. I thought that Willam's water cup must have leaked and didn't think anything else of it. That night was pretty rough. William and Henry both woke up a few times. I learned that William has a major aversion to covers - not a good thing when it's freezing outside. Henry slept with us part of the night in the sleeping bag, but spent most of the night in his bubble bed. I should have taken a picture of him asleep in that thing. He was so bundled in 5 or so blankets, plus he had a warm hat on, so all you could see of him was his nose, mouth, chin, and part of his cheeks.
Tuesday
We drove up to Yellowstone on Tuesday. We entered through the south gate and drove up the west road to Old Faithful. Along the way we stopped at Kepler Falls. What a beautiful site!!!
We then drove to Old Faithful. After an overpriced lunch, we walked on the boardwalk around Old Faithful/Upper Geyser Basin. We saw several small geysers and hot pools. The color in those little pools is unbelievable! They are so clear and so blue. We also watched Old Faithful erupt. Next we drove down to another part of the Upper Geyser Basin and saw several more geysers and pools. I am just amazed at this area. It is so fascinating! We did a lot of walking that day and we were all worn out. We then made the hour and a half drive back to camp.
That night when I got into bed there were several more wet spots in my sleeping bag. I knew it couldn't be from William's cup. But I decided to wait until morning to further investigate the problem. I put my empty duffel bag on top of the wet spots and slept on top of the duffel bag. I slept very well despite the wetness and the freezing cold temperatures. The boys also slept very well. William was now bundled in 3 pairs of pajamas. Once he fell asleep I was able to cover him up with the sleeping bag.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning I told my dad about the wet spots in my tent. Then, Becky and her 2 girls and William and I headed over to the showers. You can only go so long without showering! We paid the small fee and enjoyed our nice hot showers. (I only mention this because some people chose not to shower the ENTIRE week. Eeeewwwww. But their names will not be mentioned, only their pictures will be shown.)
While we were at the showers my dad pulled out my sleeping bags. (We had 2 regular sized ones unzipped and spread out underneath us for warmth and for extra cushion.) He said it looked like a swimming pool underneath the bags. Somehow the water had pooled underneath us during and after the rainstorm Monday. He hung my bags out to dry.
We headed up to Yellowstone again. This time we took the east road after entering through the South gate. We stopped after driving for an hour or more and hiked out to the Natural Bridge (upper right hand picture). It was a lovely little hike. We also stopped at the Mud Volcano area. As we were driving to the Mud Volcano we passed a few bison (our first sign of wildlife - other than squirrels). We then saw about 8 bison while walking around the Mud Volcano boardwalk. My sweet niece, Emma, was so excited that she had seen ELEVEN bison total! Little did she know what was in store for us. Once we got back in our vans we passed by a valley that was covered in bison! The upper left corner picture does not do it justice. There were bison everywhere, even next to the road! When I saw Emma next I jokingly asked her how many bison she had seen up to that point. She exclaimed, "I don't know! I can't count that high!"
Our final stops on Wednesday were the Upper and Lower Falls. Both were incredibly beautiful! Seeing places like Yellowstone is such a testimony to me that a very loving God created this earth for us. There is beauty all around us!
Around 6 pm or so we left the falls to make the long drive back to camp. Seriously, if you want to go to Yellowstone, camp in Yellowstone (or better yet, get a cabin!). That's what we all decided. Our long drive became even longer when we were stopped for an hour and a half in the Bison Valley. Some bison were darting in and out of cars and thus caused quite the traffic jam. We moved at what felt like an inch an hour - that is when we were lucky enough to move. At least we were parked in a beautiful place! We didn't get back to camp until after 9 or 9:30. Becky and Shannon had somehow gotten several miles behind us so they didn't show up until 10 or so.
William kept my dad and I entertained in the van. He and my dad had a great time together each time we got in the van. They called out colors of buses, RVs, and cars together. They also had a great time simply saying each other's names over and over and over and over..... Thank goodness my dad is such a patient grandpa!
That night I enjoyed my dry sleeping bags!
ThursdaySince Wednesday turned into such a long day, we decided to hang out around our campsite on Thursday. William enjoyed wandering between campsites and playing with his cousins. All the cousins played well together during our trip. It was really fun to watch them. William and Makayla loved playing with Grandpa. William also spent some time reading the letters on the license plate. He thought that was pretty fun!
Makayla and Anthony LOVED Henry! They couldn't get enough of him. Makayla would scream "baby" any time she was close to him. He definitely loved them too!
How could you not love him? Isn't he just adorable!
Thursday afternoon we drove to the Jackson Lake (Colter Bay is right next to it). Again another beautiful place!!! The older kids enjoyed the water and the rocks. We also checked out the Colter Bay Museum and Visitors' Center.
Jessica also enjoyed the rocks at the lake and at the campsite. She also liked the pine cones, the sticks, and especially the dirt. You would not believe how filthy she got! This picture doesn't do it justice! Oh, and her jacket - well it used to be white! It was almost black by the time we left!
This girl (remember I said no names) couldn't stand too close to the fire for fear of starting a grease fire! Good thing she kept her hat on! I bet she had a nice reunion with her shampoo, soap, and her razor when she got home! I know I sure did!
Anyway, more about Thursday night. William had fun playing with this stick. I thought he looked like a little Moses. During this trip he learned something very valuable - to fear the road! It was pretty funny actually. Anytime a car would come down the road he would run away from the road crying! He'll still start to whimper if he's playing in front of our apartment and a car comes down the road.
Mmm.... smores. Camping just isn't camping without them! Makayla sure loved those marshmallows! William really enjoyed the smores; he probably ate more than I did!
FridayFriday we set out in search of bears. We had heard that several could be seen on the drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. This located at the top of Yellowstone, thus we had a long drive ahead of us up the western side of Yellowstone. We left camp early and only stopped when necessary. Well, we then got stopped by road construction for about 30 to 45 minutes. We still had fun though. William and my dad entertained each other. I had fun running back and forth among the 3 vans visiting with my sisters and their families. We finally made it up to Mammoth in time for lunch. Since it was raining we decided to forgo the picnic lunch and enjoy a nice hot meal. We then walked around for a while.
Well, afterward we decided to start driving back to camp. My dad decided we should drive down the eastern road to avoid construction. We made a quick stop so I could visit the lady's room and that was when we got into trouble. We somehow got separated from Matt, Becky, and Shannon and kids. We thought they were behind us, but they never got caught up to us once we started driving out of Mammoth. We even stopped for a while because we saw a bear on the hillside, but they still didn't catch up to us. We kept driving and stopped again after a while. We waited by the road for 30 to 45 minutes. Still no sign of the others, and no cell phone service. We said a prayer and decided to keep driving.
We stopped a few times throughout the trip back to camp because of wildlife. We saw an elk with HUGE antlers.
We saw more elk and then across the road was a grizzly bear. We didn't get a good glimpse of it but Becky and the others did. Turns out it was a mother grizzly with 2 cubs!
These last 3 pictures are from Becky's blog. I didn't take any pictures this day due to dead batteries. Sad!
Anyway, our trip back to camp took at least 3 hours. Amazingly once we got down by Yellowstone lake we had cell phone service. Even more amazing was that Becky and Matt had service too. We were close to the last stretch of the road from Lake Village out to the South Gate. The others were up by the Lower and Upper Falls. They were together, but several miles behind us. They somehow missed us coming out of the bathroom parking lot up at Mammoth because they went to the gift shop. We didn't see their vans at the gift shop so we thought they were somewhere close by us. Then they took some scenic drive because they thought that's where we were heading. When they didn't see us, they left Mammoth and drove down the Eastern Road. Well, we decided that we would just meet back at camp.
My dad, my kids, and I finally got back to camp close to 9:30. It had been raining all day long. My dad checked my sleeping bags to see if they were wet. They were still dry. My boys and I went in to the tent to wait for the others to get back. We all fell asleep. I woke up a while later. Everyone was back and asleep. I got ready for bed and got Henry ready for bed. I noticed a wet spot where Henry had been sleeping on the sleeping bag. I knew it wasn't from him. I checked William's side of the sleeping bag - still dry. I put Henry in his bed and then I went to sleep.
Thus began a very long night - I woke up several times. Each time it was still raining and my sleeping bags were getting wetter and wetter. Eventually I started to get soaked too. William, thankfully, was still dry. Henry was perfectly safe in his bed. I put my duffel bag down and tried to curl up on top of that to sleep. No luck. I finally just sat on my duffel bag holding my legs up to my chest with my blankets wrapped around me. I figured the sun must be rising soon. It didn't. I finally left the tent to check the time - 5:21 am. This was when I finally broke down crying. I went to my dad's tent and told him what was going on. He helped me get my boys out of my tent and into his. He sat in the corner and held William the rest of the night. I slept in his sleeping bag with Henry. All I can say is I don't know how the pioneers did it - being cold and wet, night after night. Actually, I do know how they did it. They had incredibly strong testimonies and knew that God was with them.
Quick side note - Becky heard me crying. She thought Henry had frozen to death, but then must have heard what I was saying. Pretty funny. I think if Henry had frozen to death I would have been
slightly more hysterical.
SaturdayOnce we got up, my dad pulled my sleeping bags out. Again it was like a had a little lake in my tent. All 3 bags were soaked!
After breakfast we packed up camp. We left around 10:45 and headed back to Jackson. We stopped right outside the Grand Teton park for some last pictures, though.
What a beautiful place!!!
I would love to have this view everyday!
Anyway, we headed our separate ways. Becky and Matt headed back to Nebraska. We followed highway 89 back home. We stopped in Star Valley for lunch and ice cream and then continued on home. It was so wonderful to get back to David and to a nice hot shower!
We had an amazing trip despite a few rough nights!!!! Next time, we'll get a cabin, though! Thanks for the great memories Dad, Becky and family, and Shannon and family!
If you're still reading, you should treat yourself to some ice cream!
