Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Yellowstone 2009

It's that time of year again....our annual Yellowstone trip. We missed Kade's and Quin's families this time around, but still managed to have some fun. Prepare yourselves for a whole slew of pictures.

The kids loved Grampy's idea of Jiffy Pop over the fire. Can you believe this is the first time I've ever had this kind of popcorn. Very fun to see it puff up!

It tasted good too.

A stinkin' raven got into my bread while I was loading my cooler for lunch. I had my back turned for one minute and the bird knew right when to strike. He also made off with a HUGE muffin, and our neighbor's entire bag of 16 buns. Oh, he was pesky.

Up we go, first hike of the season. Trout Lake here we come. This is one of my most favorite hikes in Yellowstone. (Why I didn't get a picture of the actual lake, is beyond me.)

Crossing the creek at Trout Lake.

Crossing the creek is the easy part. It's getting up the bank that's tough. LOL! My poor mom.

We hiked to "Suspension Bridge"; getting there was exciting, but getting back to the car was a miracle (well for some of us). This is a 2 mile round trip hike, but the bridge is at the bottom of a ravine. The hike is straight down, and straight back up.

The kids hanging out at Suspension Bridge. As a side note, my dad nicknamed Kate "Sack-of-Weeds" (you know, like Sacajawea) this weekend. She was not fond of it at all, but oh it was so funny and fit her perfectly.

Nothing like quality sister time in the camper.

Carter enjoying the view. Carter was Bryon's shadow this weekend. It was so cute, he wanted to do EVERYTHING Bryon did.

There was a motorcycle accident that happened very close to our campsite. Life Flight backed up traffic for miles. We were waiting in the car when Dad decided he'd take the kids and start walking. It was only after they had been gone for a while that I realized they just might see someone hurt or worse. Thank goodness there wasn't much to see except the helicopter landing and taking off.

Everyone hiked the 5 miles to Fairy Falls.

Well everyone...

except Kate and me.

We were too busy looking for "babies" aka chipmunks and ground squirrels. And emptying rocks out of our shoes.

And playing with sticks and rocks. We had a good time despite not seeing the waterfall.

Mimi and Kate, enjoying their strawberry lemonades.

Taking in the view of the Tetons during a lunch break.

On the way home we enjoyed views like this! The Tetons are absolutely gorgeous. A great sight to end the trip with.

17 comments:

Deanna said...

What wonderful memories you're creating for your children!!! :) I hope to be able to provide our children with similar experiences... :)

CB said...

I Love Yellowstone and the Tetons - Some beautiful country there. You are a girl after my own heart - camping rocks!! Glad you had fun!!

Lula! said...

I have never been to Yellowstone...loooooove the pictures of you not hiking to Fairy Falls. I'd rather hunt baby chipmunks, too.

And hello!!! How can you not have had Jiffy Pop until just now? Girl, that's a travesty. I'm glad that situation has been remedied. Did your girls love it?????

Jewelle said...

It looks like you had a ton of fun! Jiffy pop is the best! We just got introduced to it lately too. I'm so sad that we never got to visit Yellowstone even though we lived so close. I guess I can visit it through your pictures!

becky ward said...

i can't believe a bird took off with a bag of buns. that's funny! looks like you had a great time. and i love that last picture.

Alli said...

I love Yellowstone - what a fun annual trip! And now you guys live a lot closer to it too :-).

Deidra Smith said...

Looks like you had fun. I'm a little jealous of some of the pics, but we tried to have fun here. We went on a bike ride Monday morning and even saw some marmmots (spelling?) So we felt like we were in Yellowstone, kind of:)

Wendy said...

Great pictures of a great trip! Great views. I love Yellowstone.

We stuck around here doing flag duty for the neighborhood. The view of my very own neighborhood was pretty darn nice.

The Manwarings said...

What a fun trip! You should do it again, how about in a few weeks? I love the picture of your mom trying to climb up the bank. Too cute!

LouandAngela said...

Ah. . .how I miss that country. Luckily, we'll be there in about a month! Can't wait!

Looks like you had an amazing time!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

I have never been...but I am not sure that I would do any better than your mom. That would be me...on my hands and knees the whole time :-)

And Jiffy pop...my kids don't know that popcorn could come from anywhere except the microwave. Or the movie theatre.

Gina said...

Pretty.

Mama Williams said...

I am sooo jealous! You know how much I love Yellowstone. Love the Tetons pix. :) Glad you had a good, safe, trip. (hey no flu!)

Natalie and Quin said...

So Natalie and I are sad we missed the trip. We also think that it is hillarious how in the picture where the kids are sitting above the cables of the suspension bridge have differing smiles. If you go right to left, Alyssa shows all her teeth, Carter half of them, Halle none of them, and "Sack-of-Weeds" is frowning (did Dad just call her that before the picture?). I also enjoyed the beautiful view of the back of Mom and Dad's trailer.

Jennifer P. said...

I love looking at your Yellowstone pictures each year! Glad you had fun and no one was seriously injured :)! I'm surprised Kate didn't make that hike---she's spunky enough to get there if she'd really wanted to!

Tonya said...

Ohhh... That looks like it was so much fun and the weather even looked like it cooperated. I want to come sometime. I am jealous.

Miki said...

Those Tetons look just like the mountains at the place I want to take you. I think the Tetons are a bit bigger and higher....but it still reminded me of Joseph and Wallowa lake.

You will enjoy it when we go (moan...ugh, the driving.....it will be a lot of driving for you).