fun activities you think of doing with them? a nap, maybe a visit to the zoo, a day at the beach...what about a 15 hour drive and tent camping for a week in yellowstone? we opted for a long drive and camping and it actually wasn't too bad.
in july we packed up my parents' suburban with just about everything but the 
kitchen sink (though that would have been useful too), put the boys in their jammies, and hit the road. hugh and i drove through the night and 15 hours later we were in yellowstone. we were meeting my sister and her family who were road tripping it from grand rapids, but hugh's parents were also in yellowstone at the same time. this was their first time seeing henry.our first full day there we hit old faithful, morning
glory, the old faithful inn and many other geysers and springs. of course seeing old faithful in action was quite a site, but one of my favorite parts of the day was when we were walking past
what appeared to be a serene spring. we realized it was not a spring, but a geyser just as it began to spray. the picture on your right shows olivia getting surprised by the geyser. and just as we were heading back to our campground the bee hive geyser erupted across the meadow from us.on our second day, we headed to canyon and mammoth. along the
way to canyon we had our first sighting of 
buffalo and we saw a lot. they look so docile, i can see why people think they can get close to them. but they are big animals with horns--ooch. the second area we stopped at was the canyon where we had a beautiful view of yellowstone falls. afterwards peri found a great spot for a picnic along a creek where
the kids found some great big logs to play on. afterwards we made it up to mammoth with its intriguing terraces. i think the littles had had enough by this time, so it was a quick trip with lots of sites from the car. it had was raining off and on during the day, but luckily it only seemed to rain while we were in the car. we saw lots of wildlife that day including a black bear. we finished our night with pizza and beer and
the third day started with a visit to fishing 
bridge (though you are not allowed to fish at fishing bridge anymore) and then we made our way to the lake yellowstone hotel where kevin lost his wallet many moons ago and the little boys got stuffed buffalo to remember their trip. we had a picnic close to our campground and lake yellowstone. once we were done we walked out to one of the 
peninsulas in the lake where gerrit took a unexpected dip in the lake. on our way back we saw a young deer on the peninsula. our next stop 
was at geyser basin with many beautiful geysers, springs, and mud pots. on our way back we saw several elks. our last night with peri, kevin and family were spent making hobos, playing frizbee and whittling around the fire.the next morning peri and kevin
packed up everyone into their nests and hit the road towards the tetons and jackson. we spent a lazy morning and afternoon around the campground and lunch with hugh's parents. while we hung around our campsite we saw several elk going through the forest behind us. after naps we went to play at the lake and had dinner with oma and grandpa. then back to pack.
we had a long and busy day ahead of us, so we got up early the next morning and took down camp, stopped for some coffee and good-byes at oma and grandpa's then hit the road towards tetons. we made a few stops around the tetons and had lunch on the shores of jenny lake, but didn't have enough time to go to the falls. we met up with peri and kevin in jackson and made our way to idaho falls where we would stay the night before the rest of our drive back to california. one must realize that we decided not to take showers while we were camping...it seemed like a big waste to get all clean just to get dirty again as soon as you step out....so that shower in idaho falls was delicious.after breakfast at the hotel we left for our drive to california. the monkeys were not the gems they
were when we drove through the night and by sacramento they were getting a little antsy, but we made it home in one piece and were glad to be in our own beds again.we made it through 30 hours in a car with a two year old and two month old, nearly freezing nights, and five days without a shower. it was an interesting trip and not one i would make on a regular basis, but it was fun to be with family and enjoy the amazing sights of yellowstone and the tetons. gerrit won't remember much if anything from the trip except the buffalos and i think we will have a hard time remembering the fact that henry was with us--he was great.
our website of photos is down, so check out more of our yellowstone pictures below, for now.
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| yellowstone |
