Day 11: Yellowstone (wildlife and waterfalls)

For our last day at Yellowstone we got up at 6:00 and drove to Hayden Valley, a good wildlife watching place.  Here are some of the animals we saw there:

We saw a whole lot of bison.  They feed around the geysers and hot springs because the grass there grows all year round.

This herd had a lot of calves in it.

We drove past a huge lake and the mountains all had snow on them.

We saw most of the wildlife in the early morning but we spotted this gray wolf about 10:30.

We saw about 25 elk in all; these 3 bulls were on the side of the road.

We all really wanted to see a grizzly and we saw this she bear and cub about 6:30 a.m.  They were the first wildlife on our early morning drive.

This black bear was digging about 30 yards from the road.

The rangers said to stay 100 yards from bears and wolves and 25 yards from all other wildlife, but a lot of animals were much closer than that.

This bison was so close that we had to stop to let it walk.

We drove behind a Yellowstone tour bus for a while.

Hayden Valley

Hayden Valley was full of bison--at least 200.  Here are a few of the bison we saw there.

After a late breakfast/lunch (at 1:00 because we were out so long) we saw Tower Falls.

Mommy and James with the falls behind them.

George IV 

Day 10: Yellowstone (whitewater rafting and a rodeo)

Wednesday (July 30th) was just as chilly as Tuesday, but we had learned the secret to warmth--hot cocoa!  As you can probably guess, we made very good use of that bit of information.  :)

We also came up with unusual ways to put on more layers.

When it finally did warm up, as it always does, Daddy took us six oldest whitewater rafting.  We had a blast!  The scenery was beautiful,  the Gallitan river was just the right level of whitewater, and our guide did a good job of getting us all wet.

After we dried off (and ate grilled cheese, spaghetti, and bison burgers--thank you, Daddy and Mommy!) we went to a rodeo.

My favorite part of the rodeo was the calf chase.  All the children warmed up (by rolling in the dirt--good thing our boys were already nice and dirty from camping) and they had to chase a calf around the ring.  The winner was the one who grabbed the ribbon tied to the calf's tail.

The boys ran and ran and we laughed and laughed.  It was hilarious!  Thomas (in orange) was close behind the calf, but was too apprehensive about  the calf to grab the ribbon, while William and James were content to tire themselves out in the rear of the stampede.

George and Samuel competed in the older category, but they weren't quite as funny; I guess it's because they knew what they were doing.  Also, we watch them chase goats quite frequently at home, so it wasn't very unusual to watch them tearing around after a calf.  :)

We enjoyed watching the tricks that the cowboys and cowgirls did.

Samuel and William

John, Anna, and Samuel

James was quite as entertaining as the rodeo--perhaps more so.  As the only outgoing Moss, he keeps us in stitches as he does things the rest of us shy Mosses would never dream of doing, except in nightmares.

The only bear we had seen at Yellowstone--our "little bear cub" John.  We all really wanted to see at least one before we left Yellowstone, and we had only one day left.  Pressure was on.

Check back to see if we ever saw our bears!

Posted by Joy

Day 9: Yellowstone (Mammoth Hot Springs and a waterfall )

Our first morning at Yellowstone dawned cold and chilly and freezing.  After camping in Utah where the temperatures were nothing if not hot we were in for quite a change.  :)   We discovered interesting items of information; for example, the bathhouse is a warm spot if you have the hand dryer going, and sweatshirts are more important than, well, a lot of things. 

We also discovered that a smile helps everything!

Especially if you are nine months old and have (adorable) fang teeth.  Footed pajamas don't hurt either.

The view from our tent was beautiful in the mist...

...and the neighbor (a solitary bison) was friendly, although too close for the comfort of some.  :)

After it warmed up and we thawed out we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs.  The springs might be hot, but the mountains sure look cold.  We should be thankful; we didn't wake up with snow on our backs.

Mammoth was pretty interesting.  It didn't really look like the pictures of it, but it was spectacular in its own way.

We took a walk to a waterfall--Yellowstone has no shortage of falls--after lunch.

Peekaboo Johnnycake

Samuel

James and Daddy

Our destination!

And now we're halfway  through the Yellowstone blog posts.  Stay tuned for installment #10!

Posted by Joy

Day 8: Yellowstone (Old Faithful)

Hooray!  It's good to be blogging again!  We have guaranteed internet for the next few days and I plan to play catch up on the blogesphere.  Below are pictures from July 28th, our first day in our most beautiful campsite to date--Yellowstone.

As I said in an earlier post, we really tried hard to get to Yellowstone early in the morning.  The campgrounds fill up before you can say National Park; it's like a rush on the bank.  Searching for a campsite was a really "nerving" moment (inside joke) for some of us.  What if we couldn't find a site to accommodate our our rather gargantuan tent, van, and trailer?

But, as you can see in the picture above, we found one.   Set back from the road, near a stream, with plenty of space for our tent and ten chairs, this spot was perfect.  And as if God hadn't already done enough by giving us such a beautiful spot, He gave us the first night free!  The previous campers decided to leave a day earlier and told us that they had already paid for the next day.     

The ranger gave all of us an animal-spotting chart.  I don't think I ever even looked at mine, but the boys were able to check off a lot of animals by the end if our stay.

A bald eagle, one of our first animals to spot.  

Like just about everyone who visits Yellowstone, we wanted to be sure that we saw Old Faithful in action.  

We're not the only ones either.   I could not believe how many people were there; it was incredible.  We've met people from Belguim, Ukraine, and Holland, and have decided that we never have to take a trip overseas to be the only English-speaking folks in the campsite.  :)

Thomas absolutely loves John.

 Well, who wouldn't?

Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em!

George and Thomas

William waiting and watching.

And it's off!  The geyser was incredible, especially when the wind started blowing it toward the crowd.

After the geyser we stopped by a waterfall.  I'm ashamed to say that I don't know which one it is; we've seen so many this trip that they all run together. :)  Delie took this beautiful picture of beautiful Anna by the beautiful waterfall.  Beautiful, isn't it?

George the explorer

 My twin and I.  The only problem is that we're 16 1/2 years apart! 

Check back soon for more!

Posted by Joy

Day 7: Wyoming

An ever-varying pattern of driving, sleeping, bathroom breaks, reading, listening, eating, and more bathroom breaks, day seven was not all that exciting.  The van was beginning to feel like our home away from home.   

Hoping to get to Yellowstone early on day eight, we drove through Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming and finally reached our hotel (about an hour from the park) very late at night.  Our campground in Yellowstone worked on a first come, first serve basis, and we wanted to be first.  No one was too excited about camping outside the park.

We have internet for the time being, so I hope to blog more soon!

Joy