September 1st

The weather was beautiful this evening after school so we decided to enjoy our pork chops and macaroni and cheese outside! So fun to create memories and squeeze around a really small table!

 

Yellowstone - Ranger Talk & Old Faithful

We hurried to finish up the Geyser Basing Trail to catch the Ranger Talk at the lodge by Old Faithful.  It was really hard to make it to a Ranger Talk during our days at Yellowstone, so we were excited to finally make this event!  It was perfect for the kids.  At first Cade was not very impressed, but by the end, he enjoyed the information and tough the animal coats and skulls.  The Ranger said that all the animals that he was using in his presentation were animals that were road kill.  The buffalo coat was so HUGE and so heavy!  Callie and Joel really enjoyed wearing it!

At the end of the presentation, we caught Old Faithful going off!  HOW BEAUTIFUL!  What an amazing Creator we have!  It was beautiful and amazing to watch, and like nothing we have ever seen.  I really enjoyed it!

We stopped by the gift shop on our way home.  The boys got to spend the money they have been saving for so long!  Joel got a yellowstone Bear pillow and a stuffed animal.  Cade got some rocks!  Callie got a baby bison!  She loved  holding Betty the Bison in the car ride home!  We saw thse neat trees on the way home.  The white lines at the bottom of the trees is where the heat activity from the earth is affecting the growth of the trees.  

Yellowstone - Geyser Basin Trail

We reached our destination - Old Faithful at the Upper Geyer Basin!  We took a trek on the boardwalks through a trail of geyers.  As we walked as a family, it was fun to read the name of each one, and stand in awe of how clear and beautiful the water seemed.  Joel really wanted to step off the board walk and see them closer. The geyers looked harmless, but they were vary dangerous.  We talked about the immense danger they were.  It reminded me of how sin can look so wonderful and intriguing, but as soon as we step off of the "boardwalk" of life, our heart is taken and we vanish.  Playing with sin is not worth it!  I do know we all enjoyed seeing one small geyers erupt right when we were walking by it.  At first we thought it was a long process, this geyer filled quickly and started spurting out water.  Then when it was done, it all went back down the hole, and it looked like water running down a toilet bowl.  It was fun to see!

Yellowstone Lake

We drove along the Yellowstone Lake for many miles as we continued south.  What a beautiful and HUGE lake!  We stopped at the famous Fishing Bridge, where people can no longer fish, but did years ago.  We read about the lake from a book we purchased, authored by from Christian Worldview.  We learned so many facts, and how so many of these amazing landform creations could happen without evolution.  It seems at though this lake was formed from a super volcano that erupted and then filled with water.  Yellowstone is one of the largest fresh water lakes above 7000 feet in the world!  We saw mean fly fishing in the lake, but no one was swimming.  The water was too cold to swim in!

We crossed the Continental Divide a couple times on our drive!  It was fun to pass by those type of signs and enjoy the "landmark" moments together in the car!

Yellowstone - Mud Volcanoes, Hot Springs

Callie fell asleep, so we made a quick stop to see the mud volcanoes and few hot springs.  The smell of sulfur burned out noses as we stepped out of the van.  We stayed on the boardwalks as we walked through this area.  The ground all around us seemed to be bubbling and steaming.  The Dragon's Mouth Spring seemed to be right out of a movie, with the water moving in and out of the cave because of the gasses erupting from the ground.  The steam made the scene just perfect for a movie.  The mud volcanoes were so interesting.  We have seen mud, but bubbling mud is so foreign.  It definitely felt like it could just erupt right on you.  What amazing creations God made (and smelly too! As you can see from Cade's nose in the first picture!)!

Yellowstone - Hayden Valley

We reached Hayden Valley on our trek south in Yellowstone.  What a beautiful valley full of wind-blown grasses, blooming flowers, water flowing, and buffalo roaming.  Watching the buffalo sparing and kicking up the dust, was an amazing site.  What huge creatures God created.  Beautiful! 

Yellowstone - Lower Falls Trail

We made it to the bottom half of the loop and headed to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.  We enjoyed the Lower Falls Hike, a 3/4 of a mile and a change of 600 feet in elevation.  It was a tough, but everyone made it!  Daddy had a hard job carrying Callie, but he did awesome!  The Falls were so beautiful, and standing right beside of the Lower Falls was amazing.  The water was moving so fast and the views were beautiful. The canyon shouted OUR GOD  IS GREAT!!  When God formed this canyon, I can not image how quickly the water was moving.  What a display of His power!

Yellowstone - Tower Falls

We made a stop at Tower Falls on our way south.  There was a small hike to see the Falls.  It was a bit hard to see but we enjoyed the beauty.  We contemplated heading down toward the river to get a bit closer to the Falls, but we were not sure the length of the trail and didn't want to loose too much of our day.  There was a huge salt deposit in this valley that was so noticeable from the road when we would drive by.  God's amazing hand in the creation of Yellowstone National Park is just beautiful and marvelous.  So many wonders of "nature" in one place!

Yellowstone - Black Bear

When the next morning came we decided to head down to the south end of the loop, and again took the east side of the loop due to the construction on the west side.  We also enjoyed the east side because of the many chances we had of seeing wildlife.  On this morning we were not disappointed when we saw a black bear.  Just a few cars were pulled over, and we joined the crowd and enjoyed watching the bear from our van.  We were probably around 100 yards from the bear.  It was so fun to see it roam and move.  What a joy!!

Yellowstone Hotel

In the Spring of 2016, we decided to head to Yellowstone in July.  We found finding lodging at Yellowstone to be a bit challenging  in the Spring. Everything inside the Park was booked, so we had to decide which entrance of the park to reside at.  After talking with the Tudor family, we decided on the North entrance, in the town of Gardner, MT.  Gardner is a small tourist town right at the entrance to the park.  It was a great choice because the Park was so close, but also once we were in the park we saw so much wildlife right away.  It is a beautiful side of the Park.

As we called hotels to find openings, we realized we didn't have many options after switching our dates of our trip.  We thought possibly the grandparents may travel with us, so we decided to book a two bedroom suite with the thought they would stay with us.  Unfortunately it didn't work out for Grandma and Grandpa to come, and since the hotel was already booked and no other rooms were available, we stuck with it.  Well . . . the suite was SWEET!  It was nice to have the space.  The kids could run and run and run!  Curtis and I enjoyed the living room after the kids went to bed.  The "apartment" seemed to be about the size of our old home - ha ha!  We stayed in the "apartment" the first night, but the second night they had a regular two bed room available, so we decided to move and save a bit of money.  It was fun to make a memory with the hotel "apartment".  I think it will be something our kids always remember!

We enjoyed the filling contential breakfast buffet the hotel provided at the neighboring restaurant.  It was nice to start our morning with a filling meal.