Yellowstone

August was one busy month. Every weekend was filled with some adventure. The first weekend, Lake Powell, then came the opening to a record breaking Olympics and Family Reunion Relay Day (we had 5 family reunions, but only attended one, which was more than enough). Followed by my weekend of "Living the Good Wife" in which I "allowed" my hubby to leave me for fishing with the boys. While he was gone, I completely cleaned his truck (this included using a carpet cleaner) What a difference!! The third weekend was "Rockapulco Fest 2008" a.k.a. my family's trip to Rockport. We got the kids out on the boat. lil' K and I along with her cousin got out on the tube. I waterskiied in which I have not done for years...just like riding a bike. F took the 3rd of 4 certification tests, then off to Yellowstone for Labor Day weekend. Our calendar hasn't taken so much abuse before. I think it will miss me and all the scheduling, now that things have calmed down a bit. Anyhoo... this brings me to Yellowstone. This is an annual trip we take with F's family... The same crew from Lake Powell.

(Elk, Brink of the Upper Falls)

We left early Friday morning, stopping only for gas and breakfast. We had lunch in Yellowstone National Park, walked around Norris Geyser basin, saw a small group of elk and relaxed in our hotel. This year, we forfeited the portable crib for lil' L. He and lil' K shared a queen bed (we did push it against the wall for safety reasons) He had no idea what was going on. I was constantly laying him down for about 30 minutes, before he finally fell asleep. By the third night, he had it down, and was asleep in a matter of minutes with no persuasion.

(Uncle Tom's Trail, Yellowstone Lake Hotel)

Saturday, we went through Canyon. After seeing the brink of the upper falls, we rounded to the other side to do a hike...more like stair stepping. Uncle Tom's trail took us to the opposite of the falls and to the bottom (great view!!). The downside, 328 stairs. lil' K even made it down and up the stairs. Whenever we stopped to wait for others, she would be itching to keep going. We had to tell her to slow down and rest. lil' L would always ask for water when we took water breaks (I guess he was breakin' a sweat being carried around in a backpack complete with sunshade) Along our drive through Hayden Valley, we came across a buffalo herd, just before that, we got up close and personal with a buffalo (see video). On our drive back into town, we saw the group of elk again, which had backed up traffic and we also saw a bald eagle in a tree top. We were back in West Yellowstone in time for dinner. The boys we looking forward to watching their recorded U game, but something got messed up, so no game.

(View from Hike behind Old Faithful)

Sunday, half of us drove down to Lake to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. Today was kind of chilly, it did rain a little bit, but only when we were driving. The buffalo were gone from Hayden Valley. We spent lunch through dinner at Old Faithful. We hiked up behind Old Faithful to see Old Faithful go off from above, which was awesome. My sis-in-law worked in Yellowstone in the Old Faithful Inn some years ago, but still knows people there. She pulled some strings and got F's parents a special trip up to the top and onto the roof of the inn (most people can only go to the third floor). The inn has a crow's nest in which an orchestra used to play music ages ago.

(Parents on top of Inn, Firehole River)

The best part...I went to take pictures of them as the came back down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a huge gate which gives history and tells readers they cannot go further. A mother is telling her children that "no one" can go up any higher, when along comes the bell hop (their guide) carrying the flags he had just retrieved from the roof. The mother explains he gets to go up there to bring the flags down. Seconds later...F's dad wearing his rain jacket, shorts, and sandals. The mother looks and totally had to retract what she has told her children. A few seconds later comes F's mom with her camera taking all sorts of pictures. The mother didn' t know what to say, so she just went back to explaining that the bell hop goes to get the flags at night.

(Comic Relief at Canyon)

Labor Day was spent shopping around town and driving home. We were going to stop at Big Spring for lunch, but it was co-o-old. We arrived home and unpacked, what a month!! Lots of fun and memories, but now it is time to breath and catch up on sleep (most of the damage down through the two weeks of endless Olympic footage). The next vacation on our list? None planned... for this year.