YELLOWSTONE TRIP 5/24-5/27

Dale and I were excited to be able to join McKay, Kellie, Emmery and Mack for their first family trip to Yellowstone. We hope to have the same opportunity with the other families. Yellowstone is one of our favorite places to visit because of it's uniqueness and beauty. Our family has fond memories of camping, swimming in the Firehole River, looking for bears and other animals, experiencing the Grand Canyon and Norris Basin, and many other wonders. So now we hope to share in our children's desire to experience Yellowstone with their kids. 

Emme and I were testing out the walkie talkies before leaving. Dale and I drove up to Logan the night before so we could get an early start.

One the way we stopped at Dad's in Idaho Falls and ate lunch at Wendy's in Jackson Hole.

This is such a beautiful spot to stop and get a picture of the Tetons. What a spectacular site!

We stayed for 2 nights at the lodge in Grants Village. After settling in we heading down to the Lake Restaurant by Yellowstone Lake. It was relaxing to walk around the lake while watching the sun set.

This is just a cute picture of Emme and Mack by the lake. They were both so excited to be here. Emme really wanted to see a bear.

Waiting and waiting for our hamburgers

First stop was Old Faithful. This was McKay's first time to the park since he was a little kid.

A little squirrel entertained Emme and Mack while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

What a site. It never ceases to amaze me how it erupts pretty much on schedule.

Artist Paintpots. We were able to see our first of many Bison.

I stayed in the car with Mack so he could continue his much needed nap so Emmy got to ride in the backpack.

Norris Basin

We hiked down to the top of the waterfall in the Grand Canyon. It was a little steep coming back up but very much worth it.

Grand Canyon Lookout

Hayden Valley has always been a place where if you get there around sunset you see lots of animals. Not so on this night. But it was still beautiful.

This bison was a little to close to our cars. Luckily he was busy eating.

The next day we headed up the upper loop of Yellowstone. On the way we spotted not one but four bears. More than we have ever seen during all our trips previously. This bear was fairly close to the road so you can imagine the hard time the ranger had trying to keep the people safe that were slamming on their brakes and dashing out of their cars with their cameras. Emme was thrilled to see her first bear.

Further up the road we spotted this Mom with two cubs. The other one was to the left. 

On our way to Mammoth we stopped along the road and had a picnic lunch and just enjoyed the scenery. When we arrived in Mammoth we were ready for ICE CREAM. There were elk wandering around the town which both Emme and Mack loved. 

Mammoth Hot Springs is so pretty with the yellow white of the rock against the bright blue of the water.

After Mammoth we headed to Jackson for our last night. It was a long drive but we were able to arrive in time to have dinner at the Bar J. It was fun to experience their Cowboy songs and poems.

This was such a fun trip and we were grateful that Kellie and McKay let us join them. Hopefully another family will go next year so we can tag along??