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We finally made it to Yellowstone (with the rest of humanity), the farthest west we plan to travel. We were going to try to cover all the main sights in the park in one day, so it was a whirlwind. A quick rainstorm came through just after we finished setting up camp, but then it was nice. Cold at night, but nice weather. We were comfy warm in our sleeping bags and blankets. My sleeping bag is the least cold weather friendly, but I had a sweatshirt on with the hood up and the big Preble stadium blanket over me so I was warm too. The kids just got new ultra-warm sleeping bags and were warm enough without any blankets on!

Our campsite was pretty nice, especially compared to the postage stamp sized one Jeff and I had at (we think) Lake campground when we were here in 2005. The lodgepole pines are so tall and it was mesmerizing to watch them sway in the breeze.

As soon as we got up, we headed to Old Faithful. We bought some breakfast in the lodge and sat down to watch Old Faithful erupt. No crowds yet at 9 am inside, so we easily got a table and the boys got to sit by the big window.

Spencer got a camera for his birthday and enjoyed taking pictures. He is planning to make a scrapbook once we get home, thanks to his awesome summer school class.

Such an amazing site to see!

We then hiked around the paths to see the other geysers and springs in this geyser basin. Carson did not like it at all, because it was very smelly (like sulfur). Spencer was fascinated and took a ton of pictures.

This is a cone geyser.

This is a spring. The bright colors are minerals.

While we were on the path, Old Faithful erupted again.

We said many many times recently to stay on the path, so the boys couldn’t figure out how this little guy could survive on the “hot lava” ground.

After Old Faithful, we headed to the Artist’s Paintpots. This was Jeff’s favorite. There is not as much water in this area, so the mud just bubbles and spits mud up into the air. Very cool!

These trees are affected by the sulfur or acidic water and they get these “white socks” on them after the tree dies. It looks kind of spooky. 

Between our stops, we drove on many roads. There were a lot of switchbacks and huge dropoffs. For some reason, it seemed like I was on the outside of the curves EVERY time. Spencer always thought it was hilarious when I was leaning into the middle of the truck. I have to admit it is like riding a roller coaster, scary but fun when it’s over. 

We made it up to the Mammoth Springs at the same time the rest of humanity also showed up. Too many people!!!! But the terraces were beautiful and the hike on the boardwalk was great. My fitbit said I did 50 flights of steps this day.

We were just a couple miles from the original entrance to Yellowstone, so we went up there (and logged another state, Montana), Jeff got gas just outside of the Park, and then went back in to continue our journey.

There were lots of places in the Park where you could see evidence of forest fires. Most of the western part is regrowing after the huge 1988 fire. This fire shown seems to be much more recent. 

By the time we reached the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we were getting exhausted, so Jeff and the boys stayed in the truck while I got out to take some pictures from the road. Next time we come here, I want to investigate this area a lot more. 

By this time, we were all dead tired and just wanted to go back to the campground and eat. But since we hadn’t seen any buffalo yet, they decided to cause a traffic jam by walking across the road, hundreds of them. It took about 30 minutes for us to get through the people who just stop their car to take pictures every time they see an animal. I am lucky enough to have a driver, so I can take pictures on the move!

The next morning we left Yellowstone, not very early, but it takes a bit for the morning mist to leave the mountains. 

I love Grand Teton National Park! It is so beautiful. When Jeff and I were here in 2005 (pre-kids), we camped at Jenny Lake, but this time we were just here for the day. I believe this is the actual Grand Teton Mountain, but the park includes a whole range of mountains that have snow at the top. 

We took the boat across Jenny Lake. The kids loved this. It is about a 5 minute boat ride that takes you to a trailhead that will lead to our destination, Inspiration Point.

The trail was beautiful. A bubbling creek, and a rock field were only a few of the interesting things we saw.

Obligatory flower picture from the trail. I was trying to get the bumble bee, but he kept moving behind the flowers.

Hidden Falls is a very beautiful waterfalls that was near the beginning of our hike.

We were almost there and noticed some storm clouds, so we stopped when we got some cell service so Jeff could check the radar. It looked like the rain was going to miss us, so we hiked onward.

We finally made it to Inspiration Point! In the Kline family, this same photo was taken when Grandpa and his brother Uncle Doug were here when they were the same ages as our boys. We wanted to carry on the tradition.

While we were there, we had a little snack. Carson loves climbing rocks so he didn’t want to stop doing that while eating his Cliff Bar.

It started raining as we began to hike back down to the boat. Turns out another storm developed that did not miss us.

Daddy was trying to be an umbrella for the boys. It was kind of too late by that time; we were all soaked.

When we got back to the Visitor’s Center, the boys finished their Junior Ranger booklets (after getting sent back to find more info from the grumpy Ranger lady), and took the Junior Ranger Oath. Another badge to add to their vests!

When we woke up in the morning, the rain had stopped, we were nice and dry, and we got to see this view. Gorgeous! So we packed up quickly since it looked like more rain was coming, and hopped in the truck to go see some dinosaur bones.

This is just a cool leaf that fell onto our campsite in the wind overnight.

The boys wanted to climb up “the mountain” behind our site, and they were very proud of themselves when they got to the top.

On our way to the Dinosaur Monument Visitor Center, we saw some Petroglyphs. Only Carson and I got out of the van for the 200 ft walk to see the “caveman art”. The Fremont people, who lived more than 1000 years ago, was the culture that painted these Petroglyphs.

Jeff and I thought the boys would be so excited by the dinosaur bones. They thought that the bones were pretty cool, but they were not as overcome with amazement like we thought they would be. 

Jeff and the boys worked on their Junior Ranger booklets. The boys love their badges, but don’t really enjoy doing the work in the booklets. I think it reminds them too much of worksheets at school or something. I have to say that I could see myself creating those as a retirement job for the National Park Service. Some of the activities are kind of boring.

The boys got to touch a real live fossil still in the mountain. The liked that but I don’t think they really got the significance that it once belonged to a real live dinosaur. Dinosaurs, to them, are like really cool monsters, sort of like Fluffy the Three-Headed Dog from Harry Potter, or Creepers from Minecraft. Oh well.

They finished their booklets and took the oath to get their badges. Very cute!

And then we were off. We had about 5.5 hours of driving to do, but made regular stops along the way when we saw interesting signs.

We drove through a mine area with danger signs all along the side of the road. We didn’t actually see anything more dangerous than the road already was though.

The scenery was so beautiful!

We made a stop at the Flaming Gorge Dam. They had a visitor center so the boys all went in to watch the video while I looked at some of the books in the gift shop. We didn’t have time to take a guided tour, but I am guessing one of those is in my future since all three boys were enthralled by the dam.

One thing that I found extremely fascinating was the fact that we were either following or crossing the Oregon Trail. I love that history and we saw lots of places where the ruts of the wagon trains still exist. So cool!

So Jeff loves his truck and decided to take a little side trip off road so he could put his truck to good use. It started with stopping by a sign that said wildlife bridge. Then next to that was a sign talking about a Rendezvous of Native Americans. If you haven’t read Centennial by Hermon Wouk, you should definitely read it before traveling in this part of the country. 

Anyway, we went on a dirt road up a steep hill, just after a huge storm went through the area. It was pretty cool, but I was definitely glad when we were back on solid roads again. Jeff got some great pictures which he will post to Facebook when we get back home. 

We made it into Jackson, Wyoming about dinner time. Our first impression was, “Oh my goodness, look at all the people”. The town is cool, very touristy and expensive, but the views of the mountains were spectacular.

These arches were at the entrances of the city parks that we drove 

Look! Dave Hansen has his own Whitewater rafting company!

We ate a delicious meal at Sidewinders. Yum!

We stayed at a hotel on the very northern border of Jackson, so we could do laundry and get a proper shower. The boys immediately wanted to watch TV and do a bigger lego kit. Go at ’em, kids!