Our Trip East to the Old West

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was pretty impressive!

When we decided to go to Yellowstone with the Shaws, I didn't realize it was this iconic family vacation experience we were sharing with hordes of other people. But as we prepared for the trip and talked to people about it, and especially after we returned and people asked, "what have you been doing this summer," and I told them, "We went to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons," and they said, "Oh, we did that last summer," I realized that indeed, this was not an idea original to us. Kind of like how most people have been to a summer camp as a youth, or been to BBQs at parks - a Yellowstone vacation is just part of the American Family Experience.

We spent the first night at my parents' house in Tri-Cities, then the second night in a hotel in Spokane, having a plentiful dinner of pasta salad and watermelon with my sister Katy in the Waterfront Park across the river. The kids enjoyed the hotel pool. I got a fever and chills at my parents' house, and Elena had a whole vomiting antibiotics fiasco while we were in Richland and Spokane, but by Monday morning everybody was reasonably healthy and we were off to a late start from Coeur D'Alene, where we met up with our traveling companions and set out for Island Park, Idaho.

Almost ready to head out from our hotel, Monday morning. 

We stayed in Island Park, Idaho, about 30 minutes from the West Entrance to Yellowstone, for 5 nights, and then we called it good, loaded our wagon, so to speak and relocated to another vacation home in the Grand Tetons. Another 5 nights later and we were headed home, with a one night stay in Boise, Idaho.

In terms of Yellowstone, I think the highlight of the trip was seeing buffalo. The geothermal features I found particularly intriguing, but the kids, after a day or two were like, "oh, another amazing fountain/paint-pot/geyser/hot-springs. Ho hum." To be honest, the buffalo ended up being a nuisance, when they took their time crossing the road (one of them decided to stop and scratch his cheekbones on the corners of the car in front of us!), but still, the excitement at seeing them initially was delighful. We played a game where we tried to collect all of the license plates from all 50 states, which was ultimately unsuccessful, but a great diversion during long drives. The positives: lots of wildlife and cool geothermal features. The negative: all outhouses, (almost) all the time. Bleah.

One of the two geysers we managed to catch in the Old Faithful area.

Turns out, it was hard to get Phinehas to smile unless "MoMo" was in the picture.

Very hot at Mammoth Hot Springs!

After being on the high lope to try to see all of the things to be seen in Yellowstone, we were eager to relax a little in the Tetons. Which works out well, because, really, unless you have all of the gear, mostly what there is to do there is hike. Oh, and go swimming in glacial lakes - or the nice warm one we found near our vacation rental that turned out to have leeches. Very educational, that! Actually, possibly the highlight of the whole trip was when we all went down to a Chuckwagon show outside of Jackson, WY called The Bar J Wranglers. Clearly a family run operation, the food was satisfying, and the show was highly entertaining. We even bought CDs, which, if you know us at all, is saying something. I hear Judah listening to and singing them all the time - so a little bit was added to our family lexicon, even! If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend checking the show out! The rest of the time we went hiking, let the kids enjoy the hot tub, played horseshoes, attempted to make a small bridge over the nearby creek, and just generally goofed around. The adults even had opportunity to play games in the evenings after the kids went to bed!

Beautiful, leech-infested mountain lake.

String Lake - lovely, clear, and oh so cold! Joanna and I crossed it. Woo!

Some Indians we passed on our train ride at the Bar J Wrangler's Chuck Wagon Show

Some cute passengers.

Worth the price tag (pretty cheap).

Waiting for dinner!

Bananagrams, group style.

Judah creating a lever in order to free a log for his bridge building effort.

Michael, playing Uno with Phinehas and Elena.

Taking a well deserved break on a hike... (maybe 10 minutes in?)

Hiking with children - 8 of them!

Horseshoes!

The kids really enjoyed the hot tub! The mosquitoes enjoyed the kids.

Leisure time to play games.

Attending church in the Tetons.

Never seen such a picturesque chapel! 

On the way home Michael suggested we try out a Basque restaurant he'd been to before on a business trip. Turns out there's a large population of Basque peoples in Boise. Who knew?! Anyway, the food didn't overly impress me, but it was fun to try some different dishes, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to try beef tongue, which tastes like beef, only the texture is much more spongy.

We made it home the next day without incident, tired and anxious to sleep in our own beds.

Overall, for a family road trip, I'd say the trip was a success. Every vacation has its peccadilloes, but ours weren't too severe, and I think most of the kids will remember the vacation fondly, and hopefully feel a little broadened by the experience. I think that's what we were shooting for?