Teresa & Gary - Day 5

We spent the day at yellowstone.  Weather was perfect, sun shining, cool in the am and warm in the evening.  Breakfast served on the porch of our cabins..  The day started off with me falling on the front porch of my cabin, Kati having a stomach ache and Eli getting sick in the car. And a long winding road trip to Yellowstone.

The scene was breath taking, as we came up to the LakeYellowstone Butte, we had to stop for pictures.  As the drive continues kids (Justin & Bruce) searched the woods for animals and found elk, bear, deer, raven and a few other birds but of course we stopped to take pictures of the animals in the wild.  The boys (Hunter & Isaac) were just as excited about getting out to see the animals.  It is interesting watching sibling rivalry in 2 generations.

We had lunch a picnic on the shores of the lake where the kids played in the water, and Bruce stretched out in the hammock. But of course Alli slipping an fell into the water, no towel, no dry clothes.   We shopped in 2 gift shops, in the first one Hunter got a book on nature and Alli $ Eli got a Yellowstone journal, and Kati & Isaac got a family game.  In the second one got tee shirts for everyone and a few souvenirs.

 We crossed the continental divide twice.  We visited Old Faithful and the upper, middle & lower geyser basin.  At the Black Sand Basin the kids waded in the creek.  At the Grand Prismatic Spring, 4000 gallons of boiling water per minute flows into the Firehole River.  Crazy experience!  At  the end go the day we had traveled a 100 miles in the park and had only seen less than a third of the park.   WOW!  I never would have thought it was that big

The kids are become restless, tired of the car.  They need a break from driving, a fun day.

Day 5 Yellowstone-Yellow Brick Road- The Road that Never Ends!

Today was the first day we woke up in our destination cabin with an awesome view of the mountains I might add. So we have left an Alabama summer mornings to come to a Wyoming summer morning that is quite different! We walk out & walk right back in to get a jacket. It is quite cool. We have breakfast at our doorstep, which is an awesome feature of the cabins we are staying. It is in a sweet country bucket no doubt! Strawberry breakfast bread, peaches, & I'm pretty sure sunny D was the breakfast of champions. We drive out after Kati, Alli, & Isaac decide they are hot (since they are running around) & have tossed their jackets back in the cabins. We arrive at Yellowstone after a beautiful yet torturous slow winding drive. It is about a 30 minute drive from our cabin- have we mentioned we've driven over 1800 miles already. Kati on the ride there states her stomach is hurting & is sitting in grandma's lap. Eli has crawled up in mommy's lap just because.. Eli seems to be sleepy, this is the child that likes sleep like his mommy.. THEN the face comes, then the question.. "Eli do you feel sick?", the nod, the mad dash for the emergency ice cream bucket.. What a waste of good strawberry breakfast bread! Well Dad didn't get the torture of vomit duty this time, mom's turn. We do arrive at Yellowstone to find out it's even colder in the shade. Go figure in the land of plethora of trees/shade its even chillier. I discover the smart mom who has brought her jacket has lost her jacket to the child whose belly still hurts. Defeated I complain in my head. Somehow it's taken off & being the good mom I volunteer to give it back if the child becomes cold. A small voice says can you give me a jacket too, I'm cold. This voice is from another one of the wise children that tossed their jacket back inside. Crazy children! We do warm up after going to the visitor center/gift shop/torture for parents. We make it out basically unscathed but after being smushed in a small room with lots of people we are all toasty! So we then proceed further into the park & come across an awesome site of lots of cars on the side of the road. No really if you see lots of cars at Yellowstone know some awesome animal is close by. We got to get some pretty cool pics of elk. They were pretty uninterested, as if "more humans to take my picture, whatever". God's creation is truly awesome! We randomly pulled over to take pictures where the kids & I go down a slight hill where they can put their feet in an awesomely beautiful lake, where my sweet niece Alli cat about drowns herself(not really)! She stumbles in the water & is completely soaks herself, wouldn't be so bad if we had a towel, change of clothes, or if it was warmer. She does dry out, thank goodness. Grandma closes her shorts in the window so they can air dry. I did use to drive to church with my head hanging out to dry my hair so I agree this is super redneck but will work. We do have MS license so I figure we'll be forgiven!  We then proceeded on. We were going to see "Old Faithful". I mean you can't come to Yellowstone without seeing that, right? So we press on. Then I see a road sign inside Yellowstone that said 49 miles! Slowly the van walls start to close in on me. I hear children being loud all around me & we have to drive more. Did I mention that we've already driven over 1800 miles(Bruce and I over 2000)??? So to remain sane as the van walls close in I kick everyone off the last row and lay down, not really intending to sleep but i do get a cat nap in. I wake up much more (well at least a little) sane & ready to go. We get out & of course stop at another gift shop. This time getting matching t-shirts-yes we are now that family! We make it out just in time to walk over to see "Old Faithful" erupt. In the process we lose Melissa and 4 kids. I mean who would have thunk that 11 people can't stay together. So after worrying that they've been kidnapped, lost, or who knows, & even walking around to attempt to find them we find out they are about 8 people down from us. Meanwhile, "Old Faithful" is a big fat tease. There would be a little bubbling, then nothing. Finally she does erupt... Hate to destroy anyone's hopes & dreams & not quite sure what I expected but not so super impressed. Pretty cool how it shoots up & all but I guess I was expecting a large "BOOM" or something. I guess maybe she's just a quiet gal. We then drive more (have I mentioned we've already driven over 1800 miles) to see some of the basins. New fact the basin pools are scalding, boiling water that comes to the surface from underground-Continuous volcano clear water-beautiful. You are not even supposed to get off the path in these areas due to the ground being fragile & people having fell through the ground & essentially died per boiling. We thoroughly frightened the children with these stories- for safety purposes of course! They were good for the most part except for Hunter walking on the edge & stumbling to the ground beside the boardwalk. His mother then reminded him of the stories & I don't think it'll happen again! After all our grand walking we decide it's time to get back to the cabin, everyone being on the tired side(did I mention we've driven over 1800 miles). We begin the long drive out of the park, which is slow & winding. We did make one other stop to catch a site of a grizzly bear, pretty awesome. Only Bruce and Justin got out for that one. Mrs Teresa said she can't run at all (hence she's not gonna outrun anyone else or the bear) so she would stay put. I was ok watching from a distance. We continue our winding drive back out of the park, where I'm glad Mr. Gary still has blood flow to his hands, he was gripping the handle pretty tightly. It's yet to be determined if it was the winding road or Justin's driving as i'm pretty sure he was looking for animals. I would just hold my hands up like a roller coaster ride. We did make it back, did I mention we've driven over 1800 miles (not complaining {Phil 2:14} just stating the facts)?? Definitely could have used the warning that we will be driving lots every day! We rounded up a left over supper, had some family drama, and finally made some plans for tomorrow. Ever hear that marriage is to make you holy not happy? It's true by the way. Family vacation upsizes that statement! I love my family that God has blessed me with! We are super imperfect learning to serve a perfect God! We are learning to be patient, humble,  & to put ourselves aside. Phil 2:3-4. We have not arrived but I'm sure vaca will help! Family & Friends we wish you were here. Thanks for keeping up with the crazy adventures!

Teresa and Gary - Day 4

WE HAVE ARRIVED!  No more traveling fom place to place for the next five days.  Slow start this morning.  The kids got to go swimming at the hotel and we did not leave until 11:00.   Eli was brave jumping from the side and playing in the hot tub.  The older kids had a blast just having fun and being loud.

We took the scenic route from Gilette to Cofy and it was breath taking.  Rivers, mountains, animals, and very little of any thing else.  Seriously no gas stations, no food, no bathroom and no phone service.  We finally stopped for lunch at a place called "the crazy woman cafe n pub".

One more stop before we reach the cabins, yes Walmart,  LOL!  To pick up a few supplies or the week.  The kids were so excited fishing,  paddle boats, horses and lots of room to run.  Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone.

Day 4-We have arrived!

I am excited I finally slept more than 4 hours and got a nice peaceful 7 hour rest in the Best Western in Gilette, Wyoming. We woke up around 7:30, showered, and started thinking about eating. Well, I guess the adults did, not the kids so much, because I got a text from what I thought was Bruce but ended up being Kati asking were we ready to go swimming at 8 a.m... All the boys left and ended up finding breakfast in what seemed like an eternity but, it was because Justin really wanted Hardees and what Justin wants what Justin gets... :) We ate cinnamon raisin rolls which were quite delicious and immediately after took the kids swimming in the pool before check out at 11 which we did on the dot.

Today has kind of been uneventful we drove about 5 hours to get to Wapiti but not before stopping  on the side of the road in Ten Sleep Wyoming to get some pictures and at the Crazy Woman Cafe which probably suited everyone in the van not just women.

 

We did have to stop once because of a herd of pronghorn antelope running out in front of our vehicle. Later on down the road we were able to snap some pictures of another family group... so far that has been the most seen wildlife animal but we haven't entered Yellowstone yet. 

We are settled into our stay for the remainder of vacation nicely at Rand Creek. There are no air conditioners or tv's and that's ok. It's kind of hot during the day but we have box fans to sit in windows and it's cool because we have views like this from our front porch:

a paddle boat for the kids to play on and horses to play with:

We all sat around a fire talking to a girl that works here during the summer to end our day. I say we all talked to her but really Kati and Alli talked to her and at one point all the kids minus Hunter were huddled up around her. It was quite entertaining to watch and she was a good sport and answered each and every question the kids had. Kati I think asked her everything humanly possible from what color bedspread she had to did she like working here. It was very cute!

 

Tomorrow bright and early we will be going into Yellowstone finally! Night! Melissa

Teresa and Gary - Day 3

OK I am about to catch up.  I just got access yesterday and don't have wi fi access on my phone like everyone else in the vechile.  LOL !  It was nice waking up with just Gary, showered, packed and ready for breakfast by 8 am.

Breakfast was really late this morning!  Between the time change and no fast food restaurants nor any kind of restaurant or gas stations for miles and miles.  But finally we found place to eat, a real train at a western town.  After eating and exploring a little we headed off to the badlands.  They were amazing!  Two boys wanted to explore in the areas without a guard rail or an adult and one girl who doesn't want move off the path even with an adult.  Spectacular view.  Driving through the tall peaks and valleys, Hunter wanted to climb one.  After driving for several miles, we found a spot where the kids could climb one.  They had a blast, until the adults got attacked by biting flies.  The flies even hitched a ride in the van.  The flies led to hours of entertainment and pain.  Kati and Hunter had an interesting conversation about 2 couples on motorcycles.  Kati thought they were sweet married couples and Hunter said nay they were just boy friend and girl friend.

Lunch was a girls outing with the kids, the guys had to stop by cabelas and look!  Hunter prayed for us at lunch, it's was so sweet, we all had to hold hands while he prayed.  Lunch ended with me leaving my cellphone.  Thank goodness, I remembered before we left the area.  Then we were off to Mt. Rushmore with Jessica driving.  Within a few minutes we drove into a crazy summer thunderstorm rolled in quickly, streaks of lighting and buckets of rain.  Everybody pulled off the road and stopped.  During the storm Isaac got sick and started throwing up in a bucket, Bruce barely maintains his gag reflex.  It was interesting watching water flow down the middle of the road with enough current to float a cone.  The sun pops out and on we go to see the presidents that don't do anything.  But the kids were excited we we turned to corner.

On the way down the mountain we see a Fudge Shop, so we drop off Jessica and Melissa while we turn a round to come back for them.  Thirty minutes later Hunter drags them out of the shop.  We have made pictures in the big rocker, and turned around 5-6 times.  Meanwhile the kids are upset that we want take them to the tree house.  To which they reply, they will not be men to their kids on vacation.  Time will tell. 

I had been talking about and seeing signs about a drive through wild animal park.  It took a lot of work but I was final able to talk everyone into going.  It was wonderful.  One of my best memories.

Again we did not have supper until 9:00, when we finally found a hotel room for the night in Gillette.  Eli's quote of the day, I'm hungry, really really hungry.

Day 3 - The Badland, Killer Flies, and Mt. Rushmore

 I asked about what time we should leave after we got to the Inn last night, but no one said anything, so Jessica, the kids, and I slept in this morning. They were exhausted, but apparently no one else was as we were the last ones up, and they had to wait on us for about 40mins to get all the kids showered and ready to go!  Who would have thunk that Jessica would have been slow and late again, I mean it's only day 3 and she's been late twice already.

We leave Iverson's Inn which I have to admit turned out to be a really neat place to stay and would recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonable place to stay traveling through Murdo, SD.  But we get to a town called 1880 where we ate breakfast in a Train which was a first for me, but the old train cart made a pretty cool diner!

We then proceed about 40 miles to the Badlands park which is just barren land for the most part with some beautiful scenery and great place for the kids to get out and stretch their legs.  But they couldn't run because one little slip and off they go down the side of the mountain and that wouldn't have been good.  We got some amazing pics there through the Badlands and I will post them at the end, but the most memorable thing about the Badlands was the Killer Flies.  So mom kept saying repeatedly, "Hunter would love to climb that and he would love to climb that, I wish there was a place that he could get out and climb."  Finally 20 mins later of driving through and enjoying the scenery we find a place where people were climbing so of course Mom says to stop so "Hunter could climb."  Justin and I get out and attempt to be photographers while the kids climb this little barren hill, but we were not expecting the torture that came from this experience.  Not the pain of the sun scorching our heads, or the pain of trying to get Eli to actually look and smile for the camera, but the pain of the flies that were swarming us like mosquitos and biting our legs and ankles repeatedly.  Finally after a few hundred bites, we get back in the van to be safe as we continue on through the park.  Little did we know that 700 flies decided to get in the van and take the stroll through the park with us. Over the next 15mins, Justin, Jessica, Mom, and Melissa killed 10-15 flies.  Thankfully, Jessica did not break the window with her vicious hits, but she did manage to smack mom in the jaw with the magazine (but at least she got the fly).

The Badlands were behind us now and we made it to Rapid City where Justin, Daddy and myself make the executive decision to go to Cabela's and she the girls off with the kids to eat lunch.  We meander our way through the store only to come out with some cooking spices!  I have to admit, we could have came out with much more than that, but due to lack of funds, we did the manly thing and just browsed through the store like women browse through the mall.  The only difference is that we didn't spend as much money as a woman would at the mall! (Women don't hate, you know it's true)

After lunch, we head to Mt. Rushmore to see the four heads or the foreheads not really sure which one it was.  Kati and Isaac kept on saying they wanted to see the four heads on the mountain, but all I could think of is foreheads every time they said it.  That was just my little inside humor.  

But Mt. Rushmore was pretty cool and pretty cool.  The weather really cool as summer shower passed through and dropped the temp and the four heads on the side of the mountain were pretty cool as well.  

We journey away from Mt. Rushmore only to be distracted on the way out to BearCountryUSA.  It was like drive through Zoo, but it was pretty awesome.  We saw lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!  Not really, we saw elk, mule deer, sheep, bighorns, reindeer, mountain lions, and several bears.  We got lots of cool pics of the animals at a close range. It was definitely worth the stop.  

Now we are off again to try to make it just a few hours from Rand Creek Ranch which will be home for the rest of vacation just outside Yellowstone!  We had a terrible time trying to find a hotel, but we finally found one not near as blog worthy as Iverson's Inn, but a place to crash for the night.  However, the last 30 mins or so was pretty irritable as Justin again wanted to keep driving but mom insisted we stop because the kids are tired and hungry, but the worst part was whoever kept passing the foul order from their body.  Isaac admitted to a few of them, but someone else obviously continued to pass gas and would not own up to it!!  It's terrible to do that and make everyone suffer with you!  It's not like we could have gone anywhere.