Wy day 9.
Norris/canyon
Beautiful day.
Drove to Norris geyser basin. Hot in the midday sun. Furthest we hiked whole trip. Took stroller, but I occupied her the whole time. We thumped (cantering on the boardwalk holdin my hand), following the nail trail (nails in middle of board walk), collecting colors for our rainbow from the geysers and springs, etc. Walked about a mile. Didn’t take a single photograph. Left that to Wayne. Had fun with my girl. Picnicked a mile away.
Naps in canyon. Renewed groceries. Ate ice cream. Sara working to become jr ranger.
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Wy day 8
Camp tear down and set up. Headed to yellowstone in Madison campground.
Study in contrasts.
Picnicked in Grant village.
Set up camp. Tired. Enjoyed reading Sharing Knife series. Have ripped through 3 books. Sign of a good vacation.
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Rain day. We were expecting it. Another set of rules and confinements for the girls. Don’t get muddy. Don’t jump in puddles. No, no, no. The rain came early Friday morning, pounding aucoustically on the tent ceiling. We were all reluctant to leave the tent. Our tent has no real vestibule. We realized that we needed more bags for muddy shoe management. The girls loved playing in the tent with horses. The horses got to be in their sleeping bags. We had to encourage the girls not to touch the sides of the tent so to prevent water from leaking in. More rules.
Did laundry and showers at the Marina. The handicap shower was broken sadly. At lunch at the deli next door. Definitely a down day for the store. ice cream was gone, freezer being defrosted.
Through laundry in car and headed for civilization. Showers were abating. Made it to the main Teton visitor center. Neat, new visitor center. Sara climbed the rocks by the fireplace. Laura miraculously sat through a 30 min nature show. She thought Bolt was going to play at the end because her Dad had mentioned a “bolt of lightning” while sitting in the theater. She threw a large tantrum when no movie about a dog came on. She found bliss in the gift shop playing with stuffed bears, one bigger than her on a cute little window ledge. She got to watch Bolt on the way to Jackson.
We went to Jackson to eat at Bubba’s, a fun BBQ known to my parents. Good ribs. We started to walk around the city when the heavens opened up again with rain. We went to the Jackson Hole visitor center for the National Elk Preserve. The kids fell in love with a tunnel with a large stuffed bear hibernating. They played inside for 45 min while the rain poured before closing.
We pulled out the electronic babysitter and let the kids watch movies in the car while Dad and Wayne photoed double rainbows and dramatic storm clouds with a breaking sunset over the Tetons at 5 waypoints on the drive back to Colter Bay and I got to work on my book.
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City day. I had the most energy on this day. We made it to Jackson around noon and had great pizza at Mile High Pizza. We bought a polarizer for my lens and took Sara to a toy store. The kids had a blast in the main square wrestling in the grass. Dad and I stole 10 min to check out some beautiful photography by David brookover. The man photographs horses nicely, especially a photo called serenity. Mom and Dad shopped and we headed to the Roosevelt Preserve to let the girls nap. The sage there was fragrant and beautiful. Laura enjoyed the waterfall.
Ended evening with marina for sunset. Too buggy.
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The day is sunny with temps to go to 91. We had temps go down to 30. I couldn’t sleep well the first night, I was so cold.
All our packing has been good. We’ve handled the extremes in temperature well. We’ve stayed fairly organized despite entropies of camp life.
Sara and Laura have made friends with Ella. They’re leaving today sadly. The girls are playing nicely together on this peaceful morning.
Pancakes again. Got word from David. Nice to hear they had a camping adventure of their own.
Slow, sluggish start. Little energy or direction. Seems like we had to change the girls 10 times as the temp warmed to promised 90. Lots of stuff just to play in the water.
Found our stride at the shore of Jackson Lake by the Marina at a far picnic area beyond the amphitheater. Didn’t get there till 1100. Didn’t leave till 1500.
Kids played at the waters edge with horses and fairies. I waded out with them and helped them navigate the slope too and from the shore.
Had another nice picnic with smoked provolone.
Winds started to blow and watched the clouds form over the Tetons. Decide it was time to head home. Stopped for ice cream. All the hand dipped ice cream was gone for defrosting the freezer. Seemed like a down day at Colter Village. Just like our down day.
Nap was nice. First time we all got naps. Awoke and worked on dinner. Yummy hamburgers. Gave up idea of an evening cruise in the lake. Went to a fun ranger presentation about fire. Girls danced on stage after the program.
Enjoying our own fire now. Had fresh ingredients for smores. Had no crying once we figured out everyone’s preferences.
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Started day with pancakes.
Went to Jenny Lake for play. Girls played in String Lake by Jenny lake. Water was tolerable and girls had fun washing all their horses. Wayne feeling very sick today. Stayed in car. We returned to camp after nap. Much gnashing of teeth. Laura was tired. Both girls slept on the way back, but Wayne slept in the tent. Laura climbed in after him. I watched Sara while she played. I guarded the tent entrance to make sure LaurA didn’t leave.
Took invigorating showers. Handicapped stall with removable showerhead was priceless with 2 girls. Wayne felt better with that and a bar of theo mint chocolate.
Went sunsetting. Willow flats was closed. Mosquito swarmed us at oxbow bend. Surrendered to campsite. Blissfully free of swarms. Made fire. Smores only fun for adults. Sara cried when marshmellow caught on fire. Laura just wanted plain marshmellows and was surly when I offered a smore. Never knew such good things could produce such tears. It all got figures out. Even Mom came to enjoy the fire, upwind.
The girls made friends with 3 yo Ella from Texas, who is next door. She brought glow sticks and the kids played in the van together.
Glad Wayne is feeling better.
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We have settled into the campsite and are relaxing for the first time. It still isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. The kids are staying away from the road more. They definitely are making nature they’re playground. Dad has them looking for stacked towers of stones that he creates in secret places which they “steal” and add to their own towers. Today was about getting more settled with the entropies of camping. What stays in the tent, what stays in the car, what travels between. We’re in grizzly country, so we’re not supposed to have anything in the tent foodwise, even toothpaste. That means bathroom bags and diaper bag in the car. What about midnight diaper changes? Needless to say we’re still figuring out logistics.
I got to sleep thru the night without midnight potty trips and slept till 0730. We hung around camp till about 1000. We attempted a short trip to the marina by the campground. We tried to walk around the lake, but Laura was already tired and ornery. We stopped in a field with an uncovered teepee where the kids ran around while Wayne went back for the stroller. We walked a little ways, but acknowleged defeat and took a tired, crying Laura home. She did something similar at Mt. Ranier last summer. She fell asleep in the car. We had a delicious lunch of crackers and ham and cheese. Just as mom cleaned upall the food, laura was awAke and ready for lunch. Wayne and I attempted naps in the tent, but the girls wriestling match got in the way.
So we gathered ourforces and drove to the same marina. We put laura in the stroller and made it to the point with some minimal whining from a napless Sara. There was stick play and throwing stones in the water and marveling at ants.
We returned to the store to worship the ice cream gods. Mint, hucleberry, cookie dough. Sara thought Wayne was hilarious eating purple ice cream, a girl’s color by sara’s rules of life.
Returning to camp, Laura and I made up for no naps by sleeping from 1700-1900. Wayne studied things under the magnifing glass with Sara. After dinner, Wayne was exhausted. Sara, despite her red eyes pleaded to stay up. I geared up for another expedition, getting bedtime routines completed so I could take the girls sunsetting with Dad while Wayne slept. It worked out well, the girls played with an army of horses while Dad and I set up tripod and photoed the last alpen glow on the Tetons. We tried a ranger program at 2130 since wanted to see a fire. The speaking was dry and the kids were finally exhausted. Bed at 2230. Good day.
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Girls napped after lunch, sara reluctantly.
1415 stopped in west yellowstone for gas and bathroom break at exxon.
1430 entered yellowstone park.
1720 arrived at colter bay campground.
2115 trying to go to bed. Hard to set up camp with kids. Laura is very tired and silly.
Dad is pretending to be a bear.
Life feels disoganized right now. Oh well.
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0650 awake late, 0600 alarm didn’t wake us. Packed efficiently. Ate nice breakfast. Sara enjoyed cinnamon and sugar mixed together.
0806 left hotel. Gas $15.30.
0822 on the road.
1000-1015 slight detour off to Anaconda. Service signs can be deceiving. 10 miles off the highway. Rest stop only 1 mile beyond. Not marked on map and Sara had to go to bathroom. Efficient stop. Worried this day will take a long time.
Gas $12.86
1145-1230 lunch at mcDs in Belgrade, mt. Heading south on 85/191 to w. Yellowstone. McDs was great. No line since we were early, nice small play structure vs the 1 story behemoths that lose your young children. Kids ran. Laura pooped. Likely constipated. Shouted,”leave me alone.” if anyone approached. Privacy with a diaper.
Best mcd menu for us: big mac meal for wlw. 2 happy meals with milk, one fry, one apple, hamburgers. Medium fries. Girls eat fries and apples and milk. They reject the burger, so I get a double burger. It took me 3 trips and 9 mos to figure out thus combo. It took me awhile to figure out that Laura never eats the hamburger. Both girls got ice age toys, a mammoth. Happiness.
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Left house at 7:50am.
Stopped at rest area east of cle elum on I-90 (Indian John). 9:30-9:50am. Nice timing. Good bathroom & snack break. Mountains behind us are gorgeous. Have definitely dived into eastern Washington. Last time here was our attempt to have an alone trip to Walla Walla in spring 2008. Before that, it was taking Sara to yellowstone at 9 months. We haven’t made it to this part of our state that often.
10:30-11:10am stopped at wild horse monument, first exit past exit 137 (no maps mention this), east of the Colombia river. Aka grandpa let the wild ponies loose. No facilities or water. First real mountain/hill climb for Laura. Taught Laura how to climb a trail up and sara on the way down.
1:30-3:20pm girls finished naps. Stopped at my favorite Wisconsin transplant, Rocky Rococo’s pizza. Ordered too much. Girls only ate crackers (had eaten lots of popcorn). Wayne and I enjoyed. Sweet crisp crust. Spokane riverside park. Enjoyed the merry go round. Longer, faster, jounsier, and funner than woodland park zoo. Has fun ring game. More than a 100 yrs old. Walked across bridge and let girls run out energy.
4:15 rose lake ID. Gas 37.31 13.23gals. Homey gas station. Former house. People walking around in camo. Definitely in rural Idaho.
Movie #4, nemo, bolt, Alice wonderland, Kung Fu panda. Ride with kids have been pleasant.
Insect covered windshield. Rain mixed in. We got our campground at Colter Bay, Tetons. Parents are there now.
2000 arrived at Missoula reserve st (west of Missoula) super 8. Liked the room. Soft towels. Ate the remainder of pizza and ate in our room. Kids a bit hyper. Too tired to take us to downtown missoula. No pool. Just vegged. Sleep at 2200.
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