Vacation 2015 (Part 2)



June 26th we packed up the car and left Colorado for another week of fun in Montana. We had a 500+ mile drive to Montana but due to the fact that Wyoming has a speed limit of 80 we made really good timing. We got to Laurel where my uncle lives in time for an early dinner downtown. I was extremely confused trying to look for the restaurant my uncle told me about because all I saw were casinos everywhere. Montana allows gambling to avoid sales tax and the restaurant was in one of the casinos. Of course we walk in and my wife was the only one that isn't white so she got a few looks.

 

After dinner we headed back over to my uncle's house where everyone was getting ready for my cousin Jordan's wedding the next day. I got to see all my cousins I haven't seen in probably at least a good 5-6 years.

 

Saturday was the wedding. It was a pretty fun wedding. Nice and small so it was easy to keep track of the kids and easy to socialize with family and not get lost in the mix. At the reception my cousins came over to Zach and started dancing. Zach immediately responding letting them know he's a latino by stomping his feet. He then made us all laugh when he dropped his legs and waved his arm. The kid is just too funny. I tried to record it but he gets camera shy.

 

Sunday I had to work again followed by family dinner. On Monday we packed up the car again and headed to Yellowstone for a couple days. My cousin suggested we drive through Beartooth Pass. It's a bit longer and has some hairpin turns but the view was more than worth the extra time to get there. We didn't finally get to Lamar Valley until some time in the afternoon.

 

The next morning I was looking at the map and trying to plan out our day. Natalie was in the bano so I had both kids with me. I was watching Zach while looking at the map and didn't notice Adri snuck over to the car and got her bear hat, complete with arms and claws. She came up to me and yelled rawr. I was so focused on everything else she scared me really good. I thought it was someone's dog jumping on me. I'll have to get a picture of her hat and post it later. It was funny but I wasn't too happy at the moment because she got me good. Later that morning we met up with my cousin Sam. Trying to meet up with someone by phone in that park is a joke, even close to the villages phone reception is horrible. I had reception but it wouldn't make calls so we had to communicate through Facebook. So we ended up waiting for a while for Sam at one of the villages and had to give up and leave. We found him a couple hours later at Grand Prismatic Spring. After a few hikes and some dinner we went back to camp for one more night. The next morning we met up with Uncle Jeff and did a few more hikes before calling it an early day and going home. Hauling those kids around the park for 3 days was just too much so we ended up leaving pretty early in the afternoon.

 

After that we just hung out at my uncle's house for a couple days, ate, did more hiking, watched movies, made mixed drinks, etc. Adri became best buds with Sam and made a lego castle or two. On fourth of July we all went to a park to see what my uncle said are the best fireworks in the state. Being a state that has such a low population I thought he was exaggerating. Well it ended up being the best firework show I ever saw. There were mortars going off right in front of us that were so bright all we saw was a flash. The ground was shaking under us and half the show was like a finale. Zach had an epic meltdown about an hour before the show started. He was banging his head into the ground, into us, thrashing around, and screaming for over a half hour before he finally just crashed out and slept through the entire show.

 

We left Montana that Monday. At the end of our trip Adri didn't want to say goodbye to Sam. Finally she yelled out "Bye Sam, I love you". The kid is too funny. All week she kept saying how much she misses Sam and how he's her best buddy.

 



Our first day in Montucky. We went to this grocery store and it was like a time machine back to the 1980s.

 

@ Jordan's wedding.

Zach doesn't sleep for anyone. But he did for Tia Tina. She was so proud she got him to sleep.

Adri and I had been practicing for a week to sticky bug Sam. When she met him she chickened out. I lost a bet to Natalie that she wouldn't. She said that Sam's pony tail scared her. By the next day the fear was gone and she was sticky buggin Sam.

Driving through the Beartooth Pass. Natalie got sick from my fast driving on sharp turns. She had to take some Dramamine and was knocked out the last half of the drive.

This is right around the summit which should be obvious by the snow in July.

Going down the backside of the mountain.

About 45 minutes out from Yellowstone.

 

Our first stop in the park was Lamar Valley. This is the best place to find wolves if you don't have kids and feel like getting up at 4AM.

 

At Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs. I took a picture of an elk laying on one of those white formations when I was a kid.

At Norris Geyser Basin. We walked around for about two hours here looking at all the geysers and springs.

  

Adri and I have this thing where we do the metal horns, touch them together, and making a hissing noise. I had no idea Zach was watching when we do this. So I was taking this picture of her and Zach saw it. A few minutes later I'm walking on the boardwalk and I hear a hissing noise. It's Zach pointing at me trying to do the horns. The next couple days in the car he would yell "Dada" and when I say "Zachy Zach" he would hiss at me.

 

 

 

Trying to do the horns again.

At the general store.

Bitch Creek is a creek, and hiking trail, in Grand Teton. I found this beer at the General Store and thought I'd give it a try. I still haven't tried it but I keep making jokes about drinking that Bitch.

After dinner we drove down to our camp at Grant Village. It was about an hour drive and there were lots of elk on the road.

 

 

Day 2 in Yellowstone we started out at West Thumb, close to camp. Lots of cool geysers here. They had ranger led programs and we could hear one ranger saying the exact opposite of the ranger 3 minutes before them. Someone didn't pay attention in training. Hotter water is more clear, just fyi.

After West Thumb we started back up north to meet Sam. I had to go to the bano and there is no way I go in a public bathroom so I went in the woods then took this picture of the Yellowstone River.

Across from Mud Volcano.

This was at Mud Volcano, just a few miles south of The Grand Canyon Of Yellowstone.

This cave was pretty cool. I have it in the video above but you have to be there to really experience it. Sounds like the gates of hell, well if hell was a real place.

After Mud Volcano we got delayed getting back to the village because of the bison crossing the road.

After lunch we went to the Grand Canyon Of Yellowstone and hiked down the Lower Falls. The Lower Falls are twice as high as Niagara Falls, at 309 feet tall but only 70 feet wide. There's so much force the water sprays halfway back up the falls. I thought the color of the valley was really impressive.

We had quite a hike down the trail with the kids. Going back up I got to switch off between Adri and Zach because Adri wanted to be carried but Natalie needed a break from Zach.

From 1/2 mile or so down the road. You can barely see where the lookout is that we hiked down to.

After Grand Canyon we drove over to Grand Prismatic Spring. Sam pulled in and gave us a cat call right as we were parking. It started raining on us so Natalie and the kids were waiting to get out of the car while Zach took driving lessons. People were running in horror from the pit toilets there, just fyi. There's some murder scenes that aren't that disgusting.

Grand Prismatic Spring. There is a trail that goes above the spring. Next time I want to take it because it's a better view. Couldn't do it this time because it's a couple miles long and the kids weren't going to last after the day we had.

Old Faithful. It's a let down every time. A mile behind it there was a geyser going off for two hours solid. We could have seen that one but we waited for Old Faithful which couldn't make up it's mind if it wanted to go off or not. Last time I was here, back in the 90s it was a let down as well. It was snowing that morning (July 4th) and there was so much steam you couldn't see anything.

The next morning we went back to start our day at Lower Geyser Basin, next to Old Faithful.

Old Faithful decided to erupt this time.

Walking around Lower Geyser Basin. Adri had her best buddy carry her.

This one was pretty impressive but we couldn't get over to it before it stopped.

One of my favorite springs. A few years ago they had to bring in a crew to clean up all the pennies and junk in it. All that stuff will clog a spring and turn it into a geyser. There were some Brits on the trail next to us asking us why people throw pennies in the geyser. I had to explain American superstition and make our people look like complete dummies.

At The Painted Pots. Natalie didn't get out for this one because Zach was asleep and Adri was tired. This was one of my favorite stops. There was mud flying up in the air and steam blowing everywhere. One stop got really hot and I had to run through just to get cold when the wind hit on the other side.

This one made a really wicked sound. Way cool.

We stopped again at Mammoth on the way out. This time instead of 10 elk on the lawns there were over 30.

 

Pictograph Caves State Park

In my uncle's backyard.

Lower Basin Creek Trail. The mosquitoes here were so bad. Worse than you find in Florida with the exception of the Everglades. Even with bug spray I was getting eaten alive. This was about an 8 mile hike with about 1200-1500 feet of elevation gain. We got drizzled on a bit on the way up. My uncle is 23 years older than me and went blazing up this trail like he was 20. He was surprised I could keep up. I'm in good shape from all the desert hikes but my hip was starting to give me problems at the end. Time for another trip to the chiropractor.

Zach went streaking.

4th of July. Before Zach's epic meltdown.

Hiking at the bluffs our last night in Montana. Picture didn't turn out good but oh well. I thought these bluffs were pretty cool. We hiked about 3.5 miles that night, me carrying Adri half the way. We started out in the cold rain so I got stuck with a polka dot umbrella.