We departed from Downey on Tuesday, June 17. We arrived in Island Park at Mack's Inn and set up our tent in the Mack's Inn camping area. The illustruous leader of the family had forgotten not only wood but matches. We had planned on cooking hot dogs over the fire. We had to beg a neighbor camper for some wood, but since it was large pieces, and we had no real good kindling, the fire did not go as planned. Therefore, we ate cold hot dogs and the smores were just the marshmallows! A wonderful start to our family trip!
Angie, on the other hand, was very excited about camping. She was constantly remarking how happy she was that we were camping. Cold hot dogs was worth that!
On Wednesday, we motored into Yellowstone National Park. Our first stop was in West Yellowstone. Two years ago during the Brower Family Reunion at Island Park, Deb purchased three Bearfoot bears--each one holding a different letter, T, D, and A. Deb ran into the store where she bought them to look for an L bear. She was able to purchase it. She said that her bear family was now complete!
After after entering the park, we stopped to look at the buffalo along the Madison River:
While watching the Buffalo eat, Angie asked what they were eating. I answered that they were eating grass. While contemplating the answer, Angie then matter-of-factly said, "They don't eat macaroni." Oh, the wisdom of a three-year old, macaroni-loving girl!
We stopped at Old Faithful and watched the eruption. It was one of the better eruptions that I have seen at Old Faithful. However, Lilli was more interested in the basset hound next to us. She almost mauled the dog!
On the route around the lower loop in the Hebden Valley, we noticed a park ranger had set up a telescope so we stopped to see what she was looking at. Come to find out, a grizzly bear was laying on some snow about 2 miles away. With the naked eye, the bear just looked like a brown spot on the snow. The telescope view was just a little better--but at least we got to see a bear on our visit!
Our next stop was at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. As usual, it was a spectacular scene. The wind, though, was blowing and Angie and Lilli did not enjoy it too much since the wind made it chilly. It took all we had to get this picture taken:
On our trip through the park, we saw hundreds of buffalo. However, we saw only three elk during our entire trip through the park on the lower loop. That was a little disappointing.
On our way back to our campsite, we stopped at the Outpost Restaurant in West Yellowstone to eat. The food was OK, not the greatest, and definitely overpriced. But in West Yellowstone, it was priced about average.
On Thursday, we just chilled at the campsite. We did visit Big Springs to get carried away by the mosquitos! Our visit to Big Springs was cut short when I noticed that a seagull had pooped on Deb's butt! She didn't even know that she had been pooped on!
That evening, I was able to get a good, hot fire going. We had prepared some tin foil dinners to cook that night. I should have noticed that things were getting too cooked by the smoke coming from one of the dinners! So, we went from raw the first night to burnt the last night!
On the way home, we took the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway and stopped at the Mesa Falls. The falls were beautiful and Angie and Lilli loved going into the lodge and looking at the stuffed animals and skins.
We stopped at Idaho Falls and went to the Tautphaus Park Zoo. The camera batteries died after this picture, or I would have had a picture of Lilli in with the goats. Both girls loved the animals, and I was impressed at what the zoo offered--much more than I expected.
We had a wonderful time on our trip. The girls loved it, but it sure was good to get back into our own bed!
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