Yellowstone August 6-10, 2014

What's summer without a vacation??! Zack, Tara, Cody and I decided to fit in a summer vacation this year to YELLOWSTONE! Neither Zack or I had ever been to Yellowstone so we decided it was a good place to go. (Not too far away and not too expensive either.) We decided to leave Camden at home with my parents so we could enjoy some time together before our little baby girl arrived. No worrying about potty accidents, nap times, or any mommy and daddy business. We were free for less than a week, and it was nice, until we realized that we really love all that mommy and daddy business and really missed our little man. Tara and Zack couldn't leave Damon at home because he was still so little, so they avoided having to miss someone at home! Damon came along with us, and he was a champ!

Kim and Ilene let us take their camper and we camped at the Bridge Bay Campground, which was great. Because we stayed in the park we were able to really explore everywhere! We saw SO many cool things. Yellowstone is such a amazing place! We were able to make it to all of the places that we wanted to go. My favorite was Mammoth Springs. Cody's favorite was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Both were so so cool! The guysers and hotsprings at Mammoth were the most amazing thing and unlike anything I'd ever seen before. We got some Huckleberry Ice cream while we stopped in Mammoth Springs (I guess huckleberries grow in Yellowstone) and we had to get some huckleberry syrup to bring home to Camden. We explored so much of Yellowstone and we loved every minute of it.

We also were able to make it to Bear World on our way to Yellowstone. This, by far, was everyone's favorite part of the whole trip. We went first thing in the morning, after spending the night in the Rexburg, ID. Walmart parking lot. It was raining and cold so we weren't sure if Bear World would even be worth it. We didn't know if the animals would be out for us to see, and we weren't OK with paying $25 dollars a person if we weren't going to see some bears! When we asked an employee if we would see anything, he assured us that the animals actually come out in the open more when it rains. He was RIGHT! There were bears, wolves, buffalo, and deer walking around EVERYWHERE! It was really amazing. You just drive around in your car and the wildlife is right there walking along side you. We were all amazed and having so much fun! We were happy with the fact that we could drive through the park more than once, so we took a second trip. While we were driving around a wolf (which are usually hard to see) were walking right next to us. One even came up to our trailer and pulled a piece off... It was so crazy! After driving around the park we stopped at the souvenir shop and went to see the baby bears. OH MY HEAVENS baby bears are the cutest things on the planet. They were so fun to watch. They would run around, wrestle with each other, and climb around on the trees and rocks. They were adorable. I loved them and wanted to take one home. We discovered that you could actually pay to go on a tall trailer and feed the bears. We were all excited about that idea, and it was SO worth it. We were driven around and got to throw bread at the bears, who knew we were coming as soon as they saw the trailer and they swarmed. It was so awesome and such a fun experience!

(Bear World)

By the end of our four day adventure we were ready to go home to our little man. Next time we will definitely have bring Camden along. He would love it.

 

 (Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We did a hike that was a huge steep metal staircase that went to a perfect view of the falls. I was shaking with fear, and exhausted because I was so big and round, but it was beautiful, and totally worth it.)

 

(sapphire geyser)

  

(Kepler Cascades. Cody and Zack left us girls on the side of the road to go on an exploration! They found a cool rock with a cave/hole. They came back thrilled, and soaking wet.)