Waterfalls of Yelllowstone

Upper Falls.  

Below are more of the amazing falls, caused by the geologic disturbances, new step-offs, due to the volcanic activity.  So cool!

Yellowstone River Canyon

From the Brink of Lower Falls.  Don't fall!

Lower Falls (the famous one)

A cute picture, even though Mason was having trouble smiling and keeping his eyes reasonably open due to heavy glare from the sun.  Quite the over-dramatic boy.  I think the black bird in the background makes this shot.

Not a bad family picture, and finally a good smile on our handsome man.  And notice the gap in his teeth, he lost one on the trip!

Gibbon Falls, a cascade-style falls, very elegant

On our way out, we passed by Lewis Falls. The water is actually warmer than the air in the cold mornings, so there was mist coming off the river and falls.  It was incredible and a great way to end the trip, and energize a long drive starting at 7am!

Wondrous Wildlife

 A ground squirrel, just chillin' by the side of the trail.  The wildlife was amazing, different from other places we've lived.  Below are samples, only what I could get a picture of.  Also seen but not pictured is an American Pine Marten (or some other weasel-looking mammal), Osprey (barely seen), deer, and some other birds.  Sadly no moose, black bears or eagles.

 Magpies invading our picnic site

 This coyote looks a little better fed than the ones in Arizona

 Yellow-bellied marmot on our hike to the Natural Bridge

 A beautiful male Elk that was seen often by himself in these woods in the middle of the day. 

 This herd was seen at 6am one misty morning, the largest group we saw.

 And I would like to thank my Canon Rebel T3 with my new telephoto lens for the shot of this cutie.

 Elk are very common in Yellowstone, we saw them every day, though not always as perfect as this.  It was amazing how they weren't afraid, allowing themselves to be seen so often.  Once, though, a female charged a group of tourists that were getting too close. 

This tiny speck is a Grizzly bear.  We could see it better using some nice person's binoculars, and it was one of Mason's favorite things about the trip.

Bison were probably our favorite wildlife given their uniqueness, closeness, and rarity, though we still saw them often.  They deserve their own blog post they are so cool!  So stay tuned....

Yellowstone - Introduction

This summer's family vacation was camping in Yellowstone National Park.  In summary, it was a phenomenal vacation.  It was a lot of hard work, both preparing for and in daily activity.  We were camping with two small children, after all.  We never would have survived without our ingenious and thorough preparation.  Kevin did almost everything from packing (and didn't forget anything!) to buying individual/dual DVD players for the kids.  These players saved our lives. 

Erika bought quite a few small toys as rewards and car entertainment.  These she wrapped, so the kids got "presents" along the way.  It worked well to keep them behaved.

We did actually forget one thing - Mason's shoes.  Kevin didn't pack any, and Erika put the kids straight from bed (notice the PJs) into the car, sans shoes.  Day two in the car we went to a Walmart and bought a pair.  The irony is that Camryn had four pairs. 

We survived the car ride and arrived!  We ended up setting up camp with barely enough light.  Dada and Mason shared a tent and air mattress and Mama and Cami shared the tiny tent, with only thin pads.  Who decided that was fair?

 

Day one we spent in the Upper Geyser Basin.  There was so much to do there!  We walked the trails and saw so many geysers, hot springs, and steam pots.   Erika took almost 400 photos the entire trip, and hasn't had time to sort them all yet, so here is a sampling of day one.

Castle geyser

 

 View of the basin and Yellowstone river.

 Chromatic pool, a hot spring

The spectacular Old Faithful.  We saw this probably 4-5 times the entire trip and it was one of Mason's favorite things.  Then we went back to camp to finish setting up and have some campfire food!

Speed racer

 Monsoon season in Tucson!  Mason loves the rain, especially running in the rain.  He still doesn't want to get his good clothes wet or dirty, so I suggested he run in just his undies and he agreed.  It was faster than putting on a swimsuit (Dada's idea).  The rains can be so short we would miss it if Mason had to change.

 There may be hope for him to be a good runner, look at that form!

He ran out only 3 or 4 times, then was cold and wanted to go in.

Madera Canyon

 We had hoped that after the monsoons, there would be water in the creek in Madera Canyon, hence the swimsuits.  Sadly, there was none, so we just went on a short hike.  The kids did great, though, seemed to have fun.  Even Kevin maintained good spirits ;)

Cool rock.

Cool tree.

Millipede season again

 Come monsoon season, the rains drive the millipedes out of the ground so they can be caught by tiny little curious hands.  The kids love collecting millipedes.

 Pushing her babies.

 Crazy millipede dancing.

Just put the kid to bed!

Little kids need sleep.  This is the advice all new parents should have beaten into their heads so they may never forget or stop trying.  Fortunately for us Camryn has still been very good about taking a nap every day.  Even in Sedona, we would let her fall asleep in the car.  Otherwise there would be hell to pay.

The other day she woke up exceptionally early, and we took off to go to the park.  It was very early and not even close to nap time, but she fell asleep in the car.  Everyone knows what happens when a child gets even five minutes of sleep - that's it!  So there wasn't a chance of putting her down for a nap later.  Around 4pm, she was having a snack, and the rest is history.  She actually slept on the table, right in front of her cereal, in the noisy great room, for an hour.  That was a tired girl!