Vacation Day 3: Yellowstone

Day 3

We left Idaho Falls at 6:45am.  Wanted to leave earlier but...we have kids.  Threw everyone in the car still in jammies, filled the tank, bought some donuts and hit the road.  Michael programmed Yellowstone into the GPS and we were cruising.  We hit the crossroads and turned where the GPS said to turn even if it didn't look quite right.  The road was slow and winding.  Sam threw up the donuts, then threw up some more.  Michael realized the GPS was taking us to the wrong Yellowstone entrance.  Thankfully we were able to get back to where we needed to be without too much additional delay.  Sam threw up more.

We arrived at the Park.  We wanted to be there by 9:30am and rolled in at 11:00am and realized we needed to find a camp spot right away or we wouldn't get one at all.  We weren't stopping for bison or elk or anything.  Unfortunately everyone else on the road had different plans.  We got to the campground we wanted at noon and found the last available site in quite possibly the whole Park.  It was small and uneven and people kept tipping out of their chairs but it was ours.

On the way to Yellowstone.  Sam is naked because of all the puke.

The bison at our campground (after we found a site).

Sam was having a rough time.  He didn't care there was a bison behind him.  He wanted food and a nap.

We went exploring.

Then we headed back to camp for a campfire presentation about wolves and ravens.  The seats all faced the fire pit and there was a trail and forest behind us.  During the presentation we kept hearing a couple of snorting, pawing, grunting bison behind us.  We sat there in happy oblivion, engaged with the Ranger and her story.  Michael took Grace to the bathroom.  Sam and I were sitting on the back row (closest to the road) and everyone else was on the front row.

 When we got back to camp we told Grandma what she missed.

A bison came charging out of the trees.

It was running with it's horn pointed down.

 It was headed straight for us. 

We started running.

 Sam and I were actually the only ones who saw it.

 We saw two of them.

 One starting charging down the hill right towards us.

 I'm still scared, can we go home?

 I was in shock.

 I grabbed Sam and ran.  It was this close!  (okay maybe 10 feet away but still)

 The Ranger told everyone to stop running and the bison turned and ran up the road.

 Then we all walked slowly back to camp.

Story photos courtesy of Heidi

Vacation - Craters of the Moon

We ended up taking a big vacation this year.  This is the longest trip Michael and I have been on since we were married.  It may be the longest trip I've ever been on.  Twelve days of non-stop action.  Lucky you, you get to read all about it.

Day 1

We left Boise after lunch.  Michael dropped us off at the park for lunch while he ran a couple last-minute errands.  Our party included our family, my mother, sister Heidi, and my teenage nieces Aubrey and Amanda (different sister's oldest kids).

First stop, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve near Arco, Idaho.  Lots of rock, dirt, and high winds. 

Sam loved the dirt. 

Junior Ranger class.  We learned all about how to identify scat.  A very necessary skill.

 

Day 2

We woke up bright and early and went for a guided two-mile hike around the Broken Top cinder cone.  The wind was scary fierce.  I kept expecting someone to get blown over and cut themselves on the sharp lava.  Our hats were continually blown off our heads.  We managed to retrieve all but one.  Everyone went on the hike except my mother.  She decided to go to the Visitor Center and then rest at camp.

Entering the cave.

Inside the cave.  It was dark, cool, and best of all, not windy.

After our tour we drove back to camp to find three ranger vehicles parked in our site.  I dashed out of the car while it was still moving and ran to our campsite.  Mom was sitting there surrounded by three rangers with a large bandage pressed to her head.  She had been resting on the cot in her tent when the wind starting bending the tent down and smooshing her.  So she went out and tried to take the rain fly off the tent to minimize the whole kite effect.  She tripped over the uneven ground, fell and cut her head on the sharp rocks I mentioned before.  A ranger saw the fly flapping in the wind and came over to see if he could save a fly away tent.  Instead he found mom pressing pj's against her head (they were the closest thing).  The ranger called other rangers and an EMT.  They couldn't stop the bleeding so they called an ambulance.  That's when we showed up.  Mom was still bleeding from the head wound but was aware, talking, not dizzy and had never lost consciousness.

We asked them to cancel the ambulance and Michael took Mom the 20 miles into Arco.  Do not go to the Arco medical center.  Ever.  They badly stitched one cut and couldn't stop the bleeding in the other because an artery got nicked in the fall.  So they wanted to put her on a helicopter to Boise because they said she needed a CT scan and a surgeon to repair the artery to stop the bleeding and they had none of those resources.  Mom told them she wasn't going back to Boise, she was going to Yellowstone.  Her bleeding had slowed enough they put her in an ambulance and sent her to Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls.  This stressed her out because she didn't want to interrupt or delay our plans, but fortunately, Idaho Falls is on the way from Craters to Yellowstone!  By the time she got to Idaho Falls the bleeding had stopped completely.  She did not need a scan or a surgeon.  They gave her ten more stitches and a baggie of band-aids and sent her on her way.

Meanwhile Michael came back, we packed up camp, he contacted his cousins who lived in Idaho Falls, and we drove to the hospital.  By the time we got there Mom was ready to be released and determined to go on vacation.  Michael's cousins very kindly put us all up for the night, let us use their shower and laundry room and crash in their comfy basement.  Thank you, Chad and Lisa, thank you.  The next morning we continued our adventure, hoping this wasn't an omen for the whole trip.

Sam

I don't think Sam was saying "honey," I think he was saying "hungry."  Either way he's definitely "naughty."  Also if you were wondering: the jar of white stuff with weird black things in it is just vanilla sugar.  In case that was going to keep you up tonight.

Feelin' Groovy

I saw this kit on someone's blog.  Quality Art had it on sale.  I wanted tie dye.  So we did tie dye.

 Lots of white shirts.  Two shirts apiece.  Twelve shirts in all.

 Three bottles of dye.

 Finally realizing Mom wasn't making stuff up when she said blue and red make purple.

Lots and lots of shirts.  Michael and I dyed the babies' shirts.   We asked Grace to dye her shirt but she was content to place an order for a "mirror image" design (she knew the name of the design because the kids all watched the "how to tie dye" video together).  That was as dirty as she was willing to get her hands.  Sam on the other hand, we didn't let help.  I didn't want to be cleaning dye off the ceiling for the rest of my life.  He watched Sesame Street instead.

Then we had to bag them.  Now the waiting begins.  The shirts had to sit for 24 hours - we made it to 21.5.  Oh the pain! 

 Ta-da!  All rinsed and hanging up to dry.

Sunday the kids came home from church and begged us to finally wear their shirts.  If you see us around this summer I will bet even money at least one of us will be wearing tie dye. This tickles my inner hippie.

An Evening Out

It was a beautiful evening.  The kids were all sleeping over with my mom, so Michael and I had the evening free.  Our friends, Joey and Michelle, invited us over for dinner and a movie.  The food was great, the movie was okay, and the company entertaining.  Finally around 11:30 we pried ourselves off our friends' couch and headed out.  We climbed into the van and waved goodbye.  I put on my seat belt and settled in.  I felt a strange lump under my leg.  I reached over to dislodge what was most probably a child's plaything.  I felt something fuzzy.  I wondered how one of the kids' Zhu Zhu pets got in the car and on my seat.  Then my fingers detected not just a firm, furry object but moisture.  Moisture!  Toys aren't moist.  Animals are moist!  I'm sitting on some sort of animal that crawled into my car and onto my seat.  A RAT!  It's a rat!  In my car!  Under my thigh!  I then proceeded to arch out of my seat (while still buckled) and start screaming and squawking incoherently.  Michael had no idea what was going on.  He thought it had something to do with the fact he had just turned the key in the ignition.  I finally manage to eek out something like, "Animal...seat...arrrr....ahhhh....fuzzy....eeee"  loudly and with a great amount of squealing.

Michael looked over and saw something grey and white on the seat and realized why I was screaming.  He glanced at it and said, "Oh! It's a kitten!".  My body started to relax.  A kitten.  I like kittens.  Kittens sometimes climb into cars.  Kittens are not wild animals that have no reason to be on my seat.  I started to un-arch my body and try to arrange myself so I wouldn't hurt the cute kitten.  Then Michael got a better look and said, "Uh, nope! It's a bird."  A BIRD!  Not as bad as a rat, but still a wild animal that did not belong in my car.  And why had I sat on it?  Why was it there?  Did I kill it?  Or that would have been what I was thinking if I hadn't immediately arched up and started squealing again.  I then decided the best course of action would to be to vacate the car in a calm and orderly fashion.  All I had to do was open my car door and step out.  Instead I proceeded to climb over the center console, climb over Michael, open his car door, and run from the car.  Because apparently birds are terrifying.  It was at this point all my screaming brought our friends from their house to see what was going on.  All they saw was a crazy women mauling her husband.  They weren't sure if there was an emergency or if I was giving Michael a hard time.  They quickly realized something was going on as I fled down the driveway and stood panting on the sidewalk. 

Michael wrapped the bird in toilet paper we happened to have in the car as it was drawing its last breath and placed it in the trash.  It had apparently broken its neck upon entering our vehicle through the partially-opened passenger window.  Meanwhile Michelle was asking me if I was alright.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry so I comprised and snorted.  It went like this.  "Katie, what happened?"  "I sat (snorrrrttt) on a (snorrtttt) bird (snooooorrrrrrrttttt)."  I was classy.

I may not freak out all that often but when I do, I go the whole hog.