Vacation Day 8: Museum of the Rockies

Day 8

We left the park bright and earlyish. Saw these guys:

Also saw a bear but he was too far away to get a shot.  We drove to Bozeman, MT and visited the Museum of the Rockies.  We watched a show in the planetarium,

saw dinosaur bones, which is the main reason we went,

and explored the "Living Farm".  This was the best part of the visit.

Then we rode off into the sunset toward Havre, MT.  310 miles of gorgeous scenery and very little civilization, in the middle of which a tire on the trailer shredded.  We have driven hundreds of miles with the trailer with no spare.  Thankfully one of the last minute errands Michael ran before leaving town was picking up a spare, so we felt we had the situation well in hand.  A nice Montana gentleman with a cowboy hat, pickup truck, and drawl stopped to see if we needed help.  We assured him we had everything we needed.

Alas, after he left, we discovered that our car jack didn't lift the trailer high enough to change the tire.  We managed to get the flat tire off but couldn't get a fully inflated one back on without a couple more inches of clearance.  After various failed attempts, Heidi, Aubrey, Amanda, and I hefted the side of the trailer just far enough for Michael to get the tire back on and put a couple lugnuts on.  Just as we were finishing up another car stopped to offer help.  I think I like Montana.  We managed to make it the rest of the way to Havre without any more problems, unless you count pulling in at 2 o'clock in the morning a problem.

Vacation Day 7: Yellowstone

Day 7

It was Sunday so we had a calm day.

Saw the Lower Falls.  Gorgeous falls, though we thought our legs were going to fall off on the hike back up.  600 ft rise over 3/8 mile and 11 switchbacks.  Yep, we counted.  Going down we wondered why there were benches at every turn in the path.  Going up we understood.  It was like walking up stairs the whole way.

Michael's gorgeous picture of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

The highlight of the day (no pictures, thankfully) was going to the pay showers.  Oh sweet clean heaven.

Vacation Days 4-6: Yellowstone

Day 4

Mammoth Hot Springs.  Winding road but Sam managed to hold on to his breakfast.

Had to see Old Faithful.  This was my first trip to Yellowstone so we had to see all the major attractions, and it doesn't get majorer than Old Faithful.

Sam was enthralled.  Grace not so much.

I made everyone stop at Gibbon Falls.  I needed waterfalls.

Stopped at Artist Paint Pots on the way back to camp. The view was incredible and so were the mosquitoes.  We couldn't hold still for more than 2 seconds before they were all over us.

Went back to camp and went to bed.  No stitches or wild animal charges.  Vacation was starting to look up.

Day 5

Swimming, laundry, and moving to a better (flat) campsite.

Day 6

Mom only let me take her picture after promising we couldn't see the giant black eye she was sporting from her fall at Craters.

This was Libby's favorite part of the park.

Sam didn't care for the smell of the nearby geysers.

Picked up our Junior Ranger badges and Ethan earned a Scout Stewardship badge.

Got back to camp to take a nap.  We decided to go to the Ranger museum instead, as it seemed prudent to let the bison take his nap first.

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.