Anniversary trip to Yellowstone

The best thing we have done so far this summer is for James and I to take a trip, all by ourselves, to Yellowstone for our anniversary. It was so wonderful! It was totally worth the expense for hotels and travel to rejuvenate and reconnect and just bask in the wonder of our nation's first national park.

I have so many pictures and videos from that weekend, over 230, so this blog cannot even begin to cover the highlights. I'll just summarize the main attractions:

1. Buffalo and wildlife
Since Grandma McCartney is a buffalo fan, and she was watching our children for the weekend, we took lots of pictures so she could see the buffalo. We also saw elk, deer, moose, birds, a fox, and we saw people who were seeing wolves through their binoculars but we couldn't see them, but we saw no bear or eagles. The elk in Mammoth Springs area would just lay on the lawn of the hotels and residences and their calves were right next to them.

Elk

Buffalo

Moose (in Grand Teton National Park)

2. Geologic features
I am fascinated by geology, and brought along my book, Roadside Geology of Yellowstone. It explained a lot about how the hot pots and springs formed, and the history of the volcanic episodes of the park. I loved the falls, geysers, springs, mountains, and especially the petrified tree.

This was an ancient redwood tree that got covered in one of the volcanic flows and was petrified.

Old Faithful

Beautiful hot spring terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs. The colors are made by thermophile microscopic creatures that live near the vents of heated water.

Me in the morning mists coming of the spring terraces.

At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Artists' point.

The Grand Tetons are indeed grand, with Jackson Lake in the foreground.

3. Nice hotels and time with my husband.
Our cabin in Yellowstone was quaint and just perfect for a couple. The night we checked in there was a rainbow above us... a good omen!



Each cabin had a porch, two beds, a sink, closet, dresser, lights, and alarm clock.... no phone or tv, no bathroom. (The cabin down the road held the bathroom and showers.)

Our second night was spent in Jackson Hole at The Point Inn and Suites. We had a king size bed and jacuzzi tub! Ahh, wonderful and relaxing.

I truly love my husband and I am so glad we had this weekend to reconnect and enjoy ourselves. In Jackson we went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, shopped around the town square, and ate lunch. Then it was back home, but the memories from this weekend should keep us going for a good, long time!

Summer trip to Lagoon

Our family's vacation this year was short, just a one-day trip to Lagoon. We went June 7th. We had all the children excited to ride the scary rides and had looked them all up on the internet and they were ready to go... until they got on the very first ride (the old white wooden roller coaster) and then everything but the kiddie rides were too scary. I have a great picture of Abby's face totally scared, but it ended up being Sam who was crying and begging to be let off a ride. Here are some pictures:

Grandma and Abby riding the "terror ride" which Abby wouldn't even open her eyes to see.


Jim and Sam look tough but they closed their eyes, too.


We all enjoyed the train ride that showed the zoo animals.

The only roller coaster that they thought was fun was this one, the "jumping dragon."

Abby and Augie riding the jet planes.


The kiddie car ride.

This is the paratrooper ride that had Sam bawling and screaming and just freaking out. Nothing big or scary, but he said it was "high" and it spins.

Look at Abby's face! Classic. But Sam's was worse about 30 seconds later.

The view from the top of the Ferris wheel.

I convinced Jim to ride the 120-foot Ferris wheel with me, but as you can see, he did not enjoy it. I had to beg him to just open his eyes a little to take a picture.

By the end of the day, we decided that we'll come back to Lagoon when Augie is at the youngest 10 and everyone will not be crying over "scary" rides!