Day Eighteen

[Posted by Sarah] When we woke up on Day Eighteen of our road trip we were all so excited to be going home (see the boys' pics above). We had breakfast at our hotel (the Ramada in Moses Lake had a very nice 2 queen family suite) and we were on the road right at Joshua's morning nap time. He fell asleep after a few refrains of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" although he did only sleep for an hour.

With still another hour and a half to two hours of driving left we all pitched in to entertain. We sang many altered refrains of our own "26 Miles to Missoula" song though instead said "26 miles to ho-ome...." and searched the van for anything novel and safe enough for Joshua to interact with for even just a few minutes.

Before we knew it we were minutes from our house on 85th. We arrived home safe and sound around 2pm to the warm greetings of George as well as Alison and Eli.

Yeah!!! It was a GREAT TRIP but IT'S GREAT TO BE HOME!!

Day Seventeen

[Posted by Sarah] We didn't get on the road today until close to 1pm. We broke our cardinal rule to time the first part of the drive with a Joshua naptime (he had already taken a late morning nap) and it was a bit noisy for a while. But Joshua did finally fall asleep and we made it all the way to Moses Lake, Washington.

The drive from this point onward was very familiar and we even saw our first road signs to Seattle (see pic above).

Tomorrow we would be home!!

Day Sixteen

[Posted by Sarah] Now is the long drive home. By now we knew we had about 3 1/2 hours of actual driving per day for a total of about 5 to 6 hours of time door to door due to stops. About half of that would need to be timed to Joshua's nap (either in the morning or afternoon) and the other half would occur while he was awake and being entertained almost constantly by his brother or the parent in the passenger seat. So that meant we had three days of driving still ahead of us.

Today we went from Livingston, Montana to Missoula, Montana. We had so enjoyed our time in Missoula and we also had a wicker basket of snacks and other supplies we needed to pick up from the homestead. We got a suite at Staybridge Suites and checked in early so we could lounge in the room and swim in the pool - we did plenty of both.

The next day we would try to get back into Washington state....

Day Fifteen - Afternoon

[Posted by Sarah] The afternoon and early evening was to be our last in Yellowstone. Although we didn't have to check out of Grant Village until the morning we had decided to try to get in a couple of hours of driving at Joshua's bedtime. That way our next three days of driving would be relatively short.

We had managed to get reservations for a guided fishing trip on Lake Yellowstone for our last evening in the park. But before we could go fishing we had laundry to do and lunch to eat. So we stopped at Lake Lodge for both.

While at the lodge we found a baby bird who had seemingly tried to fly but was unable to (see pics above). Joshua was pressing his face against the window to try to get a look and Christopher inspecting the baby bird.

After food was eaten and laundry dried and folded we got back into the van to head to Grant Village for a brief rest before our fishing trip. Along the way we saw several male elk (see pics above).

When we arrived at marina for our fishing trip we were informed that there were four-foot waves in the lake due to high winds and they recommended we not take Joshua out on the lake. Christopher was crushed that the whole family couldn't go. But our fishing guide, Mike, proposed we take a very short trip to a protected inlet for some cast fishing. He was very clear that it had not provided good fishing of late but it would avoid the rougher waters of the open lake.

Christopher got to use the same type of reel he had used when fishing at Allen Tartt's camphouse pond a few weeks earlier and so he deftly made several casts. After a bit our guide suggested we try some trolling around another bend and we said yes.

The ride was bumpy but the winds had died down some. Christopher got one bite that got away then landed a lake trout (see pics above). After a bit more trolling with no success we went back to the sheltered cove for a few more casts and then headed into the marina. Christopher even got to drive the boat for a long stretch of the ride back into the dock (see pics above).

We ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches at the benches in front of the small marina store and enjoyed the quiet. Barn swallows had about 15-20 different nests under the eaves of the different marina buildings and we had fun watching them swoop in and out of their nests.

We got back to Grant Village around 9pm and quickly packed up the van. We were on the road at 10pm. We drove carefully up through park having to avoid two different bison who were just walking down the paved road. We also spotted a wolf eating alongside the road after both boys were asleep. The original picture was completely dark but we lightened it a bit so that the wolf (or is it coyote??) is somewhat visible.

We made it to Livingston, Montana around 1am. We left everything in the car except the boys and were asleep the moment we laid down....

Day Fifteen - Morning

[Posted by Sarah] So we awaken to Day 3 in Yellowstone and we have seen one bison. One and only one. And I was on the hook. On the hook because I had reminisced so fondly for so many years about the hundreds of bison Kay and I had seen while in the park 12 years earlier. And so far we had seen....one (you can see his picture in the Day 13 - Afternoon post).

As soon as we all awakened I said we should get in the car as early as possible and head up to Canyon Village for breakfast. This would take us on the southeast part of the Grand Loop through Hayden Valley, the supposed haven for Yellowstone bison.

Luckily everyone was too dazed to protest much and we were on the road around 8:30am (hey, it only took us an hour and a half to get from awake to in the car!!). And not only were the wide open prairies of Hayden Valley beautiful, they were also FULL of bison.

At first we saw one...then another two...then another solo....and as we drove out of the thinning trees there they were. We think we saw two different large herds and in total probably 250 bison. Whew!!! I was off the hook.

As you can see in some of the pictures of the bison the air was often rather smoke-filled. The wildfire we had seen earlier while we stopped at Lake Lodge had flared up again. The inside of the van smelled like a camp fire.

We got to Canyon Village around 11am and went into the lodge to have breakfast. We were one of the last two or three tables served for we had arrived just minutes before the close of the breakfast buffet.

Canyon Village Lodge was likely built in the 50's to 70's so it doesn't have the rustic feel that the lodges at Old Faithful and Lake have but it is less trafficked and has a large lounge area with comfortable chairs as well as a small gift shop. It ended up being a very comfortable way to let Joshua be un-confined and allow each of us do some final shopping at Yellowstone.

We got into the van after breakfast and shopping and headed back the way we came. We had decided to stop at Lake Lodge again, which was on the way back to our room in Grant Village. This would let us do our laundry and have lunch and enjoy the lodge's amazing front porch and view of the lake. Along the way we got a first hand glimpse of the flames from the reignited wild fire (see pic above).

More on our last hours in Yellowstone in the next post....

Day Fourteen - Afternoon

[Posted by Sarah] We decided to take the hike to Mystic Falls after lunch. The falls are a little way northwest of Old Faithful and just off the Grand Loop road south of Madison. When we got out of the cars there was a herd of animals near the parking lot. We think it was a herd of female elk (see pics above). The didn't appear the least bit bothered by the presence of so many humans with several even laying in the grass to rest in the shade.

The hike to the falls started on wooden boardwalks that wound through a number of geothermal features, including the beautifully green-blue Sapphire Pool (see pics above). Beau even managed to get a great video clip of one of the geysers gurgling (play the video above).

The hike continued into the trees and off the boardwalk for about a mile and a half. The falls themselves were absolutely beautiful and Beau took a number of great pictures (see above).

By the time we finished the hike we were all tired and hungry. We headed back to Grant Village but were too late for our dinner reservations and opted for peanut butter and honey sandwiches in our room. It was a fabulous day.

See the next post for our quest to find the bison herds....

Day Fourteen - Morning

[Posted by Sarah] We had breakfast at Grant Village down by the lake. Joshua decided it was time to feed himself with a spoon just like the rest of us (see pics above). He has also switched from his creeping, combat crawl to a full out cross crawl on this trip.

After breakfast we took the relatively short drive west of us to see Old Faithful. We had to wait about 20 minutes before it erupted. It teased us with several gurglings before going into a full blown eruption (see pics above).

We spent most of the day in and around Old Faithful Lodge. This is another of the cool old-style log lodges. The architect built a crow's nest at the very top of the enormously high ceilings. Christopher (and every other child there) was disappointed that he couldn't climb all the way to the top due to damage from a 1959 earthquake but he took some neat pictures of the stairs leading up to it.

We went back to the car after having lunch at the lodge and Christopher carried Joshua in the sling the whole way. A first for the both of them and the pictures are adorable (I think, anyway ;)

See the next post for our hike to Mystic Falls in the afternoon....

Day Thirteen - Afternoon

[Posted by Sarah] I was so excited to return to Yellowstone after having visited in '96 with Kay. I had talked for so many years about the herds of bison we saw that we were looking for them right away. Unfortunately we saw only one the entire day! (see picture above).

We stopped at Lake Lodge around noon before driving on to Grant Village where we were staying. Lake Lodge is one of the old-style log lodges with high ceilings and a huge front porch that looks onto Yellowstone Lake. It ended up being one of our favorite places in the park.

After lunch we crossed the street in front of the lodge and went for a walk down to Yellowstone Lake. That's when we discovered that there was a separate wildfire ongoing within the park not far from the lodge. We took a number of great pictures, several of which show the huge plume of smoke from the fire (see above). Joshua napped in his stroller while we explored.

After a couple of hours we got back in the car and drove to Grant Village and got settled in our room there. It was very tiny and so we would spend most of our time exploring the park the next couple of days (hence the separate morning and afternoon posts for each day).

Tomorrow we go to see Old Faithful...