Yellowstone

While we were in Idaho we took a day trip up to Yellowstone. (Or Hannah Montana as Zack's been calling it). I am not the best judge of time and space and didn't take into account how much time it takes to get in and out of a vehicle and how slow the driving is, so as usual, we didn't have enough time to see everything I thought we could. We still had a good time. It just means we'll have to go back again and I am fine with that.

We decided to stop first at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Fortunately for us they had the biggest grizzly bear out for our viewing pleasure. He was amazing.
Back in the day, when I was much braver/stupider and I lived in Jackson I really wanted to see a bear in real life. Every hike, I hoped to come across one. All this was before I had kids and became completely paranoid and before I watched the movie Grizzly Man . Ok, and it was also just flat out nuts--bears can kill you. (This little fact added a little anxiety to the previous camp out as there were bears in the area and I was having visions of one coming down from the mountain to our little lake where the kids were playing. I have a tendency to worry but when my dad gave us a walkie talkie and gun that night...let's just say I was glad we weren't sleeping in a tent.) Anyway it was great to see a bear at a safe distance.
According to Zack's map we were looking at the bears. Thank goodness for maps.
"OK kids, nobody look at me." Perfect!
Once the pressure was off for seeing bears and wolves we went into the park. I was the best animal spotter in our car and we saw the usual: elk, deer and bison but no bears or wolves.

Our first stop was at the Artist Paint Pots. Pulling in the parking lot, I remembered something: there is a lot of steam and heat at the paint pots which equals danger. So I reminded the kids to make sure to stay on the boardwalk. Worried that they wouldn't understand the importance of staying on the boardwalk, I informed them that people have stepped off and been boiled to death. That got Zack & Haylee's attention, so much so that they were overly cautious walking a little too slowly on the boardwalk, and repeating: "I don't like this place." Then we got to the orange colored water which Haylee decided was the melted skin from the people who didn't stay on the boardwalk and died the greusome death where apparently you not only boil but melt and then your orange skin stays behind to remind all the other people too stay on the path. Hey, they stayed on the path, we'll worry about the emotinal scarring later.

Then it was off to Old Faithful where our impecable timing had us missing the geyser by 30 minutes which meant that we didn't have time to wait for it to go again. Just as we were leaving we witnessed this:
Close enough. Now it was off for Jackson and the Bar J Wranglers. We gave ourselves 2 1/2 hours to get from Old Faithful to Wilson. We drove without stopping and we were still late. This didn't help:
Yes, the moose was licking the road.

Getting the McGarry family together is a difficult task. Getting everyone together and on time is impossible. We at least beat Logan and Wacy and Ashlee and Rob who I don't think had a moose blocking their path of travel. The Bar J is a fun time. We had a chuck wagon dinner and then the Bar J Wranglers performed. They are really talented and funny. Ben wasn't that into it and Zack wanted to go home to sleep but Noah loved it. Here's most of our group all squished together at one table. A special thank you to the stubborn people at the next table who refused to move even though Dad showed you our seating card which clearly showed we had 5 seats at your table. I hope you enjoyed all your elbow room.
We had a fun little vacation even if the drive to and from was less than luxurious. I drove Matt's air conditioned challenged car hoping Dad might be able to fix it. He got it going on Friday night but by the Sunday drive home it wasn't working. Nothing like a hot & sweaty four hour drive, but I made it there and back on just a little over ONE tank of gas. HA! Take that OPEC.