For the week before July 4th we went to Shane's parents' cabin in the Palisades in Idaho. Palisades is an hour east of Idaho Falls (all the way on the east of the state), and about 40 minutes from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Basically, my brain was fried so I was in the mood to do absolutely nothing but relax. It was awesome. We did a lot of that.
Getting there was fun; we broke the drive up into two days, stopping in the TriCities to sleep. That means we had a 4-hour drive the first day, then a 10+-hour drive the second day. I think we figured out we did it in 13 hours on the way out and 11 hours on the way back. We stopped a lot. We needed to make sure Wesley had clean diapers, opportunities to run around, sufficient food, etc. I sat in the back for most of the trip, entertaining him with books and sticker books and electronic toys and crayons and food and 100 other things. I made a list of ideas and by the time we got to Blackfoot, Idaho, baby I was out of ideas. It was a fun trip. Long, but fun, and even funner when it was over. The coolest thing we saw on our long road trip? Wind farms. Wow am I fascinated with wind farms. And once, we saw an ARM of a windmill on a flatbed being transported. Those suckers are huge!
So, yes, we made it, then had a great time relaxing. Wesley was a good sleeper so we got to sleep in several times, plus he napped well. I did projects for Young Women's (my calling at Church), worked on the ward newsletter (my other calling at Church), caught up on blogs, went on nice hilly walks with my father-in-law (breaking a sweat every time!), watched hummingbirds, enjoyed the sunshine, made Shane sandwiches after he helped his dad with stuff around the house (no vacation for him, it seemed!), did dishes by hand, beat everyone at Boggle, stuff like that.
Some pictures:
View from their deck. Wow. They're literally at the top of the hill. I think this is Palisades Reservoir.
One of two hummingbird feeders; hummingbirds are fascinating. They are loud and they suck that sugar water down like nobody's business! My mother-in-law refilled that thing once a day.
Every morning we'd take Wesley outside in his PJs so anyone who wanted to keep sleeping could get used to the idea that Wesley said it was time to wake up. We found lots of fun on the veranda.
Our only real outings included a trip to Yellowstone and the fireworks in Idaho Falls on July 3. For most of trip it was just our family and Shane's folks, but before the 4th, Shane's sister Bonnie, her husband Manny, his daughter Rianna, and their son Evan, all came up. They came to Yellowstone with us and the fireworks.
Yellowstone was cool! I didn't know what to expect; I've never been before. I seriously thought it would be like, um, Arches National Park in Utah (which I also haven't been to), in that it would just be a bunch of rocks. You know, yellow stones. Or something.
We did just southernmost loop, which included stops at Old Faithful, the paint pots, and the Grand Canyon, plus many unscheduled wildlife stops. Some highlights:
Old Faithful was cool. We got there about 20 minutes before she blew, which was opportune. We had time to get a good seat and chill before the action. She faked everyone out a couple times, with small spews of water, then bam! Thar she blows!
(waiting for her to blow: Bonnie, Rianna, Manny, Shane and Wesley)
(Whoa, Dad, what is that thing??)There were some teenier geysers over to our left, and a lot of people were watching them at various times. Luckily we got to see a lot of geyser action. I actually thought the eruption went on for quite awhile. I'd say she was going for at least a minute and a half? Then we had lunch... I seem to recall I was completely starving while waiting for Old Faithful to perform. :-)
Then, we hit the paint pots and mud pots.
Paint pots are basically pools of boiling hot water that are colored by minerals or something in the soil. Very cool. Gorgeous turquoise, for the most part. It smelled like rotten eggs -- very sulfuric. Mud pots are pockets of boiling sand. The entire ground is considered a hazard, so there's a boardwalk system for everyone to walk on. I guess any given spot the soil is very thin and can break, and you'd like slide into boiling water underneath. Or something. Yikes.
(Sorry you can't see the boiling mud all that well!)
(Our cute fam)The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone had some amazing waterfalls. There was an Upper Falls, which we got kinda close to, and a Lower Falls, which was way bigger but we were farther from.
(Upper Falls)
(Lower Falls)
(Look, ma! Yellow stone!)Then, there were the wildlife stops. We saw, in real life:
- Buffalo/bison
- Elk
- Coyotes napping
- Funky birds that made funky noises
- Grizzly bear!
It was funny because out in this ginormous meadow there was this imaginary line where everyone stopped. We learned that there was a Yellowstone ranger or something at that very spot who was basically like, "no one goes a step further." They have to keep the distance, you know? These are wild bears!
More pics:
(Random elk. Where was his family? He has like 17 points on his antlers; very cool.)
(Our family buffalo photo)
(Me trying to be funny... I have a friend who did this with the Eiffel Tower but evidently she can hold her camera more steady than I can)So, as my gift to you, would you like some Yellowstone trivia?
Q. What is the difference between buffalo and bison?
A. Basically, the buffalo we see are in fact bison. The only true buffalo are water buffalo, and there are none of those at Yellowstone.
Q. What is the difference between a wolf and a coyote?
A. Most of the "canine like wild animals" you see at Yellowstone are coyotes. Wolves don't like people so they tend to hide. You can tell the difference side by side by looking at their ears. Coyote ears are pointy; wolf ears are more jagged or rounded. They have a tendency to gnaw on each others' ears, scruffing them up a bit.
I learned all sorts of stuff at Yellowstone!!
More funny photos:
Wesley's at this stage where he is fascinated by stars and flowers. Every time he sees a star or a flower he has to stop and touch it. Including on random people's clothes. So yes, every flower in the meadow he had to touch.
Huge piles of buffalo poo. My goal was to take a picture of the biggest one out there. Wow. I'm glad these piles weren't steaming. The buffalo were long gone by the time we got there.
YES that is an elk in front of our car!!!!! It just walked out right in front of us!
What an adventure!! We were SO TIRED by the time we got back to the cabin. It took all day. And some people only like to drive 45 on the windy rustic roads of Wyoming, so I was annoyed and tired and hungry and frustrated. But we lived to tell the exciting tale.
The fireworks in Idaho Falls were a great show, as well. We had such a nice time with everyone. I'm also glad Wesley at an age where we took him to everything and he behaved well and we made great memories. Yay!
Thanks Gottulas!! We loved visiting! We'll do it again soon.
P.S. We all made it without sunburning. Seattle weather wimps: 1, Brutal Sun: 0!
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