:: yellowstone national park - part 2 ::

Our 2nd day at Yellowstone National Park was even more eventful than the 1st! As we were driving into the park I was telling Danny & the boys how much I wanted to see a bear. I had high hopes but you can't plan these things... 

Here's the map if you want to have a look at the upper loop that we followed. We went from Madison, up to Norris, over to Mammoth Falls, then on to Tower Falls, Canyon & back to Madison. It was a fantastic drive & here are the highlights. 

First off we stopped at Gibbon Falls...

...and the boys used up some energy climbing the rocks.

Then as we were driving onto Mammoth Falls we were held up by a "Wildlife Jam" (a technical term used for when all the tourists stop to look at an animal & create gridlock).

There was a bear just down the embankment from the road! So we got out, had an amazing close up view of a grizzly bear walking around down by the creek digging for food. It was AMAZING! He was totally uninterested by all the people standing there with cameras. Kael learned to say 'bear' & he kept on signing 'more, more'. After about 10 minutes we decided to move on & as we were driving away a ranger was coming down the road to create some order of the chaos.

A beautiful view as we were driving over the ranges. 

We came to Mammoth Hotspring Terraces & did a small drive through them while Kael had a short sleep. 

Then we drove on down to the town & spotted a family of deer. The fawns were so small & I loved their spots!

We went for a short hike up to the terraces.

They were spectacular & quite steamy too.

There was something beautiful about the formation & colours of them. 

After lunch we drove onto the Tower Falls & on the way were held up by another wildlife jam for 2 bears meandering along the river. The ranger here is trying to get the traffic flowing. 

Then we drove over Mount Washburn at 3122m & there was still a lot of snow beside the road.

On the road between Canyon & Norris we spotted a elk from the roadside. These people looked a bit too close & the boys were done for the day so we kept driving.

Nb: We recommend iPads for any parents driving long distances with children. They WILL save your sanity!

Another Bison spotting, this time meandering along the road. 

The next day we were packed up & ready to head off home through the South entrance of the park. Over the 3 days that we were in Yellowstone we had a great opportunity to see pretty much all of the park & its spectacular wildlife, scenery & natural wonders. It was such an amazing experience & worked so well for the stage our family is at. 

A beautiful early morning picture as the sun was rising in the sky over the river.

Another Bison! & this time he was just walking in the middle of the road, totally ignoring the traffic that was carefully driving alongside him. It was great to get such a close up view of one!

We drove home through the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. It had a different feel & look to Yellowstone but the Teton Ranges were just spectacular. 

It was a long day in the car, starting at 7 o'clock & not getting home until 8 o'clock that night. But we had some fun stops along the way to break up the day. Check out our 4th July Festival in Jackson, Wyoming here. 

:: yellowstone national park - part 1 ::

This last weekend we made the grand trek to Yellowstone National Park. This iconic American park was everything & more than we could have imagined. I would have to rate it as one of my favourite parts of our time here. 

We drove all day Friday to reach our campground just 7 miles from the West Entrance to the park. From there we settled in the for the night & were raring to go Saturday morning. 

Heres a link to the main map of the park in case you want to follow along with the photos. We did the bottom loop on our first day, from Madison past the Lake & the canyon, then back to the West Entrance. The boys loved being able the get in & out of the car, spot the wildlife, look at interesting things & have a run, then another rest in the car. 

We stopped in at Madison first off because we thought there was a visitors centre. No centre but there was a huge Bison scratching himself on the picnic tables. I was blown away by the size of it. There is a video at the end to show you a closer look plus some amusing commentary. We were probably a bit close to him considering that they can be quite aggressive but he was very uninterested in the people around. 

We drove past some small geysers on the way to the famous 'Old Faithful' geyser.

The visitors centre had a great kids area explaining how a geyser works & lots of other interactive things.

The entrance to the world famous "Old Faithful". In true Danny & Al fashion we totally fluked being in time for the next eruption of the geyser & only had to wait 30 minutes. They can now predict the eruptions give or take 10 minutes & the occur every 90 minutes or so. 

The boys found their own front row seat.

Old Faithful shot water about 130 feet in the air - impressive! There's a video further down.

Next we headed over to Yellowstone Lake which was beautiful & blue. It also had a few steaming pools  from the active volcano that erupted 640 000 years ago.

Stopping to look at some rapids alongside the road. Kael wanted to go swimming. 

Jamin spotted a flower field so we stopped to let them have a run. It was gorgeous & a lot of fun.

This video makes me laugh.






We made our way past some more Bison.

Then on to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

On the way back out of the park we spotted some deer grazing next to a bridge so we got out to have closer look. They didn't take much notice of us.

Here's a video with a few highlights. The Mud Volcano's were very smelly from the sulphur but rather cool as well.




Check back here for Part 2 of our Yellowstone adventure tomorrow.

+ 4th july fun +

We returned late last night from a very big weekend visiting Yellowstone National Park. More on Yellowstone tomorrow but I thought that today I would share the great 4th of July festival we stumbled upon in Jackson, Wyoming. 

It was lunchtime & we were driving through town, looking for a park for the boys to play in when a bouncy castle was spotted, alongside lots of red, white & blue balloons. The local church was having a celebration for the 4th of July & we joined in. The perfect way to break up a long day of driving!

After the 1st stop at the "Bounce House" we moved onto face painting where balloons were the order of the day.

The boys both got (big) tshirts & joined in the kids games.

They ran their 1st ever 3 Legged Race together.






And Jamin joined in a Tug of War with Kael cheering him on.

Here's the video...





Then they went fishing while we waited for our hot dogs & lemonade. They caught bubbles on the end of their lines.

After an hour of this fun they were both happy to jump back into the truck for a few more hours driving. 4th of July is a lot of fun!

Here's what we did last year.

:: time to pack up ::

The view just up the road from our house - photo by Linda Moes.

The time has come, after many stops, starts & stalls, to pack up our things here in Utah & go home to Australia. I won't bore you with the many details of what should have happened, what was supposed to happen because I think that all that really matters right now is that we are coming home & it is the right time for us. 

I am currently doing one of my favourite jobs, selling things that we no longer need on second hand websites. I love the thrill of feeling like I am getting something back from the money invested. That we really only rented something for a short time, then passed it onto someone else who will value it. Over the past few weeks I have sold beds, a cot, a slide, a trampoline, toys, clothes, an outdoor umbrella, a coffee machine & best of all - a car! The dollar has completely blindsided us while we were over here - we came when it was at 80c & we are leaving when it is over $1.05. Oh dear, not much we can do about that except remember that we are still in the top 5% of the worlds population in terms of wealth. Yep, that seems to always put things in perspective. 

Our plans for the next month include a trip to Yellowstone National Park, packing up & moving out of the house, a super big Yard Sale, then a couple of week trip to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon & Zion National Park in our caravan. Then around the end of the month we will hop on our last international flight with kids under 5 (Danny & I have made a blood oath to each other :) ). Hopefully the tenants will have moved out of our house, otherwise we will be setting up camp at my Mum's for a month or so. She did say that she missed us! 

Danny still has a few trips back to SLC to keep an eye on things in the office here but he will be coming back to his new position at RME in September. 

That's the plan anyway! See what happens in the next few weeks. If I have learnt anything on this adventure it is that flexiblity is the key to sanity.

+ a 1st trip to the movies +

Jamin went on a very special date with Danny on the weekend. He has been hanging out for weeks to see the new Cars movie & the day finally arrived on Sunday. 

They had a great time & he didn't even fall asleep in the theatre! He was quite upset about some other cars wanting to kill Lightening McQueen in the beginning but was relieved that Mater saved the day. 

I was not so happy about how much he enjoyed the movie when he burst into our room at 5 o'clock this morning telling me very excitedly that he had a dream about all the cars from the movie. Hmm...

:: dinosaur museum ::

We opted to stay in Salt Lake City this weekend to do a few more tourist spots that we hadn't gotten to yet. I am finding it hard to believe that we have been here 14 months now & are winding up our adventure. Some parts of me are feeling sad but other parts are very excited to be moving back to our family & the life we have in Australia. We have some very strong connections in Toowoomba, both Danny & I having lived there our whole lives, & there is so much that we love about the town & people in it. Saying that, I am going to miss living at the foot of these amazing mountains!

Back to our weekend!

On Saturday morning we went to Thanksgiving Point & saw the Museum of Ancient Life. It was very impressive. A great mix of information & hands on activities for the kids. Isn't it great when you don't have to follow little kids around a museum saying "Don't touch that" & "Slow down". Well, I might have said that a few times but it was still an awesome morning. 

The kids play area of to the side of the life size Supersaurous & Brontesaurous. They were cool!

Another view of the Supersaurous.

The sand & water play table where you could build dams & canyons then play with the dinousaur's in them.

Build you own dinosaur - I loved this one!

Dinosaur bones to be puzzled together on the ground & then placed up on a huge magnetic wall.

A dinosaur just for climbing on.

Excavation time! - They provided the dinosaur bones & brushes. The kids had to dig them out.

Danny & Kael hanging out in the excavation pit. 

Sorry about the photo quality. We only had Danny's iPhone & it was quite dark. You get the idea anyway... a great morning out!