We had an awesome weekend camping with the family in Yellowstone. We stayed at the KOA in West Yellowstone, which despite being very soggy (our site was under water until three days prior) was a great place for us to stay. The girls loved the playground and it was only a few miles to the park entrance. We borrowed a trailer from my husband's parents and the girls were thrilled, they thought it was such an adventure to stay in the trailer. The trailer folded out to be pretty spacious inside and kept us plenty warm and comfortable. The girls slept great through the trip and we cooked up some pretty awesome meals. And by "we", I mean my husband who is the ultimate grill master. I think his finest moment was grilling kabobs to perfection while standing in the rain and holding Ladybug in one arm. He's magic.
The drive itself was long but the girls did great. We kept stocked with snacks, books and movies. Ladybug was best pacified by daddy as she frequently begged "daddy, cuddle! Hold my leg!" So as he drove, he reached one arm back to hold her little leg and making her happy and content once more. My favorite was when they fell asleep mid-action, like when Ladybug fell asleep reading her book and it lay open and covering half of her precious face. Or when Butterfly was drawing on the activity sheets given to her by a park ranger and fell asleep with pencil still in hand. There's a slight possibility that I took as many pictures of them in the car as anything else.
We saw a ton of buffalo! Butterfly would get excited and point them out. Ladybug would moo at them. The best was when several decided to wander across the road and hold up traffic for awhile. A massive buffalo passed in front of a prius and I'm pretty sure the buffalo was so big he could have just stepped over the car. We also saw elk (females only) as well as deer, geese, swans and chipmunks. No moose or bears. :( They were probably hiding from all the tourists.
On the first day, we drove the lower loop. We visited Old Faithful since it's such an icon of the park. I just barely missed one eruption as I waited for Ladybug to finish her nap in the car but we caught up with the family and waited for the next one which was scheduled at 1:31. At 1:44, the geyser began to steam. At 1:48, it finally began to spit some water. At finally at 1:55, the big eruption came and lasted almost ten minutes. Impressive, but not what I'd call faithful. :)
We also stopped at the very smelly mud volcano (bubbly mud, bring your cameras for sure) and the much prettier Beryl Springs. But my favorite for the day was visiting the Lower Falls. We ended up parking in a bad spot and ignorantly chose to hike down to the viewpoint (not recommended, especially if pregnant and with a stroller) but the walk was totally worth it as the falls are magnificent.
On the second day we drove to Mammoth to see the terraces there. I was disappointed that it wasn't as impressive as the iconic pictures I had seen but it was still pretty and fun to find the formations and water pools. Daddy took the girls on a short hike while I lounged for a bit. When we had waited for Old Faithful, Papa joked about throwing clams in to steam and trying to catch them when it erupted. The kids were confused so he explained that the geyser was so hot that it could cook hotdogs. So when daddy took the girls on a walk through the Mammoth Terraces, Butterfly pointed out the steaming pots, asking for hot dogs and chicken nuggets. He told me about it later, confused at what she meant but I think she's pretty genius to remember and put it together.
We also saw the Golden Gate Bridge (and its beautiful waterfall) and stopped at the Norris Basin. We only wandered briefly at Norris since it was getting cold and late in the day but we saw the Emerald Pool and the Steamboat Geyser. While we walked, crows attacked our cooler which was sitting in the back of the truck and actually pecked through the plastic cup holders to get at the remains of our lunch. I showed the cooler to Butterfly and told her what happened and now she tells all birds that they're naughty. :) I wish we could have stayed another day to wander the Lower Basin and see the geysers there and visit places like the Paintpots and Fairy Falls.
Driving around the park is beautiful. I loved seeing the trees and spotting the animals. We noticed repeatedly that the bark was missing on the lower portion of the lodgepole pines and had to do a little sleuthing (mostly for our own entertainment) to find out what was eating it. But evidently the buffalo rub against the bark to help shed their winter coat and that causes the unsightly bare patches on the poor trees.
The weather was not great. The first day was gray and soggy and colder than expected (but then again, I'm pretty sure Yellowstone only has nice weather for about three weeks of the year). The second day started wonderfully with blue skies and sunshine but it got chased off by a storm that lasted through the evening and all night. When we woke up on our last morning, the sun was shining again but it wasn't enough to dry out the four inch deep puddles all over our campsite.
Truly, one of the best parts of the whole trip was just hanging out with cousins through. My girls followed their cousins around the whole time. They especially loved playing in the park and on the swings together. Then on the last morning we were there, Grammy rented a six-passenger bike and everyone took turns going for a ride. My two little girls sat up in front (where there were no pedals for their too-short legs) and squealed and smiled as they rode around the camp.
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