next stop: wyoming

i think i have been to wyoming when i was a kid.
at least i think there is a picture of me there with grandparents.
i vaguely recall it.
i remember a horseback ride… a fence… getting teased… and maybe Old Faithful but once we saw it again i don’t think i remember the first time from life experience.  i think i remember a photo.
ANYWAY... we made it to wyoming and it is SO BEAUTIFUL!
we stayed in Colter Bay in Grand Tetons National Park.
Craig found us a little family cabin there.
he also said EVERYTHING in yellowstone was sold out.   every.  single.  thing.
so if you are planning a trip next year… book now.  🙂

so that is a pretty ok view i would say?!
how amazing is that?!
we walked around the harbor and made it to the shore line before we went to dinner that first night.

apparently….my kids are getting tall.

someone else had been there for quite awhile building rock towers all over the shore before we got there.

calves.
that is all.

isn’t it a cute little cabin?  there was electricity, a shower and bathroom and… beds.
that is all we needed.
we slept hard!
then ate breakfast out on the “porch” each morning.
breakfast was cereal or pj&j.
and since craig wakes up before everyone (always) he would get me a coffee when he went to get a newspaper each morning.
vacation is rad.


the kids burned off some energy in Jackson after dinner.
we were looking for a movie theater since it was raining and only 7 PM but nothing decent was playing.
so rock climbing in a park worked out.
then dairy queen for dessert.
ice cream every night is a vacation must.
(except the first night we went to perkins for pie… annie thought it was THE COOLEST restaurant ever)
we went to Yellowstone to see the geysers.
they are….cool.
i guess.
it wasn’t my favorite.
they smell… and they almost all look the same.
i appreciate their uniqueness and that it could all explode into a super volcano (or whatever it’s called) at any moment but i was glad that wasn’t the only thing to do in yellowstone national park.

we pulled off the road for a lunch stop and let the kids run wild.
it was just a picnic table but they figured out how to get to the water.

we decided to try one more hike for the day.
Mount Washburn.
it had rained… there was a bear siting down the road and it was getting close to the end of the day.
so i think because of those things the path was E M P T Y.
and it was awesome.

this was the road down below way on another mountain that every one was looking at the bear and her cub.
it was way up in the tree line on the right by this time.

we were hiking and they were talking and i was very last behind everyone and i yelled “COYOTE!!” just at the same time that they saw the fox right in front of them.
i knew it was a fox.
but coyote is what came out.
and i felt like it was SO LOUD but i don’t think any of them even heard me.
so… moral of the story… you don’t want me in your group in an emergency.

it had a rat and wanted nothing to do with us but to get on its way to eat dinner.
so we moved aside.
poor raggedy thing.
go enjoy your rat.
thank you for leaving my children alone.
goodbye.


and i made them take a portrait with the timer since the path was empty and too gorgeous!
if only lauren had been there!
our christmas cards could be mailed tomorrow.
she is 19, in college and working and couldn’t come this year.
she would have liked all the hiking.
we let her know that she was missed.  🙂