Yellowstone!

We've been so busy that I'm a bit behind on posting.  On Monday we were in Yellowstone.  We woke up early and started driving while the kids slept-- we definitely wore them out in the Grand Tetons.  For those who have never been, Yellowstone park is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.  The main park is comprised on 142 mile figure-eight-like drive with tons of trails and the like to go off and explore.  Brian and I worried that we had not planned for enough time in the park, so we started early.  We drove by the huge Yellowstone Lake in the morning as the fog lifted, and, of course, Reid woke up first!  We discussed with a Ranger the best way to make use of our day at the ranger station early.  He gave us the hints on where to stop and what to skip.  We enjoyed a couple of great waterfalls, massive roiling mud pits, sulfur venting and belching earth. 

We then hit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with a huge beautiful waterfall, and steep canyon sides.  The visitor's center here was a great museum about the volcanic activity, or caldera, which creates Yellowstone's cool features. 

Then there were the geysers! And did we mention the animals: bears, bison, a moose, bald eagles, and more.

The vistas were stunning, and so commonplace, that the kids started to say, "another vista...great.", without enthusiasm!

Our long and eventful day ended with a last minute, poorly thought out decision, by Brian and I.  We decided we wanted to leave the park, and start to make our way to Montana, because our planning and paid for campsite was on the other side of this huge park.  We should have taken note that this particular park exit road had almost no RVs, an ominous sign, even though they are ubiquitous in these western national parks.  It turned out that we had inadvertently stumbled on to one of the top scenic byways in the world, known as Beartooth Highway.  This is closed in the winter, which means it just opened five weeks before.  It turned out that this crazy, windy, nail-biting, mountain pass was likely the most notable part of our trip for Brian and I.  The RV's engine groaned as we got to the one of the highest paved roads in North America at 10,947 feet!  There were 30 foot snow banks at the top!  In June! And again, some really great vistas.  We had, wrongly, assumed that 69 mile stretch of road would take us about an hour and a half.  As we realized the choice we made, and learned that this road was in numerous travel books we had brought along for our trip, we discovered that people were to expect 2-3 hours in a CAR.  Our RV took us over 4 hours.  We had to put the kids to sleep while driving-- which was not in our initial game plan, and luckily found a state park campground on the other side of this crazy pass.  We enjoyed a quick beverage to calm our nerves and all crashed out after this long and nutty day! The pictures do NOT do this justice, but here are a couple.