Campout

The kids camped out last night - just in our backyard but it was as exciting as going camping! Dylan and neighbor, Karina started making plans for their big night out at about 11:00 yesterday morning. They wrote lists for what they would need and an itinerary for the occasion, complete with a craft project! Karina and Ana came over at about 8:00 pm and then the fun began. If I remember right, the night started with a trip to the park, home for cookies and milk, decopauge rocks and then books in the tent. Lyndsi came in to sleep in her own bed at about 10:00 and when I checked on the rest of the kids at 11:30 they were sound asleep! Apparently, Ana had read a chapter of her book that put Karina and Dylan to sleep! Keep in mind, though, that Ana is almost a teenager and the other 2 are still young 'uns! I think I heard movement from outside at about 5:30 this morning. After a quick breakfast, the 3 final campers took a hike in the "desert" and then came in for morning cartoons. All without adult help - except to let us know what they were doing. We'll do it again some time.

And back to .... "ROAD TRIP 2008!" We are on to our last planned big event of the trip. Leaving Spearfish, SD we drove towards Cody, WY where we would spend the night before emabarking on our Yellowstone adventure. I'm in love with Wyoming! Our drive took us up and up and up into the Bighorn Mountains. We drove through beautiful prairies filled with wildflowers and rocky ledges of granite. We stopped at a little campground to stretch our legs and discovered nature at its best. Apparently it had been raining for most of the morning so everything was green and lush. Sibley Lake was a rich copper color and the sky was just turning blue. Pictures don't do it justice! This was one of those drives where you are happy to be alive and everything puts you in a state of awe.

Sibley Lake in the Bighorn Mountains

Cody, Wyoming

Cody reminded me of a classy Omak. The Cody Stampede was in full swing so we felt like we were home! The town is very cute and everyone was in a good mood. Our neighbors at our hotel were biking (motorcycles) from Olympia, WY to their home in Sheridan, WY and had spent one of the previous nights in Okanogan. Small world!

The next day was the scheduled day for Cody's 4th of July parade and we barely made it out of town before the city blocked all the streets! Good thing because we needed all the time we could get in Yellowstone National Park. Our first stop was Old Faithful. We got to the geyser about 15 minutes before he blew and stayed long enough to see him blow again! Old Faithful blows his stop about every 92 minutes or something like that. We walked the boardwalk trails and grabbed a quick snack at Old Faithful Lodge. Though enjoyed Old Faithful, my favorite part of this particular stop was Castle Geyser. As we approached the geyser, we could see spurts of steam and droplets of water puffing from its opening. There was also a large crown sitting on the benches just waiting for more. We continued around the geyser and Lyndsi and I stopped to read a little about it. A posted sign said that it was "possible" that the geyser would erupt between 1:30 and 4:30 that day. Only "possible" because this geyser was not a regular erupter. We continued on the boardwalk and what do you know - that geyser gave us a show! Everyone was oohing and awing and waving and cheering. Like I said, this wasn't a predictable geyser. The other amazing fact about the Castle Geyser is that it can blow water (or whatever the mixture is!) for up to 20 minutes! We watched for several minutes, took some pictures and walked a little further and it was still going! I was excited!

Dylan and Old Faithful

This little guy wanted a snack from Dylan's brown bag! He followed us for several feet and came close enough to get his nose in the bag. He gave up when he realized we weren't going to feed him!

Yellostone River - check out the puffs of steam all the way down the river!

Castle Geyser - what luck!

We drove north from Old Faithful to Mammoth Hot Springs. Along the way we had numerous encounters with the larger wildlife of Yellowstone. Lots of elk and bison and even a wolf! All I saw were some ears poking up from the grass but Steve saw the whole head through the binoculars. Huge head! This made Steve's whole trip!

A fly fisherman was trying his luck about 20 feet away from this elk. They were both watching each other very carefully!

And check out this big guy! He didn't seem to mind the traffic jam he was causing!

Mammoth Hot Springs was a bit disappointing. I seem to remember lots of liquid flowing down several terraces but that's not the case anymore. There are still terraces but no water. At least not enough to flow down the side of the hill. It was still worth the drive but not as exciting as I'd hoped.

We stayed that night on the west side of the park in West Yellowstone. Another cute but overly touristy town. But, we did have the most comfortable sheets in our little family owned hotel! AND they had big, fluffy white towels - better than any I've ever used! The next morning was the 4th of July and we were pretty pleased with ourselves for getting out of town by 8. Pleased until we arrived at a road block outside of Ennis, MT. Look it up on a map and you'll see that there is only one road through town. Guess what! Parade! And they weren't letting anyone through until the parade was over! No exceptions!

What can you do? Enjoy the parade! I felt like this was the perfect way to spend the 4th. We were in the heart of America, in a small town watching a parade. All the kids were dressed for the holiday in red, white and blue and everyone was in the spirit of the event. The parade lasted about 2 hours so we got to know the people sitting around us pretty well! The funny thing was that they were all stranded motorists, too! The locals we did talk to were friendly and appreciative of our willingness to enjoy ourselves.

Despite our delay we still made good time and got to Spokane by about 6:00, tired but happy. The kids were excited to be somewhere familiar and Steve was just happy to have a bed! No fireworks this year but we felt, somehow, that we really didn't need them.