Yellowstone Vacation

We went to Yellowstone for our family Reunion this year (which is Rick's siblings & their families.)

We started out heading to Utah & stayed @ Rick's brother Scott's house so we didn't have to drive so dang far.  On our way to Utah we stopped to get gas or something else :) & McKay was like "is that a Temple?" Ya just walk over there & we'll pick you up.  Well, that was just too much to ask so we went to "TRY" to do normal pictures which took longer than Rick wanted haha!!

When we headed towards Yellowstone we stopped at Rick's cousins house for a break in the trip in what they call the Star Valley.  That was some pretty country where Shirley & Tom live.  On our way past there was Jackson Hole WY.  I got a tad bit teary going through & tried to take a picture of the town sign but didn't get one.  My dad LOVED this place.  He had gone here many summers for Navopache  Electric board meeting (vacation)  He told me that he wanted me to go work at the lodge he stayed at but I opted to stay & help him at Rent a Flik instead.
We stopped at these gorgeous mountains.  These are the Teaton mountains & they are amazing.

We stayed at a place that had 10 cabins with a main cabin with a kitchen & large dining room to the side it had a Bar!! Ya that was funny with Barr & my nephew Ryan.  They would act like bar tenders haha.  Another room had a big tv & a pool table.  So that kept us entertained when not out & about.

We saw every animal here except a dang wolf. 

These sheep are just past the guard rail.  This is not a zoom lens.  That front one was getting a little antsy for me cause he would breathe really heavy so I thought I would move.

There are the most amazing waterfalls you can imagine.  

What a dang cute family I have :)

So old Faithful was so funny.  There are a ton of people around this thing & me being the whole 5' 2" I am I would try to get close & some tall idiot would walk right in front of me haha.  Well, for like 30 minutes it would bubble up like it was going to go off so you would hear click click click of camera's then oh man!!  It got fun.  Some people got tired of waiting & left so I got alot closer YEAH!!!

Kids at old faithful

This whole park is on a volcano & these are some of the hot springs.  Yes people they are Super hot.  Scott (Rick's brother) was telling us a story of some teens came up & thought they weren't that hot & jumped in 3 of the 4 burned to death the 4th made it to the hospital & died!  So stay out :)

What a cute boy he is :)

These buffalo were right on the road so I took a picture from the car.  There were some people that were in the fields with these beasts.  I think those people are CRAZY!!!  They say to stay way far away from them.  By the end of the trip we got so sick of seeing these buffalo.  When you see a car pulled over you stop cause it's usually a cool animal.  Well, we found out it was for stupid buffalo uhg!!

More of the hot springs

 Some are so dang pretty the colors are amazing

 So very excited to see a brown bear with a cub.  That was a zoom lens shot.  The Rangers come out & make sure people stay back!!  We also saw a black bear with 2 cubs but just couldn't get a good shot!

 So one day at these places you had to hike quite a ways so we sent the kids & some of us stayed behind.  Well my Father in law got talking to some people & asked if they had felt how hot the water was.  Well, the lady was like oh i'll try it so Kay did too :)  Well, i'll be honest I did too :)  This was water run off so not the actual spring but still hot like almost boiling hot!!

Dang Rule breakers!! As you can see the little guy behind McKay, Ty (McKay & Barr's buddy) wanted to touch the water too yikes!!

 Barr's turn, they said it was so so hot!!

 Beautiful water falls

There was one waterfall that was AMAZING!!  called the Grand Canyon water fall.  You had to hike down over a mile winding back & forth super steep.  I was like oh dear hope I make it out of here :)  I did & was so worth the hike!!

 Poor Alyssa was getting so disappointed in this trip cause we hadn't seen a moose.  One day we went into Cody to the museum & a sign said moose ahead.  We got all excited but no moose.  Well, after a long day of traveling everywhere on the park we had Ty in our car with us & all of us were getting sleepy & Ty actually fell asleep.  Put our camera's away.  All of a sudden Rick screams & slams on the breaks "MOOSE!!!!"  Ty jumps up everyone dives out of the car.  All of Ricks family behind us stop.  We finally got a picture of a moose.  Alyssa & Tom were getting pretty darn close for my comfort. But it was great to finally see them!!

We put alot of miles on our car & were in the car ALOT!! but this was a really fun vacation.  No TV or internet in most places.  It was cool & sometimes warm there.  It was fun to be with family & play games, pool, cards, spoons.  

Alyssa was having a hard time being away from Cache & her dog & plus the driving was hard.  It was alot of miles for her.  Coming from Texas up to Utah then Yellowstone & driving everywhere on the park was putting a toll on her.  She found a cheap flight out of Salt Lake to Albuquerque the night we were getting back to Utah.  So she booked it & we dropped her off.  Mom was sad but she was excited.  Poor girl's plane kept delaying then luggage didn't make the plane so she finally landed in Albuquerque @ 2am!!  But she made it home ok!!

While on vacation we celebrated Barr's sweet "16" Ya holy cow!!!!  It was fun but had a party before we left so it was all good!!

Happy Happy birthday Barr

Just quick the picture with my Dad was when Barr went to their Pre-pre school cause it just wasn't fair that Alyssa & McKay got to go to school.  Well, it was picture day at regular school so Barr went & told them that he needed his picture taken with his teacher for picture day :)  What a great picture of the 2 :)