Yellowstone Part III

Thanks for staying tuned... Here is the last batch of pics from our adventure out West. The next stop we made after Yellowstone was the Teton Mountains. They quickly became one of my favorite land features I have ever seen. Case in point, the pic below.

This is the view of the Teton Mountains across Jackson Lake from our campground.We stayed at the Colter Bay Campground. The weather was beautiful except for scattered thunderstorms that were incredible. Gusts up to 65 mph took out the power and blocked roads out of the park one night. We were in a lucky little pocket of protection during that storm, but heard some pretty crazy stories from other people the next morning. 

Fox pups were hiding next to the lodge. The mom kept coming back and feeding them, then leaving to hunt for more food. They were adorable!

The boys on our hike through the mountains.

This photo gives me goosebumps. An old wive's tale says that the specks of light on a photo represent a spirit. It is so fitting that every picture I took of these two at the lake had a light orb on it. Like Grandpa Jim might be watching over them. It may be silly, but I love it.

Off-road biking with the little grizzly. Our nightly walk/bike was down to the lake to watch the sun set over the mountains.

Family pic at the Tetons

Hiking with Mom

Our last hike before heading to Jackson tired Jay out. He was exhausted from all the adventures.

Sean and Mali at the oxbow of the river. (Jay took the picture)

All this camping and driving was exhausting, SO...we took a vacation from our vacation. The Tetons are in the background, a heated pool in the foreground. We met friends Emily and Brian for a great dinner at a brewery in Jackson and spent the rest of the evening planning our next move over some exquisite boxed wine and piles of maps. 

We had such a great time but it was bittersweet as leaving Jackson meant we started heading East again.

The Wind River Range is in the background of this picture. After setting up camp at a horrible, buggy, wet site with no running water, we packed right up and drove to this spot. We were greeted by a friendly man named Randall and his kids, grand-kids, and tiny little Terrier named "Grizzly." 

Jay, the ragamuffin.

This is showing how ridiculous our camping style could be at times. It was SOO different from our canoe trips in the Quetico. After Jay went to bed, we watched Wedding Crashers outside, the Winds on one side and a quaint horse ranch on the other. You can see the TV behind Sean and he's looking at our video baby monitor. We didn't watch TV often, but it was a fun treat that night after a stressful driving day.

Jay and monkey watching TV on another long driving day.

Wyoming is gorgeous.

Hell's Half Acre. It was a huge canyon that the Native Americans would use to hunt bison. They would herd them all toward the canyon and force them to fall to their deaths.

We finally made it to the Black Hills. Since we didn't have reservations, we opted for a KOA. We are completely sold on KOA's (for family camping). The staff is always comically friendly and the facilities are luxurious (for camping). Jay and Sean are trying out the bounce pad. I think Mom and Dad enjoyed it as much as Jay did.

Family pic in front of Crazy Horse. We were very impressed by this, and liked it better than Mount Rushmore. The man who took this picture for us ended up talking to us for 20 minutes about the area, Kevin Costner and the filming of "Dances with Wolves." We have concluded that the people of SD are very proud of that movie. There are props everywhere and everyone knows someone who was involved in the filming.

Family pic at Mount Rushmore

We did the Needles Drive. It was one of the most beautiful drives of our vacation. there are caves you drive through that are only the size of one car so you have to honk before entering to let others know you are coming. Mount Rushmore is in the distance beyond this one.

The Needles

We returned to the Badlands. They are so good, we couldn't stay away! Unfortunately, it was the hottest day. It hit 100 degrees! We got the last electrical site at the campground (thank God for A/C) and a crazy lady tried to take it from us...but the camp host was a gnarly dude who rode his Harley around to check on people. He said she'd have to get past him to take it from us. Good thing we made fast friends with him!

Our little navigator led us back to Wisconsin.

Yellowstone- Part II

My last post described the beginning of of amazing trip West this spring. Here is the next portion of our trip...YELLOWSTONE! It was a crazy adventure filled with animal sightings, incredible views, and even a couple of snowstorms.

Our first campground was Fishing Bridge and every night we walked down to this marina and could see the mountains on the other side of Yellowstone Lake. I wanted so badly to see a grizzly on the other side of the bay, but no such luck. Only bison (which were still amazing) and lots of bison poop.

Two bison and one elk roamed the campground. It was like they were the hired attraction, clocking in every afternoon to entertain the tourists. Although we were thrilled to see the bison so close, the real excitement happened our second night there, when a third bison decided he wanted to hang out also. The originals were not welcoming and a really long, crazy, and laid-back fight ensued. 

Jay was sleeping in the camper so Sean and I grabbed a couple of beers and watched the fight roll out. The two bison began by just letting out these guttural noises, and acted like they couldn't care less about the other one. They faced opposite directions at times and took lots of breaks to just eat grass. Then they stomped their feet and crashed into each other repeatedly. It was amazing to see so much mass and force fighting together. Right after the head butting, the three bison circled a tent (hopefully no one was in it, because I am certain they would have pooped their pants).

They walked around the campground, continuing to threaten each other with the guttural noises and eventually made it to our site. We jumped in the car and I got this picture of the dude literally on the other side of the window. Sean kept telling me to roll my window down for a better picture and I have never sworn so much to make sure he didn't do it for me. A clear picture is not worth a bison horn in my body (in my opinion). The next week was when the man was killed taking a selfie with a bison in Yellowstone...these big guys mean business.  

Mali and Jay hunkered down during a snowstorm. Reason #554 why we are thankful for the camper trailer

We had a lot of rain and cold weather, so after our first night in Yellowstone, I was excited when I woke up in the middle of the night and didn't hear any rain. I thought, "Yay, maybe we will finally have a nice and dry day today." Fast forward to morning. I open the curtains to a land covered in snow, and it was still coming down hard. It was honestly one of the most disheartening moments of the trip. I love snow more than 98% of the general population. But while camping with a baby...not a fan. 

Luckily, after we regrouped and began adventuring through the park, stopping for a dry place for Jay to play in a visitor center, our spirits started lifting. We realized how unique it was to see the park in snow, with steam coming off the bison's backs. We took hikes with lots of layers, raincoats and a huge umbrella. 

Our happy little camper in the cutest raincoat ever.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Family picture during a dry moment. 

There is A LOT of driving involved in Yellowstone, so this was our setup for feeding Jay his meals while driving. It was a lifesaver since it kept him occupied during longer drives and was an easy time to fit in meals. His car seat may have needed a deep clean when we got home, but it was well worth it.

Some steam vents. The park is entirely inside a volcano, so there are so many different landscape features that hint at the volcanic activity while others make it easy to forget we are inside one.

Jay and Sean in front of Old Faithful, just as it was getting started. It was incredible to witness, and we made a lot of jokes about how predictable and ancient it is.

Our little camper realized he could talk into his bucket, which began numerous conversations he had into his bucket.

At Madison, our second campground, Jay and Sean are having some breakfast together. We drank a lot of coffee and had delicious food. The weather was finally perfect.

The Gibbon River wound next to our campground. It was a perfect place to walk around and watch bison roam and fisherman fish.

Since I was unable to spot a grizzly in the park, we drove out to Montana to check out some grizzlies and wolves at a rehab facility.One of the bears is 30 years old, and actually survived in the park for 20 years until she got into some human food and couldn't be trusted as she then got aggressive towards humans. It is incredibly sad how many bears are killed because campers are not careful with food and trash. If a grizzly gets a taste for human food, it changes and can not be trusted around more humans.

The Gateway to Yellowstone. At this overlook we met a group of people looking across the ravine through telescopes. I asked what they were watching and it was a raven's nest filled with babes. They let us look at them through the scopes. Pretty incredible.

NBD. Just some elk chilling in Mammoth.

One of the terraces at Mammoth. This portion of the park was amazing. It was pretty far from our campground, so our visit was short. Next time we will definitely spend a lot more time up there. While we hiked up to the top of the terraces, a storm was brewing and we didn't make it to the top because it started down pouring.

Our last hike in Yellowstone at the Artist's Paintpots on our way to the Tetons. It ended up being our favorite hike. 

The Paint Pots. It was a multi-sensory experience as it smelled strongly of sulfur, was a cool-looking pool of boiling mud, and it made a soothing "blurb"-ing noise. 

Just as we drove out of town, we stopped at LeHardy's Rapids. This was Jay's first lesson on scouting rapids. He did okay, but I would've taken a different route. (Amateur.)