On Monday morning of our last full week of summer I asked Ben if he'd want to go away that weekend, maybe to Yellowstone. He surprised me by saying yes! So I texted Aunt Sue to see if we could use her cabin (she'd offered before) and she said yes. So in about 15 minutes from the time the idea started we had booked a little family vacation to a beautiful place!
The boys had never been to Yellowstone before, but they were both so excited when we told them. They are such little adventurers- they just know that they love trips and they've loved every place we've taken them in the past. Chase is super into geology and earth science stuff, so I knew he'd love the hot pots and geysers. Hudson loves animals- so we had both their interests covered in one place!
We left Thursday after Ben got off work. The boys did great on the 5 hour road trip and we rolled into the cabin around 10 pm that night. Hudson kept remarking that "this cabin is so toasty!" It is a beautiful, cozy cabin that was the perfect place to relax for a few days. As soon as we got there, Ben was regretting that we didn't have longer to stay.
Friday morning we set off for the park! Neither of us really remembered just how BIG the park is, and how long it can take to get from place to place. The drive is so beautiful the whole time that we didn't mind too much. The kids actually did GREAT considering how much time they were in the car. And usually we hopped in and out of the car frequently, stopping whenever we saw something interesting. We saw three big sites the first day. The first one was the paint pots. The boys LOVED this! It's only a mile hike/walk around them and they marveled at the colors and loved the bubbling mud. They are such a unique experience, and the boys definitely appreciated it!
Then we headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We had to go there, because it's just so beautiful, and Chase really wanted to see a waterfall. We admired it's beauty and took a few photos, and then headed to Old Faithful.
This was really not the most organized, or direct, way to see the park. But we were kind of being spontaneous and just enjoying being together. Old Faithful (or New Faithful, as Hudson calls it) lived up to the hype for the boys- as did the Huckleberry Ice Cream we got in the lodge. We got there at the perfect time and even got to see the Beehive geyser go off- which apparently isn't too frequent. Hudson made the old lady standing next to us chuckle as he (loudly) exclaimed his go-to phrase of "waiting is HARD!" when Old Faithful erupted a whole 4 minutes later than anticipated.
After all this excitement we headed back to the cabin for a low key late afternoon/evening. We've found this works well for us when we travel- busy mornings (our kids are early risers, so we are too by default) and then a chill, relaxing afternoon. The boys and I went on a little walk while Ben worked for awhile and stumbled upon some people we know- my Aunt Karen and Uncle Rick! (They have a cabin in West Yellowstone too, so it's not like it was too random to see them- we just didn't realize they would be there the same weekend we were.) It was fortuitous too, because they lent us some binoculars (that we used the second day to see a bald eagle!) and tickets to the Grizzly Discovery Center, which were also greatly appreciated!
Saturday was busy too! We got an early start and headed towards Yellowstone Lake. It's a long drive, but we saw lots of wild life on the way! We saw many Buffalo- even some swimming across the river- and a few elk. We hiked the Storm Point Trail out by the lake and it was incredible! Such beautiful views and so fun with our little hikers! Hudson won for most improved hiker on this trip, he did great! Ben only carried him for the last little bit. It was while we were out at the lake that we saw a bald eagle, which was thrilling to see in the wild.
We went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which is a really cool place to visit. We got to see the bears up close and see them search for food and interact a little. I am relieved we didn't run into one in the wild- seeing them behind a fence is great for me! Hudson is our bear lover, so we knew he'd love it.
We drove home on Sunday. Usually the boys do really well on road trips, but I think this one had a little more driving than we anticipated (with all the driving we did around the park while we were there). Within twenty minutes they were asking "are we there yet?" So the drive home felt...long. But it was still worth it! It was such a great, albeit short, vacation! I'm so glad we did it! I feel so blessed this year, we've taken several trips with the kids, and thanks to such generous family and friends, never paid for a hotel. It has made all this travel possible for us and I'm so so grateful for it! We've had amazing adventures with these boys and made great memories with them.
Seriously, soooo much driving at Yellowstone! I'm excited to take my kids there in a few years; I said we could go when Carma is 6-8 (I'm not as brave as you are!). I'm glad you squeezed in this end of summer trip!!
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