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Vacation with George and Chris, May 28 - June 5, 2009

   Our two grandsons are now 10 ¼ (George Patrick) and 8 ¾ (Christopher Lawrence) so they’re a perfect age for a trip to Yellowstone National Park – young enough to not be jaded and old enough to be amazed and thrilled by natural wonders.  Maybe those qualities will last their whole lives – wouldn’t that be great!  They’re also great friends, being so close in age, so even the downtimes weren’t boring.  This week they’ve had a great time in the coach as well as on our adventures.  They didn’t even argue much, for which we were really grateful.
   We left their home in Meridian, Idaho, Thursday morning, May 28.  It was a day’s trip to Ririe, Idaho, where we had reservations at Heise Hot Springs, a great campground in a beautiful valley west of Yellowstone and the Tetons.  The real thrill was the huge pool and long, high waterslide.  We had their bikes with us too plus we spent a day in Rigby enjoying their dad’s first triathelon race at Rigby Lake on Saturday.

   On Monday, June 1, we headed for West Yellowstone and the park itself.  Right away we saw bison and elk with their babies along the Madison River, so our cameras came out immediately.  We decided to view Old Faithful on the way to our campground at Bay Bridge.  Our first task was to stop at the visitor center, where we got the boys started on their Junior Ranger activity books, and then on to the gift shop where they bought their first souvenirs.  The grand ol’ geiser shot off at 4:52 p.m., within the 10-minute timeframe around the prediction of 4:47.  It was rather cold and drizzly so there was a lot of steam, but that didn’t dampen the boys’ enthusiasm for the eruption.  After Old Faithful we drove to our campground.  The only glitch in the day was that our front slide wouldn’t go out so we were a bit cramped while inside, but we made it work.

   Our first full day took us as far north as Tower Falls by way of Canyon Village.  The boys got about 4 pages of their activity book completed, including a visitor center exhibit (fascinating display of volcanic eruptions and worldwide hotspots – 2/3 of the world’s geisers are in Yellowstone!), a Ranger talk at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (the park was actually named for the river, which was translated from the French, not for the stone), and several wildlife viewings. In Hayden Valley we saw a grizzly who had enjoyed a meal of a calf earlier so was just hanging out in the valley.  The ranger trained her spotter on it all day so we saw him in the morning and then again at about 4:00.  We also saw bison and elk in that valley. At Grand Canyon we saw Osprey and a charge-happy elk, according to the ranger. Later on a hike near Tower Falls, the boys saw chipmunk and squirrels.  Finally, we took a self-guided walk around Mud Volcano area – our favorite was Dragon Mouth, and we ran past the stinky Dragon Cauldron.

   On Wednesday, June 3, we woke to heavy rainfall with the temperature at around 40 degrees.  We stayed cozy for awhile, but then Papa got us going because he wanted more bear viewing.  We headed back to Hayden Valley (no bear but some great elk) and spent some time in Canyon Village and Fishing Bridge for the boys to finish their Jr. Ranger activity packet.  The rain was coming down pretty hard after lunch so we headed home early. 
   On our last day, Thursday, June 4, there was even some sunshine so we made the long drive to Mammoth Hot Springs.  On the way we walked the 1½ mile loop around Norris Geyser Basin.  George was particularly interested in the difference between geysers, mudpots, and steam vents.  Shortly after that stop we had our best wildlife viewing of the week – a grizzly at Swan Lake Flat.  In Mammoth our first priority was to pick up mail (oops – it had been misdirected to another post-office), have lunch, and go to the gift shop.  George had his heart set on buying a robin that demonstrated its real chirp so we decided to do a quicker viewing of the Mammoth Geysers and then head for Canyon Village by way of Tower (the complete loop takes all day so it was a bit much).  George got his robin though.  Priorities are priorities!
   Our drive out of the park on Friday morning took us through Teton Natl. Park, but I think the boys were on overload by then despite some beautiful views of the peaks.  We met our daughter Laura in Pocatello and gave up the boys.  Then we headed back to the coach -- a total of 11 hours on the road.  We had a big surprise the next morning when we woke up to snow blanketing the ground.  We still managed to leave Yellowstone through the east entrance, even though it meant driving over Sylvan Pass in a snow storm.  What an adventure that was!  Just as well that the boys weren't with us for that part. It was a great week, but Nana and Papa were ready for some quiet time alone.