On the Road Days 5-8, Yellowstone National Park!! Yee-haw

One big chunk of our family vacation was to meet up with Tony's mom and her family in  Yellowstone to camp for three days for our family reunion. It turned out to be lots of fun (very cold nights, which I thought we were prepared for, but tent camping is colder than you think). We ate lots of great food, saw lots of beautiful scenery that you can't find anywhere else in the world, saw lots of wildlife like grizzly momma with two cubs, black bear, buffalo, lots of elk, a baby coyote and deer. It was an awesome trip, and the kids were awesome campers and awesome travelers for our entire week long vacation! I'm so impressed by them. 

We got to hang out with our cool family and just simply have a wonderful time. We were told when we first checked into our campground that there are a couple of resident grizzly bears that frequent the campground, but have never been aggressive as of yet, but to just be aware and keep your food, etc. put away. Luckily we never saw the grizzlies that close and they never came through our campsite. Only some elk did and a family of moose came to the outskirts of the camp, but no grizzlies (though I stayed awake probably longer than everyone in the family listening for animal sounds outside our tent.)

Since there are so many pictures for this post, they basically tell the story of our adventures. The family got an awesome reunion t-shirt designed by Tony's Aunt Patty. So you'll see that too when everyone is wearing the same shirt. I'll add some little blurbs here and there to make a note of something, but otherwise, come along with us on our journey to Yellowstone National Park - most unique and beautiful place there is. :)

Judd was so excited to sit by his Great Uncle Gene, who sings and plays the guitar. He was amazed by him, cause he wants to be a singing cowboy too.

Gene and his daughters sing (the boys wanted to be right in the middle of it.)

North Yellowstone is beautiful mountains covered in every inch of wildflowers! You could smell them through your air vents.

The black bear we saw. Judd said it was Yogi

Mammoth Hot Springs

Our picnic in North West Yellowstone!

Our picnic friends, the ground squirrels, who were NOT shy.

Look closely and you can see the tail and butt of the baby coyote. He was laying down by a rock and hard to get a picture of his head.

She is my wilderness girl. Though none of us showered for 3 full days and nights, she was by far the filthiest of us all. She was rolling in the dirt and eating it. Definitely not afraid of the outdoors.

The first view of the Tetons as we left Yellowstone on our final day. SOOOO beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Famous antler arch in Jackson, WY

 

As we left Yellowstone and Tetons, we made a detour pitstop in Rock Springs, WY (our first home) because we don't know when we will ever get back there and we wanted to show Owen where he was born and our first house, pictured above.

The Motel 8 that we used to run.

The hospital that Owen was born at. They have remodeled it.

 

 

 

 

 

And our old church that had just been built brand new before we left. We never got to go into the sanctuary because it wasn't finished by the time we left.