The Manchan Family: Vacation Part 5

Our next stop was Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We drove north through Idaho, then east through Montana. Let me just say that I think Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful places in North America that I have been to. On our way to the Old Faithful Inn, we searched for as many different types of animals and birds that we could find. There were lots of bison, elk, and canada geese. On a couple of occasions, we had to stop the car and share the road with the bison that just walk up and down it like a sidewalk. One walked right next to our car, and we could see all of the details of its matted fur. Our hotel was nice and right next to Old Faithful. I have to confess that I never made plans in my life to visit the geyser, but I am so glad that we did. It wasn't different from how I imagined it to be, but it was still impressive. What confounds me is how accurately they can predict when it will erupt. Yellowstone is full of geothermic wonders. The visitors' center is state of the art, and Caden and Vance had fun going on an informational scavenger hunt. Caden even did enough work to earn a Junior Park Ranger badge! Vance lost interest before he earned his. How sad that we only stayed there one night (it was expensive, so one was all we could afford)! We would love to go back and explore all of the trails, etc. On our way out of the park, we stopped for about half an hour so that the boys could play in the snow. They loved doing that! The snow was so deep that Tevye sunk down to his knees, but we didn't know that, because Caden and Vance were so light that they didn't sink down. Tevye would have to pick them up and throw them rather forcefully into the snow in order for them to sink. At the end, they were so wet that the boys were only in shirt and underwear as we drove out of the park.

My mountain men

Old Faithful

"Skunky Skunk" was clearly a highlight of the trip for Vance.

My little scientist.

Caden's self portrait

Snowball fight

Tevye throwing Caden into the snow

Snow angel #1

Snow angel #2

Koepler (sp?) Falls- one of my favorite sites

We stopped in Jackson, Wyoming to explore and eat dinner. Though the restaurant we ate at did not know how to properly cook a well-done stake (everyone probably likes it rare in Jackson), we had fun walking through the shops and a labyrinth. My favorite part was the archways of the central park area. They were made of shed antlers collected by the local Boy Scout troop.