This Summer, Part 2

I thought I would continue where I left off....

We went to Old Faithful. They are building a new visitor's center. When it is finished, it will be awesome! They said it will be done next summer. I would love to go back and see it. Alyssa was very impatient while we were waiting for the geyer to errupt. She couldn't understand why it wouldn't go off immediatly. There were also some people sitting by us who were very rude and pushy. She got pushed a couple of times by them and I thought she was going to lose it, but she didn't. So whew... Crisis averted.

When it did finally go off, she loved it. Curtis did too. I think they were amazed at the height the water and steam reached. As for me, I am always thrilled and amazed when I see a geyser erupt. They are so beautiful!

We saw many more examples of the geological wonder that is Yellowstone National Park.

We saw many different kinds of animals in the park. I think Alyssa's favorite was the pelican. We saw lots of those. Although I didn't get a picture of one. Curtis loved the bison. We saw lots of them. At one point we came upon a here crossing the road. Traffic was stopped as the mosied across the road. I think there were several hundred, including many calves. It was a neat experience. We also came upon about 5 elk lying in the shade near a picnic area by the Mammoth Hot Springs visitor center.

Summer fun to be continued...

Our Summer

In the last post I told about the very beginning of our vacation. I fully intended on several other posts about our vacation. It didn't happen and now I have to go back to work officially on Thursday, but realistically tomorrow, so my room is ready. So I will just post a few pictures and give the highlights.

We went to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. We spent part of two days there. We loved it. It is five museums. There is of course the Buffalo Bill Museum with lots of things from his career and life. Then there was the plain Indian museum. That was really great too. There was
also a natural history museum with exhibits about the region. I think that and the Buffalo Bill were my favorite. There was also a firearm museum. There were guns from the 1500's. It was interesting, but not my favorite. I got bored really easy. Guns are not my favorite thing. Finally there was a western art museum, which we skipped. The kids weren't interested and quite frankly, neither were Mike and I.

We went to Lovell, Wyoming on two different days to see my grandma. We only went for short periods of time and did other things around our visits. One of the things we did was to drive up to the Devil's Canyon overlook. I never get tired of that view. It is gorgeous. Wow! It makes me think of my Grandpa Cox. I don't know why, but it does.

After our 5 days in Cody, we headed to Yellowstone Park. We stayed in the park and had a great time. We saw lots of wildlife: deers, buffalo, pronghorns, marmots, etc. We also got to experience the beauty of this wonderful place. The kids did the Jr. Ranger program and got their badges. More on that later.

Alyssa did not like the stinky smells of the gases. In fact she complained about that a lot. All in all we had a great time.

To be continued later.....

Thank you Dr, King!

I admire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for many reasons. His beautiful words, his bravery, and most of all because of him I get the day off. Now I hope you will picture all these fun activities in your mind, because yes, I forgot the camera.

Mike was going to take the kids camping this weekend, but because of the events of last week, they lost that opportunity. We decided that we would take them for a picnic. I got up early, (despite getting up with Alyssa at 2:00 and then again at 2:30. She had an earache.) and made egg salad and chocolate chip cookies, packed up the cooler, showered and got the kids ready. About 10:00 we left for Indian Cove in Joshua Tree National Park. We went to a picnicking area, climbed rocks, hiked around and ate our lunch of egg salad sandwiches (ham for Alyssa), chips, apples, and chocolate chip cookies.

When we finished, we drove into 29 Palms and went to the visitor's center. We came home and took naps. Again, Thank you Dr. King! I think Curtis was the only one who didn't sleep. Mike had a dentist appointment at 4:00 and Alyssa had a ballet class at 4:30. I could sure tell she didn't feel really well. I wouldn't have taken her, but the ballet recital is on January 31st and her class needs as much practice as possible. There are some really undisciplined children, who interrupt and don't listen well at all in this session.

Again I wish I had not forgotten the camera, because I tell you, there would have been great pictures.