Camping Trip #2 Part 1

Monday, June 30th, we left home packed up and ready for adventure.  Little did we know that our adventure would start off with a puking 2 yr old, just before we got to the East gate of Yellowstone.  I guess yogurt wasn't a great option for breakfast.  A speedy stop on the side of the highway to change her and to clean up her car seat as best we could, delayed us some.  I stopped at the last lodge before the entrance to rinse out her clothes so they could dry and be somewhat cleaner in case we needed them.  There was still a faint smell of regurgitated yogurt in the truck, until we were able to wash her car seat cover by hand at the camp site later.  On to Yellowstone!  Sadly, we didn't see many animals.  A few bison, an elk in velvet sitting in the trees and some Canadian Geese and a few pelicans were pretty much all that we saw.  Oh and lots of oriental tourists!

    We headed south into Teton National Park.  I have always wanted to go to Jackson.  People say it's beautiful, which it is and it's really not that far away when you go through the park.  It's another tourist town, which we are used to having lived in and around Cody, but I just wanted to say I've been there.  I can now cross it off my "bucket list". 

Our first glimpses of the Teton Mountains.

Our pretty girl

 

We stopped at this pull out to let the girls run off some steam.  Still not to our destination but enjoying the view, which was only going to get better, little did we know.

 These pictures don't do these mountains justice.  You drive down the road and the jump out in front of you and keep getting bigger and bigger.  Jenny Lake campground we were told is the place to camp, with a lake at the foot of these mountains you are on the other side of the lake.  It's beautiful and the campground fills up by 10am!  We only rolled into it after 2ish.  We headed to a different one that was also full and then we stopped at a little chapel off the highway to eat.  Jason took the girls down to the lake to try fishing.
     We headed down to the last campground before Jackson, which was okay for one night. We had a quick hotdog supper and headed into Jackson.  We did the tourist thing, walk and look in the shops and head over to the ice cream store for some good, over priced ice cream.

Holding what is left of her ice cream cone.  Love her smile!

Eating our ice cream

There is a main square that is also a park, minus play structures.  At each corner of the square, there are antler arches made completely out of antler sheds.  There are 4 in all and a photo opportunity for every tourist there.
     After walking the main shops, we drove around checking out the rest of the city.  It is a tourist city in the summer and winter with many people coming to ski.  It is a very expensive place to live.  We were hoping to meet some friends that moved there, but we didn't connect via facebook, until we were leaving the next day.  Just another excuse to make another trip.

Eating hot oatmeal after a cool night

After having seen the town, we decided to pack up the next day and drive up to West Yellowstone, Montana.We had driven through once before, but now we wanted to explore some more.  So it was back up through Yellowstone.

 

Megan fell asleep in the truck as we were leisurely driving through and stopping at different stops.  Jason and Katelyn went to a spot with gysers we had not been to before, while I stayed in the truck with sleeping Megan.
    

Stopping to make sandwich wraps in the back of the truck.  Keeping out of the hot sun

     Once we got to West Yellowstone, we drove to Baker's Hole Campground and found a great camping site the had a short path to the Madison River.  It was great.  Close to the bathrooms and plenty of space between sites to spread out away from your neighbors, something all of the Jackson area campgrounds lacked.  They were one right next to each other.  The path from our site led out to the river which had a small dock to sit on.  So quiet and peaceful.

Manitoba beef steaks, corn and fried potatoes,  YES PLEASE!

              Katelyn and Megan picked flowers for the table                                            

Camping Trip #1

     Summer is Here!  As fast as it's flying by already, we have tried to make the most of it by doing some much needed traveling.  Sometimes you just need to get away to recharge the batteries until the next trip.  We bought a bigger, easy set-up tent, 2 queen air mattresses, 2 more sleeping bags for the girls and we are set.

     The first trip was the end of June before my birthday.  We drove up to the Big Horn Mountains east of Powell and attempted the drive up to Paint Rock Lake.  We had a later start since Jason worked till 2.

 

      This drive was at the suggestion of a friend, who said it wasn't a bad drive up there and it was a nice place.  We don't know the Big Horns all that well, so we went with the idea.  After the first half of the drive, maybe 10 miles of some really rough road, we met up with the very remote intersection that led to Paint Rock Lake, another 15 miles!  We decided to try the reservoir which was closer, well that too was a rough road that we didn't see the end of.  We didn't have a good feeling a chose to turn around.  We had told people where we were going to go in case we needed help.  Instead of driving another 15 miles into unknown territory and it was already 6:30pm, we decided to head back down the mountain and camp at one of the camp grounds.  (Maybe another time Jon Henson)  It was during the week, so thankfully, there were not a lot of people and we had a pretty secluded camp site right by the river.

Cow Moose and calf at the far end of the campground

 When we came into the campground and looking for a camp site, we drove up on this cow moose and calf just outside the perimeter of the campground.  Later on that night, thanks to the alertness of Tucker, this same cow and calf walked between our site and the next down to the river.  Katelyn was a little scared but we prayed for safety and Daddy was outside watching just to be sure, and everything was alright.

Bacon sizzling over an open fire by the river

 The rush of the river was a constant noise to get used to, but at the same time relaxing.  There was a path down to a small shallow bank that we could take the girls down to throw rocks, but it was far enough away that they wouldn't fall into the river if they walked to the edge.  They were watched like a hawk and learned very quickly where their boundaries were.

After a very chilly night of sleep, a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits was on the menu.  It warmed up quite a bit during the day, but the nights were really chilly, thankfully we all had a partner to sleep with to keep warm. :)
 
 With being right on the river, fishing was on the agenda of activities for Katelyn and Daddy.

     She had so much fun reeling in the fish.  They were all just babies, but she caught at least a dozen in two days.  We didn't keep any since they were so small, but a hook was put in her and all she wanted to do was go fishing.  

     When it got a little hotter in the day, the girls wanted to cool off.  When you dropped off the bank, there was a pile of rocks in wire, to probably help with erosion protection, and then the shallow spot.  It wasn't very big, but big enough for two pairs of feet.

 

Warming up her legs and feet.  The water was really cold

 Megan is a little bit braver than Katelyn, maybe she hasn't developed her fears of things yet or maybe she is just more trusting.  At any rate, we got Megan to hold a worm from out bait container.  Katelyn wouldn't have any part of that until she saw Megan playing with one.

Daddy told Megan to give the worm a kiss, so she did.  This is what happens when Mommy goes to the bathroom 

 

Not wanting to give the worm a kiss, she opted for a "hug"

Trying to race worms, another Daddy idea

I left to go to the "outhouse" and come back to Megan running to meet me, swinging a worm in her hand like a you would swing a string, with a great big smile on her face.  Some of those worms got pretty stretched out with all the play they had.  When she would hold it and it would get stiff and move, she would want to drop it right away.  So long as it was limp, she was fine.

The next day, we packed up and drove on down the road to Shell Falls.  A tourist spot with a short walking path to view different waterfalls.  A very nice gentleman from Nebraska, asked if he could take our picture with my camera for us.  He did a pretty good job.

Just looking in a tube, not really seeing through it, but doing like big sis.

     It was a great trip.  Fish were caught, marshmallows were roasted and memories were made and caught "on film".  Home for the weekend and then pack up for trip #2.