Labor Day

We decided to take a little trip up north for the long weekend and it was much needed.  The last couple of weeks here in the valley have been filled with smoke from all the wildfires burning to our west.  I truly did not think we would ever see another blue sky until that forbidden s word flew (aka snow).  But, we had some good wind (my sister Peggy would say that it is always windy here), which cleared out some smoke and made the weekender just perfect.  After Ben got out of school on Friday we headed out and were excited for a few days away from phones and electronics.

We had a great surprise the first night when we got to meet up with Mom and Spencer for dinner at our favorite pizza place in West, The Gusher.  We were only staying a few blocks from each other (not a hard thing to do in West Yellowstone!) 

And then we went to our “magical cabin”.  We just love Hibernation Station.  It is run by a local family and they are always so good to us.  And it is our version of camping.  (And yes, Ben does have the Kindle, but I only let them play on it at night.  It was not allowed to be on during the day.)

Then up to the park we went.  We absolutely love, love, love Yellowstone.  We try to get there at least once a year and feel cheated if we don’t get there twice.  The Park itself was not too crowded, considering it was a holiday weekend.  But part of that might be because the weather was not the greatest.  On Saturday, it was overcast most of the day, with a few rain showers mixed in.  We got our day’s worth by walking most all of Norris and Old Faithful and Black Sand Basin.  Then a beautiful drive over to the lake where we stayed for two nights in the Lake Lodge Cabins, Frontier style.  They were very rustic…two double beds, one small shower, a sink in the room, a light, no blow dryer, and a buffalo alarm clock.  That’s right, a buffalo alarm clock.  Chad woke us up to look out the window to see a herd of buffalo right outside our cabin.  And it is the rut, you know.  Needless to say, we were trapped inside until they left, which was about a half an hour!  (And of course the camera was in the car!)

The next day we walked the canyon and decided to drive out of the northeast entrance and over to Cody and then back in the park via the east entrance.  That is the most beautiful drive.  We had done it once before but had forgotten how incredibly breathtaking it was.  It is the same path the Nez Pearce took running from Custer…well, I think we did it in reverse order…anyway, what a fun ride for a Sunday drive.

This was how Ben spent most of the at the South Rim of the canyon.  He did not like going near the edge at all!

 

Giant Glacial Boulder that we are pushing over.  Oh yeah, we are THAT strong.

 

This was by the picnic area that we stopped to have lunch at near the northeast entrance.  So pretty, but the river was really muddy.  Not too sure if that was from the rain storms we had the two nights previous or not, but it was fun to find skipping rocks and try our hand at who could make the most skips…Chad won, but I came in at a close second.

 

Part of the road on the Chief Joseph scenic byway.  The switchbacks were incredible.

 

This morning we got up to silence (No buffalo alarm clock!) and drove home via West Thumb, Grand Teton, Jackson Hole and of course square ice cream.  What a fun and exciting trip.