Yellowstone

This might seem unbelievable but, despite living within driving distance of several national parks, Dan and I have never been to most of them. However, in July this year, we got to check Yellowstone off of our "Must Visit" list! We went on a super fun, extra long weekend trip with our friends Mark, Lisa, Dave, and Brooke. Our first stop...The Grand Tetons!

Now, despite my engorged belly (that was really getting bigger every minute of the day...) I was actually very excited to go hiking in Yellowstone...until the Geyser Walk. I'm sure all of you who have been to Yellowstone probably feel that the infamous Geyser Walk is a nice little walk...well, for me, it was a hike. It didn't help that I was not aware of the lack of shade and the fact that we would be out in the sun for 3 hours...it also was not helpful that each of us only brought one little eight ounce water bottle to tide us over. By the end of the walk, the geyser water was looking mighty refreshing...even though it was filled with sulphur and was probably more than 100 degrees. But we saw some very interesting sights, including:

Old Faithful

A hot spring...that is boiling. I did NOT want to drink this...

But this hot spring looked very refreshing...
And this geyser was my favorite...it was the most fun to watch, and exploded for hours on end.

This is the extent of our wildlife viewing...bison (up) and prairie dogs (down). Actually, we spotted a moose as we were leaving the park, but there was no time to stop for a picture. Every bathroom we went into warned us of the dangers of getting too close to the bison...but an entire family of bison was just hanging out by the cars on our way back from the geyser walk...I would have posted the picture of the baby bison but, frankly, it was pretty ugly (and I am hesitant to post pictures of ugly babies on here because I am trying to convince Dan that all babies are cute...). Our goal for the trip was to see a bear...and I would have been content with bear cubs. But no matter how much food we left outside our camper, we didn't see a single one... We camped at a different camp sight every night...and when I say "camped", I mean we slept in the luxury of a wonderful trailer. And, not only did we get the luxury of the trailer, but Dan and I were blessed to sleep in the queen sized bed (for the baby, you know...) while the others crammed themselves into different spots that just did not look comfortable at all. I was surprised that Brooke and Dave never rolled off their bunk. However, despite the comforts of the gigantic bed, Dan still didn't sleep very well...apparently I kept stealing the blanket. It was for the baby...

Almost every night of the trip, we made s'mores...yum. I could go for one right now! At several of the campsites we were taken over by bugs, so we had to make our s'mores quickly...and before it got dark (because the really scary bugs come out after dark). Below, you can see Dave, Mark, and Dan toasting away. We tried several different techniques to make the perfect s'more...specifically focusing on getting the chocolate to melt. We started by placing the graham cracker with chocolate on it on the grill over the coals...this technique worked very well to melt the chocolate (a little TOO well, if you ask me...) but it often burned the cracker a little, as well as a few of our fingers when trying to retrieve it off the grill. After several other failed attempts, I discovered my favorite technique. I call it the "Double Decker"...you take a graham cracker and toasted marshmallow on it...then put some chocolate on that while you work on toasting your second marshmallow, which you then place on top of the chocolate, then top it off with a graham cracker...this way the chocolate melts, but does not get sooooo melty that it drips onto your shoes (or pants, or belly...not that I have any experience with that sort of thing...). Below, you will see a picture of Dan's final attempt at making the ultimate s'more. At first, we were calling it the "Widow Maker", but it's official name now is "The Vacation Ender".

Thanks again Mark and Lisa! What a fun trip!