More Pictures From Our Last Day of Vacation

The Great Family Western Adventure - Day 13 or Homeward Bound

The final day of our vacation came all to soon as we arose early in Kansas City for a quick breakfast at the hotel. Today is the only day we actually backtracked over roads that we had traveled before. I honestly did not want this vacation to be over. The kids had been great, the things we saw were amazing, and I felt privileged to have been able to witness the great sites of this country. I really did not know if I would ever get to see some of the things we saw on this trip, but I now want to see even more of this great country. I just do not understand how people can look at these natural wonders and not believe there is a God creating all of this.

As we headed east that morning, we only had one thing on our agenda, other than getting home. We were stopping at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and riding to the top. LeAnn, Abby and I had done this before, but Ian had never been there. Plus St. Louis was approximately half way home, so it was a good place to get out of the car.

When we got to the Arch, Ian announces rather loudly that he has to go to the bathroom...NOW! The Arch is quite big and it does look like it is right there, but believe me, it's not. We walked as fast as we could to get there, since there were no bathrooms between the parking garage and the actual Arch itself. We headed to the nearest entrance only to see a huge line. By this point, Ian is about to relieve himself on the side of the Arch if we didn't do something quick. I explained to a security guard the situation and he suggested we go over to the other entrance since there was no line there. So here Ian and I go, running as best we could to the other entrance leaving LeAnn and Abby behind. Sure enough, there was no line, but as we entered the door, I knew we had a problem. In front of us, going through the security was a young couple with what looked like five kids, three of which were still in strollers. Trying to get all that through the metal detectors was crazy. The thing went off every time one of them went through it. Meanwhile, Ian is jumping up and down at this point. Finally, they get through. Ian immediately flew through the metal detector, while I am still putting all my paraphernalia in the plastic box. Fortunately, Ian didn't set the alarm off because he was gone. I got through as fast as I could and caught up with Ian. Gladly, we made it to the restroom avoiding any major catastrophe.

We bought our tickets to ride the tram up to the top of the Arch. While we waited for our appointed time, we visited the museum and the bookstore. I bought a couple of really cool books about Merriweather Lewis and William Clark. One of which is their diaries from their expedition. Ian got a four decks of cards. It was a buy one get another free deal. Ian collects decks of playing cards. I believe he ended up getting around seven decks on this trip. He was very happy with his purchase.

We then headed over to the line that takes us to the tram up to the top. If you have never been to the Arch, you ride a tram to the top. Each car looks like a futuristic egg and holds five people. It is very cramped, and Ian wasn't too sure of it. Of course, the rest of us had ridden to the top of the Arch before. But Ian quickly decided it was safe and thus okay to proceed. At the top, there is a narrow hall that has several windows on each side. The eastern side overlooks the Mississippi River and into Illinois. The western side overlooks downtown St. Louis. You get great views of Busch Stadium and the skyline. If you stand perfectly still, you can feel the Arch swaying a little bit. Especially in the tram is coming up to the top. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the experience. We then grabbed our egg down to the bottom, made quick bathroom trips and headed back to the car. Once we got to the car, I was reminded that we were beginning our last leg of the trip.

We traveled south to Caruthersville, Missouri and then headed east again, across the Mississippi River and back into Tennessee. An hour later, we were pulling into our driveway, and the Great Family Western Adventure was officially over. And it truly was an adventure.

Thank each of you for patiently reading all of these post about our trip. I hope it wasn't to boring for you. But each day was so different and amazing that we didn't want to leave anything out and wish that each of you could have experienced it with us. A big thank you to Jon and Megan for joining us for our first weekend. It was really great to see you and spend time with you like that. This was a special trip for our family and we can't wait to hit the road again for another adventure. Not sure when or where that will be, but we will definitely let you know all about it.

More Pictures From Days 11 and 12

The Great Family Western Adventure - Days 11 and 12 or Man, This Country is Really Big!

I thought I would combine these two days since they were pretty much travel days. And honestly, nothing much happened on day twelve. Not even any decent pictures.

On day eleven, we woke with a little sadness. We definitely were not ready to leave Yellowstone and head home. But the vacation days were running out, not to mention the money. We got up early again and finished packing the car. We went over to the general store next door and got some breakfast for the road, gassed up the car, and headed south. Today, we would drive through the Grand Tetons National Park and visit Jackson Hole, Wyoming before ending the long day in Boulder, Colorado.

We headed south and left Yellowstone through the southern entrance. When you leave the park in this direction, you immediately enter the Grand Tetons National Park. The Grand Teton mountain range is amazing and beautiful. You get right up next to them as they dive down into the various lakes that come right up to their base. Every angle is beautiful. We made several stops along the way to take pictures and just take the view in. My favorite place is Jenny Lake and I could have set there and stared all day. We stopped at the visitor center and bought a few T-shirts.

We then headed down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. From Jackson, TN to Jackson, WY was very cool. Jackson Hole is really a ski resort town so during the summer, I didn't expect it to be very busy. But the place was hopping. The downtown surrounds a town square. The town square is entered through arches that were made from antlers of deer, elk, and moose. It is very cool place. We stopped here and got some more T-Shirts and drove through a Wendy's to head south towards Colorado.

Wyoming is very beautiful and has many different types of landscapes. As we traveled to the southern most part of the state we traveled in a flat area that was nestled between two snow-capped mountain ranges. It was a long way to the interstate but it was a straight shot. We finally made it to the interstate and turned east toward home. As we did, we entered a new terrain. It was very much like those old western movies when the cowboys travel out into the desert. Another great things that we got to examine. We stopped in Laramie, Wyoming to have dinner before heading south into Colorado.

We finally made into Colorado and on into Boulder. We got in very late and it was the only time the entire trip that I was ready to get out of the car. It was exhausting, and we were homesick for Yellowstone.

Day twelve was nothing more than travel. We slept in just a little since we all were so tired. But we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then loaded up the car and headed out. We traveled through Denver and out in to the Great Plains. We traveled across Kansas and back into Missouri before making it to Kansas City to spend the night. It wasn't a bad day at all. But it was just driving across the flat plains of Kansas. Not really much to talk about.

The next day is our last day of this great adventure and the destination is home. At this point, I am just ready to be home and to get this driving done. But we have one last adventure to do before we get home.

More Old Faithful Inn Pictures

The Old Faithful Inn

Before we leave Yellowstone, and head back home. I thought I would post some pictures of the Old Faithful Inn. This is an amazing hotel. You can feel the history as soon as you walk into the lobby. It was indeed a huge privilege to stay at this hotel. I am so thankful that I had this opportunity and I got to share it with my family. LeAnn took some incredible pictures of the Inn, and I hope you enjoy.

More Pictures From Our Last Day in Yellowstone

The Great Family Western Adventure - Day 10 or Mammoth Doesn't Necessarily Mean Impressive

On day 10 we woke to rain. This was the first and only day that it really rained on us the entire trip. So no one was really complaining about it, but I was worried that it might be really cold and that just wouldn't be cool. This day was also our last day in Yellowstone, and honestly, I just wasn't ready to leave yet. I don't believe that I was the only one either. Today's agenda included a trip to the northern part of the park to see the Mammoth Hot Springs and travel on up to the northern entrance and Gardner, Montana. The northern entrance was the original entrance to the park and you drive through the Roosevelt Arch, which is located at the spot that President Theodore Roosevelt officially opened the park.

So after another great breakfast in the dining room, we hit the road toward Mammoth Hot Springs. Along the way you pass several interesting natural wonders. One spot is a very tight and windy part of the road that you travel along the edge of steep cliffs and these huge round boulders. Another spot is called Roaring Mountain. This is a a spot where many heating vents are located along the side of a mountain. The heating vents make a roaring sound...hence, the name Roaring Mountain.

Mammoth Hot Springs is hard to describe. It is a huge mountain that has hundreds of hot springs. These springs constantly are overflowing their edges and the off flow carry deposits of this mineral which cause the springs to grow in height and width. The hot springs have formed these beautiful terraces that grow on top of each other, basically making their own mountain. The activity at the hot springs is determined by water levels underground. Apparently, while we were there, the water level was very low. There were only a few of the springs that were active at that time, and some had dried up. Which, of course, was a little disappointing. I had envisioned this beautiful mountain of hot springs with water flowing over terraces. But what we got was this white mountain with a few trickles of water in a couple of spots. Oh well, I am sure it is impressive when the underground water levels are high.

We then traveled on to Gardner, Montana and the northern entrance to the park. We had decided to have lunch there on this day. On the way, we got a huge treat. Along the side of the road, we had the opportunity to watch about fifty big horn sheep run and jump along the side of a mountain. The majority of this mountain side was really a cliff. But it was amazing to watch these big horn sheep run and jump across these rocky slopes. We were sure some of them would fall. Then they made it to top and stood at the edge of the mountain looking down at us as to say, "What are you looking at?"

We then traveled into Montana, through the Roosevelt Arch and into Gardner. Now the arch is absolutely beautiful. But the town basically has grown right up next to it, which is kind of sad that someone allowed that to happen. Also, Gardner is not really the type of town that you want to be walking around at night in either. It is your basic small isolated western town, that has a lot of the old cowboy attitude still in it. We did each lunch there a one of the local diners. It was decent. But while there, Ian, for some reason, got his "tickle box" turned over. I can't remember exactly what started the laughing, but he was quite entertaining. By the end of it, he basically had the entire diner laughing at him.

We then headed back into Yellowstone. Of course, stopped and took many pictures of the arch and the Entering Yellowstone sign as well. We then decided to travel over to the western entrance and West Yellowstone, Montana. It was a long drive and it was raining again. But we did get to see some of the park we normally would not have seen. Once we got to West Yellowstone, we discovered that we were only five miles from Idaho. So you know what we did, don't you? We went to Idaho, crossing the Continental Divide again! From what I could tell, Idaho is a nice state. It was getting late, so we headed back to the Old Faithful Inn for our last night in the park.

We had dinner reservations at the Inn's dining room. This is the only night we ate here for dinner and reservations were required. Now, I will have to say this is the only part of our time in Yellowstone that I was really disappointed and put out. Our reservations were late at 9:15pm. We were not seated until 10:00pm. We didn't get our food until 11:00pm. No lie. There really was no excuse for this, as there were empty tables in the dining room. By the time we got our food, Abby was not feeling well and went back to the room without eating. Of course, we had done a lot during the day and not getting food until that late probably didn't help her. Howerver, the food was really good, and our waiter was good also. He did take our order soon after we were seated. So I don't think it was his fault we didn't get our food until 11:00. But it was very irritating. We were the last guest to leave the dining hall. So if you ever go to Yellowstone, and decide to eat here for dinner, make your reservations early.

We went back to the room...LeAnn had already gone to the room to check on Abby. We packed the rest of our stuff up. Took our showers and loaded up some of the luggage into the car. Then settled in for our last night at the Inn.

The Great Family Western Adventure - Day 9 or Where Did All of These Rotten Eggs Come From?

Our third day in Yellowstone was Geyser Basin day. We got up early again and had another great breakfast in the Inn's dining room. We headed north to Norris Geyser Basin. Norris is the home to the world's highest erupting geyser, Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat's major eruptions climb to a height of over 400 feet. Of course, it has been several years since it's last eruption, but it does give a good show while continuously having smaller eruptions. There were so many geysers, mudpots, steam vents, and hot springs at Norris, there is no way to count them all. And it does take a while to visit all of them. We spent a good chunk of the morning here and really had a great time. Of course the sulfur smell was everywhere. And Ian loved every second of that!

Next we traveled to the Firehole area of the park. This is a one way road that travels along a canyon and the Firehole River. It is absolutely beautiful here we saw two mother elks and their babies resting along the side of the river. It was a very peaceful place another one of my favorite places in the park.

We then traveled to the Lower Geyser Basin, Middle Geyser Basin, and The Upper Geyser Basin, which includes Old Faithful. I won't go into much detail about each basin. They all included beautiful geysers and hot springs. Each area is a little different. The great thing about Yellowstone is that the major roads go very near all the major sights. Also, each location has boardwalks that take you right out to the geysers, hot springs, etc. It makes it very easy with those individuals that have disabilities.

This day was very long, and very tiring. But it was awesome as the stars of the park really were on display and didn't disappoint. We spent a lot of time in the Upper Geyser Basin as it is the largest. Granted, it didn't get dark until 9pm so we had plenty of time to see most of it. No, we didn't see all of it. But we did get a very special treat. We were lucky enough to see Beehive Geyser erupt. It was amazing. This geyser shoots up through a very small cone that looks like a beehive. The force behind this eruption was overwhelming. Plus the boardwalk goes right up next to the geyser. Very cool experience.

We grabbed a quick bite at the Old Faithful Lodge and was able to watch Old Faithful erupt again. A perfect ending to a amazing day.

More Pictures From Our Second Day in Yellowstone