We finally went on a family vacation again! It was so much fun.
We stayed in a hotel in Tetonia, ID because it was very inexpensive and also centered between the 2 places that we spent our vacation. Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.
We arrived at the hotel and the guy at the front desk may have been slightly intoxicated. Ok he was very intoxicated. lol. He was very friendly and showed us all kinds of things to do and even his favorite music video. I think he was glad to have company. When we got to our room I found a set of eye lashes laying on the coffee table. I was kind of grossed out a little bit but it did give us a good laugh. We got all settled in and drove to the Bar J Wranglers which is near Jackson for a chuck-wagon dinner and show. It was great. On the way there we saw this construction sign that was flashing "Moose in area next 1 mile use caution" As I was joking about the sign I looked off to the side of the road and there he was! He was huge and beautiful unfortunately there was no time and no place to pull over!
We got to the Bar J Ranch and ordered our food. Went on a horse and buggy ride around the place and then sat down for dinner and entertainment. They were great. Much better than I ever imagined they would be. All I could think was how much my dad and my grandpa would enjoy the show. The ride back to the hotel was very long and a little scary only because we had to go over the Teton Pass in the dark. Talk about a steep mountain.
The next morning we got up and got ready and headed to Yellowstone. We had the Garmin and we also had map quest directions which are very confusing because they don't just give you one street name. You get Hwy 33/Montoya hwy/bridge street. Well, which is it??? So we decided to just use the Garmin. We turned off on to some weird road in the middle of nowhere and T decides to tell us the story of some family that got lost by following the Garmin and they were stuck in a snow storm. The dad decided to get out and go get help and ended up dead. I laughed ha ha yeah right. The Garmin follows satellite and wouldn't get you lost. So I thought. We then turned on to a gravel road and headed in to a Forrest. Not cool. We drove for a few miles before we finally decided we would back track and start over. Even if it meant adding 2 hours to the trip. We managed to get back to the main highway pretty easy and figured out where we were on a real map and headed once again to Yellowstone! Uggg... It was not at all what I had expected. To tell you the truth I am not sure what I expected but I did not expect to just be on a paved road that went through the park. Right away we saw an elk and pulled over to watch her. Next we found the some of the little geysers. They were awesome! It was not really warm outside but you could stand next to the water and get a warm breeze. I really wanted to just hop in. There was just so much to see. We were very fortunate and we saw Elk, Bears, Antelope, Buffalo I think we saw everything except the wolfs. The 2 large elk were right off the side of the road so we got out of the car and walked as close as we could get to them and took photos. They have a park ranger guy that makes sure you do not get to close to them. He was really friendly and so we decided to ask him where the best chances of seeing the wolves would be. He told us that we were not far away just watch for a big group of guys setting with their spotting scopes. If you go and talk to them they will let you look. We did find them and they were really great. They said that they had been watching a pack of wolves for a few days but that day they had only seen one of them and he had gone away about 20 minutes before we arrived. Braydn was a bit bummed.
The following day we decided to just make the bottom loop and go see Old Faithful and then go in to Jackson Hole for the afternoon. We did have a lot of fun walking through the gift shops. We ate at a Mexican restaurant that was actually delicious. I am not much of a Mexican food fan but this place was great. The kids went in to the Ripley s Believe it or Not store and saw some crazy things.
The next morning we got up and headed to Bear World. I LOVED it. We had an appointment to bottle feed the cubs. You are required to check in an hour before feeding time and so once we checked in they offered us the Curator tour. You get on a big truck and they drive through the park. You have a tray of bread which you get to tear in to pieces and when the truck stops the bears will come right to it and you can toss the bread out to them. If you are not tossing it fast enough some of them will sit on their butts and beg. It was great! They have the white elk and there are 2 little white babies. Very strange but very beautiful.
Feeding the babies was not what I thought it would be. The babies would stand on a pallet and you would hold the bottle for them. You were allowed to pet them on the head like a dog but that was it. It was still a really cool experience and each of us found our favorite bear cub. We also went through the petting zoo. That was quite interesting. They have little candy machines set up around the petting zoo which have pellets in them. You put your quarter in and get a hand full of pellets. There was one little goat that made it very difficult to get your pellets. He would see you walk to the machine and he would put his head in the bottom, you would try to push him away so you could turn the nob and he would push you away. You would have to hold the bottom of the machine with one hand and hold the goat out of the way while someone else turned the knob. It was quite comical. They had newborn baby deer, the adult deer, peacocks, a huge pig, and I cant even remember what else. Anyone who knows me knows that I was in heaven being that close to so many animals! I just love them! After that we headed home. Vacation was over. Not quite long enough. Although it was really nice just to have my family for a few days and there really was minimal bickering. I'm ready for the next vacation already!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment