Picture Tour of Yellowstone

Isaiah, "Dad this isn't that hot, I can stand in it". Dad, "Do you see the pictures posted everywhere??" "Does that boy look happy to you?" - as I pointed out the universal picture of an unhappy boy standing on a geyser.

Welcome to Yellowstone! Now, you should all send me a check, because I am saving you the cost of going to the most beautiful national park in the nation. We decided we would do one last vacation before Isaiah's school started. We left Sunday after church and camped two nights so Isaiah could be home Tuesday night for school to start on Wednesday.

Camping with three kids when the youngest are two and four is either an act of love or an act of insanity. I felt a little bipolar vacillating between the two, but when all is said and done this trip will be one for the great family vacation memories.

The first night was pretty funny. Upon arrival the ranger put the fear of bears into us explaining a single crumb dropped on the ground would spell imminent grizzly doom. Have you seen my house? The inside of our VCR has crumbs in it. Anyways, it was also cold, so at first Julianna wanted to share a sleeping bag with mommy, then Malachi wanted to join daddy, and Isaiah just didn't want to be left out. So picture this, the five of us on a single queen size inflatable mattress. We finally all quiet down for the night probably around 11 (not an easy feat) and then the absurdity of the situation hits me and I can't suppress laughing at the whole thing. Well you can picture the contagiousness of such a laugh. One by one they all fell like dominoes till we all couldn't stop laughing. Fortunately for the Canadians next to us we did. And the bear kept us warm.

Now I decided to not share every picture - there's close to 300, but here's a few of my favorites. This was actually our last stop - to what is called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - to which I have no idea what the name is, maybe Grand Canyon Two. The picture here doesn't do it justice, but imagine something spectacular here.

Where Shelly is standing here is the bottom of a 3/4 mile hike in a 600 foot drop but it places you right at the edge of a massive waterfall - well worth the small hike even with a very happy two year old strapped to your back.

This shot was snapped on our way in. The park is huge and has various parts all miles apart. Each one is worth a visit. Honestly to do the park justice I would recommend three days.

This is called the Devil's thumb. The original settlers were going to go with the name Devil's Turd but changed their mind at the last minute.

Beautiful shot of my wife and little girl overlooking Yellowstone lake. When we were done playing at the lake Julianna and I had gone ahead and got back up the little incline to the car. A man approached me saying I better get my wife and boys back up because there was a bear heading that way. Once I got the news to Shelly you should've have seen how well she sprinted up, and the bear enjoyed Malachi - j/k they all got up in time. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you ask Isaiah, the bear went another way and we didn't get to see it.

Dear.

Geyser basin heat gets to you a little.

Plus sulfur stinks.

Wow, beautiful huh? The geyser/spring things here are amazing and the boys loved them. Malachi wanted to jump in but I was able to stop him.

Okay the first time you see a bison/buffalo (I never figured out the difference) it is pretty cool. They're kind of like cows but only bigger (but the brain is the same size). They go were they want and you just make way, this one being no exception. I must admit after a while I started to get a little impatient with them and would honk at them.

Family at the lake.

Post apocalyptic formation at Mammoth hot springs. What looks like a mountain off in the distance is actually a spring/rock formation only five feet away.

Ahh, my favorite story. So immediately Monday morning Isaiah wanted to go to the gift shop which is fine. Old Faithful was our first stop and we decided to go to the shop before seeing it. I overheard someone say that the geyser was about to go off, but I had this vague memory of it going off every 20 mins. Well it was a pretty vague memory because it's actually only 1 1/2 hours - we ended up catching the last sputtering, and had to be happy with that.

This is at the top of that hike mentioned above and our only full family shot.

Isaiah overlooking the waterfall - very intense I got dizzy being there.

This is where I like to look at it from.

A beautiful spot along the highway.

Isaiah called this steam, Malachi called this fire, and Julinna called this dragon. She might have been influenced by Isaiah's dragon book - the only reading material on the trip.

Close to our campsite. We stayed at Grant Village close to the lake.

Malachi has started a habit of chewing his shirt, I guess it's better than sucking his thumb.

Driving through Idaho, it's very vast with lots of farms - the kind of country that leads people to sin.

Well there you have it, every moment minus the bathroom stops. Those will be next time.