The Wandering Goose :: vol 9 :: Nugget RV Park

Day 6 of our Kansas to Washington trip!

Chapter 1 : The Perfect Drive
Today, my dad and I had what we think was probably the perfect drive.  We have really felt the hand of God on our trip, from when things were going disastrously wrong, to cramming in so much into such a small amount of time, and then to just our feeling of ease and joy on our drive today.  I mean we are on day 6 of this adventure, we are all a very tired, slightly dirty,  quite sick of riding in the cramped truck, and really ready for a long break.  And to tell you the truth, we feel like we are on the home stretch now, which can sometimes make the miles seem longer.

We left out campground around 8am, and usually Willow pipes up for a bathroom break about an hour down the road.  Either she is getting over the novelty of using the trailer toilet, or she was really into the movie they were watching, but she didn't even get out of the car to use the bathroom when we stopped for gas around 10.  And then when she did finally say she had to go, we were 2 miles from a rest area and it was close enough to lunch that we could stop for awhile and eat.  Then we piled back in the car and arrived at our campground by 2:30.  Plenty of time to get it set up, take the dog for a walk, lather the kids in sunscreen and hit the pool.  All before needing to come back and cook dinner for everyone.  It all really felt like perfect timing.

Now there were a few mishaps.  One being Sam.  We left his crate door open again, since he did so well a couple days ago, and really spent the majority of the time in his crate anyway.  However, we didn't get the bikes arranged quite the same way in the back of the truck that limited Sam to the back half of the bed, and about a mile down the road going 60mph, I look in my side mirror and see Sam's butt hanging over the side of the truck.  He had managed to climb over the bikes and on top of the wood pile.  It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen.  And by the time I was able to stop squeaking and pointing and actually say something so dad could pull over, we were on a bridge and had to keep driving until there was finally a shoulder to pull over on.  Sam, of course, didn't know anything was wrong and was quite put out about having to be locked back in his crate again.  I'm just thankful I didn't see Sam falling out of the back of the truck.
Another, not really mishap, but more of a 'Why the heck are we stopping on the hyway? Bear?!? Could it be a bear!?!  Oh, nope.  Just cows...'
 You know you are in Montana when you see cowboys herding cows down the side of the road!  Mooooooo!

Chapter 2 : Our Campsite
We are camping in Saint Regis, MT tonight, at Nugget RV Park.  It is a beautiful campground and we'd like to stay longer, but alas, we have very impatient kids and cousins who are waiting to see each other and (Brendan) "When I see you I'm going to hug you!"  (Jayden) "When I see you I'm going to tackle you!" (Wyatt) "When I see you I'm going to punch you in the face!"  Boy cousins, it just doesn't get much better than that.
Here is our campsite and mountains behind

And I sat down to do some reading this evening and this was my view.  Green trees, big hills, blue skies...I'll take it!  Now, if Papa and I weren't so tired, we'd be sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows.  Unfortunately, my children are still waking up at 6 in the morning and we have another day to spend in the car.  And as co-pilot/navigator/kid-need fulfiller, I have to be wide awake the whole time, so I'm afraid the bonfire is just going to have to wait....

The Wandering Goose :: vol 8 :: Lionshead RV Park(2)

Day 5 of our Kansas to Washington trip!

Chapter 1 : Our Campsite
This park is beeeeeeautiful!  So far, I heart Montana!

 Here are some views from the goose.

And where we are actually parked.  It is so nice to have a grass campsite.

Chapter 2 : Yellowstone
We went back to Yellowstone today to show the kids some neat stuff.  Let's be realistic here, Papa and I went back to see some neat stuff and if the kids thought it was neat, well that was just a bonus!  Since we only had one day, and really just part of one day (Willow needs a nap something fierce), we stuck to the west side of the park where Old Faithful is.  We saw lots and lots of buffalo, way more than yesterday.  Today, instead of a couple here and there, we saw a whole herd of them, with baby buffs and everything.

 Then we ran across these 2 loner buffalo sitting in a dirt patch.

And then one of them started rolling around.

We kept driving into the park and noticed all these cars parked on the side of the road, and while we couldn't see what the heck they were looking at, we pulled over too, because what if it was a bear!
No bear, but it was a few elk with their calves.

We turned into the Fountain Paint Pots Nature Walk.  It is one of the places I remember most from the last time I was here.
Celestine Pool

Silex Spring with the Bacterial Mats

Fountain Paint Pots

Spasm Geyser

Jet Geyser

The kids were way more impressed with everything than I thought.  Now, they didn't want to stay more than 15 seconds looking at anything, but I never heard either of them saying they thought it was stupid.  :)  We piled back in the car and drove to the Mid-Geyser Basin

Finally, we made it to Old Faithful!  And we barely made it in time to watch her go off.  We literally walked up onto the boardwalk and she started shooting.  It was perfect timing because the kids were tired and hot and ready to be done, so I'm so glad we didn't have to wait another hour+ until it went off again.

I couldn't get the kids to sit together, but somehow managed to get one of each of them.

Chapter 3 : The Rodeo
My dad and I took the kids to see a rodeo tonight.  It was only about a mile down the road from our campsite called Old West Yellowstone Rodeo.  It was so much fun.  I'm not sure, but I'm thinking this finally topped the tow truck on Jayden's favorite list for the trip!  It was loud and dirty....we fit right in.  :)

 The rodeo clown posed for me.

 

There were six different events.

Bareback riding

 Breakaway Roping

Barrel Racing

Team Roping

and Bull Riding

By the end of the night, both of the kids wanted to get inside the arena.  They had a kid's calf scramble, that both Jayden and Willow totally wanted to do after they saw what the heck was going on.  Next time!  :)

Tomorrow we get back in the car and head farther north and farther west!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 7 :: Lionshead RV Park

Day 4 of our Kansas to Washington trip!
Today was a big driving day, but it wasn't suppose to be.  Our plan was to get to West Yellowstone, MT which was only 300 miles away.  We left the campground in Sheridan, WY around 8:30 and figured we'd get to our destination around 2.  Turns out, it was more like 5.....Oi....another long day in the car.  Good thing we are taking tomorrow off from driving!

(lots of scenery pictures ahead taken from a moving car....so be warned! the kids are tired, and are not real excited to be in pictures at the moment)
Chapter 1 : Forests and Parks
Today we took the scenic route by choice!  And it led us though so many National Forests and National Parks.  It is definitely the most beautiful drive to date, but holy cow did it take forever!  Mostly because I underestimated the steepness of the mountains we were going to be traveling over.  The truck did great, but we were just kinda slow.
Right out of the gate this morning, we headed into Bighorn National Forest. So, so pretty, but so, so steep and curvy with narrow roads and big cliffs.

Taking a quick bathroom break and a chance to run alongside the road.  The air was so clean and cool.  It was only about 70 degrees when we passed through here.  Papa and I both tried to do our deep breaths for the day, but we started getting light headed and decided we'd better stop or there'd be no one to drive the rest of the way.  :D

Here's our chauffeur!  Dad's driven the whole way so far, he thinks it's easier than having to turn around and do things for the kids all the time.  I tend to agree with him....  The weather was so nice, we drove with our windows down for a big part of it!

After we finally descended out of Bighorn Mountain, we stopped for gas at a place called Dirty Annie's, and we also got the kids some really great milkshakes.  It was only 10 in the morning, but we're on vacation and milkshakes for mid-morning snack is a great idea!  After that stop, we also forgot to lock Sam back up in his crate, but I don't think he minded one bit!

Jayden finally discovers he can see Sam out the back window.

And says, "Ha!  Look at his mouth!"

From here, we traveled into the Shoshone National Forest.  I decided I wanted to come back in about 5 years with the kids and take them river rafting through here, it looked so fun!

And finally into our desired destination, Yellowstone National Park!  On the down side, for time and butt in the seat sake, we entered from the east entrance.  On the bright side, we entered from the east entrance which meant we got to drive through the whole park!  I even pulled the plug on the DVD player to force the kids to look out the windows.  I kinda regretted that like 30 minutes later, when they kept talking to me and asking the same questions over and over like, "Would a bear attack a buffalo?  Why can't I see a bear?  Where are the elk?  I know you said bear eat fish, but would a bear attack a buffalo?  Oh I see a bear!  Nevermind, no bear.  Now, if a bear attacked a buffalo, who would win?"
We saw lots of burned forest trees and regrowth.  If it weren't for these burned trees, I wouldn't of gotten a glimpse of Yellowstone Lake!  Well, at least not until we drove down and around the corner.  :)

We also got our first glimpse of wildlife.  Buffalos!

We thought the buffalo's before were close to the road, but then we ran across this guy!  Grazing right alongside the shoulder!  I could of reached my arm out the window and pretty much petted him!  Dad and I joked about with our luck on this trip, we were surprised that buffalo didn't just take one look at us and ram the trailer!  Now, that would of been funny!  Well, kinda.  Kinda upsetting and kinda funny.  Definitely not funny having to tell Royal.  I guess good thing that didn't happen.  But it was awesome to see him this close!

And our second geyser sighting!  The first ones were on dad's side of the car and it's hard to get a picture out his window.  :)  The kids were upset with how stinky it was.  I decided to withhold the information that tomorrow we are going to be smelling stinky sulfur when we go back to see more natural wonders!

It was a good day in the car.  A bit too long, but the scenery was so nice, I almost didn't mind.  Well, I didn't mind until those mongrels in the back wouldn't leave me alone about "How long till we get there?  5 more miles???  Uhhhhhhh!  I can't take it!"  But we made it and we're here, in West Yellowstone, MT, staying just 1 mile down the road from where we camped when I was 16!  And we've been told there have been bears wandering through our campground in the morning, and you better believe if I see one, I'm so taking a picture!  Think I might hold off on going for a run until later in the day, after I can get some bear spray or something....my luck, I'll spray myself right in the face...