Back to California

We left the Grand Tetons and drove 6 hours to Grandma's house in Orem, UT.  Uncle Terry, Aunt Alma, and Ken came over for dinner and visiting afterwards.  We had lemon meringue and lemon double cream pie in honor of Jonah's birthday for dessert.  In the morning we showered and had waffles for breakfast before heading on the last leg of the trip!  We had a daunting 12 hour drive back home.  Even though we've driving more than 12 hours plenty of times this particular drive is one of my least favorites and always seems to take forever.  We broke it up into two 6 hour drives by stopping in Las Vegas to have some frozen yogurt with Jaime.    

After the grueling 12 hours we made it home right around 10:25pm.  We were all glad to make it home, although a little sad that vacation was over. Sarah was especially happy to see her bed since she only slept on a real bed once the entire trip!

Le Grand Tetons

The Grand Tetons contain 17 species of carnivores (black and grizzly bears), 3 species of rabbits/hares, 22 species of rodents, 6 species of bats, 4 species of reptiles (none poisonous), 5 species of amphibians, 16 species of fishes, 300+ species of birds, and we did not see a single one of these. Here is what we did see though:

MORE BISON!

Our attempt at a nice picture by the sign ruined by the bright sun.

It was a good trip and the Tetons are beautiful. But my favorite part was getting my hands on some fireworks! I may not ever be able to light them, but they serve as a good souvenir.

Yellowstone National Park

On Wednesday we drove into Yellowstone National Park and saw the sights.

A hot spring near Mammoth

 and a waterfall on the river.

Yellowstone has lots of interesting landscape, very unique.

Norris Geyser Basin.

What we thought of the smell.

Mud pots! These are always one of my favorite parts.

Old Faithful

Having dinner after watching Old Faithful erupt.

A Foggy Day at Glacier

We made it to Glacier National Park today! That was exciting because it was a first for Jonah, Michelle, and I. Unfortunately, the day was overcast and foggy, which made Going-to-the-Sun road more like Drive-into-the-Fog road. However, we still enjoyed our time and saw lots of beautiful things.

Michelle and I in front of the first lake; it was cold, in the 50s.

The fog obscured our view, but also made for some cool pictures.

There were tons of streams in the park with waterfalls, rapids, and colorful rocks.

 The fog cover also provided great diffused lighting which made our water pictures turn out better.

There was also an abundance of beautiful wildflowers in the park.

This was a pool in the river. The water was clear and a beautiful emerald blue, it was amazing!

I stuck my feet in the water, it was cold!

By Lake McDonald on the other side of the park.

On the shore of the lake. The only other disappointing thing was that we didn't see any wildlife. However, overall it was a great day and I would go back.

Theodore Roosevelt likes Bison

Theodore Roosevelt National park was AWESOME! We saw lots incredible wildlife and scenery like the prarie dogs in the praries, or the deer, or the wild horses and the buffalo.

The Badlands are made up of sedimentary rock, shale, and clay. These were all carved out by a river then got their wierd shape when the rain caused more erosion. Since all three of these erode rather easily, the water finds its way through lots of cracks and holes creating the weird shapes and exposing the rocks many layers.

These are the Badlands.

This is some of the wildlife.

There were prarie dogs,

some wild horses,

then we saw a buffalo in the distance.

Then there were more buffalo.

Then there were alot of buffalo.

Then the buffalo got close.

Then the buffalo got too close.