Yellowstone Trip Day 2

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Our second day of travel led us straight to Yellowstone National Park … and into a 20 minute delay as we waited for this herd of bison to travel wherever they were going.

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It was a big herd and they don’t move very quickly.

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They were all around our car – popping up on each side!  Kevin was very strict about the staying up of windows (except when I wanted a picture) because they were close enough that it was easy to feel tempted to pet one!

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This was our day to focus on the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone.

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Thanks to Old Faithful’s predictability, we knew we had some time, so we started a hike up to an Old Faithful overlook.

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It was chilly when we started and we underestimated the boys’ thirst – should have given them their camelbaks!  But the view from the top was delightful!

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That’s Old Faithful not going off off behind us …

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We tried to time our hike back down the hill so that we would get to Old Faithful when it was about to go off.  However, there was a “+/- 10 minutes” warning on the posted sign.  As we got to the bottom of the trail, it turned so that we couldn’t see the geyser location any more.  I made the boys run just in case the geyser was -10 minutes!  We made it!   This is the beginnings of Old Faithful’s eruption behind Kevin and me …

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She picked up some more power…

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As the crowd was waiting, it seemed that there was an unwritten rule that everyone had to be very quiet.  Rusty didn’t read that rule.  He babbled and babble and gabbed and gabbed.  I believe it was after he said, “I know a trick that gangsters could do …” that I told him to count to 100 in his mind and not use his voice.  That may have gotten a chuckle from the people surrounding us!

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Here she is going full force in this picture with Ricky.  Now all five boys can say they’ve seen Old Faithful erupt!

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We followed the boardwalk around the hot springs area there at Old Faithful area.

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Some of these springs were crystal clear…

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And some were bubbling.  At each one Bobby would point and say, “bath tub!”

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Rusty can always find something to do … even if it is chipping away at a log railing after turning it into a seat.

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Love in Yellowstone!

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In touristy areas, you often find funny signs.  At a pit stop, Kevin and I both took a picture of this particular sign, in our respective bathrooms, to make sure the other saw it.  Bathroom sign picture taking … a sure sign of love!

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Ricky happened to look down at a patch of clover as we were walking by, and spotted himself a 4 leaf clover.  He held on to those leaves for the rest of the day!

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Even in a place as busy as Yellowstone, you can find a quiet place for lunch.  We found these picnic tables and the boys were in heaven exploring while I made lunch.

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Kevin may have needed to answer to the explorer in him as well…

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I sure love adventuring with my men!

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See.  I was loving it!

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After lunch, we stopped at a few more hot spots.

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The colors were dazzling and the smell was stinky.

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And, boys being boys, we had to talk about how scalded and burned they would be if they fell in to on of these hot springs.  Thankfully, there had recently been a story in the news about a man who had fallen in and his body was never recovered.  It made for good fodder for “stay on the trails or else.”

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They really didn’t like the stinky steam though.

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Just one nice picture with all my boys.  That’s all I wanted.  Instead I get Ninja Billy, Nose-picker Bobby, and who knows what’s going on with Tommy.  Good thing that’s how I love them!

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It was a really good day, but a bit long for the Small Fry.  He didn’t nap during any of our driving and all the walking just wore him out.  At our last stop, Kevin hefted him onto his shoulders to speed up our slow parade.  Kevin then called out to me, “He’s gone limp!”

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He wasn’t actually asleep, just very, very relaxed.  Cute little thing!

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And there you go!