Bill had a short break in between semesters. It was a much needed getaway for our family to spend some time together without distractions. The kids Spring break didn't line up with Bill's so it had to be short and inexpensive. So, we couldn't travel very far because gas prices are just ridiculous. Idaho right now isn't cold enough to do Winter activities, the snow is melting and slushy. But it isn't warm enough yet to do any real outdoors stuff. We finally decided on Yellowstone. The park was open for season on the 15th of April. But from the 16th to the 24th is National Park week and is free entrance into the park. We headed up Friday, got a hotel, just spent the day walking around to the different shops (half of them are still closed) We walked into one shop and was talking with the owner and discovered he was LDS, recently baptized 2 days prior. Crazy, huh? We spent the rest of the night swimming at the hotel. The next day we got up early and headed to the Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center. We cheated a little by paying to see some Grizzly bears and wolves, but it was pretty amazing to see them that close.
We headed into the park on Saturday, I really had low expectation because most of the roads were still closed. Many of the trails were still closed because of high bear activity or the fact that they were still covered in snow. But we packed in 2 full days of stuff. Many of the things I hadn't done before because it was a lot of the little stuff you skip when you only have a day to cover the entire park. We saw a lot of the geysers, hot springs, mud pots...We saw more buffalo than we could count, Elk, coyote, a bald eagle, fox and possibly a wolf. (That is still debatable. It was too far away. haha) We also saw a mini avalanche...we were walking around and thought we heard some loud thunder, when we looked up, it was snow breaking off one of the mountain peaks.
I thought that going to Yellowstone when the park was still covered in snow was going to be a bust but it was wonderful. We didn't have to compete for parking spots. Most of the time we were the only ones at the different places within the park. The best part was at the end of the trip we got to see the upper and lower falls in the park. They were so beautiful. We were the only ones there. Can you imagine being at Yellowstone and not having to share the magnificent views with anyone else? I love being in nature, it rejuvenates my soul, it is so peaceful to me. It builds my testimony of our Heavenly Father and His power and hand in all things.
Rachel wanted to share a funny moment we had at the lower falls, we were getting ready to head back to the car when Bill pulled out his cell phone. He said, "No signal"...I jokingly said, "Nope, the only signal you have is to God." I guess that hit a note with Rachel because she has mentioned it several times and insisted I shared it on my blog.
I didn't have very high expectations of our little family getaway but it ended up being one of the best mini vacations we've had in a long time.
We headed into the park on Saturday, I really had low expectation because most of the roads were still closed. Many of the trails were still closed because of high bear activity or the fact that they were still covered in snow. But we packed in 2 full days of stuff. Many of the things I hadn't done before because it was a lot of the little stuff you skip when you only have a day to cover the entire park. We saw a lot of the geysers, hot springs, mud pots...We saw more buffalo than we could count, Elk, coyote, a bald eagle, fox and possibly a wolf. (That is still debatable. It was too far away. haha) We also saw a mini avalanche...we were walking around and thought we heard some loud thunder, when we looked up, it was snow breaking off one of the mountain peaks.
I thought that going to Yellowstone when the park was still covered in snow was going to be a bust but it was wonderful. We didn't have to compete for parking spots. Most of the time we were the only ones at the different places within the park. The best part was at the end of the trip we got to see the upper and lower falls in the park. They were so beautiful. We were the only ones there. Can you imagine being at Yellowstone and not having to share the magnificent views with anyone else? I love being in nature, it rejuvenates my soul, it is so peaceful to me. It builds my testimony of our Heavenly Father and His power and hand in all things.
Rachel wanted to share a funny moment we had at the lower falls, we were getting ready to head back to the car when Bill pulled out his cell phone. He said, "No signal"...I jokingly said, "Nope, the only signal you have is to God." I guess that hit a note with Rachel because she has mentioned it several times and insisted I shared it on my blog.
I didn't have very high expectations of our little family getaway but it ended up being one of the best mini vacations we've had in a long time.
2 comments:
It looks like you had a wonderful, well deserved get away! I loved all the pictures.
it looks like you guys had a blast! love all the pictures =]
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