2009 Montana/Yellowstone Vacation--Wildlife/Firestone River Canyon

We decided this would be the perfect time to see Yellowstone since we were finally there in the summertime. It was also the perfect time age-wise. The kids really enjoyed seeing all of the wildlife, scenery, and odd thermal stuff.

We saw LOTS of wildlife. Our first find was a little grizzly bear. We saw 5 other bears over the course of 3 days (luckily none at our campsite!). We saw a few elk, lots of buffalo (I mean bison, Brian would say), a few marmots, piles of prairie dogs (or some similar rodent--way too prevalent at our campsite), and lots of the usual stuff, like birds and chipmunks.
Brian likes it when other people take pictures of flowers (Joel and Alayna), so he thought he'd give it a try. Nice work!

Don't ask me why Brian is sitting there holding sunscreen. Usually I'm begging him to put it on! He must be wrapped up in watching the lovely Firestone River. Our first outing in Yellowstone was to take a side road to see the Firestone River Canyon. It was beautiful and turned out to be Amara's favorite place...or maybe she just wasn't tired out yet!

We all hiked down to the base of the Firestone River Falls...I wouldn't do it again. The rock is all crumbly and you could slide all the way down the hill. I attempted it, holding a video camera and Amara's hand...not such a great idea. Our main goal at Yellowstone was to get off the beaten path and to get away from the crowds. That we did! Doesn't take much, actually. A few steps away from the main trail and you're all alone. I think most people just drive to the next parking lot, get out, take a picture, and hop back in the car again!

2009 Montana/Yellowstone Vacation--Manhattan

After traveling to Montana several times for weddings and winter vacations, we decided quite last minute to go in the summer for a change. Our main reason was to be able to go to a church convention in Manhattan, where Joel and Alayna would be, as well as Vern and Lorene. It was wonderful to feel the same spirit and fellowship even though we hardly knew anyone there.

Joel and Alayna were in charge of the water pourers, which mostly involved keeping a whole bunch of kids calm, collected, and quiet while the servers got the meal on the table. I thought it was great!

It was nice to have a little family time afterwards since we were all pretty busy at convention. We went out for pizza with Vern and Lorene, Joel and Alayna, and friends Nicole and Mike. We kind of had to eat and run since we still had a drive to get to Yellowstone and a campsite to set up.