Day 6- Hill Family Adventure

Day 6 began by getting to the park just before 7 in the morning. We made our way up to Mammoth Hot Springs. First things first, we had to swear in our Junior Rangers. We could have done this the second day because of how fast they filled in their booklets.

Afterwards, we met Park Ranger, Kaluna who reminded us of Miss Anna.

She had us awaken our senses and passed out paint chips and close our eyes and sniff the air. We toured the Upper Terrace.

 Our favorite was a newly formed terrace that began 7 years ago.










The Lower Terrace with Liberty Cap, Devil's Thumb and Palette Terrace were beautiful. We sat down and sketched out our interpretations.

Lunch was wonderful at the historic Mammoth Dining room. I had a bison burger salad and Stephen had an amazing Chicken Sandwich with goat cheese and red bell pepper aioli.

Next we changed clothes and headed down to the Boiling River. We walked about 1/2 a mile to arrive at a spot in the river where the hot spring flowed into the river. Evidentially the elk liked that spot as well.

They were not afraid of us at all. What I was afraid of was the thunderstorm building and Stephen's feet. The rest of us had some sort of River shoes but Stephen didn't.

I waded up the river, got out, walked around the hot spring to get his shoes so he didn't have to walk back down the river. By the time I got to his shoes it began to rain. The kids joined me and Stephen and I had a miscommunication. He thought I took his stuff with me and headed back but I had left them there for him and he didn't see them.

We walked back to the car in the hail and we got almost back to the trailhead where we waited under the protection of some trees. Stephen met us with no shoes in hand....let's skip the rest and laugh about it later.

We drove back down to Norris Geyser Basin next. Of them all, Norris is probably the best, especially Porcelain Basin. So beautiful and expansive. We saw our first geyser blow. Vixen was a little one but a rare one to see.

Vixen Geyser

Steamboat Geyser is the biggest in the park, but isn't on a schedule.

Again we were dodging the rain and we did both the Porcelain and Back Basin just before the rain began.  We also made a very quick stop at Gibbon Falls.

Back in West Yellowstone we grabbed some trout and made an incredible Pistachio/Parmesean Crusted Trout for dinner.

Kids were worn out and passed out quick! Another great day, mostly.


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Day 5- Hill Family Adventure

Today was going place day. We jumped in the car and didn't tell the kids where we were headed. We drove 65 miles north and found Montana Whitewater.

We zip-lined for 2 hours, had lunch and then rafted the Gallatin River. Zipping was fun but not as fun as the one we had done in Costa Rica but better than last year.

I was very apprehensive about the river. I was worried about it being too cold. We also didn't prepare well in being a change of clothes or a towel. I had dresses them in clothes that would go from cold weather to warm and then dry fast, but I failed at preparing otherwise which made my attitude a little sour. For that, I am sorry.

But all is well that ends well. We finished the day at a great restaurant in Big Sky-Riverside Grill-that had a huge "backyard." We sat in the sunshine and dried off a bit more.

Back at home we showered, did laundry and finished our day off with drinks on the porch.

So ready to explore Yellowstone more tomorrow and get in more hiking.

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Day 4- Hill Family Adventure

I was so excited for this day to astart, I just couldn't sleep. Granted, we are still on Central time but God was nudging me to spend time with Him.

I was up by about 5:30 MT. I knew what we would probably see today and I was searching the Psalms. I just couldn't get a choral version of Psalm 8 out of my head. So, I began my day. No need for more sleep.

After a hearty breakfast for the men of bacon, eggs and biscuits, we headed to Lamar Valley hoping to see a bison or two. Well, I guess we saw a hundred or two instead! It was mating season so the dancing and grunting was in full effect.

From here we headed to the Canyon area and took a hike with Park Ranger Laura. It was a 3 mile hike ending along the Yellowstone River but the first half we stopped so much and walked so slow, it left much to be desired.

Clear Lake

Lodgepole Pine

Afterward we went to Artist Point of the Lower Falls and sketched and drew. What was amazing were our different perspectives. We had several people taking our pics and commenting on our drawings.

Lower Falls, Artist's Point

Upper Falls

We went to the Northern rim afterward and had a quick lunch and hiked 600 ft. Down to the Brink of the Lower Falls. (I find that one much more fascinating!)

Brink of Lower Falls

Next we headed to Tower Falls and the Petrified tree.

Along the way we saw all these cars backed up the other way. Come to find out it was a Black Bear.  However we couldn't see him.  We passed the cars and did a 180 to see if we could see him.  As we got close, he was nowhere to be seen.  Then out of nowhere, he popped up not but 4-5 feet from our car window.  

Tower Falls was pretty unspectacular after the morning and seeing the spires in the Black Hills but there was still some spectacular geological carvings!

Tower Falls

Petrified tree

We got a preview of Mammoth and made a plan for the rest of the week.

 We got stuck in construction traffic and got a little tired of being in the car, so Stephen decides we should stop at a random side spring, Apollonopilis Spring. Everything was great until Kendrick stuck one shoe into the pond....algae and wet shoe for the rest of the day.

To finish the day, we ended with the Artist's Paint Pots. How inspiring. God has quite imagination for all that color and sound. Stephen called it the "Thermal Symphony."

We ate dinner at the Buffalo Bar. Great food and I could totally replace ground beef with Bison.

Time to get a good night's sleep.  I think we wore them out!


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