Day 50

Date: Monday August 24, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Beavertail Hill State Park, Butte Montana

Distance to drive: way too far (626 miles)

Hours to drive: 9 hours and 54 minutes

Destination: HOME

Planned activities: get home

Quote of the day: “Where are we now?”  “Are we home yet?”

Here goes epic… Today we will drive 9 hours and 54 minutes to get home.

So far all stops have been decided upon by adults.  We have only added on 45 minutes in the first seven hours of driving.

Needless to say we made it home, but I don’t have the energy to write anymore.  I have reflected back on the trip and there are many things I would do the same and other I would change.  Unfortunately, I have more pressing issues, like my children and getting ready for the school year, so I will be keeping those to myself.

This is my final post.  I am finishing this and publishing all my posts over a week after we have been home.  I am proud of myself that I have managed to blog for the entire trip.  Chad and I have both written blogs, but neither one of us has read the other’s blog.  I plan on reading his blog and being able to relive the trip through his eyes. 

Day 49

Date: Sunday August 23, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Beavertail Hill State Park

Distance to drive: 0

Hours to drive: 0

Destination: the river about 50 feet from our campsite

Planned activities: hang out and relax

We spent most of the day in our campsite relaxing.  We played some board games with the girls and eventually made our way down to the river so the girls could splash in the water and play on the beach.  Chad wished that we were staying longer so that he could get a fishing license and fish in the river.  We had our final fire and marshmallow roast

Day 48

Date: Saturday August 22, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Grant Village Camprground

Distance to drive: 300 miles

Hours to drive: 5 hours

Destination: Beavertail Hill State Park, near Missoula Montanta

Planned activities: drive, grocery shop and relax

Today is a sad day.  We have officially confirmed that Lake Chelan State Park is closed until after the 26^th of August due to a forest fire and we will now be ending our trip 3 days early.  I hope that the fire can be contained quickly and safely and that the damage to homes and businesses is minimal.

We managed to only add on an hour and a half to our driving time and an hour of that was our grocery shop.  We arrived and the Park Ranger asked Chad if he had been to this park before.  The Ranger was curious because, yet again, Chad had reserved the best site in the park. 

Day 47

Date:  Friday August 21, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Grant Village Campground

Distance to drive: 78 miles (round trip)

Hours to drive: 2

Destination: the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

Planned activities: a few hikes down the Canyon to see the Upper and Lower Falls from different vantage points (neither hike is recommended for people with heart lung or other health conditions)

Quote of the day: “A hiking we will go! A hiking we will go! There’s lots to see when you hike with me! A hiking we will go!” (That’s right we were singing and supposedly this is the version on Daniel Tiger)

Today my girls were rock stars.  We hiked down to the brink of the lower falls, a steep trail, with switchbacks, which descends 600 feet over the course of 3/8 of a mile.  There we were at the top of the falls that we could see the water plummeting 308 feet into the river below.  After checking out the two water falls from a couple of look out points and traveling along the rim of the canyon by truck we took Uncle Tom’s Trail to see the Lower Falls from part way down on the opposite side of the canyon.  This trail consists of steep paths and 328 stairs that go down the side of the canyon.  I now know that neither of my kids of issues with height, but there were moments on the way down where I was definitely outside of my comfort zone.  Most people were impressed to see my two girls going up and down these trails on their own.  We spent some time singing and observing our surroundings to keep their minds off the effort they had to exert, but they managed both trails with little difficulty and very few complaints.

Day 46

Date: Thursday August 20, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Grant Village Campground

Distance to drive: 70 miles (round trip)

Hours to drive: depends on how many times we stop (about 2)

Destination: Firehole Lake Drive, Firehole Canyon Drive, Lower Geyser Basin and Midway Geyser Basin

Planned activities: check out the four different thermal features of Yellowstone National Park (fumaroles – holes in the ground that emit steam and sometimes noise, geysers – holes that emit steam and water, but not constantly, hot springs – pools that often appear to be boiling and mudpots – bubbling mud)

Quote of the day: “After we use the outdoor bathroom (outhouse) do I need to use some san-appetizer (hand sanitizer)”

Nature is truly amazing.  We saw all sorts of really beautiful and fascinating thermal features today that are caused by the lava under Yellowstone National Park.  By the end of the day we had seen over a dozen geysers, a few mudpots, a bunch of hot springs and countless fumaroles.  Neither girl liked the sulfur scent emitted from many of the thermal features, but enjoyed the warmth of the steam when the wind picked up.  We walked around the boardwalks at the different destinations and by the end of the day we were exhausted and geysered out.

I think my favourite would have to be the Red Spouter (unfortunately at this time of year you do not see the red).  It demonstrates all four thermal features at different  times in the year, dependent upon the amount of ground water present.  In the late summer, when there is not much ground water, it is a fumarole that whistles.  Although the most beautiful would have to be the Grand Prismatic Spring, with its array of colours caused by the different minerals and temperatures.

We headed back to the campground for dinner, a marshmallow roast and bed.  We need our energy for our adventures tomorrow.

Day 45

Date: Wednesday August 19, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Grant Village Campground

Distance to drive: 40 miles

Hours to drive: about an hour round trip

Destination: Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin

Planned activities: shower (it is going on 5 days since we have showered), check out Old Faithful and walk around the Upper Geyser Basin

Quote of the day: “Look at that smoke!”  I think that I hear this about a hundred times between the two girls.  I then had to explain that smoke comes from a fire and what they see is steam that is from the really hot water that is exploding out of geysers.

We made and ate breakfast in the trailer, which quickly warmed up.   Now our trailer smells like bacon. 

It has officially hit the point in the trip where I have no idea what day of the week it is or what the date is.  I know how many days we have left here and where we go next, but the reality of date and time is completely gone.

At Old Faithful we watched the famous geyser erupt and then wandered around the boardwalk (about 3 miles).  In the visitors centre we learned about all the thermal features in the park as well as how they work and how the hundreds of earthquakes around the Yellowstone area affect them.

Day 44

Date:  Tuesday August 18, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Sheridan Lake Campground

Distance to drive: 500 miles

Hours to drive: 9 hours (our longest drive of the trip)

Destination: Grant Village Campground, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Planned activities: drive

Today our girls were spectacular travellers.  We set an alarm for the first time on our trip and we were pulling out of the campsite by 6:30am.  We were dressed in our regular camping attire, shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.  The rain started to fall before we were out of the campground and it seemed to follow us most of the day.  I sloshed through many puddles while racing into gas stations to get coffee or taking my kids to use the facilities.  Despite the weather and many slower sections of highways with construction, we managed to only add 2 hours and 15 minutes onto our driving time. 

We have already had two up close encounters with bison.  One was walking down the middle of the highway as we drove to our campground and the other was hanging out in the grassy area (with a Park Ranger keeping people at a good distance), next to one of the visitors’ centres where we stopped to go to the bathroom.

We rolled into the campground a bit before 6pm.  We ate dinner in the trailer and spent very little time outside because the temperature was dropping quickly and it was supposed to dip below zero overnight.  Sorry for not letting you pack long underwear Chad.