Family Vacation

August 9-16, 2009

It is so nice to get away and have time with our family.  We left in the late morning on Saturday, August 9th and drove to Bountiful.  Along the way, we stopped in Provo to get Albania wrist bands and Sub Zero Ice Cream – treats are a very important family activity for us!  After arriving in Bountiful, we had some time to visit with Grandma and Grandpa before bed.

Sunday morning Grandma went with us to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast – it was really neat!  Afterward we looked at the art in the International Art Competition – it is absolutely wonderful – check it out if you can – it is at the Conference Center and ends on October 11, 2009.  We visited family, attended Sacrament Meeting and spent more time with family visiting us!

Monday morning we headed for Yellowstone, with some stops along the way: in Brigham City to see the hospital where Laurie worked and where Katie and Rebecca were born!  In Logan we drove by the apartment we had lived in and Willow Park and Zoo, where we took the children often.  We stopped for pictures at the Logan Temple and at Ricks Springs in Logan Canyon.  At the top of the mountain we got a good view of the turquoise blue water of 21 mile long, 7 mile wide, Bear Lake.  And since Bear Lake is famous for raspberries, we had to stop in Garden City and get a raspberry shake for Laurie and me – the kids got some other flavors (we don’t always agree on treats, just that they’re important).

A couple of hours later we stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and then headed north into Grand Teton National Park, where we stopped, for pictures with the Tetons and to skip stones on Jackson Lake!  

Next stop was Old Faithful!  We watched Old Faithful geyser “geys” and then walked on a trail near the Firehole River to see other geysers and hot pools.  On our way back to the van, we saw Old Faithful again and then after being delayed by a slow walking buffalo in the middle of the road, arrived in West Yellowstone, with a few minutes to spare in order to check in at Al’s Westward Ho by 9 PM – a very nice room and great rate (our “suite” had a bedroom with 2 double beds and a bedroom with one queen bed for $85 per night!).

Tuesday morning we went back into Yellowstone, where, just a few miles from the entrance, it took us about 1.5 hours to go about 2 miles due to people stopping to take pictures of a bald eagle in it’s nest near the road – the park had put up a sign for people not to stop in the bald eagle management area, which is exactly why they stopped.  We were also detail another 30 minutes by road construction, so after stopping at Artist Paint Pots, we just made a brief stop at Norris Geyser Basin and walked the Porcelain Trail.  From there to Mammoth Hot Springs – both Laurie and I were disappointed because most of it was dry.  We finally saw a few of the terraces with flowing water before we headed for Tower Falls. 

After lunch at Tower Falls, we got pictures at the falls overlook and then hiked down the trail that would take us to the base of the falls.  When we got down to the Yellowstone River, the Falls Creek side canyon portion of the trail to the base of Towers Falls was closed – big bummer.  Once back at the top of the falls we had ice cream cones – mine was Mountain Berry ice cream – yum!

Next, we stopped at a couple of overlooks on the one-way road on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – but chose the ones without the greatest views of the falls, but being pretty tired at that point we opted not to go back to the beginning of the one-way road, but headed for the Firehole River swimming area!  We had a blast jumping in the river and being carried by the current through the narrow portion of the cliffs and out into the wider swim area.  After a couple of times doing this, the kids and Laurie headed for some rocks to jump into the river – at this point, Katie told Sam she would pay him $5 to belly flop from a rock that was about 8 feet above the river.  Not being one to pass up money, he took her up on the challenge.  Everyone in the area groaned as his body slapped the water, but he came up smiling – he was $5 richer.  However, Sam quietly said of the flop, “I hurt myself,” so he didn’t swim or jump anymore.  We played in the river for just over an hour, until sunset.  That night, after checking into the Madison Hotel (Al’s was not available) we went to dinner, which was ended with Laurie having ice cream; Sam, a fudge nut brownie al a mode (on a brownie 6” X 6”); and the girls splitting apple pie with ice cream.  I, oddly, didn’t have dessert.

Wednesday, at the suggestion of Rebecca, we went back across Yellowstone to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – it was a wonderful decision.  We first stopped at Uncle Tom’s Trail to hike 500 feet below the rim of the canyon to view the Lower Falls.  The trail zigzags and includes 300 stairs – as we kept going down, down, down, I was getting more and more anxious about the return up, up, up – however, the views were spectacular and the ascent wasn’t nearly as difficult as anticipated (even with being a mile higher in elevation than where our bodies are acclimatized for oxygen).  We also saw the Upper Falls at that stop before heading to Artist Point for another gorgeous view of the canyon and Lower Falls.  With optimism, we went back to the one-way road on the North Rim and hiked down to the brink of the Lower Falls – another amazing look at the canyon. 

As we went back toward West Yellowstone, we listened to the last of the audio book “Three Weeks with My Brother” by Nicholas Sparks.  Though the idea of listening to a book met with resisted when we started on the first day of our trip, every time we had any distance to drive, the kids asked to listen to the book.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the book – Laurie and me for the second time.

After a late lunch and stop at, are you ready – Dairy Queen – in West Yellowstone, we drove to Quake Lake and saw the enormous landslide and dam created by an earthquake 50 years ago.  Then we headed south with a stop at Big Springs in Island Park, Idaho.  Though there are not nearly the number of fish there were when I was a kid (during a winter about 3 decades ago, people went in a fished out hundreds of the enormous fish).  There was a muskrat that swam up the river created by the springs and caught the Ritz Crackers we were feeding the fish and held it in its paws and munched while floating in the current before swimming upstream for more. 

That evening we arrived near Rigby, Idaho at Laurie’s sister’s family’s new place – the Brownings.  They have about 2 acres, a portion of which is pasture.  Just before our arrival, 2 horses were brought to board in the pasture.  The kids topped the day with rootbeer floats!

Thursday morning we slept in and laid around until the afternoon, then went looking for the Rexburg Ice Caves.  Once we got to the dirt road, all 13 of us piled into the Brownings 4X4 Tundra and spent over an hour looking, but to no avail.  (We later learned we were close, but turn off one road too soon.)  So, we went to the St. Anthony sandbar, ate our picnic lunch and some of the kids went in the river!  That evening, the horse owners showed Katherine and the adults how to saddle the horses – and some of them rode until it was dark.

Friday was another sleep in day.  Laurie helped Katherine saddle Jessie and Pilgrim – then Laurie and I went riding, followed by Katie and Sam, Nelson and Sam, Megan and Rebecca, then Katherine and Sherry.  The Brownings’ cousins, Tanner and Brooks, came over – with Jeren and Nelson, they are the band, “Forgotten Rest.”  They performed a private concert for us! 

We got packed up and all of us went to dinner at Bambinos in Rigby – basically deep fried personal pizzas, with the crust surrounding the other ingredients.  And they have dessert Bambinos – Laurie and I shared raspberry cream – yum.  Our family said goodbye and drove to Bountiful, arriving about 10:30.

Saturday morning, Laurie and I took mom and Ralph with us to the baptism of Stephen LeFors – my niece, Shaylynn’s husband!  It was a very spiritual meeting and lots of tears surfaced, off and on.  I picked up the kids to go to the luncheon after the baptism and then in the afternoon we visited with family and went with Sam to a bicycle shop.

That evening, all of mom’s children and spouses, with the exception of Dennis and Cindy, took mom and Ralph to dinner at Marie Calendar’s.  Shay and Stephen also joined us.  Our children, their cousin Kira and Shay’s little boys went to Arctic Circle for dinner.  We all got together afterwards and eventually had cake and choice of 5 flavors of ice cream!!!

Sunday morning we attended an early Sacrament Meeting, got packed, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and drove home.  Penny was very excited to have someone home to throw the ball for her!

It was an absolutely wonderful week – to spend time with our children and enjoy some of God’s magnificent creations!