The Great Blanchard Road Trip {Part 2: Island Park and Yellowstone}

Our road trip continues . . . (for the first half of our epic summer adventure, check out part 1 here.).

We drove and drove and drove through Montana - another lovely drive, though the I-90 part was less so - and we arrived at our cabin in the woods at 4 pm on Wednesday, August 8th, just ahead of the rest of the fam.  That gave us a chance to check the place out and stake out our room - the bunk bed room, at the request of Cal and Sam (they were SO psyched to sleep in bunk beds).  Mom, Dad, Megan, Kylie, Michael, Heather, Terrell and Grace all arrived in caravan shortly after we did and we quickly got things settled and unpacked.  Then it was time to get dinner ready.  Our first night's feast was a group effort: our "International Feast", where everyone provided a dish from their mission.  We had tortellini (my dad - Italy), sarmale (Gregg - Romania), empanadas (Heather - Argentina), street tacos (Michael - Mexico), plus homemade Dole Whip (Terrell - Disneyland (not his mission, but a favorite place of many)) and Buckeye balls (Megan - Ohio (not a mission, either, but regional fare from her current location)) for dessert.  Whew!  It was all so good!  We got the kids to bed and played an estimation game (it was a lot more fun that in sounds!), laughing till Nate, Rachelle, Evy and Bradley arrived, and beyond.

Doesn't look too "cabiny" on the outside.  But the inside
was entirely wood finish.  And it was really spacious and new
and clean and nice.  We loved staying here.

Snack time for the little ones.

Little goof balls, that is.

Cooler tower of doom.

Dinner prep - check out that kitchen!

We're a chaco family (and that's not even all of them!)

Done with dinner.

Gracie's bed!  (It didn't last - she ended up in
the pack 'n' play after all.)

Everyone pile on the bunk bed!

I don't even know what this game was called, but we had a great
time trying to guess numbers to answer the most random questions,
like how many times does a sloth poop in a week (answer: 1) and
how much did the world's largest blue whale weigh (answer:
400,000 pounds (!!!!))

Thursday morning started extra early for me.  Think 5:15 am early.  I wasn't planning to go with Megan and others to see the sunrise from the top of Sawtell Peak (I mean, I wanted to go, but I was tired and figured I'd take sleep over a sunrise in this particular instance) but I happened to wake up at 5:15 just out of the blue, and instead of trying to get back to sleep after my potty break, I decided to be adventurous.  So I met up at the table with Mugs, Ky, Michael and my parents, and we hopped in the truck for a dark-morning drive to the top of an almost-10,000 foot mountain where we watched the sun rise.  It was worth it.  The view was spectacular (despite all the smoke) and the company was fun.  And on the drive back down we saw tons of wildflowers lining the road.  "How did I miss these on the way up?" I asked as we were driving.  Um . . . it was dark.  Duh.  Back at the cabin, it was the Blanchard's turn to make breakfast: egg mcmuffins, hasbrowns, cantaloupe, nectarines and oj.  Then we bummed around the cabin for a while before making a visit to Big Springs and Johnny Sacks's cabin. 

The beginnings as we reached the summit.

That's Meg.

The observation equipment up at the top.

Henry's Lake below.

Sunrise selfie

Sunrise sisters selfie

Ready to roll.

Ky and B and Sam selfie.

Big Springs is so pretty.

Bench shenanigans on the trail to Johnny Sacks's
cabin.

Sam and Johnny himself.

It was such a cool building and history.

Feeding the big fish on the bridge.

After Big Springs, we played games, had lunch (Nate and Shelly made teriyaki chicken and veggie bowls + the best watermelon ever), the little ones napped, Grandma supervised the glue and stick station outside, and pretty much everyone else found a spot to read a book.  It was bliss.  We visited, found a park to play at (of course), explored the woods behind the cabin, and then it was time to eat again (Elwood's unofficial motto: Till We Eat Again).  For dinner my parents made burgers, dogs, eggplant, salad (with garden cukes and tomatoes), more watermelon, and garden cantaloupe.  S'mores and Woof 'Ems were dessert, followed by singing and then another "game" (called Ungame) around the campfire.  A marvelous day indeed.

Game time.  All the time.

Glue girls - Cal found a bunch of sticks
and Grandma found some wood glue for sale
at the market down the street.  Together they
whipped up many birdhouses and boats and other
creations on the picnic table in the shade.

Lunchtime at the kid table.

Her birdhouse (hard to see, but there in the
shrubbery) found a (temporary) home.

So much glue!

Afternoon chill time in the shade.

A sailboat (one of many) on display.

Tetherball champs (on a tetherball set-up
built for giants).

All these toys and what does he want to do?
Watch the trucks at the construction site across
the street.

Teeter totter bread and water, wash your face in dirty water.

Mallow and Woof 'Ems!

When they were little they didn't really get
along (or "get" each other) but I knew someday
they'd be friends.  And now they are.  And it makes
me so happy to watch.

Friday was Yellowstone Day.  And I just have to say right here that it was the most perfect possible Yellowstone Day.  It was better than I could have possibly imagined, especially considering we were visiting in the summer with 16 people in 4 different cars, with 5 kids 5 and under, all with their own schedules and needs, and we had a big agenda.  And it all went off without a hitch!  It was a miracle!  And we all had so much fun.  A major reason for the ease of the day came because we each had a ham radio in our cars, so communication and planning could happen on the fly (not always easy with spotty cell coverage).  That was awesome.  The other reason, I think, that things went so smoothly was that everyone was just happy to be there and see what we could see and do it together.  No one had an agenda or attitude.  And that was awesome, too.  We also lucked out in how fast we got out the door (all of us on the road by 7:30 am! and thanks to Mug for making scones and muffins for us to grab before we left), which meant we could beat the crowds getting into the park, and we always kind of stayed ahead of them as we moved around the loop.

Our first stop was Artist Paint Pots.  It was still quite cool at that time of the morning, so the steam made big white clouds which contrasted beautifully with the bluebird sky.

Cousins!

bonus video!

"mud pots"

(Sam was talking about these for days afterwards)

Next, we visited Norris Geyser Basin, where we saw lots of beautiful pools, Steamboat Geyser (not erupting, unfortunately), and Megan take a bad spill and really bloody up her leg.  (All the kids had been falling down on our walks, but Meg's was definitely the worst of the trip, poor girl.)

We kept traveling around the Lower Loop Road to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, probably one of my favorite spots to visit.  It is always spectacular.  And we even got to see some artists painting in the shade at Artists Point, which I loved.  Sometimes I wish I were a painter and would just sit there, soaking in a scene like that for a day.

There's all that yellow stone.

Callie wanted to take a few pics on my phone, so I let her.
I like to see her perspective on something I just took a picture of.

We found a picnic spot in the shade at Wapiti Picnic site and then drove through Hayden Valley to Fishing Bridge.  A girl who used to be in our ward for a few months last year actually got to live in Yellowstone in an RV for the summer while she worked there.  She wrote up a bunch of really great insider-info blog posts about the best spots in Yellowstone and she mentioned the beach at Fishing Bridge Visitor's Center.  From her description, I thought it would make a good mid-day hang out spot for the fam, and luckily everyone trusted me (and my friend's blog) to try it out.  It was definitely a highlight of our day.  We spent a good hour plus there wandering around the visitor's center (got a stamp AND a couple post cards!) and playing on the beach (and in the lake - next time we're bringing swim suits!).  The kids loved the sand, we loved the cool, but not too cold water, and you can bet there was plenty of rock skipping happening there!

In the Hayden Valley we saw tons of bison, but
this one was nice and close to the car.

Elwoods (and others) on the beach at Fishing Bridge.

We had to get creative with dry clothes (and
underwear) when all was said and done, but
the kids had a blast and we all had big smiles
at the end of our stay here.

Cousins!  (Nakey Noo Noo style)

Dark black sand was everywhere!

After our beach time, we planned to hit up Old Faithful (since it was next on the road).  But as we drove we came up with another plan: go past Old Faithful a couple miles to Fairy Falls Trailhead where we would hike up to a new spot to overlook Grand Prismatic Spring (another great tip from 51 Cent Adventures).  Then, we'd head back to Old Faithful as our last stop where we could eat dinner, watch the geyser, wander around the Lodge, new Visitor's Center, and Inn, and then head home.  The beauty of those radios, I tell ya!  It was seamless.

A caravan of Elwoods.

A fun bridge to cross on the way to the Grand Prismatic Overlook.

The colors!  I couldn't get over them.

And this.  Practically the same shot as above, but different enough
that I love them both.

Pit stop in the shade to catch our breath (it got kinda steep
for the last bit) - and we got a peek at what was to come!

Cal's point of view.

Ky and Cal selfie.

Pretty special, if you ask me!

Cousins (under strangers' bums).  Ha!

Heather and Terrell hurried back down the hill and on to find a picnic spot at Old Faithful and get started on dinner (it was their turn and we had the most delicious taco salads).  We relaxed and feasted and played on the teeter totter trees and just missed a seven o'clock (ish) eruption of Old Faithful.  Doh!  BUT I've never seen such an empty parking lot at Old Faithful - being there in the evening was amazing!  We drove over to the lodge and parked in the first row, took our time using the bathroom, scanning the shops, skimming the displays at the nice, new visitor's center (skimming because it was about to close when we got there, so we only had like 10 minutes), and showing Cal and Sam the "huge cabin with red doors" (aka Old Faithful Inn).  We all happened to be on the deck at the same time, so we asked a stranger to snap our picture.  I didn't have high hopes as he held up my phone to his eye, facing the wrong way (so we could see his eye filling up the screen facing us), but with a few hints from us and then a hand off to a kid who swooped in to save the day, we ended up with a pretty decent family photo (only two takes! everyone looking! no photo bombers!) at sunset.  We walked back to the benches to watch Old Faithful and hoped that she'd blow before the light was entirely gone.  It was so fun to see it erupt at twilight!  And with the place to ourselves, practically.  Unheard of.  Perfection!

Ky and Sam and dinner in the wild.

I love this family!

The Elwood Five, all grown up.

Big Red Door pic for Gpa and Gma Blanchard.

Ring around the rosies while we wait.

Cal took this one. Yikes!

Goofballs.

Waiting, waiting...

And there she blows!

We got back to the cabin pretty late and went straight to bed.  Saturday morning we woke up and had one more yummy breakfast (biscuits and gravy by Ky and Michael) and then packed up and cleaned up and headed on our way home.  We stopped in Idaho Falls for lunch at O'Bailey's  (my friend recommended Reed's Dairy as having the best chocolate milk ever, but the kids wanted tator tots, so we'll have to save the ice cream and cheese meal for another time).  We made it home with something like 30 hours logged in the car.  What a fun week it was!

One last excursion to the "fort" in the "forest".