Eastern Idaho- Yellowstone

(And Montana and Wyoming!)

Saturday morning, after great effort, we left for Yellowstone.

The view on our drive. Amaze balls. And I've never used that slang term before but it seemed to fit here. Seriously- look at those Teton Mountains!

And with this too. Amaze balls. (and now I've decided that I'll never use this term again.)

Hazel slept until it was time to stop in West Yellowstone to eat. So far so good. Plus we found a restaurant called "The Slippery Otter." Odd name, but hey it worked and got us in there.

Then Hazel slept as we drove to Old Faithful. Another win.

And we kept on winning. We got there two minutes before the famous geyser erupted. It was fun to show June and add a new word to her vocabulary. She's cute when she talks about and describes geysers now. A third win.

Then we went to one of my favorite places- the Old Faithful Inn. Built in 1904.

We did some shopping as well and got ice cream.

I picked some flowers

And then is was back to the car...

But that was the last smile we saw from Hazel I fear. After that point she was DONE with the car. We were able to take breaks from driving at the hot pots though, so that was convenient.

June refused to wear her shoes here when we got out of the car so I was like, "Fine. Burn your feet!" and as she stepped onto the asphalt she smiled and said, "It's not too hot mommy!" and I looked like the silly one.

So a little later when she stubbed her toe on the board walk I made sure to take a future "told you so" photo before comforting her. But let's get real, she won this battle regardless.

Fun times. Notice how Hazel and Buck are not in these photos. That brave man was wandering around with her trying to make her happy. Meanwhile, we tried running away from our shadows.

The ride back to West Yellowstone was rough. We were all a bit grouchy. Or at least the three of us in the back seat were... So we stopped at a diner and I feasted upon country fried steak. And that made my world better.

Once we got into the car it didn't take long for both girls to fall asleep. And it was that moment that we decided to just keep driving until we got home to Utah. Why risk it the next day when we knew our girls would have a better and dreamy ride right then?

Don't worry. We dropped Jade off in the burg before we zipped home.

And then we drove off into the sunset and lived happily ever after!

Mostly. I mean, I woke up the next morning all dazed and confused. But all was made right again when I remembered that I had this new bear hat.

Even though plans changed I don't regret the trip at all- obviously. We have to keep trying! And the new memories that I got to add to the tapestry of old memories were worth it. There were about 24 other things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see and a few more friends I missed and nearly 857 photos I wanted to take but I suppose we'll save those for the next time we make the trek up. But Idaho, you have my heart. You are my home always and forever. Till next time. xoxo