Yellowstone (Finally)

First, yes . . . it's been a long time since I've updated my blog. Probably the longest I've ever gone, and that's saying something. But I've been in the thick of finalizing the manuscript for Dispensation, the anthology of short fiction written by Mormon authors that I've been editing for Zarahemla Books, as well as the Irreantum fiction and essay contests, and I've spent way too much time at my computer lately. So I've had computer guilt. But the Irreantum contests are put to bed and (hooray!) I sent the anthology manuscript off to Zarahemla today--550 pages long, 27 contributors, and it's gonna be AWESOME--but that's another post.

The post today is about our wonderful trip to Yellowstone from August 6-9. (Has it been THAT long since I've posted? Sheesh.) What I'll do is provide some photos and a little commentary. The photos speak for themselves pretty well.

Except I didn't take pictures on day one. Day one we drove to Jackson, through Lava Hot Springs. I hadn't been to Lava since I was a teenager--and even then I only remember it very vaguely--in fact, part of me wonders if I've even been there at all or just think I have because it seems like I should've. BUT, now I can say with confidence I've been to Lava, even if I don't have photographic evidence. Took the kids to the hot pools (too hot, left), then took them to the regular swimming pool (temperature just right, stayed) where they enjoyed the diving platforms and super fast water slides. We spent a few hours there and skipped town just as the storm clouds started rolling it. It was the story of our trip, in fact: constantly escaping the storm clouds.

We used Forrest's hotel points to stay at a Hilton Homewood Suites--an otherwise pricey place in a resort town like Jackson Hole. Luckily we didn't have to pay because it was kinda teensy. Like a hotel suite that had been put inside a shrinky-dink oven--everything was like 33% smaller than you'd expect. (Remember shrinky dinks?). Our bed was nice though. Comfy bed. And I'm all about the suites when traveling with kids. "Kids! Turn down Nickelodeon! We're going to bed!" [Close door, silence, mmmmm. . . .]

So, despite dire warnings of thunderstorms all weekend, we woke up Friday to lovely sunny skies in Jackson and took the kids first thing to the Alpine slide.


It took all my courage to take this picture because, what with my irrational fear of heights, I had to let go of the safety bar, unzip the camera case, take the picture, put the camera away and rezip camera case. I was very proud of myself. I was going to take a picture of Forrest and Wyatt behind me but I didn't dare: first because I'd have to twist around, second because I'd have to actually LOOK at Wyatt wiggling on that ski lift. Give me strength.

But we made it to the top without anyone flinging himself--accidentally on on purpose--off the lift, much to my relief. Everybody had a great time on the slide. Well, except Jonas. He was a little too light to make his slide go very fast and kind of put-putted down the hill, much to the consternation of the teenage girl who got stuck behind him. Sorry, teenage girl. Jonas did his best.
And this is a picture of Wyatt, just because he's cute and smiley and I like the sun in his hair.


Whilst in Jackson, we visited the Grand Tetons, taking a boat on Jenny Lake to a hiking trail and pretty waterfall in the mountains. Observe:

Forrest (stubble, cool dude sunglasses), lake, mountains, sky, fellow hat-wearing boat passengers.

All my favorite people, sitting on a rock, looking happy.

Kids. Posing.

Ethan and Jonas spent a fair amount of time scrambling up rocks--and I would have, too, had I not been a 37 year old woman who recently sprained her ankle stepping into a hole coming down the hill after watching a musical at Sundance. (See previous post.) The reason I would have is because the hiking path was SUPER crowded. One of the problems of having a boat deposit you at the foot of a hiking trail is that everybody on the boat heads out on the hike at the exact same time, so at times it felt more like we were in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad instead of meandering through God's country.

And the crowded trails also explains why Wyatt spent a lot of time in this position. Wyatt, he doesn't DO lines. Nope. He also has a bit of a patience problem. So he was either pushing between the legs of the hikers in front of us or trying to follow his brothers up the rocks or running down paths in that pell-mell way toddlers do, scaring me to death. Either way, it was the teensiest bit exasperating. So while Jenny Lake was beautiful, it was marred a bit by Wyatt and even more by ME being annoyed by Wyatt. Sorry, family. Glad some of you were able to escape me by climbing up a rocky mountainside.

Mom has to be grumpy at least once per vacation. It's a rule. I got over it. By the time my parents came to join us in Jackson I was full of good cheer, and we headed out for a chuckwagon dinner and show. Turned out that the company I chose after reading good reviews online--the Bar T5 Ranch--is run in part by some Wilkeys, which means they're almost family! Pretty cool! And put on a good show they did.

Grandma, Jonas, Ethan and Elise waiting for the action to begin. (Doesn't Grandma look cute in that picture?)

Mom & Kids, on the actual chuckwagon. Or is it just a wagon? Is the chuckwagon the one with the food on it? I don't know my cowboy terminology very well.

Grandma and Grandpa Sweat. ANOTHER good picture, this time of both of them. Don't they look great? And the pretty evening sunshine and beautiful hills behind them?



I had to include a shot of the "I See Wywatt!" face. This is what Wyatt would say every time I took a picture. He is obsessed with seeing himself on the camera screen. I've tried to tell him "You know, son, back in the day we had to wait for WEEKS to see our pictures. And half of them were terrible! You kids with your instant gratification . . ." but he wasn't interested in listening. I guess if I was as good lookin as Wyatt I'd want to see myself all the time too.

While on the wagon we were attacked by "Indians." The whole thing struck me as mildly racist (white kids in war paint screaming like maniacs pretending to kill us, etc. etc.) but I suppose we can put racism aside for a time in the name of authentic cowboy entertainment. Although if I was a Native American I might disagree. The kids sure liked seeing the horses racing by, though--but Wyatt was a little freaked out by one girl who was particularly committed to super-shrill screaming.

After a tasty meal, we had some real cowboy entertainment with a band that was surprisingly good. Forrest (of course) was called up on stage, because whenever adults are pulled out of audiences to do something mildly silly (like wear a teeny tiny cowboy hat and say "Hi, Babe!" and the appropriate time during a rendition of "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain"), well, Forrest usually gets picked. Must be something about his aura.

They invited all the kids to come up and join, so Ethan, Elise and Jonas had a good time up there too.

The next morning, we left Jackson Hole behind and headed to Yellowstone itself. First stop? Lake Yellowstone:
It's a really big lake, and beautiful. Reminded me of Minnesota.

Mom & kids, accosted by vapors at a hot pot spot.

And lo and behold! Our first buffalo sighting! The funny thing about this particular sleeping buffalo is that traffic had came to a complete stop then inched along for over an hour just outside of Lake Yellowstone. What I couldn't figure out was why the traffic on our side had stopped, but the traffic on the other side was whizzing along just fine. Well, when we came to this particular fellow we understood the slow traffic: everybody was stopping and taking pictures. But why weren't the people coming from the north interested? Well, this is why:

Turns out the Hayden River Valley is LOUSY with buffalo. (Bison? I never know which to say. It's like "Latino" and "Hispanic." I know there must be a distinction and the fact that I'm not quite aware of it makes me nervous.) But we rounded the bend after getting so excited over our one sleepy buffalo and they were suddenly everywhere. No wonder the people coming from the north were whizzing by. They'd been there, seen that.
We let the kids get out, but they never got any closer than this to the buffalo. Was that negligent of us? I did some quick motherly calculations and I figured if the buffalo started charging they'd have just enough time to leap back into the Tahoe to safety. But none of the buffalo seemed at all interested in charging, as a matter of fact.



These ones actually mosey-ed out right in front of us and hung out in the middle of the road for a while. It was cool.

We also saw some cool scenery, including this waterfall. Unfortunately, the sleeping-buffalo traffic jam made it impossible to see as much of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as I would have liked---but we had to get to West Yellowstone by 5:00 for our horseback riding.

We also saw some elk, a cool eagle, and lots and lots of Lodgepole pine--and it was really neat to see the areas that had been burned twenty years ago and how they're coming back. The kids, though, weren't as interested in looking out the window as we were. Luckily they had books, DVDs, iPods and Warm Bebe to help them pass the time. (I think Jonas read pretty much constantly this trip. He even read when the buffalo was crossing the road in front of us. I suppose I should be glad he's reading??)

So! On to horseback riding! We arrived in West Yellowstone and checked into the Holiday Inn just in time (no suite this time--instead we were give a "honeymoon" type room with a gigantic two person tub in the middle of it, which the kids found hilarious). Grandpa and Grandma graciously agreed to stay with Wyatt while we took the big kids to a great ranch just outside of town. The clouds were dark and threatening, though, and I was a little afraid we were going to get rained on the whole time.

I love this picture.

Heading out on the trail.
We wound up through the mountains. And our horses were beautiful! Really well taken care of and well-behaved. (Except Ethan's was a little piggy. No matter how hard Ethan tried he wouldn't stop eating. That's probably what he was doing as I snapped this picture.)

Considering Jonas was just old enough to come on the trip, he did a great job handling his mighty steed. I also love how he has his hoodie on, THEN his cowboy hat. Suburban cowboy?




I love, love, love this picture. What a beautiful spot! And Elise looks so happy. If anybody loves to be riding a horse, it's her.

Miracle of miracles, we finished the ride without a drop of rain hitting us, even though the guide guaranteed us we'd get wet. Although it was a bit chilly, we couldn't have asked for a better ride. One of the highlights of the trip, for sure.

On our final day there we headed out to see Yellowstone's signature attraction, Old Faithful. Once again luck was on our side as we pulled up 15 minutes before she was scheduled to blow. (And isn't it amazing that Old Faithful IS that faithful? I had this vague feeling that, while the geyser had been spouting off for, I don't know, thousands of years, today would be the day that she finally went kaput. I mean, that's a lot of spouting.)

Grandma and Wyatt, patiently waiting.
Along with hundreds of other folks, also patiently waiting.

Soon, she started to hiss and spit, and then . . .
Kaboom! Right on time. Amazing.

So we saw a few more sights that day--burbly pots, sulphuric emissions, and all sorts of cool natural wonders--but eventually Wyatt had to hop on Dad's shoulders and head out of the park. (You can tell it's the last day of the trip by the seriousnes of Forrest's scruff. Look at all that gray in his beard! Since when am I married to an old dude!?!?! Good thing he's still so ruggedly handsome.)

We had a wonderful time, and I'm so glad my mom and dad got to come along too. I can hardly believe the summer's almost over! Elise and Jonas have already started up with school again and Ethan begins 8th grade in just a few days. Which reminds me: I have some catch-up posts to do. But at least the Yellowstone Trip is hereby memorialized. Thanks, Blogger, for helping me keep the memories fresh.

Fantastick!

Last night Grandpa Hiatt treated the whole fam-damily (well, the whole fam-damily over the age of eight) to a production of a show he once directed and loved: The Fantasticks. I knew a lot of the music since my mom and I used to sit at the piano and siiiiiiiiinnnnnng all those songs when I was a teenager: "Soon It's Gonna Rain," "They Were You," "Never Say No," "Try to Remember." Mmmmmm. Such good memories. I've never seen the show, though, so it was a lot of fun to put an actual story to all that music.

We took the big kids--and left Wyatt with Aunt Mindy and Uncle Pete (THANK YOU). And even though the show's not as kid oriented as Annie or The Lion King, the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was a gorgeous night, too. Nice crisp mountain air, the smell of summer grass, just all around heavenly.

So thank you, Grandpa Hiatt! What a great night.


We sat up on the grass under a big pine tree, which made the evening even more fun. Nothing like snuggling under a blanket, stars twinkling, watching a great show with your family.
Grandpa and Grandma Hiatt settled in to watch the show. Grandpa knew The Fantasticks was a great show and directed it years before it became "America's Longest Running Play." Grandpa's always had his finger on the pulse, you know? Which is why he blogs. :-)

Denny & Joe (both in red, smiling for the camera). Denny has been the pianist for two different productions of The Fantasticks (right Denny??). The score is famously difficult, and the whole show is done with only a piano and a harp. Denny is a piano genius.

My beautiful sister-in-law and her beautiful girls. Don't they look pretty on their blankets on the hill?
Grandma and Grandpa! They also look pretty on their blankets on the hill. Even Grandpa.

And us. Yes, it is physically impossible for Jonas to have a normal facial expression in a family photo, even under threats ranging from groundings to disownership. But we still love him.

Well, I take that back. I did get some cute pictures of Joe when we went to Wheeler Farm last week, but I was the one behind the camera, threatening him, so perhaps he took it more seriously? Since I'm showing off photos, here are some from our Wheeler Farm day trip:



Cute Lou. Peace.

Wyatt, looking sunkissed and adorable.

Jonas. Yes. Posing for the camera.

This one's just cute. And almost not silly.

But this one? Can I just say how much I love this picture? Yeah--those are MY kids. Who wouldn't love those kids? Unfortunately, we can't use it for our Christmas card because (as you may have noticed) somebody's missing. Yes, Ethan was at Scout camp--for a WHOLE WEEK. Left Monday morning at 6 a.m. and got home Saturday afternoon. And dang if I didn't miss that boy. That's a long time for an integral member of this family I'm a part of be gone, especially since cell phones were illegal so I couldn't even talk to him. No, "Hey, how are you doing?" [fine] or "Have you been brushing your teeth?" [no] or "Whatcha been up to for fun?" [Eating grasshoppers. Apparently this is a true story.]

I was so happy to see him home on Saturday and listen to all his great Scout camp stories, though. Happy enough that I forgave him more quickly than I otherwise would have when I found out he lost his Scout shirt AND his new pair of olive green cargo shorts I'd purchased, brand new, before he left. Ethan will have to update his blog and tell everybody all about Scout camp himself [hint, hint]. Maybe writing it down will jog his memory enough that it will suddenly dawn on him where he left his pants.