Wednesday morning we started our day in Montana. After a delicious hot breakfast, we drove to Yellowstone National Park. We stopped at Krispy Kreme to get donuts for our breakfast the next day and entered the park near the Mammoth Hot Springs. Shortly after entering the park we crossed the border from Montana into Wyoming. There were several elk walking around near the Visitor Center as we were leaving after buying 3 Junior Ranger booklets. Usually they are free, but they did give us three nice patches at the same time that we bought the booklets. Shortly after leaving the Visitor Center, we saw a car with a Hawaii license plate! I saw SO many different state's license plates inside Yellowstone. I think we saw almost every state that day. As far as finding all of the license plates, we've seen 49 states (all but Rhode Island), DC, and three Canadian provinces. Most of the time I stayed in the van when Paul and the kids went on short hikes to see various thermal features around the park. I did hop out to see Old Faithful. The feature I MOST wanted to see was Grand Prismatic Spring. It was too far of a walk for me on crutches. That had been one of the things I most wanted to see on this trip so it was heartbreaking to be SO close (sitting on a bench near the path) and yet not able to actually see it. Of the things that had been the top five I was most looking forward to, I think Mount Rushmore will end up being the only one I'm actually going to get to experience. I just keep reminding myself that at least Paul, Nadia, Ian, and Oliver are able to see and experience them. Since I couldn't do the hikes, the highlight for me in Yellowstone was seeing elk, a coyote, and LOTS of bison. We saw bison many different times throughout the day. Nadia's favorite part of the day was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which features a waterfall. We drove a total of 341 miles that day. For almost all of our meals on this trip we're eating a free breakfast at a hotel, eating food we've packed for lunch, and using a gift card obtained through credit card points for our dinners. Our dinner in Yellowstone was the first meal on this trip that we paid for with a credit card rather than a gift card. We got food from the cafeteria near Old Faithful.
That night we stayed at a cabin in between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Each cabin had a double size bunk bed and a desk. I had brought two flashlights for our stay in the cabin, but it turned out those weren't necessary as there was a battery operated lantern in each room. Nadia had the top bunk in our cabin, and the boys shared the top bunk in the boys' cabin. No bedding was provided. We had brought 3 pillows and 5 sleeping bags from home. There were two pillows in the cabin Nadia and I stayed in. I used one for my head the the other for my foot. I didn't know Paul didn't have any pillows in their cabin. This was a big mistake as sleeping without a pillow really messed Paul up physically. Since it's challenging to fit everything in our trunk, we left the two sleeping bags I had bought for this trip for Paul and I in the cabin. When we went to check out the next morning, I went to the bathroom in the building where you check out while I thought Paul was checking out. We discovered later that morning that Paul had forgotten to check out. Usually I am the one who handles checking in and out on vacations. I'm going to put their keys in the mail to them at some point. I called them and explained that we accidentally left without checking out. The biggest downside to staying at the cabin was the fact that it was a decent walk to the bathroom, which was out of the question for me. Although naturally I haven't taken anywhere near as many pictures as I would have if I hadn't broken my ankle, between Paul, Nadia, and myself we have gotten some pictures and videos through my old camera (which is now Nadia's camera), my cell phone, and my camera. I just haven't had much time yet to upload or weed through them yet.
The best thing that happened on Thursday when we were at Grand Teton was getting a text that Milo was doing much better. The first week had NOT gone well for him at the dog sitter's, which was also hard on them. Thankfully he's done well the past 3.5 days. I had picked a variety of hikes for us to do at Grand Teton and also had planned for us to take a shuttle boat ride across Jenny Lake. Because of my broken ankle, we skipped most of the hikes. We drove to the top of Signal Mountain (elevation 7,720). A park ranger told us where moose (in rut) had been seen that morning. Unfortunately they weren't there when we drove in that area. We did see a pronghorn, and Ian immediately commented that we just saw the fastest land animal in North America. The two animals we hoped to see but didn't in Yellowstone or Grand Teton were bears and moose. After we left Grand Teton we drove through Idaho on our way to a hotel in Utah. We stopped a place that was advertising free samples of buffalo and elk jerky. Paul and the kids each tried six different types of jerky, and then he bought two kinds. Nadia had selected a Teriyaki flavored salmon jerky. We didn't bring much cash with us on the trip so we decided from now on to ignore signs for free samples as after they give us samples we feel obligated to make a purchase. Our two other stops in Idaho were first for the kids to swim in lava hot springs mineral water and then for dinner at Subway. I usually *love* jacuzzi tubs so I was bummed to stay in the van during that adventure. Thankfully the hotel in Utah also had office chairs with wheels in the room which I again used as my wheelchair. We drove a total of 336 miles that day as we spent time in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. The kids earned one Junior Ranger badge, which was their 8th on the trip so far.
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