Yellowstone Revisited

We took our annual Labor Day trip to Yellowstone again and it was great! We were just there at the end of June, but we love going back with just us for Labor Day. The weather is amazing and the crowds are gone. It was a bit different with Owen this time and we had to be a little more flexible, but it was even more fun to have him to enjoy the vacation with us!

We drove up on Thursday afternoon and got to our hotel just about bed time for the baby. We stayed in the same place as last year (Evergreen Motel) and LOVED it. It was awesome and clean and the bed was amazing and the owners are great. I HIGHLY recommend it! It’s right in town and has great reviews on TripAdvisor (that’s how we found it!). I just love these boys.

We got a room with a small kitchen and a fridge which was really convenient. We were able to wedge Owen’s pack in play in the kitchen area and after we turned on his sound machine and covered his crib with a blanket, he fell right to sleep! The next day we hit the road and went into the park. Owen did great and slept a lot and just played by himself in the back seat. He’s the best! We stopped at Mammoth and ate some lunch in the shade.

We wandered around Mammoth a little bit and got back in the car and continue the drive, hoping to see some animals. Dan is obsessed with seeing bear or wolves but we didn’t see any bear this trip! Bummer, but he did get to see two wolves so it was still a success!

We stopped at Mount Washburn to check out the hike and decided to do some of it. We weren’t planning on the full hike to the top since it is about 4 miles one way and pretty steep. We loaded Owen into the backpack and enjoyed the amazing views.

He loves being in the backpack and kept grabbing Dan’s face, ears and hair and just laughing hysterically. it was pretty precious.

There were some tornado-like winds, but luckily it was still pretty warm and Owen thought the wind was really funny and kept laughing.

We only hiked about 20 minutes one way then decided to turn back since the wind was getting worse. But it was still cool to be up that high and we made plans to do the full hike next time we go!

The next day we drove to Old Faithful and watched it go off right when we got there. Owen was way more interested in me taking the picture behind him than watching the exploding geyser right in front of him.

Dan’s brother and his family happened to be up there at the same time so we met up with them at Old Faithful. The kids were excited to see Owen and they kept him entertained most of the time.

We went to the balcony of the lodge and ate our lunches and watched Old Faithful go off again.

Then we drove a few minutes away from the lodge to do a hike to Mystic Falls. It was really easy and only about 1.5 miles each way but it was perfect for us with all the kids. Amanda’s sister and her family was there too so there was 6 adults and 9 kids in our group.

Owen fell asleep pretty quickly in the backpack and slept the entire hike up. It was pretty precious and I was really glad that he was so comfortable and was able to sleep.

The falls were pretty impressive but  we didn’t get right up close to them. The hike ended across a little valley but the view was still really pretty.

The cute kiddos. They look like they are right on the edge of a cliff but it wasn’t as bad as it looks luckily!

We had some yummy dinners at our favorite restaurants and we tried to keep Owen entertained by feeding him water from a straw. It worked for about 1.7 seconds.

On Sunday we walked about 3 blocks and went to Sacrament meeting. We met Dave’s family at a park and had some lunch and snacks and then went back to the hotel for a bit. We drove into the park again and drove to Dave and Amanda’s campsite which was about 1.5 hours from our hotel. We visited and had dinner and just chilled for a while.

Owen slept in the car and then was as happy as a clam just sitting in a blanket and being entertained by his cousins. They were showing him their bow and arrows and he loved it. Watching them with him makes me excited to have more kids some day!

He was smiling at Aunt Amanda. Such a happy baby!

On Monday, we checked out of our hotel and walked around West Yellowstone a bit. We got a delicious HUGE cinnamon roll and bagel (they were amazing) from a bakery and then wandered the shops a bit before heading out. We stopped at Big Springs on the way out and then we stopped in Rexburg for a quick lunch at a park.

Dan’s awesome moose shirt was his souvenir from the trip.

We had tons of fun on our trip and it is so weird to think that last year I was just pregnant with Owen and we were talking about having the baby with us! We had a blast together and love doing things as a family. Now all of our vacations are behind us so we need to plan the next one so we have something to look forward to!