To Yellowstone and Beyond

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #33:

Family Time 

We used to take a lot of little road trips whenever we had the chance. When COVID hit, we had to cancel two trips - one to Moab and one to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore (it was going to be epic). When life picked back up again, our road trips didn’t resume with as much frequency. Part of this was financial and part of it was because our kids’ extra-curricular activities (particularly Nicky’s) took up a lot of the calendar. 

This school year, I want to take advantage of more of our long weekends and get out of town a bit. As much as I love big trips to places like Orlando, I’m just as happy with shorter, closer places. I just like “going.” 

When I was putting the school schedule in the calendar a few months ago, I noted that the kids would be out of school on Friday, September 19, so I texted Scotty that we needed to find somewhere to go. We discussed a few options, and when it came down to it, I just really wanted to go to Yellowstone. Scotty researched some lodging options, and he decided to book us a little cabin at the KOA just outside of West Yellowstone. 

We left Friday morning. We stopped at Big Jud’s for lunch on the way - the place I ate before The Graduation Incident of 2017. 

They must have known I was coming because they had this sign hanging by the bathrooms:

Well-played, Big Jud’s. Well-played. 

Fortunately there were no incidents, and my avocado bacon burger was delicious!

After lunch, we drove the rest of the way to Yellowstone.

This was our first trip without Nicky. We definitely missed him. 

On Friday we went to Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Lodge (which is such a cool building). 

We pulled off the road a few times to see various hot pots and animals. Our highlight animal encounter this day was a bald eagle that we found while taking a side road. We watched him dive for a big fish, and we pretty much had him all to ourselves!

In the evening we went into West Yellowstone so our gift shop junkies (Zoe and Eva) could get their fix. 

Daisy found herself some boyfriends.

Sometime after dark we got to the KOA and checked into our little cabin and had dinner. Then we went to sleep in the creakiest beds of all time.

On Saturday morning we headed back to the park and drove around all day. We saw bison (including a mama and a baby), mountain goats, lots of elk, and the highlight of the day… a bear cub! I’ve been to Yellowstone 7-8 times in my life, and I’ve never seen a bear, so to see a bear cub was pretty exciting, and we were RIGHT THERE. It was right on the side of the road as we drove past, and a big crowd hadn’t formed around it, so it was like having VIP access. 

I didn’t get a photo of it, but here’s a screen shot from a video clip I took:

We saw lots of waterfalls, geysers, and hot pots. 

(Pretty much all of the photos look like this but with a slightly different puff of steam or waterfall in the background).

Were the girls amazing? Yes. Were they also whiney, lazy, and horrible? Yes! It was an authentic family trip, for sure. 

Other than stopping at Big Jud’s, we brought all our own food, but our girls were obsessed with the McDonald’s in West Yellowstone due to its mountain lodge aesthetic. They begged and begged to go to McDonald’s, so on our way out of West Yellowstone, we made their dreams come true. 

It was an exciting visit because they had root beer, and the Utah McDonald’s don’t have root beer (which is ludicrous- they got rid of it when Nicky was three). 

On our way home, we stopped and saw my friend Shannon, who lives just outside of Rexburg. And yes! She is a potato farmer, so thank you, Idaho stereotypes, for claiming one of my best friends! 

My girls fell in love with small town Idaho, and Zoe didn’t want to leave. She has big potato farming plans for her future and ways to open a potato buffet. 

We made it home Sunday evening. It was a short trip, but we maximized our time and got to do everything we wanted. The best part? We went over homecoming weekend, and I didn’t have to deal with school dance drama!