Yellowstone is So Cool with the Oswalds, and Co.

So, Annie Oswald, my blogging partner, and I walk on Saturdays. It's when we planned the whole blog idea. It's also just a great time to catch up. About a week and a half ago she mentioned that she and Phil were going to Yellowstone. They were taking 2 Japanese exchange students that they were hosting. I invited our family to come along and they accepted. Isn't that nice of them?

We left on Friday around 6:30 pm and stayed the night in Idaho Falls, where we Adcocks were to meet up with the Oswalds and their gang on Saturday morning. We stayed at Motel 6 and the girls were not impressed. They're spoiled. They don't remember when we used to stay in crappy places a lot. Lately they've stayed in Marriott time shares and nicer places near Disneyland. Anyway, we survived the night in a Motel 6 and looked forward to upgrading to a Super 8 on Saturday. It is, after all, 2 steps higher than a 6.

Saturday morning we met up at 8:30. We got on the road and went straight to the park. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Both Annie and Phil are from Idaho Falls and they've been to Yellowstone a lot. They have taken their girls there and when they host exchange students, they like to take them there, so they know the park. What great tour guides they were. In addition to their exchange students, Noboru and Yusuke, they brought Veroo, a Uruguayan gal who was Daysa's mission companion. She and her husband are here so he can attend the U, but they can't get into their apartment yet. So, they're staying with Oswalds. So, we were the UN: Japan, Uruguay, Hawaii, etc.

We first stopped and saw a small geiser on the side of the road then we went to the canyon area and went to an overlook of some giant falls. We also waited until the light was just right to see why it's called Yellowstone. With the right sunlight, the mountains turn yellow. It was beautiful. Mel was really, really hoping to spot a bear. We saw a cute cayote int he middle of a field and saw some deer and elk. Then we saw lots of bison. Once we saw one right on the side of the road. Allie could have literally held her hand out the window and touched it. Then when we were walking at mud pots, there was one roaming around the boardwalk that tourists walk on. Phil warned us to not get too close, so we didn't.

Lunch break: Allie, Keenan, me, Annie, Phil, Nobo, Yusuke, Mel, Veroo

The canyon, one of our first stops

1st stop: a little geiser that could kill you if you fell in

See the falls behind the girls?

Mammoth: Look at the colors

The Yellow Stone

We went to Mammoth Hot Springs. Wow, the colors. I just can't get over the variety of landscapes one sees in the one park: waterfalls, canyons, evergreens, hot pots, geisers, etc. The colors are great, too: white, blue, green, orange, etc. We stopped and ate lunch near the petrified tree. We had our cooler full of fruits and veggies, we had lots of cookies and chips, and we had some pizza. I'm doing a food challenge called Whole30 which is all fruits and veggies, lean meats and nuts. No dairy or grains of any kind, so I had to get creative along the trip, but I did it. I had lunch meat and pickles wrapped in lettuce leaves for lunch. That night for dinner when we went out for pizza, I got a salad.

The hotel we stayed at was about 8 miles west of Yellowstone. After dinner, we went out to see if we could see stars. We were all pretty tired, but it wasn't dark enough. I knew that's all Annie wanted: to see stars in Yellowstone, so I stayed up an extra hour to go out and look with her. Nobu, Phil, Mel, Keenan, Allie, and I went. We saw some good stars, but couldn't see the milky way. We determined it was because the moon was too bright. We were close to a full moon.

Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel. I actually had a breakfast I had brought in our cooler: eggs, sausage, tomatoes, and spinach and banana pancakes made with coconut flour. We got on the road and saw tons more stuff. We headed south this time. We saw a new geiser that has been going off every 5 hours for the last 6 weeks. It was close to a boardwalk and sprayed pretty high so people got wet. That was really cool. We also saw a swimming hole that eventually leads to some falls. You don't swim anywhere near the falls, though. It was too cold, but I imagine it would be a blast. We saw some paint pots and lots of bison. There were some funny Asian ladies who asked us to take their picture. When we did, they pulled out their silk scarves and posed with them. That made us laugh. The most dangerous part of the day was making it past that huge group of Asians with their scarves and selfie sticks. Finally we closed the tour with Old Faithful. We got there 10 minutes before it was to erupt. We saw it and thought "that's it." Annie reminded us that it's famous not because it's huge, but because it's always dependable. We decided it would have been more impressive if it had been the first thing we saw instead of the last. We really did get a laugh out of it. Then we went in the lodge near Old Faithful. It's the largest log structure in the world and it's IMPRESSIVE. Wow, so glad we went in. Words don't describe how beautiful and unique the building is on the inside. Very cool. We then got in our cars and headed to Jackson, WY. It was only about noon.

Aren't my girls cute? I love how they get along.

This isn't fake. We had a good time.

Allie posing like an Asian woman 

COLORS!

Waiting for Old Faithful: me, Veroo, Annie, Al, Mel

There it is! Old Faithful 

Swimming spot, early in the morning. Even Phil and I made the picture. The shadow of me taking pic and Phil standing by me. Keenan, Mel, Nobo, Veroo, Annie, and Allie

We drove through Grand Teton National Park, stopping once to take pictures. Wow, incredible! I see why Annie loves Idaho so much. We went to Jackson, WY, and got Mexican food at their favorite place. I had a salad again. Then we drove home. We got home around 9:30 pm. It was a packed 3 days and it was a blast.

THE TETONS

Mexican food at Jackson

Veroo is newly married. Her husband is from Brazil. Her mission president is friends with her in-laws. He suggested Fabio look up Veroo and date her. She's 26 but looks much younger. She's very fun to be around. I like speaking Spanish with her. She gets along great with her English. The Japanese kids were a perfect pair. Yusuke understands English, but doesn't speak it well. Nobo doesn't understand it, but speaks it. So, when you speak to them, Yusuke listens and tells Nobo what we're saying in Japanese. Then Nobo answers in English. It was really funny to watch Keenan try to communicate with Yusuke about Japanese baseball teams. Keenan found out his favorite team, then pulled the roster up on his phone and asked who his favorite player is. Keenan took a lot of time to understand him. That was nice. The girls had fun hanging out with the "kids." Veroo is trying to talk Mel into a mission. I like that idea. A great trip.