more bubbles, steam & spurts

geysers, hot springs, and tons of other amazing features!

as we walked the path, each feature was more amazing than the last, and we both had so many Ooohhhhhh's and Awwwhhhh's! things were bubbling, steaming, spurting and blooming with color in every direction! like nothing either of us had ever imagined in our lives...

old faithful

just as we were pulling into the parking lots for old faithful, the rain clouds started to roll in. we planned to spend a few hours exploring the area, so we packed up the day bag with lunch fixins, snacks, water, cameras, etc... and just as we started to walk it started to lightly rain. on went the raincoats, and we carried on. we got to the old faithful benches as they were starting to fill, but found front row seats since the rain scared some people back to the trees. we only had to wait 10 min for the geyser to erupt. it was really cool to see, and Christina was super excited because she had never heard of old faithful and geysers.

after a quick pb&j sandwich, we set off on the walking path to explore the rest of the steamy features!

muel deer

didn't take long before we encountered our first Yellowstone nature stop... cars randomly parked on both sides of the road, and tourists with cameras lining the streets. can't beat em, join em!

jumped out of the car, and spent some time watching 4-5 muel deer grazing. christina was really excited about the animals!!

settling in in Yellowstone

I was a little stressed about finding "first come" camping in Yellowstone. our timing put us here on a Saturday morning in July, at the height of tourist season. checked the board and talked to the ranger when we came in, and all the big campgrounds were already booked. the ones that weren't were in opposite sides if the park. had to make a decision about where to go. thought I would head to the central area on the western side, but made a quick decision passing the first campground, pulled in and found a nice spot. no need to spend half our day searching for camping! set up for two nights, and now we were off to explore stress free! :)

at last! wyoming

at last we arrived in wyoming. exciting!!!

twinzies

christina had a flip flop error...so we went to walmart and got all our grocery shopping done. then we went to buy christina flip flops, and she talked me into getting a matching pair. cause i'm gullible.

grand tetons

we arrived in the grand tetons...my battery us about to die. I'll post more tomorrow. ;)

potato museum

today we went to the idaho potato museum. we got free taters for out of staters...you only have to add water!
we walked around for a bit, and we saw the worlds biggest potato chip. christina got an idaho potato museum shirt, and we got a bunch of postcards some with potato pins!

remember, if you want a postcard send us your address. ;)

potato fields

we traded out the deserts of nevada for potato fields and windmills in idaho.

early start

we got up really early today 'cause i wanted to get a head start on our activities. my alarm went off at least 5 times before we got up.

christina is yawning all over the place.
it is making me yawn.

we got in the car today and we figured out we drove 521 miles yesterday. :o

let's just hope we get better sleep tomorrow. ;)

Idaho!

made it into Idaho tonight just as the sun was going down. it was a long day in the car, but took a handful of breaks, we kept ourselves entertained. christina did all the blog updating, wrote out 13 postcards (I'm super impressed, I haven't done one yet), did activity books, and we played a few games. we both did great until the last hour when car fatigue set in, and we were both ready to be done for the day.

booked ourselves into a holiday inn tonight for a hot shower before we head into the national parks tomorrow, and spend the next 4 nights camping and exploring. crossed into mountain time zone (which I forgot to factor in), so we lost an hour, and got to bed pretty late, again.

we have about 4 hours of driving to reach Jackson, wy, and the grand Teton national park tomorrow. plan to make a quick stop at the Idaho potato museums along the way. should be interesting. ha.

completely enjoying the journey, but already wishing I had weeks more time at every corner to take it a little slower, and dig into all the gorgeous and interesting places around us! just gonna have to come back! ;)

northern Nevada between Elko and wells

nevada. by christina

we are driving through a hot dry desert. i am gonna say i am not a fan of deserts. they have smelly bathrooms, rattlesnakes, and cacti. anyway look at the pics below and "enjoy" the view.

postcarded out

christina has wrote out so many postcards her hand might fall off.


send us your address if you want a postcard. ;)

professional blogger

in 2 short days, miss christina has taken over the blog site.... and is becoming a master co-pilot and story teller! ;)

the desert

we found a nice shady spot for a picnic and settled there. there was a lake near where we were eating. so we went swimming. the water was so refreshing, and the bathrooms were so much better. we had pastrami and cheese sandwiches with honey mustard and fruit salad. we sure had a good time.

Lake Tahoe

we took a quick stop at lake tahoe before we headed over to nevada. i made christina dip her foot in the lake. i don't think she was to thrilled about that. we hung out on the beach for a little bit. christina found her own rock and claimed it to be her rock. then she pretended to be "king of the rock".

then we headed over to the gas station and picked up some postcards.

over all we had a great time in california, and nevada here we come.

awful pee break

we drove to a rest area that wasn't the first choice of many people. "it was the most disgusting place ever" said christina. but i have to admit it was pretty gross.

Wild Cherries

again i wake christina up early. and we head over to wild cherries for breakfast. we got yummy breakfast sandwiches. "i got bacon egg & cheese." -christina

christina grabbed the coffee news. then we sat down and looked at what we are doing today.

checked our maps, and we have a long way to drive today. better hit the road!