Yellowston continued

We didn't make it out the door as early as the first day.
 Which meant sitting in line to get to the entrance.

We heard sometimes you could be sitting ducks for an hour or so, yikes!
Of course we chose to go the busiest week of the year, so we were worried.

Not bad for what it could have been!

 

We ventured North this day.

First stop, Gibbon Falls!

Trusting the Shaka guide and stopped at some Geysers along the way to Mammoth. 

Yellowstone really blows:)

Della thought I was pretty funny.

Why did this warning sign make me laugh so hard?

Talk about traumatizing!

In the car driving to the next stop I saw big wildlife for the first time.
I think I literally yelled STOPPPP, lol!

The Evans were in front and didn't see us, but Casey found a spot on

the side of the road where we all scurried to see the Bison!!

 

Artist's Paint Pots

You had to walk a ways on a trail before hitting the pots.

Not going to lie, it looked like a rinky-dink miniature golf course at first.
But the more we walked around the cooler it got!

The mud pots were like giant pits of bubbly Kinectic Sand!

It was popping and spewing, pretty cool stuff!

Twinning in our Ron Jon gear.

It's hard to see, but this water was bright aqua blue!
With like a milky complexion.

We found the dreamiest place to have lunch!
It seemed a little overcast with a nice breeze.

With a killer table spread , I must say!

We let them take a break from sight seeing and just be kids.
Which meant marching straight down to play in the water!

They were always waiting on us to walk up with the little kids

from the parking lot.

Which, parking is horrendous in Yellowstone!

Tour guide Stephanie!

This stop was a bigger one.
The kids were NOT having it with MORE walking!

Her showing us what she mapped out reminded me of

David Spades comedy bit on the dread of black diamond skiing runs.

Our kids: I think everybody, I feel like we should start on Pop Tart Fox Tails.

Lets go down that.

Stephanie: Nope, we're going down Devils Patagonia Ball Sack. 

Kids: No no no, that one seems hard.

If we go down Mother Goose Falls, it sort of goes into Peek-a- boo Rocks.

Which feels tricky, and challenging, but not overwhelming.

Stephanie: Nope. Hitlers Geyser Abortion,  here we go, 2 by 2. 

Emerging from the tunnel to see...

...that it was like the dark and dreary wilderness.
Wow, lots of ground to cover!

It definitely felt like the oldest and hottest geyser basin like the signs said.

 

Next stop, Mammoth!

Which is supposedly another famous stop like Old Faithful.
Not sure why?

It did not seem like anything special.

Maybe it was a good spot to put another village type place like Old Faithful.

The boys were done.

No more for them.

The girls were troopers and walked up the steps to take in

what Mammoth had to offer!

Always up for being my picture model.

Up at the top looking down to the village.

We grabbed pizza in town and took it back to the house.

Pizza always hits the spot after a long day!

Then us adults snuck out for dessert on our own.

Came back to kids who we thought would have crashed by now

with how much they were complaining on how tired they were earlier!

I went down stairs to check on everyone before I went to bed.

This girl has slept like this every night since she was a baby!

Legs out of the covers, flat on her back, and knees bent.