Creed & Ollie Take a Trip to Yellowstone

One week after Las Vegas, we went on a trip to Yellowstone with our friends the Davids.  It was just the grand adventure we were hoping it would be (and totally the opposite of vacationing in Las Vegas).

To be clear, we do not live a life of luxurious vacations, but Larry will have to put in a lot of time building up his new practice so we wanted to travel as a family while we had the chance.  I am so glad that we did.

It only took one day for Creed to become a mini-Davy Crockett.

 He begged for that fake Coon-skin cap and it was worth every penny.  He wore it almost every second of the whole trip.  We thought the boys might get bored in the car, but Creed was very entertained spotting wildlife with his binoculars and Ollie was unusually happy to be driving around.

 We were warned that May is supposed to be the worst possible time to visit Yellowstone because the weather is so unpredictable but we lucked out.  The skies were blue, the temperatures were mild and the animals were busy roaming the park.

 Ollie loved playing with the snow while it wasn't too cold outside.  While the rest of us enjoyed Old Faithful, he spent his time happily stomping in the snow.

 Creed saw Old Faithful four times while we were there, and he loved it. He wouldn't even turn around for a picture until after it was over because he didn't want to miss a second of it.

The warm-weather snowballs fights were a highlight for both of the boys.

And it was so fun for Ollie to have Ruby there to pal around with.  It's so cute how excited those two get when they see each other.

Part of the charm of Yellowstone are the amazing old lodges and visitors centers around the park (don't get me wrong, the new building are pretty great too)

And unlike trips to Disneyland or Las Vegas, food in the park is really reasonable so we didn't feel the need to tote around meals.

The Davids made great travel buddies.  They have a way of always finding the best local restaurants when they travel.

After lunch and a second round at Old Faithful, we went to see some of the geysers.  Creed and Larry had been talking about the geysers for weeks so they were really excited to see them in person, and they did not disappoint.

I think even if you don't consider yourself an outdoorsman, you can't help but be struck by the grandeur of Yellowstone.  I feel so grateful to have so many National Parks in the US.

The best part of the vacation for me was watching Creed on this adventure.  It's hard to know what will impress a four-year-old, but he loved Yellowstone.  He's already begging to go back.

It didn't hurt that we were stopped frequently by wild bison wandering around.

The last time I went to Yellowstone, I was 15, and I didn't remember the waterfalls, but they were amazing.  They were especially grand because of all the melting snow.

Doesn't Ollie look like he could be part of the Lewis and Clark expedition?  The scariest part of the day happened right before this picture, and it had nothing to do with this big cliff he was standing on the edge of.  There was a big bus of Chinese tourists that we'd passed earlier in the day.  When we saw them the second time, we were changing Ollie's diaper in the car and Creed was strapped into his car seat.  They surrounded the car trying to take pictures while waving to the boys to get their attention and shouting, "China! China!" and pointing to themselves and Creed was a little freaked out by the large mob.  Asian tourists took pictures of these blond boys everywhere they went, but by the second day, they hardly noticed it.

And to make a perfect day even better, it ended with ice cream.