Day Eleven: Coming Home

Coming home from a great vacation is the best/worst thing. On the one hand, it's lovely to be home when you get there. On the other, it sucks to leave.

We left early, stopping for Starbucks. I even did the unthinkable and got coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker, for reasons unknown.

The drive was very, very, very long. We had lunch at an In-N-Out in Utah (not sure where) and passed through Arizona, Nevada, and a very dull chunk of California. I have recently discovered that I really want to explore an abandoned water park just after the fruit check, though.

I gave (almost) everyone their presents when I got home, introduced them to the wonders of huckleberry (I still have some of that licorice left), and honestly enjoyed being back home, in my own bed.

I would love to get a job at Yellowstone next summer, honestly. I want to go back as soon as I can. That place fills you up, makes you feel smaller and more alive. You can't escape the sheer might of everything there, but at the same time, you feel a bit closer to connected, you know?

Stop me before I wax too poetic.

I think that everyone should go to Yellowstone and Grand Teton at once. There's nothing quite as cleansing as a tremendous view, right? That's all you get there.

And so it concludes.

I think this just means that I need another adventure, and soon!

First bit of California in a while—in Utah.

Jerry in Arizona.

Day Ten: Whoops, No Pictures!

We had a very chill morning, basically made up of me and Casey watching videos on YouTube. Around two, we drove to this little town, called Midway, for whitewater rafting. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from that adventure. Hopefully I'll get the one that the guide took of us soon, but no promises for that to happen in the near future. Sorry.

Real quick, though, some cool information about Midway. Well, I think it's cool. On the way to the river, the guide told us about how Midway is essentially the second version of itself; the first is in the reservoir. I think that underwater towns are hideously cool. I'd love to check it out one day.

Anyway.

The rafting itself was easy enough, and really fun. I nearly fell in near the end, though, when we hit the bank a bit too hard. Everyone managed to catch me, luckily. I wouldn't have minded, but for the rocks. That would have hurt.

Of course, since Casey had us sit at the front of the raft (now I don't think I'd be able to sit anywhere else), I got soaked. It's cool, since it felt awesome.

We had dinner at the condo in our pajamas, and Casey and I watched more videos after packing up our things and most of the things that belonged in the car.

I'd call it a successful last day, really.

Day Nine: Is This the Real Life?

No matter where we go, Casey and I will always find a farmer's market to wreak havoc at enjoy. Fortunately for us, the one in Park City was within walking distance of the condo! Also near the condo: the cabriolet. Which was free. Being the children that we are, we spend an obscene amount of time going back and forth on it, in between wandering the market and eating.

We had snow cones and lunch (mint limeade (served by cute guys who totally played along with our mild insanity) and an apple strudel) before going back on the cabriolet. Again. For very long stretches. We yelled things to the passersby down below ("This is your sign!") and sang along to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and generally had a great time.

When we got back to the condo, we lazed around, decidedly in love with civilization again.

After dinner, though, we chilled in the hot tub. Well, not chilled...

Regardless, it was wonderful just being incredibly lazy for a day, you know?

Day Eight: Fear of Heights?

Casey and I spent the morning on our iPads in the living room, so that we could socialize without actually socializing. Welcome to America, or something like that.

We went to lunch at this great restaurant on Main Street, the Wasatch Brewery. They have ridiculously fantastic fish & chips.

My aunt left us to do some errands, so we took the time to explore Main Street. Casey let me into a bookstore, and I left with two new books. Le sigh. I can't complain, though, because new books always make me happy.

After exploring a few more stores, we decided to go on the chair lift. It's a roughly forty-five minute shindig, round-trip, and it's so worth it. You get amazing views of the city, and everything. Even if you're afraid of heights (and really, there is nowhere worse to realize this than on chair lift several feet off the ground).

We took the bus back to the condo, and on the walk from the stop to the front door, my aunt caught up to us. We got in the car and headed to Wal-Mart for some barbecuing essentials. After that, we got dinner at Panda Express and went to see Ted.

If you're wondering, you do need to see it. Desperately. Seth MacFarlane, you are my new favourite person.

Day Seven: Let's Get Civilized

Before I discuss this day, I just have to tell you all that I am very, very excited about the new Doctor Who trailer that came out yesterday, and I don't know what I'm going to do with my life until the twenty-fifth. Re-watch the series, maybe?

Ahem.

So we finally bid goodbye to Wyoming and headed off for Park City. Approximately five minutes after packing up and leaving the campsite, we saw another moose. This time, however, we saw a good one, giant antlers and all. Everyone should always listen to me: I said that we'd see a good one on the way to Park City, and I was right!

Our drive through Wyoming passed through several small towns, all strung together. When I say small, I mean towns with populations of 300 or less. Minuscule. Tiny. Dinky. Etc.

We stopped for lunch at this little diner called Tootsie's (excellent sandwiches) before heading off again.

We went through Idaho and spent a great deal of time admiring Bear Lake. It's huge and incredibly blue and incredibly pretty. We stopped at a rest stop in Utah to admire it, and play with grasshoppers (they'd be out on the cement paths, and we'd run down the paths to make them jump back into the grass. Big fun).

By the time we got to Park City, it was raining, but who cares? We were finally at a shelter that wasn't made of nylon, and our beds weren't inflatable.

Okay, so I like to complain about camping. It's all good, because no matter what, I will love very few things as much as I love camping.

Anyway.

After a home-cooked dinner, showers, and the discovery of wi-fi (horray!), we all went to bed and reveled in civilization, because really, what's better than a memory foam bed after sleeping on a slowly deflating air mattress for a week?

Nothing, that's what.

Day Six: Teton and Disney

We had to leave Yellowstone, eventually, I guess.

Le sigh.

We drove down through the Grand Teton Park, and let me tell you, that is probably the prettiest place I'd ever seen. I am fully convinced that it's photoshopped, or that Disney is somehow behind it. Unfortunately, I only have one picture (my camera decided that that was a fabulous time to die), but hopefully I'll get Casey's soon. Just know that it's stunning. You've got these really craggy old mountains, grey and dusted with snow (in July. Really, Wyoming?), wildflowers, lush greenery, stunning lakes, and butterflies everywhere. It's almost too pretty to be real, and it smells faintly like the colour green.

We made it to our campsite near Jackson, WY, and set up the tent in record time. In the rain. Like bosses. Eventually, though, we headed out into the wild that is Jackson Hole. It's actually this cute little tourist-trap town. We got some ice cream and wandered around, looking at all the hokey little things. Moose stuff everywhere, which was particularly difficult to stomach.

See, when we went on our unsuccessful moose hunt, we decided that we were using the word too much, and thus jinxing it. If anyone said it, they had to put in a quarter, sort of like a swear jar. A swear jar that never got cashed. For the record, Casey won.

Anyway.

We had dinner in Teton Village, at this great restaurant called the Mangy Moose Reindeer. It's pretty good, but the best part is definitely the atmosphere. Everywhere is just crammed with things. There are flags and movie posters all over the ceiling, moose reindeer heads on the walls, and an airplane hanging over the restaurant. It's actually pretty cool.

On the way back, though, we saw a moose! It was a female, and she was just hanging out in a marshy area, grazing and looking completely bored by the dozens of people taking a picture.

It was beautiful, though, because we could say the word moose again. You never realize just how much you love the word moose until you can't say it...

Day Five: Multistate Adventure

Casey and I woke up...lazy. Not sore or exhausted or anything, just lazy. So we nixed the original plan (hiking the Grand Canyon) in favour of something a little less ambitious. So sue us. Regardless, we'd seen the canyon from above. That was all we needed, you know?

Right. We're hideously lazy, we really are.

Since it was our last full day in Yellowstone, we did something awesome: we went on a two-for-the-price of one hike. We saw the Grand Prismatic Pool and the Fairy Falls.

Being the lazy fools that we were, we complained (quietly and amongst ourselves) about the short trek from the parking lot to the lookout for the Grand Prismatic. Keep in mind, that when I call it a lookout, I'm both being generous, and severely underselling it. That "lookout" is actually the side of a mountain, littered with fallen trees that serve double duty as hiker-helpers and benches. Casey and my aunt climbed up higher than I did (Casey for the picture, my aunt for fun), but you don't have to get very high to get the most spectacular view.

For those not in the know (and keep in mind that my pictures will not lessen your status), the Grand Prismatic Pool is this roughly 300-foot hot spring. It's this deep, vibrant blue-purple in the middle that extends out into the clearest, most flawless blue and then yellow, and then orange. When it's sunny out, it's so bright and gorgeous and bizarre. The steam coming off of it is either turquoise or orange, and it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

After a while, I hiked down to perch on a tree and read. Let me tell you that going down the side of that mountain was tricky business. It's all loose dirt and rock and dangerous and awesome.

When my people came back down, we "hiked" to the Fairy Falls. I say hike, but really, it's little more than a long (1.something mile) walk down a gravelly path through a forest. We did more complaining (the best part of anything, really), but when we got to the Falls, we couldn't complain about a thing. At all. Ever.

It's two hundred feet of sheer gorgeous. And it does a neat job of cooling you off. It's absolutely ridiculous how pretty it is.

After our trek, we drove to Montana for showers in a laundromat and pizza. If you're ever in West Yellowstone, MT, then get pizza at Rocky Mountain Pizza Co. on Canyon Street. Best. Ever. Plus, they have huckleberry Italian soda. Be still, my heart!

On the drive back to our campsite, we saw several animals of the baby variety. Be aware that there are few things in this world as adorable as a baby bison.

Also of note, Wyoming doesn't understand nighttime. It was ten o'clock, and there was still plenty of light on the horizon. Of course, when it gets dark, it gets dark, but still. Casey and I carried on and on about the sky. It was great.

Day Four: Equine Adventures

I don't have pictures of our horseback ride right now, but you will see them when I have them! We weren't allowed to have anything (anything!) on the horses. No water, no cameras, no cell phones, nothin'. It's all good, though. But I'm starting the story early!

We got up late (blissfully so) and so we just did normal morning things that you do when you camp. We headed out eventually and got lunch at a fairly nice restaurant. I discovered that bison burgers are delicious. Like, obscenely so.

Later, we checked out Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. That place is photoshopped too. I swear it, I really do.

We might have temporarily misplaced my aunt for a little while and we might have missed the first appointment for the horses, but it was all good. We went to the corral, explained the situation, and mounted half an hour later. I'm terrible at mounting, but not too bad at the actual riding. It helps that my horse (Dandy) knew where we were going. He was determined to graze on every green thing beside the path, though, like a punk. Casey's horse (Sage) wasn't quite so bad. He was sneaky, actually. He'd dip is head down and grab a mouthful of grass on the way up.

Punks.

The trail was gorgeous, of course. It's in Yellowstone, everything is gorgeous. That's how it works. That's how Yellowstone rolls. We also saw a moose-ette while on the trail, but we later decided that it didn't count because, as you may well know, "pics or it didn't happen."

We had dinner by Yellowstone River. That was great. We set up our chairs on the bank and just chilled. That does have photographic evidence! Casey and I waded in the river a bit (squelched is a better phrase), which was cold. Very cold. SUPER cold.

And rad.

Later, since everyone was disappointed that the moose incident didn't count, we went on a moose hunt. We drove around for the better part of an hour, and found nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. It was like all the animals had the night off, I swear.

After the lack of success and a short walk to the lake, we got ice cream, had a fire, and did some stargazing. That's another thing that Yellowstone is wonderful at: night skies. It's absurd how many stars there were!

Day Three: Ursa Major (Cool)

This was the designated Thermal Stuff Day. We checked out most of the hot, sulfur-y things at the park. It's so odd when you're driving through Yellowstone, because you're in the forest, and it's pretty and you feel like there should be a Disney Princess nearby singing to the bird perched on her finger, when suddenly: STEAM. EVERYWHERE. It's so odd to see, it really is.
We checked out some interesting mud pool things. Some of them look like dragon dens, so, yeah.
When we drove through Hayden Valley, we saw a ton of bison just wandering around, looking all sorts of happy in their pasture. One of them, though, walked onto the road, right into traffic! We ended up playing Follow the Leader with him while he took his sweet time crossing. It was hilarious.
We took a break from geothermal goodness to look at the Tower Falls. It's a short hike to the bottom, by the river, and absolutely stunning. I mean, it's absurd how pretty it is.
After that, we checked out another waterfall, and I got stung by an angry mini wasp thing. In the car. It wasn't a pleasant experience. I'm just so grateful toward my genes that I'm not allergic to bees or anything.
There was a short break in Mammoth for ice cream cones (huckleberry for Casey and my aunt, mint chocolate chip for me) and then we went to check out those springs. Let me tell you, the mammoth springs (wish I could remember the exact name) are some of the coolest/weirdest things I have ever seen. Especially the terraces on the side of the cliff. It's downright bizarre. It almost looks like an Antarctic landscape, instead of a bunch of calcium/other stuff deposits in Wyoming.
There was a short detour when we saw a small group of elk grazing by a river. I'm going to say it again: gorgeous. Seriously, they were the prettiest animals ever. Huge bucks with huge racks (heh heh). It was funny to see so many people sitting on the bank opposite them, taking pictures. You never see the other side of those Yellowstone shots, the huge clump of people standing together and taking pictures. It's kind of hilarious.
We caught Old Faithful on our way to dinner. Well, it caught us. We weren't there for five minutes before it went off. So cheesy, but so cool.
We took showers by the lodge there and headed back.
Also of note: we saw a bear. It was probably a juvenile grizzly, and we saw it from the car. But nevertheless, we saw a bear.
Yeah, buddy.
More tomorrow!

Day Two: Oh, Idaho!

It goes on.

We left the hotel bright and early and drove through Idaho. I met up with an old friend from high school, which was really nice. I haven't seen him since graduation, basically. Anyway, after the socialization, we left. Casey and I played our roles (tourists) wonderfully and bought cheesy things from a gas station. We also took the time to take pictures. Oh, yeah.

After a small roadblock (literally) in Montana, though, we finally made it to Yellowstone! Within the first mile of the park, we saw some elk grazing. Being tourists, we stopped and took pictures before continuing to our campsite. Basically, in one day, though, we went through the rest of Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. That effectively knocks several states off my to-do list.

We got the tent up in less than ten minutes (Casey and I were both Girl Scouts, once upon a time) and went to this place, the Lake Lodge (I think) for dinner. There, I discovered that I'm basically going to be addicted to huckleberry stuff for the rest of my life.

Also, we saw a bison.

Also, I bought a bison. His name is Jerry.

Also, I counted this day as a success.

Day One: It Begins

So, as I told you, I went off on an adventure. I drove up to Yellowstone with Casey and my aunt. And since it was such a long trip, with so many pictures, I decided to drag it out and make a post a day. Yeah, buddy.

Anyway.

On the first day (Tuesday), we headed out. We got the car packed valiantly and headed off. We drove through a good chunk of California, Nevada, Arizona, and stopped in Utah. Provo, Utah, home of the sad Mexican food. Really, we should have figured that Utah wouldn't have California-approved Mexican food. Hopefully I'll get some tonight, though!

Also in Provo, Utah: our hotel. It was really nice, complete with a fitness room (abused my Casey and myself) and an indoor pool. I love pools, indoor and otherwise.

Arizona...

More Arizona...

Virgin margaritas, like all the cool kids do.
Mine tasted like chili tamarind candy.
It was supposed to be kiwi.

This is how we do.

Oh, Marriott, you know us so well!

So, by the end of this day, I could honestly say that I'd been to Vegas! Well, in Vegas.

Okay, through Vegas. Whatever.

More tomorrow!