Headed West... Headed West!

     Sheree, Johnnie, Tex and I have had a reservation at the Old Faithful Inn for almost a year and a half. We picked this weekend because it was going to be shortly after the 70.3 and I new I would have a little bit of down time. We decided to make a long weekend out of it by adding a night onto the end and staying in Jackson Hole.

      Sheree also had some family members that went to Bear World just north of Idaho Falls and she really wanted to go. This is kind of funny considering I had lived over there for years when it opened and I had never been. Little did we know how fun it would really be.

 

Rare white elk.

 

Tristan checking out the bear.

He was fine until he saw this happen to the car behind us and then he started freaking out! It was so funny, we were all laughing. 

    As we come around the corner, Tristan says, "Mommy, there is a wolf chasing a bear"... we were like ya... whatever. Then we saw this. We did not know there were wolves at Bear World. Nice job Tristan!

     We also had tickets to feed the baby cubs. We were not exactly sure how this was going to go with Tristan? We thought we would check them out first then take a trip through the petting area to try to warm him up to the idea.

They also had these little amusement park rides that were all free. The kids loved them!

We allowed the kids to pick out an animal to stuff. I think it is hilarious that Tristan picked out a "Tiger" at Bear World, Paige picked out a Moose.

The kids had a new favorite machine... The Penny Smasher. This was the beginning of a new trend that would last all weekend.

This would be our second trip through the refuge. Sheree really wanted a close encounter with a bear.

This is Sheree begging the bears to jump on her car.

She is hilarious!

As we moved into West Yellowstone, the Ziel-Whillhite's and Tex were shopping, the kids and I went for a walk by the Depot Museum.

Yellowstone Park here we come!

When you arrive at the park, they give the kids an animal check list. It is apparent that Tristan was pretty excited about it!

Elk... Check!

Fire Hole Scenic Byway

Approaching the Geyser Basin

  

The Old Faithful Inn 

1904

 

Our room.

Stepping out to view Old Faithful

Dinner at the Inn

Awing the view.

The kids received a booklet at supper. In the booklet were many activities. One of them was to collect stamps around the park. If they collected 4/5 they would get a special surprise. 

Stamp #1

As we got back to our room, the kids were not ready to settle down. They had go this little excavation toy at Bear World and they were eager to tear into it. They really were cute. A brick of sand with bones buried inside. Their job was to "excavate" the bones and assemble the fossils into their prehistoric structure.

Great first day!