Fishing, Swimming, & License Plates

~Written by Ian, Megan, & April

Fishing!

We went fishing many times in Yellowstone. It was fun. We saw fish but didn't catch any for the first night we fished. The second time we fished we didn't catch any fish either. Actually, we didn't catch any fish at all. But we had a pretty good time.

Megan by Fishing Bridge

One place that we did see fish was at Fishing Bridge. Fishing is not allowed there anymore, though, because people fished it so much that the population dropped. It was a wonderful place to fish before that, though. April and Megan walked across it (the others were asleep in the car), and, yes, we saw a few big fish down there.

Swimming

We first waded in Yellowstone Lake which had leeches. The leeches were cool. We fished a little bit there, but we couldn't get our lines out far enough. Dad waded deep down into the lake trying to retrieve a lost lure. He was unsuccessful, and he got all wet. The lure was a lure that Ian had found, and he was pretty upset that it had gotten lost. The next day we swam in a shallow river, which you couldn't really swim in. It was pretty fun though.

Next time we swam in the Firehole River swimming area. It was more fun than the shallow river. We had a lot of fun. We each got to float down the current with Dad. We saw some elk while we were there, too.

The License Plate Game

Whenever April's family went on a vacation, they would always play the License Plate Game, where your goal is to try and find as many state license plates as you can during the time you are traveling. Kevin does not share the same fondness for this game because it gives him a headache. However, he helped us check off our list. Can you guess which license plate was April's favorite and which one was Kevin's?

By the next to last day of our trip, we were down to one final elusive plate: Connecticut. We drove slowly through many parking lots looking specifically for this one. We eventually found it in a parking lot of Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park!!! There is a little bit of a dispute over who actually saw it first... Nonetheless, we were able to check off all 50 states on our list.

The Wildlife of Yellowstone National Park

~written by Megan, Kevin, and April

As much fun as we had exploring the geothermal wonders of the park, we had even more fun viewing the magnificent wildlife. One of the advantages to Yellowstone is that most of the animals along the roads are habituated to humans gawking at them, which makes photographing them rather easy--just roll down the window, point the camera, and shoot a picture!

Bison

Our first view of a bison was the one we almost hit on the drive in late at night. We also had a resident bison who hung out near the campground. We saw very large herds of them through the Hayden Valley as well in the Lamar Valley. We also saw bison calves which were very cute. Most of the time we simply saw bison just standing by the road and eventually they became less interesting to us, so we didn't stop as often for them. We bought a book about bison while we were there, and it said that a long time ago you could see millions of bison just stretched out across the prairie.

There were signs all over warning people to not go near the bison because they might charge at you. One of the movies that was playing in a museum in Yellowstone showed some people who got too close to a bison and were charged. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Elk

We saw quite a few elk as we were driving down the road. We saw one with a radio collar, some very cute elk calves, and a huge bull elk came out right across the river from us when we stopped at a picnic area to eat one day. We had a great view of the bull, and Megan got some good pictures (see below right). Unlike the bison, the elk weren't in large herds.

Coyotes

We saw several coyotes during our stay. One of them (we are really embarrassed to admit this) we thought was a wolf at first because it was radio-collared. One of the coyotes we saw was pretty nice looking--it had longer fur than the others and wasn't as skinny. We also saw some coyote pups from a distance.

Grizzly Bears

The entire family had to accommodate April's wishes to try to see a grizzly (ah, the sacrifices we make for each other). As a result, the children were dragged out of their sleeping bags at the early hour of 5:00 a.m. in order for us to drive to Dunraven Pass by 6:00 a.m. where there were frequent sightings of these ursids. The full story is too long and detailed to recount here, but the highlight was, as April (with Erin in backpack) was hiking up the road to the area where all the people with spotting scopes had just moved, a big momma grizzly and her two cubs came walking about 50 feet away from her! It was incredible! April was kicking herself for leaving the camera back in the Suburban with Kevin, but she anticipated the view to be of a small dot walking too far away to photograph. She called Kevin and the other children on the walkie-talkie and told them to hurry up the road and see wild grizzlies--and to bring the camera. (The rangers were rather picky about parking only in designated areas along the pass, so that is why we were walking on the road rather than driving.) We watched the mother and her babies forage for about 45 minutes, after which time they were little dots too far away to photograph, plus everyone thought it was time to eat some breakfast by then.

Wolves

The wolves were one of the most exciting things about our trip. We learned that one pack made daily appearances across the river from the Otter Creek Picnic Area. One night we arrived too late to see them, so we went back early the next morning. We were about ten minutes too late! We waited patiently for another hour before they made their second appearance. The wolves had five pups that stayed out for a long time playing. One was black, and the others were sandy. One adult wolf (subadult female) was there for most of the time because she was watching the pups. She stood up occasionally, and we got some good pictures of her. The pups were very cute. The black one was easy to spot, so that was good, because the others were a bit hard to see. The pups went down to the river for a while, and while they were there, their mother, who had been hunting, came back. She gave them food, and the black pup ran off with a big chunk of it. We spent about 5 hours viewing them off and on that morning.

Columbian Spotted Frog (Kevin thinks)

Mammals, mammals, mammals. Sadly, the amphibians of Yellowstone go largely ignored, so we end with this frog. Kevin was quite excited to catch a species of frog that was new for him. (Don't report him for catching wildlife in a national park--he did release it after taking photos.) He heard it croaking while we were playing on the shore of Yellowstone Lake and followed the sound to its source.

Step Back in Time to Yellowstone National Park Trip

~Written by Megan and her mom

At the beginning of July, Kevin had one week off from teaching classes, and he wanted to spend it on a family vacation. We chose to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons because it had been about 8 years since we were last there, and Ian and Erin have never gone. We left after church on a Sunday afternoon and drove for several long hours. When at last we arrived at the West Entrance, we then had to find our campground which meant we had to drive for another hour. By then it was dark and we could hardly see anything. The dozing children were awakened when a large male bison suddenly appeared on the road and Kevin had to slam hard on the brakes to avoid hitting it.

Our Campground

Since we were visiting a national park, we had to camp in an established campground (Kevin generally prefers to find his own campsites away from other people). We ended up with a nice spot in the Bridge Bay Campground by Yellowstone Lake. It was a bit of a challenge setting up the tent quietly in the dark (we arrived at the early hour of 11:00 pm), but no one complained to us the next morning.

The Geysers

West Thumb Geyser Basin

This was the first geyser basin that we visited. There were a lot of colorful hot springs that we saw. There were many signs telling you not to go off the trail, and so we had to restrain Ian from walking on the edges of the wooden walkways. We saw bison tracks in the soft ground close to the hot springs.

Old Faithful Geyser Basin

We had to visit the most famous geyser in the park. It may not be the tallest, but it was pretty cool to see. We arrived a while before it was scheduled to go off, so April took Megan to the little bookstore nearby. Kevin and the kids got front-row seats for the eruption. It was quite amazing! We stayed for a second eruption. This one was better than the first, and we were a bit disappointed that we had not bothered to go up front to see this one. After we ate lunch there, Dad bought us some ice cream.

Norris Geyser Basin

A different day, we went to another geyser basin. As you can see, it was a bit wet, so the kids wore their rain ponchos. Here there were a lot of small hot springs and a few little geysers that spurted out water. The smell of sulphur was not pleasant. There was one hot spring that we thought smelled like tuna. There was an area where there were many of the little geysers that looked like the Little Prince's planet in the book "The Little Prince."

Mud Pots

Something that we all enjoyed were the Mud Pots. They were made of clay that wasn't really hot, but had gases pushing up and making the bubbles. We thought that they were very amazing. We watched one big one for a long time.

Our Campground After Summer Storm

We only had rain while hiking around the Norris Geyser Basin, but when we returned to camp, we found that the Yellowstone Lake area had received a few inches of hail! Fortunately our tent wasn't flooded like some of the others. We had a couple small areas where the hail had piled up, and the children scooped it up with spoons and put it in a milk jug to keep our cooler cool. Only a few spots in our tent were wet, but we still slept all right. We had to eat our dinner standing up though, because our picnic table was soaked.



Stay tuned for the next installment. . .

Why We Have Not Posted Recently...

Pioneer Day Celebrations

Kevin took the children downtown to the annual Pioneer Day activities. They missed all but the end of the small parade that went through the area. Soon after, they went to the craft area, where Megan, Ian, and Erin made tie-die bandannas. Ian enjoyed throwing the atlatl, a hunting weapon used long ago. There was also hatchet throwing, which both of the children tried.

Brown Family Reunion

Here are three of the four living children of Archie Lee Brown, April's grandfather: Maryetta Brown Tsukamoto, Beverly Brown Greene, and Irene Brown Ingram. David Brown (younger brother of Maryetta) was not in attendance.

Grandfather Brown's marriage to April's grandmother was his second (he had 6 children from his first marriage which ended in divorce), and he was 25 years older, hence the generation differences between the step-sisters. Grandma Brown was closer to the age of her step children, plus for some reason they always referred to her as "Aunt Ethel" so it has always been a bit confusing how we are all related. Here is a not-so-great angle of the grandchildren who were in attendance, lined up according to age. Again, the oldest are the age of April's mother with April at the younger end of the scale.



The grilled chicken was great, and we ate a lot of food. The children had a huge yard/playground area in which to amuse themselves. Notice the happy smiles as they ride on the bucking bull.

Farewell Party for Emmy, Brad, & Gabe

Kevin's cousin Emmy and her family moved to San Diego for Brad's graduate school, so we had a family party to say "good-bye" and "good luck." We can all survive for awhile without Emmy and Brad, but we don't know what we'll do without darling little Gabe running around. They promised to bring him back for Christmas. Hopefully they will post new photos on their blog soon (hint, hint--but who are we to talk?).

New Hamster!

Megan has finally gotten a hamster! She has named him Tico. He was given to us because he was donated to a yard sale, and then nobody bought him. Much to April's relief, he does not smell bad at all compared to the mice. Luckily, Tico is a nice hamster, and he does not bite.

Cache County Fair

We visited the fair over two days, the first time with the Bucherts, and the second time with Dad. Erin especially loved all the little animals. Megan was eyeing the hamsters for sale, thinking she might need another one. Ian enjoyed sitting on the big farm machinery.

Perseid Meteor Shower

We drove up Logan Canyon and camped out overnight near Logan Peak to watch the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. We sat out on blankets until about 11:30 p.m. when the children finally crashed, but we had seen a lot by that time--as many as 3 per minute. Even Erin was commenting on them. Kevin wore his camo hunting clothes. Can you see him against the foilage? At least admire his nice facial hair growth...a new image after so many years of shaving. Now he has the true "outdoorsman" look.

Canning Distractions

Canning season unofficially began towards the end of July when a friend dropped off 3 bags of delicious apricots for our use. April had been lamenting the fact that our apricots had been killed by a late frost, but thanks to our neighbors up the street, we are in good shape once again with apricot syrup and apricot-pineapple fruit leather.

We were also blessed with bushels of garden green beans, compliments of our friends the Crooks. They always plant more than they can use and graciously share their produce with the neighborhood. We bottled 14 quarts along with eating lots of fresh beans.

Most recently we were given several boxes full of ripe tomatoes from Megan's Activity Day Leader's family. We bottled 20 quarts, plus we attempted to dry some for the first time. The remainder we passed on to other friends for their food storage.

We think Erin is the perfect poster child for advertising produce. Not only does she pose with it, she also really eats it!

Next week the Brigham City peaches will be ready. We can hardly wait!