summer 2009 - Day 5

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Yellowstone National Park

Woke up, got dressed and got into the car. We ate breakfast in the car with the groceries we still had. We drove south to the Mud Volcano and ___ Cauldron - On our drive we were stopped by some Bison crossing the road; it was pretty cool everyone really liked the Bison, and was a great photo opp. When we made to our destination, we all walked to the Mud Volcano, then Ethan and I made the 2/3 mile hike (roundtrip) to the _____. Ethan really enjoyed the hike, but didn’t like the “smelly” steam in his face. We all loaded back into the car and started to drive back north, made a quick stop at the ___ Cauldron where we also saw a few Bison, one was rolling in the mud. On our drive back north we were once again stopped by the Bison in the road, more photos etc... We stopped at Artists Point in Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone. We all made the hike up to the overlook. What an amazing view of the Canyon and Lower Falls. We took many pictures and I think Amy was really awestruck. After spending quite some time taking in the sites, we climbed back into the car and continued driving north. We decided to go towards Tower Falls and then return back to our hotel to do laundry, relax and then get ready for dinner. Well, we made the drive north past Mt. Washburn and up to Tower Falls, nobody really cared for the mountain road, so instead of turning around and making the trek back to the hotel, we continued north towards Mamoth Hot Springs. We made a stop to have a picnic lunch on the side of the road in a nice meadow. After lunch we continued our drive to Mammoth Hot Springs, we stopped for a while to walk around and get ice cream for the boys. While walking to get ice cream we saw an Elk cross the road and then continue to walk through town down the sidewalk - not what we see everyday back home. After our ice cream we continued our drive past the Mammoth Terraces and 39 miles later returned to our hotel. Once back at the hotel we attempted to rest; we helped the boys do their Jr. Ranger workbooks, showered and got ready for dinner. We went to the 50’s diner in Canyon Village. It was our best option available - I think we would have been better off skipping dinner. Anyway, we survived. After dinner, we all went to the laundromat in the Canyon Village and did our laundry. Went back to the hotel and called it a night.

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