A well versed vacation

We spent four days in Yellowstone National Park/Island Park to celebrate the end of our summer. (And it only took me three days to write this post lol!) We had some ups and downs but overall, it was a lot of fun. And to make this post more interesting, I've put our whole vacation into two parts. The first part, the good part, I have pictures of different things we saw and what we did. The second part, the not so good part, I've put into song. As long as you know the original lyrics to the "12 Pains of Christmas" you should be able to follow along. :-)

Bald eagle - This was the first sign of wildlife we saw in Yellowstone and it was right after we entered the park. We saw more throughout our trip which was really neat. It's kind of hard to see the eagle in this picture, but it's there. My favorite animal! I was so excited to see them!


Waterfall at Fire Hole - I love waterfalls. I love the sound. I love the way it looks. I love the smell. Nothing more calming and beautiful!


Plants - We saw a variety of plants, none of which I know the names, but they were beautiful. And since you can't pick them in a national park, we took lots of pictures instead. :-)


Yellowstone Lake - This is where the girls fished for the very first time. They liked trying to fish but they had more fun throwing rocks in the water lol!


Elk - doesn't the one in the back look like it's smiling? We saw a handful of elk during our trip, some up closer than we planned on lol.


Buffalo - We saw so many buffalo that by the last day, I was sick of seeing buffalo lol. This one thinks we're it's herd. There was a car in front of us that passed it and boy howdy did the buffalo get mad! Needless to say, we stayed behind him until he was in a better mood lol.


Tower Falls - isn't that incredible?! I love nature. :)


Yellowstone River - this is the part that is running through the Bleached Cliffs. Very cool.


Petrified Tree - I expected it to look more like a rock. I mean it's petrified, which means it is a rock. But it still looks like a tree. And I couldn't touch it, obviously, so how do I know it's a rock? Maybe it's paper-mache. Yeah, I'm strange like that.


The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River - I never get sick of waterfall pictures. :)


Part of Mammoth Hot Springs - ok, in order to see all of Mammoth Hot Springs, you have to hike along the boardwalks. Half way through the .2 miles, I turned, almost breathless, to my husband and said "I can run 6 miles not pregnant and be fine. Make me walk .2 miles pregnant and I'm wiped. I'd prefer to running!"


More of Mammoth Hot Springs - lots to see.


More elk - there were so many people who didn't listen to the signs or warnings from the rangers about approaching the wildlife. (We were a ways off from this elk and zoomed in for the picture.) We had to laugh because there were people within feet of this elk taking pictures of themselves by it. Plain stupid if you ask me.


Mammoth restroom - this sign made me laugh. It says "Mammoth Restroom." It looks normal-sized to me lol!


Continental Divide - yeah, I expected a big crack in the ground, not lilly pads. (I didn't even see any frogs!) Nope, apparently this is where the water goes to two different places; the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. It was a let down, sorry.


Old Faithful - but not so faithful these days we were told. Still neat to see.


Leaving the park - bye bye Yellowstone! It was fun!



12 Pains of Yellowstone

The first thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, was finding a place to pee.

The second thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, seeing tons of buffalo,
And finding a place to pee.

The third thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, tourists who can't read English, Tons and tons of buffalo,
And finding a place to pee.

The fourth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, other campers walking through our campsite,
Tourists washing dishes out in the open to attrack the bears,
More freakin' buffalo,
And finding a place to pee.

The fifth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, five months of debt!
Other campers tripping into our fire pit,
Tourists picnicking right by the buffalo's,
"Why does the buffalo in the road think we're it's herd?!"
And finding a place to pee.

The sixth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, all the rain and snow,
Five months of debt!
Other campers walking by our tent at 3am,
Tourists stopping in the middle of the road,
"If we have to drive through this dang buffalo valley one more time!"
And finding a place to pee.

The seventh thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, outrageous prices,
Freeze-the-snot-in-your-nose temperatures,
Five months of debt!
"Are the other campers blind to the walking path??"
"Sure, they look nice and innocent, until Old Faithful goes off and you can't get a picture!"
"That buffalo looks mad at us and we're not the ones making it angry!"
And finding a place to pee.

The eighth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, "I have to go potty!"
"$2.99/gallon for gas? For the love..."
"Oh look, the rain is putting out my fire. I just got the thing started!"
Five months of debt!
"Just because our campsite is by the bathroom doesn't make it a freeway!"
"If only the buses wouldn't let them out..."
"Ok, what's with the rangers pushing the buffalo AND us off the road??"
And finding a place to pee.

The ninth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, all the sandbars,
"There's a bug in the bathroom, I'm not going!"
"$2 for a bag of ice!"
"Why is it snowing, IN AUGUST!"
Five months of debt!
"Don't be giddy by my tent late at night lovebirds!"
"Seriously, it's just a rock. Do you really need a picture?!?"
"Buffalo grunts sound like belches. Yeah, that's appealing to a pregnant woman."
And finding a place to pee.

The tenth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, a leaky tent,
"Where the heck is all this sand coming from?"
"There's a bug in the car-eeekkkk!!"
"$2 for a 6 minute shower? I guess that means only my feet will get clean!"
"Why is it only snowing at my campsite but not in the rest of the park?!"
Five months of debt!
"Make out with your girlfriend in your own campsite!"
"You came half way around the world to see this place and you're asking me 'Is it worth it?!?'"
"I think the buffalo are enjoying this..."
And finding a place to pee.

The eleventh thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, fishing with a crappy pole,
"This tent is new and the rain tarp leaks-fabulous!"
"There's sand in places that it shouldn't be!"
"There's a bug in the tent! There's a bug in the tent!!"
"$100 for 4 sweaters?! Are you kidding me?"
"Who needs a shower, stand outside."
Five months of debt!
"Yes, I'm PURPOSELY talking LOUDLY about the PATH right BEHIND me that YOU should be USING!"
"Look, they're stopping to take a picture of a vertical log. Don't they have trees where they come from?!"
"Oh hey, there's something we haven't seen for all of 3 seconds, hurry, stop and take a picture of yet ANOTHER buffalo!"
And finding a place to pee.

The twelfth thing about Yellowstone that was such a pain to me, bringing our own firewood-then being told we could use some from the forest,
Losing fish lures even though we caught zero fish,
"Rain tarps are supposed to KEEP the rain out. It's waterproof for crying out loud!"
"That part of me never even touched the sand!"
"I saw a bug! ~It's a gnat~ It's touching me!!"
"What do you mean you spent $60 on two blankets and they were the cheap ones?!"
"'Here comes the rain again'...everybody sing! ARGH!"
Five months of debt!
"That's it! I'm putting up a toll booth!"
"LEARN ENGLISH!"
"I've had it, where's my gun? We're having buffalo for dinner!"
And find-ing a pl-ace tooooo peeeeeee!