Moment of the Week

six jars of backyard fresh raspberry freezer jam

TBT

From my birthday a few weeks ago.... we don't take family photos very often.

Decisions

I have a hard time making decisions because I am a people pleaser.  

I know what I want, but I don't want to make anyone upset, or even just have to explain myself.  

I'm not going to explain.... but I probably unfriended you today on Facebook. 

I even unfriended Dave.... though he probably won't notice for a few weeks.

I kept 11 friends. 

These ladies are part of an amazing quilting community that just happened to come together two years ago.  

I could part with FB but not my sewing community.... so I guess I just explained myself then.

Email or Text me instead.

As A Fam

Hopefully you aren't too bored with the Yellowstone photos.  I just love some of the many photos I took of our family during our camping and exploring.  

a selfie taken in the Big Horn Mountains(most likely our next camping trip)

Setting up the tent- it hailed while we were checking in- so the pressure was on

first dinner- dogs, beans, and pasta salad

Dave and me at Yellowstone Lake

Nate enjoying the springs

using his scope to explore a little more.

tromping through a trail

waiting for Old Faithful

More trail exploring- He is in his element

watching rapids in a river

a family shot of a different type

loving the river trails and falls.

at Artist Point

at the bottom of the Red Rocks trail

Ice cream break

Checking out Mammoth Hot Springs - and the likelihood the boardwalk might fall in a spring

We had lots of memorable family moments on this trip... exactly what we were hoping for. 

The Sights

I won't bore you with the five hundred something photos I took of the amazing landscapes of Yellowstone.... But here are a few from some of our favorite spots in the park

Yellowstone Lake

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Kepler Cascades I think 

Old Faithful

View of Lower falls from Artists Point

Tower Falls

Mammoth Springs

Mammoth Springs- Canary Fountain

Mud Volcano

We plugged our noses a few times.

10 Things I Learned

 I had camped.  I had camped in a few different situations.  I had never camped in an area with bears.  Being the organized anxious planner I am, I was pretty unprepared.   I learned a lot.

1.  You cannot do dishes at your campsite.  It makes sense, you don't want food odors attracting bears, but I never considered dish water.  The campground bathrooms had a tiny little community dish washing room (we are talking a smidgen larger than a phone booth here).  No hot water.  That really threw me for a loop.  Cold water washing- I rewashed everything when I got home of course.

2.  You cannot store clean dishes/ water bottles/ ANYTHING related to meal prep or cooking at your site.  This threw me for a giant loop too..... Basically everything that wasn't the tent or sleeping bags had to be stored in the car.  My tidy organized personality was a little worked up.  This meant I had to keep the dishes done all the time because who wants to drive around all day with dirty dishes in their car?  No one.

3.  No hot water AT ALL.  I knew the campground wouldn't have showers, but the bathroom sinks didn't even run warm water....... wash your face with brisk cold water why don't ya?

4.  The bear safe storage boxes are shared.  I was relieved to find this out because before we went I had read that some sites had boxes and others didn't.  The boxes are actually meant to be shared by three, four or five sites.  We had three equal distanced boxes from our site and they were almost always empty.  We kept our little portable gas grill in the bear box because I didn't want to keep the grill in our car while we were sightseeing all day.

5.  You need to take extra trash bags.  I took one for each day, it wasn't enough because you need to keep your trash with you.  DUH.  I sure as heck didn't want to drive around with egg shells and coffee grounds.  Luckily we had a gas station bag and some ice bags so we could throw out smaller bags of trash before we went sightseeing. 

6.  Having to take all of your food with you is actually very convenient.  Driving all day exploring the park there were a million picnic areas that we could pull off and enjoy.  Since we had to take everything with us anyways it was nice not to need to 'pack' lunches.  We just made lunch wherever we pulled off.

7.  There is no cell service in the campground.  I kid you not, as soon as we made it to the registration building on the way out of the campground we would get a signal.  No data to speak of though.  Up near Mammoth Hot Springs I did notice 3G briefly.  Just plan on being disconnected.   Around the larger attractions there must have been decent service because I noticed SO many older folks yelling into their phones.  Annoying.  

8.  Having the car compartments empty is a HUGE help.  Rarely empty, my two storage bins in the back of my car saved my sanity.  I kept fire starting/big spray/ clean up things in one side.....

.... In the other I kept toothbrushes/ toothpaste/ deodorant/ sunscreen/ pain reliever.  Totally genius.  It worked out great.

9.  The general stores have eateries so you can have something to eat that doesn't require a crap ton of work.... and they sell a really good selection of beer and wine.  Also  if you remember nothing else I tell you...

**  THE HUCKLEBERRY ICE CREAM SANDWICHES ARE AMAZING**

Get five one!

10.  There is wildlife up in the campground.  Not just chipmunks and squirrels.  When we first arrived and were racing to put up the tent in between rain clouds, Nate came over and said, "Mom!  There is poop over there!"  I followed him and sure enough animal poop.... kinda large poop... then I looked up and the five trees all around our tent had claw marks.  The tree closest to the poop had what looked to be fresh claw marks.   I was going to pretend that an idiot teenager put them there to scare people (totally terrified was I), but then campground neighbors on their second or third trips said they were bear marks.... bear poop..... SIX FEET from where we had put up out tent.  Now I've been home and googled bear poop, and it varies, I'm going to continue in my denial of the presence of bears. Ignorance is bliss.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip.  

I'd definitely recommend staying in the park.  

 It's inexpensive, and we got to see so much more than if we had stayed outside the park. 

 And now if you do go you'll be warned about the dishes and the ice cream sandwiches.  

You're welcome.

The Wildlife

Yellowstone has two main sights.... the landscapes and animals.( and the animals among different landscapes makes it gorgeous)

Of course the bison are an easy spot, they are all over.  This guy was holding up traffic our first morning.  We saw lots of bison each day we were at Yellowstone.

We got lucky one afternoon to see this black bear.  He was just off the road munching on grass and wildflowers during a rain storm.  He was hard to see, but when we were pulling up he looked right at us.  It was really cool.  

We saw lots of elk all over the park.  Lots of bulls and lots of cows.  

Those antlers are HUGE.  The photo doesn't show how large they are, but in real life they are something else!

The first day we were driving around there was a large traffic back up at one point, and when we finally got up to the activity I asked the ranger what was up.  He told us the people camped out in chairs with big cameras were waiting to see if some bears came back to enjoy a bison carcass in the field.  The following day we happened to be driving by the same place... people still camped out, traffic backed up again.  But this time the grizzly bears were there!  We saw them eating the bison. Then while we were creeping by the bears took off in a run, one chasing the other.  It was incredible!  You can see we were a very safe distance, but getting a shot of the bears running was my favorite photo score. 

Deer Deer Deer.  They were 'round.

And the bison were everywhere too.

We also enjoyed chipmunks, a noisy squirrel that liked to come up to our tent at 5:30 to cluck really loud, geese, an ducks. 

No moose sightings. Dang it.

Moment of the Week

A week spent...

.... so many moments and memories.

We really had about 100 moments this week.  

I'll have to share a few later.... 

when I'm caught up on laundry and sleep.

Out Back

Our garden has been getting serious.

Without very warm temps and with loads of rain we seemed to be a little behind this year, but now things are really growing. I have a good supply of lettuce and spinach and a huge amount of parsley. My basil is doing well.  The peppers have been recovering from lots of broken leaves from a couple of bad hail storms we had in June.  

Recently I went out to check on things and found my beans climbing up my pea arches.  Apparently I bought pole beans and they needed something to climb FAST.  Dave ran to the store today and bought some 6 foot bamboo poles to make a tepee for the beans.  I guess I'm trying new things this year.  Gary thinks they produce more than the bush beans so maybe this will be a happy accident.  

Once the beans are climbing up the tepee I think the garden will look so pretty with all of the tall plants.  I finally have pea pods and I love them.  I'm going to try a fall crop this year.  Hopefully we won't go through that early blizzard crap again and ruin weeks of would be garden time.  

My hanging baskets are INSANE!  If you remember I had the same flower combo last year, but I had them out from for a month or two then swapped them and they took off.  Well, this year starting in their prime spot has them thriving like crazy.  The vines are several feet long and I love sitting out back looking over the garden and my flowers.  It makes me feel like a successful human being.  

I think my cosmos are slow growing, but I'm sure they will charge up any day now.  

I really love this gardening and yard keeping stuff.  

Today Dave set up the soaker hose system he developed for the garden while we are away next week.  Thankfully we will only be gone for three days.  Unless a twister comes through I don't think everything will take a nosedive in that short of time.  I am so relieved that we aren't going out of town for very long this year.  Last year I felt dreadful when we went to Michigan leaving the garden and flowers.  Actual DREAD in my gut.  So glad I won't have to go through that again. 

Moment of the Week

They think they are cute