1st- Saturday: We got ready and finished packing. We left for Mila’s baptism. It was a lovely service. The cousins sang “Because.” We had food at Jake and Abril’s afterwards. We left their place around 11:45 and drove to Jackson, Wyoming! We stopped twice along the way. I napped so much and also read my Sheri Dew book. The kids did great! We met the rest of the fam at the Chuck Wagon dinner. We got to ride a covered wagon 2 miles up the canyon and then found our table. Dan got to ring the dinner bell and we all ate. It was yummy, but we decided Bart Nelson’s food is better. The show after was cute. They played 5-6 songs and told cheesy jokes! We had an hour drive to our Airbnb and everyone else went to a Rodeo. We got settled and chilled. We got to bed around 12.
2nd- Sunday: We got up around 8. I had the biggest sore neck! Dan rubbed it with his massage gun. Emily and Justin and my dad all went to the store to get food. We ate and then watched Music and the Spoken Word Broadcast. We packed lunches and got dressed. We left around 10:30 to head into Jackson. We stopped at a shop and bought a few things. We had a picnic lunch, then Dan took me and the two girls to a park. My parents met us there. Dan and the older three, along with the Smiths and Mickelle and Jonathan went rafting on the Snake River! They had to rent wet suits because it was so cold. We went to a second park, but it was pretty cold and windy. We went back home. Alice and Bethany got to swim in the hot tub. Mom and I prepped lasagna dinner. Everyone got home around 6:30. We ate, planned the next day, the kids got in the hot tub more, and then showers. We got our matching shirts and had family prayer. We packed up as much as we could.
3rd- Monday: we got up at 6:30 and left by about 7:30. We drove to Jackson and printed a National Parks pass. We stopped at the Grand Teton National Park visitor’s center. We stopped at the Yellowstone park sign. We made it to West Thumb and waited a bit. We got our ponchos on and walked around a bit. It was cold and rainy and even windy. Not great. But we made the best of it. We saw an elk. Then we headed to Old Faithful and just missed it. We ate lunch in the car and then headed out to see Old Faithful again. We got a picture with my dad and the banner I made for him! After the eruption, we went to the Grand Prismatic hot pots. Those were SO steamy! Our glasses fogged up so much we couldn’t see. The rain let up a little, which was nice. We back tracked a little and Dan and the older two, along with the Smiths and Jonathan and Mickelle, went on a little hike to see the Grand Prismatic from above. They also saw a wolf. I waited in the car with the three girls. My parents also waited in the car. The two little girls watched The Little Mermaid. Anna looked at pictures on the phone and so read and napped. When they got back, we headed to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. We got to see a herd of about 25 Bison along the way. It was still so dark and cold and rainy. Mid 40s all day. I’m thankful we had lots of snacks and food in the car so we didn’t have to stop. We ate dinner at a cafeteria style place. The food was ok, and super expensive. While there, we all put on the fake tattoos of my dad’s face and sang to him with a small cherry pie. We had lightning and Thunder on our drive to stay at Mammoth. The cabins were cool! Definitely old, with community toilets and showers, but we had a sink in each room.
4th- Tuesday: Dan, McKenna, Ben and I all showered. We packed up and headed to breakfast at 9. Then we walked around Mammoth hot springs for a while. We stopped to take pictures at the Yellowstone arch. Then we started the long drive to Glacier! Kelsey rode with us and McKenna and Bethany rode with Smith’s. I worked on music, read my book, napped, and tried to get caught up on Marco Polo. Dan was a champ driving the whole way and it was super windy! We stopped at a bakery Dan’s coworker, Lee, suggested. It was delicious! Once we got close to Glacier, there was more rain! We made it to a small hike and started at 9pm. I was pretty scared the whole time because it wasn’t super light and I’m terrified of bears. Dan had bear spray and we made lots of noise. It was muddy and cold and rainy, but the rocks on the ground were so colorful and the views were so pretty! We never met up with the other group who started hiking before us, but we found them in the parking lot after. We still had another hour drive before our housing location at Glacier Lodge. This hotel is also old but super cool. The tree pillars inside were once real!
5th- Wednesday: We looked around in the gift shop for a bit then left the hotel by 9 with my parents and Mickelle. We ate breakfast on the road. We drove an hour to Jackson Glacier lookout and met the Smiths and Jonathan there. We then separated and Smiths and Jonathan went horseback riding. The rest of us made some stops for photos and did a .3 mile hike to a waterfall. On our way out of the Glacier park, we saw a mama bear and her cubs! Next, we drove an hour to Canada! We didn’t have any trouble getting across the border with our passports and the kids’ birth certificates. My dad, however, had some trouble because he had a handgun in his glove box and told them as much. He ended up driving back a little ways and hiding the gun in a tree, then made it across the border just fine! We all stopped at an A&W for lunch and got poutine! Next, we stopped at the Cardston, Alberta temple. We drove 45 mins more to Waterton! We we lucky enough to be there the same time as Amanda and Derek Walker who were there with family! We shopped a little, saw Cameron Falls waterfall, then saw the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was super windy but very beautiful! We drove back to Cardston and stopped at a grocery store for Wonderbars and ketchup chips, then started back to the US for our Airbnb in East Glacier. I also worked a lot on music. We got to the Airbnb around 9:30. Everyone showered and got to bed. We also did some laundry.
6th- Thursday: We slept till 8. We had a slow morning. I showered, we ate, and we hung out outside on the deck. The weather was perfect! We packed lunches, kept laundry going, and got dressed. We left for hiking around 11:30. We stopped at a natural spring to fill up our water jug and water bottles. We also stopped at a wood carving souvenir place but we didn’t buy anything. We headed to the Trail of the Cedars/Avalanche Lake hike. Grandpa, Jonathan, and Mickelle came with us for the walk along the cedars, then they turned back. The Smiths and Websters continued on and did the whole hike to Avalanche Lake. It was so pretty! Very shaded and had pretty moss all over. It took us about an hour and a half to go up, and an hour to come down. The chipmunks at the top were not scared of humans at all. We also stopped to play on a big slanted rock that we saw other people trying to run up. Kaitlyn, McKenna, and Ben had a “formation” almost the whole time asking each other "get to know you" questions. Bethany loved holding hands with and riding on Kari’s shoulders. Alice only fell once and scraped her knee. When we got to the parking lot, there were some people looking at a big horned sheep on the mountain using a spotting scope. We threw rocks in the river for a bit with Grandpa Mike, then we headed back to the Airbnb. Dan and I stopped at the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. We had grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and side dishes. We had ice cream, folded laundry, and got the kids ready for bed. Grandpa Mike shared a history lesson about D-Day and told us to remember that America is great and the men who served that day gave their all and we should be grateful! The adults stayed up talking for a bit.
7th- Friday: We woke up at 8, ate, packed, and loaded up. We left by 10 and drove to Idaho. We stopped at a historic Catholic perish. We also stopped to see the statue “Our Lady of the Rockies.” Kelsey rode with us some of the drive. I did more reading, music, and marco polos. I also listened to music and finished reading my birthday messages. It was so fun to read and think about what I would say about each of the people who wrote a to me. We ate dinner at a Del Taco in Rexburg and then had family prayers in the parking lot. We stayed at a motel 6 in Rigby. I showered and worked on a grocery order. Ben was in the room with Dan and I. The four girls were across the hall in a different room. We watched some of the Hobbit and Armeggadon.
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