Day 30 - Yellowstone National Park

Today we took the day and spent it at camp, went fishing and took showers! It was important for the kids to hang around camp today and we were OK with that idea since we are heading out tomorrow and it might end up being a long driving day. We are heading more directly towards home! So we had pancakes and the rest of our eggs for breakfast and got ready for the day.

We drove to a nearby spot on Yellowstone Lake for some fishing. When we drove up there was a family wih 4 kids eating lunch and they were the same ages as our kids! And their order was the same, boy-girl-boy-girl, we don't see that very often. While the kids fished we could hear lots of thunder rumbling and we could see the big grey clouds looming closer and closer. The arctic wind blew in and we all high-tailed it to the car for lunch.

As we left the fishing spot we saw a crowd of cars on the side of the road and slowed to see what it was all about and so as not to crash. And right there by the road was a bison, laying on the ground taking a rest. It might have been 20 ft from the car. And there was an older woman approaching it, trying to get a closer picture with it. We couldn't believe that she was so close since we got a packet when we entered the park. There was a flier inside saying that visitors have been gored by bison! Maybe she didn't read it or maybe she had and was just testing her superpowers. The fliers are also posted everywhere in the park. We all commented that she was not being smart.

It started raining and we didn't want to go back to the tent to just sit in it so we found a dry spot in a nearby visitor center. That allowed the kids to work on their Jr Ranger programs. We are used to zipping through the programs on this trip and getting the badges but for this badge we had to really do some work and find answers throughout the park! So we looked around yesterday and kept our eyes open for answers that we had to write down today. There was a lot to do but they are mostly done now.

At camp the kids played with some new friends who were going to Mount Rushmore tomorrow and our kids were thrilled to tell them how cool it was and that they had already been there! They played games and found wild strawberries around the campsite. The berries were so tiny but they still picked and tried some of them! Aw my little foragers...

To finish off the day, the rain cleared and we went to the campfire program and learned about the history of bears in Yellowstone and how and why they've become such a problem. It was such a great program and I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

Tomorrow we start our trek home!

Daddy and Rebekah going fishing

 Little fishing girl

 Noah

 Elk!

Wild strawberries in the campsite!