Our Junior Ranger

All the national parks have a junior ranger program where a child can
complete a series of activities and get a little badge. This was our
first time to do the program with Mary Grace. We got our activity
book, and quickly discovered that this was no kiddie busy work thing.
She had to attend a ranger talk and get the ranger to sign her paper,
do a hike, answer a whole bunch of questions that required visits to
different visitor centers, mark a map with places she had visited,
keep a camping journal, and do four pretty complicated activity pages.
That's more work than I had to do on this trip! If you know Mary
Grace, though, you can imagine how seriously she took this. She
carefully completed each activity and brought her workbook, clipboard
and pencil everywhere. It was awesome. She even had a long talk with
one ranger about how one becomes a real ranger. We have the sweetest
video of her getting her junior ranger badge and taking the junior
ranger oath. When she finished, I told her she could pick something
from the gift shop. I should have guessed, but rather than a t-shirt
or stuffed animal, she asked me to buy her the National Geographic
Yellowstone Profile book. So she's in the backseat pouring over maps
and photos. Our little Adventure Girl.

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Super-Children

Our daughters stepped it up today. We did a 5 mile round trip hike out
to a gorgeous rainbow-colored thermal pool and a 200 foot tall
waterfall. After one outing using two baby backpacks, I was forced to
admit that I'm too wimpy to carry the girls while hiking. Who was I
kidding? I'm lucky if can get myself and a bottle of water out and
back on a hike. Did I think going on vacation would suddenly turn me
into a Mom who works out and is in great shape? Actually, yes, I did,
and I was way off base.

So we went out on our hike knowing that Evelyn and Willa would have to
trade off riding in Jason's pack...and this did not inspire a lot of
confidence. Boy did they show us! They each hiked half the trail and
did almost no complaining at all. In fact they were rather adorable
and cheerful the whole time. Did I mention that I brought a bag of dum
dums along and continually supplied them to whichever one was
walking? Mary Grace loved it, too, but is on to bigger and better
hikes tomorrow. She and Jason are going to hike the tallest peak in
the park - Mt. Washburn. That is, if Jason can find some appropriate
footwear. His ancient hiking boots completely fell apart about a half
mile from the car at the end of the hike. He has been super gluing
them together for awhile, but the shoes have officially given up the
ghost.

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Wildlife

There is tons of wildlife here in Yellowstone, and it roams freely
through the park. We've seen bison, elk, ravens, and chipmunks so far.
The bison are amazing. I think they think we are little ants: tiny,
and a nuisance, but certainly not anything to worry themselves about.
We've seen about 20 so far, and even one mama bison with two babies 10
feet from a trail full of people. The best, though, was when we were
sitting in what we affectionately call a bison-jam where someone stops
in the middle of the road to take a picture of a bison in a meadow, so
everyone behind them has to stop, too. When the photographer had his
pics and started to move on, the bison just walked on into the road,
right in front of our car! As if the bison was saying, "I posed for
your silly picture and now I'm going to cross the street so stay out
of my way tiny humans.". I love bison.

I admit, though, that we are not the most patient when driving behind
people who stop to take pictures from the road. Today, we were behind
a line of cars and the person at the front kept stopping, then going a
few feet, then stopping, then going again. It was so frustrating. We
couldn't even see anything worth photographing, which made us even
madder. We were about to just go around the guy, when we realized he
was taking pictures of a beautiful fox bouncing through the meadow
right by the road. We both said "awwww!" immediately stopped our car,
whipped out both cameras and started snapping pics...completely
infuriating the people driving behind us.

Ok, this is silly.

For a place that constantly reminds you that it sits on top of an
active volcano, it's ridiculously cold today. A front came in last
night, and when we woke up it was snowing. Yes, you read correctly.
Ther are places where it snows...in JUNE, and apparently people choose
to live live here. We knew it would be cooler here, but it averages
highs in the mid sixties, lows in the forties. We happened to choose a
time when they're having a cold snap...I'd call it an insanely frigid
snap. It's 32 degrees and snowing and it's noon.

Admittedly, I'm the only one in the family who has been incapacitated
by the weather. Jason is happy as can be, and all three girls slept
through the night in their sleeping bags without making a peep. This
morning they were playing catch with a stick before breakfast like
they were pioneer children or something. I was immobile by the fire
trying to massage some feeling back into my frozen toes. We're doing a
nice indoor visitor center and a SHORT walk to see some thermal
features. Maybe I'll hop into one of them and warm up!

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Great camp site

Got an amazing camp site at our first choice campground! Set up camp
and on to old faithful for a geyser hike. In heaven.

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