Lellowstone

It has been a
LOOOONG
COOOOLD
Winter.

Do you know the last time we went to Yellowstone was the end of September?

It has been
164 Days
since we were there.

Or…
5 months, 11 days.

Or…
23 weeks.

That is unacceptable in my book.

Thankfully I’m married to the very handsome Flynn.

This same Flynn,
who back in June or July of last year said,
”I think this winter we need to take a snowmobiling trip to The Park.”

And believe me,
once he put it out there,
I wasn’t going to let him forget he said it!
(Bonus: He DIDN’T forget!)

So, as soon as Christmas was over, we started planning our trip.
We invited a few people.
Some accepted the invitation.
YAY!
Other’s had to decline.
BOO!
We included friends, family and co-workers.
(Sadly, it was the friends who were unable to come with us.)
It was a nice mix.

There are decent snow levels this year, which is a good thing,
since we couldn’t go until the end of February.
There’s nothing worse than a snowmobiling trip when there’s no snow.

It was also risky because the excursion was only a week and a half before Belle’s due date.
It would have been terrible if the coolest events of the year (so far)
both happened on the same day!

But we got lucky!
Plenty of snow and no contractions!
Whew!

Another good spot of luck happened when I called the company to reserve our little trip.
The government limits how many machines can go into The Park each day,
and we got the last 6 machines that were available.
Yeah.
Can I get a huge WHEW!
If we had needed one more machine, I don’t know what we would have done!

The weather wasn’t great.
We had heavy snowfall all day… some called it the “Blizzard of ‘13”
which was cool!
But the wind… oh the wind….
It wasn’t so cool.
The wildlife stayed in the protective cover of the trees.
That definitely wasn’t cool.
I was hoping for a semi-close encounter with a bison.
Or an elk.
Or a wolf.
Even a coyote.

Didn’t happen.

But…
▲ We did see some beautiful scenery!
Seriously, Yellowstone in the winter
takes your breath away!!
▲ We were the only people in our group,
so we had a little more control of where we went and how long we got to stay
▲ Our awesome guide told us how to avoid the lunchtime crowds at the Old Faithful restaurants
(which we tipped him handsomely for).
▲ And we got to hang out with some pretty cool people.

It was a great day!
I can’t wait to do it again!
(Some pics were taken with my DSLR and some with my iPhone)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flynn and my Dad. The two favorite guys in my life!       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our group listens to the guide tell them scary stories of
people who fell to their death in the boiling waters of geysers.

 

 

 

My Sis, Red, and Scooter wait for Old Faithful
to erupt.

 

 

 

If you could have seen my hair, you’d understand
why I was wearing a hat indoors.
Seriously. It was scary!

Look closely at the entrance.
I think it’s giving us the
“PEACE”
sign.

Yes, we only went for a day, yet, I felt compelled to make sure we were prepared for all contingencies.
We carried food, extra (dry) clothing and lots of water in packs we wore or strapped onto the machines.
Seems excessive, doesn’t it?

This is the Old Faithful Visitor’s Center.
I included this picture to show how much it was snowing while we were there.
But I’m not sure the picture does it justice.
There was a TON of snow coming down!
(Click on the picture to see it better.)

I took the wrong lens, so I had to use my iPhone to take a picture as Old Faithful was going off.

In a fun moment between father and son,
Flynn took Scooter and threw him into a snowbank
(this may have happened more than once).
Flynn takes a moment to relish his conquest.
Scooter is a happy kid and didn’t mind.
He even tried to get his dad back by throwing him into a snow bank.
Scooter’s 60 pounds was no match for Flynn’s muscular brawniness.

I’m already dying…
CAN WE GO BACK TOMORROW?!?!