UEA weekend in Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone for UEA.  It was a quick trip (Thu-Sat), and cold, but it was fun.  We were hoping Katelyn would be able to come with us but she has too much school work to do.  She hasn't been since before her mission so she was really bummed that she couldn't go.

We arrived at Old Faithful late Thursday afternoon, just in time to make some late lunch and watch it go off!  We checked out the visitor's center, which I don't think we've ever done before.  It had some cool exhibits.  After we had our fill there, we headed out to find a fishing hole.

Old Faithful

 We stopped just below Lahardy rapids and fished until dark, then headed back into West Yellowstone for the evening.  Clint was the only one having any luck and the boys soon dropped their poles in favor of finding large logs to chuck into the river.

fishing

bored with fishing

never bored with fishing

caught a nice one!

We stayed at the Best Western in West.  It was a nice hotel and a great location.  The Slippery Otter was right next to it and open late, so we went there for dinner.  It was delicious!

dinner at the slippery otter

We finished dinner at 9 pm, then the boys swam until 10 pm.  I was more than ready to go to bed at this point.  I'm pretty sure I fell asleep while the boys were making a late night run to the lobby for hot chocolate.  Good thing Clint is a night owl.

Friday morning we stopped for some souvenirs in West before we headed into the park.  By late morning we were at the Gibbon River fishing.  We hit a couple different holes along the Gibbon and at the third stop Griffin finally caught a fish!  He caught a nice brown trout.

day 2...more fishing

Griffin's catch

After the fishing we headed north for a soak in the boiling river.  We decided to brave it even though it was so cold!  It was wor it.  We found a great spot and enjoyed the hot water for a while before driving back towards the west entrance.  We drove through the upper terrace loop on our way.

awesome scenery

beautiful wildlife

Once last fishing stop on firehole drive before it was too dark to fish any more.  Late dinner and swimming again....that seems to be our usual routine.

Saturday morning it was time to head home.  We got a decent start, but soon hit some backed up traffic on the road.  As we slowly moved forward, we finally got close enough to see the problem.  A tour bus had gone off the road...they were a little icy that morning...and they were trying to get it back on.  The poor passengers were all standing along the side of the road trying to stay warm.  That will be a trip they won't soon forget!  In the end it only delayed us a half hour or so, so not too bad. 

Another successful trip to Yellowstone!