Days 7-9

Sadly, we had to leave our friends. It is so hard to now only see them once a year, when we used to see each other a few times a week. Now we just talk on the phone everyday. Sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes for hours. We can't wait until we see them again.

After a quick stop at Safeway to stock up on food and get gas, we said good-bye to Helena. Our first stop on this leg of our trip was the Wheat Montana, thanks to our friend's suggestion.Their sign made me crack up, but unfortunately I did not take a picture. It said: We sow it, grow it and dough it. This was a great place to stop, use the bathroom, and eat lunch. We made our own lunch, but had to buy one of their enormous cinnamon rolls. Yum!

Here is where we had to decide whether to go to the Lewis and Clark Caverns or head straight to Yellowstone. We decided to not do the Caverns, and although I was sad about it, there was so much to see in Yellowstone.

We finally reached Gardiner, MT and checked into our hotel. They upgrade our room to a suite! There was a living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms. It was fantastic. The only part I didn't care for was it backed up to the rodeo. Thankfully, there was not a rodeo that day.

After checking in, we decided to explore the Mammoth Hot Springs part of Yellowstone. This is where we saw our first bison and elk. We also walked a lot of stairs here. It also started raining big, fat rain drops on us and then there was thunder and lightening.

Our second day in Yellowstone, we decided to explore the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was beautiful. We started walking to the lower falls, but the kids only made it to the first look out. We didn't stop at the upper falls. We also stopped at the petrified tree. Their is just so much to see, that I felt like we were on a whirlwind through there because we wanted to see it all. This was also the day that a herd of bison came rushing down the hill and crossed the road right behind our car as we were rounding a corner. The car behind us had to stop and pull over. We also saw a bear. We probably wouldn't have seen it, but all the cars were stopped and a few fools were walking out to the bear.

On our third day in Yellowstone, we went to Old Faithful. This was Lovey's favorite part. They attended a ranger program while Old Faithful erupted, so we didn't get to be up close, but we did get to see. Big Daddy had a front row seat for it. We walked around Old Faithful and then explored some of the other geysers. It was hot that day and the kids were tired from all the walking previously, so we only took short walks.