Friday, September 17, 2010

Yellowstone Adventure!

Wow I have so much to catch up on I thought I would start here. Right before we moved to Las Vegas we went up to Yellowstone to take advantage of the "free pass into the park" weekend promotion that was going on. Casey also wanted to do a fishing trip with my uncles Alan and Russell who are avid fishermen. So we all went up and we were going to hike around Jenny Lake while the boys/men went fishing. Peter, Paul, and Ben left early to meet Alan and his boys at the lake. Casey was going to meet them there because he had been gone to CA for training the whole week before, he flew into SLC early and was going to get a few hours of sleep then drive straight to Jackson and meet them early in Saturday morning. Then all the rest of us would meet them later.

I was really hoping that Casey would be able to hike around Jenny lake with us, but since he got there later than he hoped he wanted to take advantage of his day fishing pass he bought. Although it turned out that no one really got much fishing in because the axle on Uncle Alan's boat trailer broke and they spent most of the time fixing that instead of fishing.

It was such a beautiful hike around the lake (3 miles long). That was only half way around the lake. At the half way mark they have a ferry that you can ride back across the lake to the starting point. I was so glad for that because after packing Isaiah that far I was glad we didn't have to go any longer. Besides the beautiful scenery we saw 2 adult moose and a baby moose, 3 snakes, and a bear. The mother moose who had the baby was right on the trail in front of us. It scared me so much. We all had to get to the side and hope she wasn't going to charge us or something. Then just a few minutes after that we saw a black bear eating berries in the bushes. I was probably only 20-30 feet from him. Probably not even that far! My dad being crazy as he is got 15 feet away to take a good picture and video of the bear. Funny thing is that the bear didn't even mind, he just kept on eating his berries. Thank goodness! I think the moose actually scared me more than the bear! It was so pretty and it was so much fun.

After the hike was over the guys were STILL trying to fix the boat trailer so we went to help them. Or sit and watch while they tried to get it fixed. It should have been really simple, but they didn't have the right tools. Anyway to make this long story a little shorter we didn't leave there til around 11:00 at night. Then Casey and I were driving down the road in our Saturn and the shifting in our manual car went out. It would still shift, but it wouldn't engage. I thought, "you have got to be kidding me! This can't be happening right now." Casey was miraculously able to cut apart the center console and rig it so he could drive it home. We weren't sure how safe it was so Zaya and I rode home with my parents since they had room. Then after we got that mess all taken care of... we were going to fill up with gas, get some food, and head home. Well my cell phone battery died and so did Casey's. We kept trying to get a hold of him since he got separated from the rest of us. We werent' sure if his car was still working properly or not. Anyway we didn't feel comfortable leaving Jackson until we knew he was alright. We searched all of the fast food drive through's in town and all the gas stations and couldn't find him anywhere. We figured he must have headed for home. Luckily he had and we all made it home finally at 2:00 in the morning. What an adventure it was. One I probably won't forget too soon! Sorry this is so long. Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures I took!
                                                                  





First Sign of Wildlife

One of the three snakes we saw!

Momma moose and her baby

Black Bear

Pretty Wildflowers


Packing Zaya around the Lake

Luckily all the huckle berries helped keep this tired boy happy.

Ike, Mary, and Hannah climbed this big rock

Mary and Hannah in a little cave. :)

           Zach, Jamie, and Me

Silly little Zaya sitting on the trail

The troopers that made it to look-out point.

Hannah, Mary, and I with the gorgeous hidden falls behind us.

Ike after he fell in the lake :)

2 comments:

Jamie said...

I love these pics:) Thanks Rach, it has been a fun summer! When are you up for more fun??

Tom and Jen Loveland Family said...

Such a crazy, hilarious story! Great pictures!