Day 3 in Yellowstone and we were set to meet the family at artist point. We heard it would be a highlight of Yellowstone and it's beautiful. Since we got there first we started exploring and this is what we saw.
Pretty, some neat colors in the rocks and a deep canyon but we didn't realized what the hype was about until we got to the lookout and turned the corner...
Ooohhh there was a great waterfall!
Close view
We all took pictures in front of it but it didn't really do it justice.
Us
Steve and Tahna's family
Dale and Mo's family
After admiring Artist's Point for a bit we took a drive to a trail that would take us to a closer lookout of the falls.
We were warned that the hike was paved but somewhat steep.
Not too bad but it was easier going down than up!
Here's the kids singing songs as they went down the trail.
At the bottom of the trail we had a great up-close view of the waterfall (notice the patchy snow sill around it)
I dont' know why I do this to myself but I started thinking what it would be like to fall over the waterfall. Then I freak myself out thinking about one of us falling into the water and being swept over. Crazy...why would I do that :)
So here is the other view in reverse looking down the canyon.
The water was completely green!!
Way off in the distance you can see the walkway on the rock that takes you to where you can see the upper falls...the kids said we've already seen a waterfall and weren't interested in hiking to another one...so we didn't do it.
Taking a rest before hiking back up the trail.
We all made it up to the top...Ashley even hiked most of it but she did have a Jared shoulder ride after awhile.
We decided to go back to their campsite to eat lunch and on the drive back we stopped at hanging valley...
As this river flowed it wore away at the rock underneath that was not as hard as the rock on the riverbed above and created this huge waterfall.
And, we saw these rocks that looked like someone stacked them side by side and built a wall from them...this was how the volcanic rock cooled and it created these shapes. Crazy.
Back at camp we hung out, ate lunch, and got eaten by mosquitoes for lunch.
This day we came prepared and brought deli sandwiches to eat...only $25.00 for 3 of them......such a deal huh. It was fun to let the kids hang out and play games for a bit.
Then we headed up to drive to Tower for one last sightseeing trip for the day. I loved switching up the kids in the cars they all got to bond and hang out as we were driving.
The boys pretty much always went in Dale and Mo's car where they were watching a marathon of Psych episodes (why some of them didn't want to get out at the stops ;) Taylor is now a fan.
When we got here there was supposed to be another waterfall we could see at the end of a lookout...well we never saw it because it was too windy and the trees were blowing down. The trail was closed and we braved the buffeting of the wind to walk a bit but then turned around pretty quick. Jared actually saw trees falling and even the road back was closed for awhile why they cleared some downed trees.
So we went in the shop and had ice cream instead ;)
The power was actually out at Steve and Tahna's for about 24 hours from downed trees.
After our outing we came back to camp to hang out, play games, and eat dinner with the family.
While the adults hung out and relaxed...
These guys played card games...
These guys hung out in the tent.
We had burritos for dinner...
And roasted some giant marshmallows after.
Jeff was appreciating getting a little internet...had to make sure everything came through for his fiscal year end.
We left Taylor and Jacob at the campground so they could camp (at one point they felt we were gyping them of the camping experience) and took Jolene and Lesil to sleep in the hotel with us.
We bought a few snacks and breakfast the for the morning...
This is what we saw when we came out of the store.
Girls night Out!
The girls were very happy to have warm showers and a soft bed...they watched a movie on the laptop and took turns seeing if they could shove all three suckers in their mouth at once...they all got passed around a few times so they could try it out....
we share everything in this family.
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