"I Just Became a Geyser"

Completely unaware of what day it is and what day the last post was made I will do a quick run-down of our last two spots (which happened to be our biggest...).

Yellowstone National Park = excellent! The first day (which happened to be Mom's birthday) we entered the park. Upon our entrance we saw some Elk on the side of the road just hanging out. The excitement began - everyone scrambled for the cameras and got as close as safely possible to take pictures. This was a big deal! We couldn't imagine that three days later we'd say, "Oh, it's just an elk; no biggie." Dinner at the Mammoth Hot Springs was yumm-o (I highly recommend the Huckleberry Brie Chicken)! Mom enjoyed her birthday dinner and then several enjoyed a trip up the hot springs. We scoffed at morons who ignored the "Danger: Scalding Water" signs while holding onto Sophie so she did not follow the lead. The view was beautiful, the smell was not. Day two in Yellowstone we journeyed further into the park. We spotted a ton of animals but the most exciting part of the day was seeing the geysers. They were completely mesmerizing; I might still be standing there looking at them if they family didn't pull me away. "Old Faithful" was fun and exciting (if not a bit of a tease) but far more commercialized than I had anticipated. We met a park ranger who went to the top of everyone's "like list." Thankfully we went when we did because the day to follow the First Family would be visiting. The night was topped with a chuckwagon tour. Public apology to Bryan: it wasn't as lame as I anticipated (only because the musician had a good voice was singing Johnny Cash). The scenery was beautiful and no bears attacked so we were happy. Not so happy? The journey home. The road home closed 20 mins before approached causing us a 120-mile out-of-the-way adventure. This adventure was complete with: mostly-invisible bison, wolf, coyote and elk (some of these creatures met us in the road) ... and didn't end until after 1am. The next day was another trip into Yellowstone before crossing the ever-so-exciting state of Wyoming. Why Oming? We still don't know. But we did find Subway, much to the delight of all the kids.

Lesson learned in Yellowstone: don't drink while laying down or one simply becomes a geyser.

Yesterday was Colorado (Estes State Park). Amazing! The scenery here is unparalleled. We met up with Molly's family (dad, sister, and sister's boyfriend) and then travelled the highest point-to-point road in the country. There are not even words to put to the sights and surely no picture will do it justice. Important statement of the day: 12,000 feet is high. The temps dropped, the snow fell and the fog rolled in. Carl was mad that we couldn't climb on the ice spots (which really would have only resulted in us needing a new driver for the RV) but some did climb a walkway to one of the mountain peaks. It was an early night back in town with Bryan's family heading out with Molly's family and the rest of us freezing our way along the Riverwalk.

Today is the day I've been dreading (but I didn't book a plane trip home yet) ... a drive through Kansas. Our only sight-seeing scheduled is corn. Sadly, I left my Dorothy dress at home ...