Last camping hurrah of the summer

On a bit of a whim, Jeff and I decided to try one last camping trip before putting the trailer in storage for the winter. I think Jeff only agreed because the Huskies were playing an away game that wasn't going to be televised live anyway... We threw everything (well, except for all the stuff we forgot...) into the car late Friday afternoon and headed up to Teanaway--back to the same campground we had found last summer and loved so well. It was after dark by the time we got there, but we managed to find our way to the very same campsite in the pitch black. This is the primitive campground with no lights, no running water, and only pit toilets. But it has a great little beach connected to to the riverside campsites, and the water level is perfect for safe playing this time of year.

Saturday was a glorious day. Sunny and warm enough for the girls to play in the river ALL DAY long. Jeff and I had nothing to do but read magazines and soak up the sunshine. Aaaaahhhhhhh. Heavenly. Until Saturday night, when things took a turn for the worse. First, someone across the campground had access to a satellite broadcast of the Husky game--and they were ruining Jeff's plan to stay in a media blackout until he could get home and watch the tape-delayed recording of the game without knowing the outcome. The game was blaring across the campground, making it impossible to ignore. And THEN, the temperature unexpectedly dropped BELOW FREEZING! We weren't prepared for that, and our heater didn't work to boot! Yikes. So Jeff had the game spoiled--well, I guess the Huskies actually spoiled it for themselves, but he had to suffer along. And I nearly got frostbite on my toes since one of the things we forgot was our cold weather gear.









Sunday morning we had to break the ice off the water in our fire bucket and scrape the frost off the side of the camper in order to pack up in time to make it back for Caroline to go to a birthday party. Whew. Another jam-packed weekend at the Doyles...

Back to school

The traditional posed porch shot

The wacky shot

Margaret catching up with her friends on the playground before the first day of classes start

Caroline shaking hands with her new teacher, Mrs. Q, before heading in to class

Jellystone

Ooooh, the anticipation of the LONG drive ahead. We made it to a hotel in Moses Lake Friday night after work, and then drove all the way into the park on Saturday.

A traditional Doyle camping breakfast of Captain Crunch on our first morning in the park.

The girls playing patiently, waiting for us to be ready to set out on the first full day of adventure.


Checking out all the cool geothermal features on our first day in the park.




Not the best weather to see Old Faithful, because the background sky was as white as the geyser, but it was still as neat as ever.

We had lunch at the Old Faithful snack shop instead of our planned picnic because the weather was turning lousy. The girls used the time to get started on their Junior Ranger packets.

The first of many pretty waterfalls, this one on the Firehole River Drive on the way back to the campground.

Making the best of a rainy afternoon. Margaret entertained herself with her new pocket knife while Caroline insisted on trying to start a fire in the rain.



Hanging out in the camper





One morning the girls and I took a walk along the beautiful Madison River near our first campground.




We had a picnic one day at Yellowstone Lake. Jeff and I froze up on the windy bluff by the picnic table while the girls had a blast skidding down the sand hill.

After lunch they even got daring enough to go in the water. I don't know how they did it--it was SO COLD!


After the picnic lunch, we took a rowboat out for a little spin on Yellowstone Lake. Quite a comic adventure with all the switching around of who was rowing, who was "navigating" and who was taking pictures.




The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We found a great picnic spot along the Gibbon River where the girls could play in the water.

Another short hike to see more geothermal features, this time it was boiling mud!



Just one of many bison jams we found ourselves in...

The girls nicknamed this one "Walker" because he just casually walked along side the road, paying no attention to all the gawkers that were stopping to look at him.

Did I mention we saw a LOT of bison?

A huge elk--look at the rack on that guy!


Celebrating their Junior Ranger awards, after several hours over a few days of working on the packets.


The girls had fun setting up their own camps/forts at the Canyon Campground


The girls trying their hand at some of the camping chores...



Taking a swim in the hot springs where the "Boiling River" flows into the Gallatin River (near Mammoth). This was a VERY fun spot, except for the extremely large snake that we saw warming itself in a cave overhanging the river's edge. Fortunately the girls didn't see it.


On our last night in the park, we went on a wagon ride to an old west cookout, complete with pioneer bonnets!



Lots of good snuggle time on the trip...



Leaving the park...


Panning for garnets and gold in Nevada City, Montana on the way home