Wyoming: Day 9 & 10 - Yellowstone & Trying To Get Home

On vacation, Delaney was my morning coffee maker.

We didn't have to be to Jackson Hole airport until 4 PM that day, so we had all day to explore and leisurely get there. After working on their junior ranger booklet, we went to the Lake Yellowstone Ranger Center and turned in everything. We had a wonderful Ranger who really talked to the kids about the gift of travel and having these experiences in life. She shared the story of her son and raising him visiting National Parks and now he was a large wild animal researcher in Alaska. 

Passing the Grand Tetons one last time.

Can you find Carter and Addie?

Stuck in Denver for the night, when our flight leaving Jackson Hole was delayed for some strange reason, caused us to miss our connecting flight by 10 seconds. However we sprinted like our lives had depended on it and actually arrived that the gate 1 minute prior to scheduled departure.  Seriously, the plane was still at the gate and the gate agent refused to open the door for us. What was disappointing was it was the last flight of that Saturday night and United knew we had landed. I was so very disappointed in United's decision that night to leave a family of 5 stranded! After complaining, they gave us food and hotel vouchers, which was a whole different adventure for 8 hours until our morning flight took off. The kids learned the benefit of flying home on a Saturday night opposed to a Sunday night.

We made it home Sunday morning wearing the exact same clothes since we didn't even have our carry one bags with us overnight! It was an adventure after an epic week of a true Wyoming adventure.

We made it home to San Antonio!

Addie in the back seat of our Uber with ALL the bags!

Wyoming: Day 8 - Yellowstone - Artist Point at Grand Canyon of YS, Swimming at Lake YS and Fishing

We left Mammoth Hot Springs for Roosevelt Lodge, to enjoy a yummy breakfast. My huevos rancheros and Carter’s huckleberry pancakes were so delicious! I love seeing the bond between the kids each day, especially at meals and on hikes.  A special moment I caught with a camera on this day was evident between Carter and Delaney at Roosevelt Lodge at breakfast, while they were sitting on the front porch.

The kids begged to go back to Little America and Lamar Valley, which we loved. But we told them it was time to finish the last part of the Grand Yellowstone Circle and go experience Lake Yellowstone. But first we had to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! We mistakenly turned on north Rim Drive, to upper and lower lookout point road with turnoffs to Inspiration Point Views, so we kept going and looped back around to main road to go further south to South Rim Drive and Uncle Tom’s and Artist Point. We parked at Uncle Tom’s to find that  Uncle Tom’s trail to the base of the lower falls was closed do to bad trail conditions, so we drove to Artist's Point around noon. It really was picturesque and Carter even drew a sketch of it. Artist point is a must see.

We drove through Hayden Valley.

Blake and I got a new hat while in Yellowstone! It's nice that we have the same sized heads!

 Soon we arrived to The Lake Hotel to find that our room wasn't ready so we hung out at the beach directly in front of the historic hotel. The kids were having a rough moment. It was Day 8 so I honestly was okay with it, so they just got to sit in the car together while Blake and I enjoyed the warm air.

Yellowstone Lake is the biggest lake in North America above 7000 feet. It is about 20 miles by 14 miles across and 400 feet deep in some parts with lots of hot springs. Once the kids pulled it together, they played at the back sand beach for a couple of hours. The water is 41 degrees year round but the intense late July sun warmed up the black sand. 

The big memory of the afternoon is when the older kids decided they wanted to go under water even though it was a frigid 41 degrees, so they did their own Polar Plunge. Delaney was not going to be left out so she quickly did her own. They warmed up by laying in the hot sand. 

Our room was finally ready around 4, just in time to check in and get changed for our guided fishing tour in Lake Yellowstone.

We were excited for our fishing trip. See, back in February before we had mentioned we were going to Yellowstone, I had asked Ya-Ya her favorite vacation memory when she was young. She randomly told me going to Yellowstone and fishing in Lake Yellowstone with her dad. I was shocked as I had never even known that she had been there. I knew right then that we had to go on a fishing trip there. We met Natalie, our fishing guide for the Summer evening and she told us we were fishing in water that was 141 feet deep. We had to use 

We learned all about the fish in the lake. There were 2 different types of trout. Cutthroat Trout and the invasive Lake Trout. Cutthroat were the "good" kind because they swim up steam to spawn and it is a major food source for other wildlife like bears. However in the 1990's, somehow Lake Trout were introduced into Lake Yellowstone illegally and have gotten out of control. The problem is that they easily eat the Cutthroat Trout. There are all kind of major projects in place to try to decrease the numbers of Lake Trout. If you catch a Lake Trout, you must kill it however if you catch a Cutthroat, you must release it. We caught 2 Lake Trout and 1 Cutthroat. It was one of the most fun afternoons. The weather was gorgeous and it was just the most ideal way to end our trip. I remember looking at Blake and knowing this trip at been one of best vacations to date.

In these deep waters, we had to fish with down rigors to drop the lines far enough. Our first fish hit within 5 seconds of casting. All the other times after casting, we had to watch the ends of the pole carefully and take turns jumping up to reel it in. Occasionally, the fish got away just as we were bring it to the surface. It really was exciting and such a fun relaxing evening.

Blake giving a thumbs up for this evening and this vacation.

After getting back and Natalie filleting the fish and a family giving us a third fish, we rushed to Lake lodge to have it cooked fresh before they closed at 9PM. The chef came out and we decided to prepare the 6 trout filets in 3 different ways. It was such an exciting night! All of it tasted great but our favorite was blackened.

Best memory of the nigh is when we found out one of our fish was pregnant and we each (minus Delaney) ate fresh caviar.

What a way to end our 8th full day! We couldn't ask for more.