On Tuesday our little adventure started. Both of us had to go to work - Bryce had a meeting and I had to pay some bills. I could not get out of there fast enough. The night before we packed my car to the brim with everything but our coolers. Around noon I got home, threw the coolers in the car and we were on the road. I have been on a diet the past 6 weeks and this was one week I was going to break my diet. It was well deserved. Since I was little little little, we had a tradition of going to island park. I have great memories of my grandma ward there. That was the only time I got to see her. You have Big Springs, McCray's bridge, Island park reservoirs, Henry's lake and of course West Yellowstone. I was a bit worried that this place seems so great to me since its the only place I have memories of my grandma, but since Bryce has already planned next year's trip - well that explains it all. Every time we would go to Idaho growing up (the 2 times - once for my dad's reunion and once for my mom's) we would stop at this burger joint. How was I suppose to know that it would be huge in my 20 something year!
After we filled our tummies, we made the remainder 5 hour journey to our home away from home. You could tell when we were getting close. i was so antsy. I kept looking at my phone and watching the little blue button following the highway until we needed to turn off. I was so busy watching that i failed to take pictures. I would point out 'That is the street to island park reservoir.' 'that is the street of my grandparents cabin' ' there is mack's inn!!!!!!' HERE IS OUR TURN OFFFFFFFFF!!!!!! yeah I was that girl. I was like a kid on Christmas. My family was so thoughtful to have dinner made for us when we arrived. We ate quickly and headed over to get things unpacked and situated for the night. We had 5 days of awesomeness ahead of us.
Wednesday morning came bright and early. As a little girl I remember doing a 'hunt for our breakfast'. I have awesome memories that I wanted to create for our next generation. Luckily my sister is a freak and wakes up before the sun is up to run... We got up just after she returned to set out breakfast. We tied cereal, juices and fruit around trees. When the kids got up, we had them convinced that the animals did it. The animals stole their breakfast. Even the adults got in to it. WARNING: pictures below may contain us in all our morning glory. Be prepared to run away screaming!
 |
| How did a picture of me end up in there???? |
Yep, that was the bottom of the entertainment center. That is what i call cheap entertainment.
After we got all of the kids ready along with ourselves we decided to head over to West Yellowstone to do some shopping. There was not one person who left without getting anything. I have a things for jackets (and scarves) and I bought this cute adorable jacket. I cannot wait to wear it! after a few hours of shopping, we were all hungry and since it was my sister's birthday, we decided to go out to eat. We found this cute little restaurant on main street. I cant remember what is was called but the food was pretty dang good. We still weren't finish shopping for the day, so after lunch we hit up a few more stores along with an ice cream store where my dad bought all of us ice cream. Our last stop of the day was this old school looking candy store. It has penny candies that i remember getting from when I was a little girl. I love that Yellowstone hasn't changed much in the past 25 years. They have added more houses but it still has the quiet town feel and it has all the shops I grew up with and loved. It was so fun to watch my nieces and nephews go in to the same stores I did when I was young and get excited to buy some new toy that cost a buck!
By the time we got back to the cabin it was near dinner time. Since we had a late lunch, we were not quite hungry yet and there was enough time to go tubing down the river - another classic since I was just a tiny little thing. I was expecting to do the short cut version but my mom told us she would drop us off a little higher since there was time. (this is where the only part of the trip went south). My sister A, Bryce and I took K, E, and J. This is what it looked like in the car:
and we still had 2 tubes strapped to the top of the roof.
We are off! (let me remind you that this was at almost 6 at night)
I was told that the shortcut was less than 20 minutes from the bridge. As a child, we would float about a mile down the river, pass mack's inn, go under the bridge and get out, where my parents were waiting to hauls us back up and do it all over again. I figured we were about a mile up. The water was freezing but the sun was still out so we were fine. Normally, I wouldn't mind the relaxing trip down but about 2 hours in, I kept asking A 'have we passed the shortcut yet?' and she would tell me no. None of the route looked the least bit familiar. We had a group that climbed in at the same time as us. Somewhere along the way we gained the lead, then they would pass us, then we would pass them. At this point I had 3 very cold children who were shivering with lips chattering. I grabbed E and stuck her on my lap, wrapped my legs around her and continued to rub her legs to give her some sort of warmth. About 30 minutes in to our ride the sun hid out behind a huge cloud. We are now sitting close to 8 with the short cut no where in sight. We were ahead of the group that got in at the same time as us but not by far. We rounded a bend hoping we would see the bridge. And there she was. A giant MAMA MOOSE. The people behind us had no children. I saw things going south really quick. They were noisey, yelling, waving their hands trying to get the attention of the mama who was 20 yards from where I was floating (with a Young child on my lap that did not belong to me). What they didn't see was about 10 yards in front of her was 2 babies. I got really nervous when I saw that moose turn and start coming right where we were. I know that 1. you don't cross a moose - especially a mama and 2. they can run a hell of alot faster than I can in water and 3. I had children that I was responsible for and expected to protect. As that moose turned and started coming towards us I gently grabbed the back of E's life jacket. Luckily i was right next to my sister A. I was ready to throw E as far as I could in case mama M decided it was time to attack. about 3 seconds after that is when her babies ran behind her and she turned back towards them. I have never been so scared in my life! It was a second and a half after that, that I started yelling at the people behind us to 'shut up' because we had young children. I was frustrated that they were trying to get the moose' attention when they are full grown ups and should know better.
after my heart slowed down a bit we kept floating down the river. I could see the kids shivering more with the teeth chattering away. We were hungry and cold. I could even see Bryce start to slowly wear away also. after 30 more minutes I grabbed J and told him to run to a cabin to call his mom. as he got half way up there A yelled that she thinks we were on the last bend to the shortcut. Sure enough she was right. And instead of floating all the way from the shortcut to the bridge my mom was there waiting at the short cut drop off. I was tired and concerned for the kids. I had got out right after the moose incident to pushed Bryce and E while A pushed K and J. Here we are coming around the bend - I know we don't look happy.
I was the first to get out - I jumped out and grabbed blankets, told my mom to turn on the heater. One by one, we plucked the kids out of the water - took off their shoes and life jackets, wrapped them in towel and put them in a warm vehicle. Next I grabbed Bryce, wrapped him in a towel (He was spasming at this point) and stuck him in the front seat. We had the car turned up to 90 degrees. toasty warm. A and I tied the tubes to the roof and home we went. We got home shortly after 9 to nice warm soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. We threw the kids in a nice warm bath and let them eat there (gross I know but they were cold and hungry) By 10:30 we were fed, warm and in bed.
To be continued....
1 comment:
Great post Sammie!!! I can't wait to see more pictures!
Post a Comment