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I got back from a trip out to my family’s Wyoming ranch last week. I joined my parents and my brother and his family there. Then they all came back here to Bellingham for a few days. The bro and his fam left on Sunday and my parents left on Tuesday. And now I have four days to myself until cheerleading starts again. Oh summer, where have you gone?
The trip to Wyoming/Montana was good. The ranch is near Yellowstone and has been in my family since the 1930’s – my great grandmother bought it and it has stayed in the family ever since (although some of it was sold off before I was born). There were three things that made the trip great:
1. My niece and nephew were there.
2. I am now an adult and can make my own decisions about going on hikes and what I want to eat.
3. We did things in Yellowstone that I’d either never or rarely done before.
My niece is now 5 1/2 and she is fun, fun, fun. She and I stayed in a small cabin on our property. There are two beds in it – a single for her and a queen for me. The second night she was scared that wolves were going to come get us (an impossibility) and I let her get in bed with me. And that’s where she stayed every night after that. Anyway, she was quite the trooper during the day and it was wonderful having the chance to interact with her so much. My nephew is 2 1/2 and has decided that he is Mr. Independent, but still likes to refer to himself as Baby. He was a very easy going baby who would eat anything. Until now. Now he pretty much only likes carbs (and not all carbs at that) and he wants to do everything by HIMSELF! So that took some adjusting to. He was also obsessed with doors on this trip. Every door, everywhere. They needed to be opened. They needed to be closed. They needed to be opened, then closed. Luckily with the amount of opening and closing of doors he did he only ended up with squished fingers once and I think two head bumps (from slamming it closed and being surprised when it came bouncing back at him). But no matter how many two year old oddities he is going through he still remains one of the most adorable and kissable kids I’ve ever met.
The last time I went to the ranch was eight years ago and I was only twenty. I remember feeling pretty grown up then and that makes me laugh now. Not that I am more grown up now, but I at least recognize the folly of thinking you are super mature at age twenty. Anyway, as with any multi-generational family gathering, you are treated in a way that reflects which generation you come from. Now that there are grand kids (thank you to my brother for providing those!), I get to be more in the middle generation. Which meant that if I didn’t want to go along on a hike I didn’t have to. But some of my more outdoorsy friends will be happy to know that I elected to do this only once. Well, actually twice, but the second time I volunteered to drive into town (1 1/2 hours away) with my mom when she was going to order a new stove, so that doesn’t count since I was still doing “something”. Anyway, the day that I decided not to go on the big hike, my brother reacted with disappointment right away and my dad started to freak out and almost demand that I come. But, my mom stepped in and stood up for me saying that I was an adult and they had to let me make my own decisions. Yay Mom! Then I volunteered to help with some maitenence work my dad was in the middle of and he got super excited for me to stay back and do that instead. Typical.
The one thing that I really wanted to do on the trip was go on (or at least to) Yellowstone Lake. My family (the whole extended family) hardly ever goes to the Lake part of the park. We usually hit the falls, Mammoth, Lamar Valley, and occasionally Old Faithful. Since people from my family have been going to the ranch since the 1930’s, it is understandable that many of them have the “been there, done that” attitude when it comes to Yellowstone. But the last time I was there I drove by the lake with an uncle and some cousins and thought it was so beautiful. I had looked into renting boats on the lake before leaving for my trip so I knew it was a possibility but figured it would be difficult to actually get one since we were there during the height of tourist season. Anyway, in the end we drove to the lake’s marina, checked out what they had available and were able to rent two motor boats for an hour. My brother and his family went in one and Mom, Dad, and I went in the other. This ended up being great because it was really fun to be able to watch the kids having fun riding in the boat and to zip around each other and make waves and all that. It was an absolutely beautiful day and it was so fun to see the Lake Hotel from the water. It is the oldest hotel in the park and while it shows its age a bit, it is really beautiful.
We also went to swim in Firehole River which I’d never been to, plus checked out mud volcanoes and some geysers we’d never stopped at. It was nice having my sister in-law there because she pointed out new things from the map that most of us just glance over now. We also saw more animals (both in number and variety) than I ever remember having seen before. Tons of buffalo (my favorite), deer, elk (we spotted a HUGE bull elk one night), two grizzly bears, numerous birds, and a wolf. My sister in-law also spotted a yellow bellied marmot. Which I just think is a funny name.
Anyway, there is much more to share about the trip but I’ll leave it at that for now. Maybe I’ll surprise myself and get motivated to post some pictures. I will at least write about a few other special or funny things that happened on the trip.
a few things that are making me happy in a dreamy sort of way:
*a big beautiful bouquet from our farmer’s market for just five bucks
*tangerine popsicles
*the anticipation of going on a short road trip soon
*fresh raspberry pie at lunchtime
*indulging in a massage and then consequently booking the appointment for the next one
*catching up with one of my best friends
*reading eat, pray, love
*anticipating reading harry potter next
*watching the new season of my boys (started yesterday) with my roommate
Summer has finally arrived. We’ve had high temps these past few days and I’ve been surviving much better than I normally do for being an Alaska girl. Probably because it was rainy and cold for most of June and I was just ready for a change. But with summer finally being here and having a break from coaching, I am at a loss as to what to do. I’ve never been a super outdoorsy person (ok, super doesn’t even need to be in there – I’ve never been outdoorsy period) so its not like the nice weather calls me to the mountains or the lake, etc. I’m sure there is plenty to do around town, but I’m having trouble being motivated to actually get out and do it. This is actually pretty typical of me. It helps to have someone who just makes me go and do things with them and this summer I don’t have someone around like that (Tarin, where are you?). My parents are arriving this Monday so that will break things up somewhat. Although I always become the petulant teenager when they want to do things that mean I’ll be riding in the backseat of a car for hours (that always seems to be included in my dad’s favorite things to do). Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I wish I was more of a get up and go person so that I would just be able to get out of the house and do things on my own. So, I think it might be a good idea if I try to do something like that at least once or twice a week so that I don’t feel as if I’ve wasted my summer days just sitting on the couch (which is what I did yesterday, granted I had a headache too). And if anybody is doing something fun and wants to invite me along, please do!
caity of the keps 