Eclipse Totality

So I had thought all the media hype pre-eclipse had been super overdone. But I did get us all free glasses at the library about a month ago. Then when Ryan said none of the other "smart" guys at work were going to come in on Monday, he got a whole outing planned for us to Scottsbluff, NE - inside the band of totality.

Our plan was to get up at 5:30 and leave when the kids woke up naturally at 6:30. As we spoke with friends all weekend, we decided that leaving so late was not going to work, so as we finally went to bed about 11pm Sunday night, we set the alarm for 3am! We woke up the kids at 3:30 (Silly Ryan thought they'd go back to sleep in the car, ha!) and were on the road by 3:45.

About now is when I turned around and realized that in the chaos of waking up the kids and getting loaded, Ryan nor I grabbed Kate any shoes. So we had a little hillbilly all day with us. Oops. Maybe she'll start grabbing her own, like the boys! 

Traffic was heavy but not slow going up, and we got to the National Monument a few minutes after 6am. There was a short wait to get into the lot, but it went really smoothly. The huge disappointment was that they weren't allowing any cars to drive to the top, and they weren't letting anyone park at the bottom and hike to the top.

So... we were stuck at the bottom for the next six hours waiting for "the event." Before we even got out of the car, they had closed the lot to additional cars, and they didn't allow any people to walk/bike in. It was just us and about 80ish other cars.

But the long wait went sooo fast! They had eclipse workbooks for the kids and when they were completed, they showed the ranger and received a wood pin and badge. They had a special performance in the ampitheater about the man the area was named after.

 And we also toured the museum and watched a short movie in there too. We walked down a short trail with information about the Oregon Trail and replicas of wagons and oxen teams too.

I had read online in advance that the solar glasses were not very affective for children, since they are sized for adults. A craft was provided where the glasses are mounted to paper plates. So Ryan worked with each of the kids to make paper plate masks for their glasses and attached string so they stayed on well. They decorated them, and I think it was a great way to pass the time.

I helped them with their workbooks. 

Then at about 10:20, we started to see the first bite out of the top right corner. It was really exciting! Everyone inside this area was really into what was happening. Most were from the Denver area and had also been up since 3am. There was no alcohol allowed, so everyone was acting responsible.

One guy had his telescope set up with a mirror to reflect the image onto a screen. He explained the whole process to all the kids. The rangers also had a mega-telescope arranged, and we could even view the sun spots through it. Another family had brought a colander to view the strange shadows, and they handed out pinhole cards for each of the kids too. A group of grandparents brought aluminum foil and wrapped their hats, just to be silly. Everyone was so friendly and interesting.

And then at 11:48... Total eclipse! It really was amazing. So crazy! It was worth all the media-hype, for real. Everyone cheered, and it got cooler (84 degrees to 67 degrees, according to Ryan's special watch) and the birds stopped chirping. The rangers kept warning us that the rattlesnakes might come out and to watch our kids and the tall grass, but honestly - I forgot! But no one got bit, so I guess it was fine. ;-)

It was only as dark as it'd be at 8pm or so, but the corona was incredible! We saw Sirius and Venus too. With glasses on, it was totally black, which is why it was ok to remove the solar glasses during totality. There was a perfect black - kinda scary! - disc in the center of a brilliant perfect circle of bright, wavy light. It really was pretty creepy. And so totally amazing!

After it ended, we were hoping they'd open the road to the top so we could hike, but they said because of the numbers of people, they planned to keep it closed all day. :-( So we headed home.

Kate was one sleepy little princess by noon as we headed towards home. She fell right asleep, but only slept about 10 minutes. It was probably the longest day of her life. :-)

The first hour of the drive was fine, but when we got to Cheyenne, the traffic got really bad, and it was stop-and-go until northern FoCo. We exited the freeway then and took the country/local roads through towns to get back home.

We got home about 3:30 and even spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool to maximize Ryan's vacation day.

All in all, it was PERFECT! We hardly planned, and we were really anxiously about traffic, parking, food (I packed two meals and extra bottled water, but didn't need it), toilets (I took my camping potty, but didn't need it), gas (we had a full tank to begin at the start). It was super smooth considering the numbers of people flocking to see it.

Total eclipse awesomeness!

Breck-ation

I love this state we get to call home. We headed to the ski town of Breckenridge last weekend. It is only about 2-1/2 hours away, and all the hotels are deeply discounted in the summer-time. We were able to stay in a nice townehome (3 bed, 3 bath, full kitchen, dining area and family room). We had such a great time in Steamboat Springs last year that we wanted to try another ski-town-in-the-summer-time this year.

THURSDAY
We left early (6:30am) and headed straight to our longest, hardest hike. McCullough Gulch Trail was about 5 miles roundtrip, but about 2 miles of it was just on a 4WD-only road to the trailhead. The actually hike was 3-miles. It has rained a lot this summer, so it was super muddy, rocky and steep.

The trail followed the river, which was really going, and the falls at the top were incredible.

We had a nice picnic at the top by the falls before heading back down.

We tried to check into our hotel early, but when we had to wait for it to be cleaned, we parked the van and took the short walk to the cute downtown area. We'd heard a lot about a crepes stand (Crepes a la Cart), so we went there for a little post-hike treat. It lived up to its fame and was almost worth the long line. Haha.

We headed back to the hotel for a short kid nap, and then we walked back downtown to get pizza (Downstairs at Eric's) for dinner. They were in the process of closing all the roads for a big bike race the next morning. The kids played at a little playground before we headed back to the hotel to get the kids in bed.

Collin has his own watch phone now, so we've been using him this summer to do some light-babysitting (usually everyone is asleep but him and maybe Brennan). Anyway, Ryan and I headed to the hot tub after bedtime and left Collin in charge.

FRIDAY

Friday morning was a little more relaxing. We did a short nature walk right from our hotel (Sawmill Trail). It was pretty muddy too and the river was running really strong too.

There were lots of beaver dams, and it ended at the reservoir. The wild flowers were outstanding too. So many vivid colors! It was peaceful.

After our leisurely stroll, we traded Kate's hiking backpack for the double stroller and headed downtown again. There was a little festival there in town, and the kids splashed in the ice cold stream.

Collin tried out this bicycle that was attached to a blender so that you could blend your own smoothies. 

The women's bike race was just beginning, so we found a place on the sidewalk to watch while the kids played on another playground behind us.

They called this the Bike-iffel Tower. 

The race was a 10km loop. The women did 5 laps of in the morning, and the men did 10 laps of in the afternoon. Every 20 minutes or so, we'd see the pack of racers fly by. It was great fun. Ryan has always really loved road biking (and recently mountain biking too), and he's always tried to get me involved... with varying degrees of success... so this was right up our alley.

We ate sandwiches while the cyclists lapped, but then it was nap time again. I really wanted to see the end of the race though, so Ryan took the kids back to the hotel while I waited at the finish line and then watched the award ceremony. As I was headed to the hotel to trade Ryan so he could watch the afternoon men's race, he was actually headed down the hill towards me. Collin was "babysitting," and all the other kids were napping. So we headed to the start line - after a quick stop to buy my sunburned-self a hat - for the men's race. By this point, we'd acquired two more bells (3 in all) and a cheering sign. Good times.

After a few laps of watching the men, we returned to the hotel where the kids were just about to wake up. We loaded them up and headed to the Gondola. Kate was pretty excited at the start, but they had to stop the ride a few times (probably other people loading/unloading mountain bikes), and she started crying and shaking with fear. It was so sad.

The boys were kinda teasing her, but Ryan snuggled with her each time we slowed and swung at stops. I was trying to be brave, but I was sorta with her - The stopping was a little scary and kinda made me nauseous.


When we finally got to the top, it was suddenly super windy and cold and spitting rain. Definitely a weather change from the bottom! We put on our jackets and hoods and wandered around a bit. There was a a huge snow-field, so despite being in sandals, we did a little snowball fight... in August!

After playing at the top of the mountain, we headed back down on the Gondola and the men's race was just ending. In fact, we got to see the winner cross the finish line! As they slowly opened the roads and the traffic died down, we grabbed burgers and onion rings (Empire Burgers). Delish!

Totally worn out, we got the kids in bed and spent a good amount of time ourselves in the hot tub. This was our hard, long, sunburned day. It was awesome, but we were totally wasted tired.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning we got all checked out and headed to Hoosier Pass Trail. It was supposed to be a 3-mile "easy" hike above the treeline, but we honestly aren't sure when we were on the trail and when we were doing our own thing.

Our hike ended up being a mile of walking on a 4WD-only jeep trail, then a short, straight-up rock climb to the spine of a mountain ridge. The ridge was well-above the treeline. The wind was whipping so hard up there we could barely speak to each other, and Kate was screaming (from fear or cold we couldn't tell.)

We hid behind a little hilltop to have a snack, and then headed back down a dirt path along the ridge. We figured this was the trail we were supposed to be on all along, but as we descended, the trail got less and less traveled looking. In the end, we had to slide on our bums down a water-slick back to our original jeep-road. Probably not the intended trail, eh?

Anyway, it was gorgeous, but I honestly don't know what the trail was supposed to be. Our hike ended up only being about 2 miles and it wasn't "easy," so we definitely went astray somehow. But, I've never hiked above the treeline before, and we saw some tough, unique plants up there. There was also a beautiful reservoir and wild flowers along the jeep-road, so it was super cool. Since we found our way back to the car, I loved it. But there were times I might have been a bit worried. ;-)

Since our hike went faster than we'd expected, we stopped at a little railroad playground and had our picnic lunch. We also grabbed some ice cream before heading out of town. I thoroughly enjoyed my short break from my summer-long diet. Hehe.

What a cute little town Breckenridge is! We had a great time being together as a family. Kate had her shrieking fits, and Ethan had his accidents (his potty-training had apparently gone too easily). Brennan had his "I hate the outdoors" moments, and Collin had his "I can't stand these people one second longer!" times. But, all in all, it was a great final back-to-school-soon summer get-away. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

And now school starts next week. Ahhh!  

Yellowstone

DAY 1, Thurs - Drive to Yellowstone
Ryan and I got up at 5am to get showered and the car loaded. The boys were up at 6:30, and we rolled out of the driveway at 6:37am. It was a long drive, but at the end, we wound through the Grand Tetons and the south part of Yellowstone, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It did snow - white-out conditions - and got really cold while in the Tetons. It kinda scared me for the camping!

We arrived and set up camp. We had hot dogs for dinner. Not too exciting after driving all day.

We have a ball for making ice cream - we didn't realize it would be so cold this first day (it was in the 50s now, but still) - so we made Oreo ice cream too. Collin thought up the idea to bowl with our firewood. Pretty fun! Oh, and it was delicious too.

We camped in two tents. I was in the big tent with the boys, and Ryan was in the little tent with Kate. We were able to put her to bed about 8pm each evening, and that made our lives a little easier. It was super, duper cold each morning, and I think that was the hardest part. I highly recommend camping in the park though. We were able to go and see everything we wanted to without any traffic or crowds or parking problems each morning. The family across the way from us was from SLC, and they had four boys all the same ages as our kids. Our boys really became buddies and played a lot together.

DAY 2, Fri - Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Springs & Artist Paint Pots
This was our coldest morning by far. We could see our breath, even inside the tent. We got up early (6ish), and threw the breakfast burritoes I'd made in advance into the fire while we got dressed in all the clothes we'd brought! Brrrr.

The drive from our campground was filled with buffalo and elk grazing in the meadows, and steam rising into the morning sky from all across the valley. It was unreal. I think the cold made it even more neat, so I guess that made freezing our patooties off worth it.

Our first stop was Old Faithful. They are able to predict the next eruption down to a 20-minute window. After each eruption, depending on its duration and height, they post an estimated time for the next eruption, plus or minus 10 minutes. So we had about an hour to wander around after we arrived. We really liked Castle Geyser, and we saw lots of colorful bacteria in the water.

We headed to the Old Faithful viewing area and got great seats. Everyone was whispering, really respectfully and almost reverently. It was fun to be part of. Then, Old Faithful erupted about one minute before her predicted time. (I thought you'd like that, Dad. Even God likes to be early!) It was gorgeous, and everyone was silently awe-struck, even my boys. It lasted about 2 minutes.

Then we headed to the Grand Prismatic Springs. This was my favorite place. It was about 10am now, and it was getting crowded. We had to park a long ways away, but it was worth the walk. There was a beautiful waterfall, and Ethan couldn't get enough of it. The ground was all reds, oranges and browns. Then we walked across a long boardwalk through the most beautiful, steamy, colorful hot water pools. The sky's blue and turquoise was reflected in the clearest center, and the edges were swirls of reds and oranges. I have never seen anything like it.

Afterwards, we headed back to our campground for some rest time. Ethan and Kate napped, and Ryan took Collin and Brennan to the junior ranger station to learn more about the area. I read my book in the peace and quiet.

When everyone was back together again, we headed to the Artist Paint Pots. This was the boys' favorite place, and a close, close second for me. It was just a short walk from the parking lot and up a steep hill. And there, just off the boardwalks, was boiling, splashing, spitting, bursting MUD! It was awesome! And kinda gross too... It was a little stinky, but not as bad as we'd find Day 4 to be. Sooo cool!

We then headed to the river for the boys to fish. We didn't catch anything and Ethan fell in TWICE, but that's just life with Ethan.

For dinner tonight, we had spaghetti and meatballs (premade and cooked). Then we had banana boats for dessert. Ryan took the big boys to the camp amphitheater for their evening program, and I cleaned up and went to sleep with the little ones.

DAY 3, Sat - Mammoth Hot Springs & Gibbon Falls
Saturday was a little warmer in the morning, and we were able to shed most of our layers by the time we arrived for our sight-seeing. We had pancakes, bacon and sausage for breakfast, so we were running a little later though. We went up to Mammoth this day. I think we were tired and grumpy, because hind-sight says this place was cool, but Kate was whining most of the time, and I didn't really enjoy it. The pictures are awesome though.

Mammoth is a series of terraced waterfalls. Since the water is very hot (200F), bacteria grows everywhere (very colorful) and lots of minerals are deposited (cool shapes). There was also another hot pot which you could view from beneath and see the stalagtites/mites. Pretty awesome!

There's a little "town" here too, so we got ice cream and went to the museum. They had all the animals you'd commonly see in the Park stuffed and on display, which was nice because we only ever saw buffalo and elk in our time there.

After stopping at a picnic area, we headed back to the campground. After some rest time, we headed to Gibbon Falls. Once again, Kate was a grouch, and I was pretty wasted. It was a beautiful lookout though.

For dinner, we had chicken quesadillas, and after getting our grumpy littlest ones in bed, we played cards with the older boys and made smores.

DAY 4, Sun - Yellowstone Falls, Sulphur Springs & Yellowstone Lake
Our last morning camping was warmer still, and though it was only 40F, it felt great! We had oatmeal for breakfast and got everything packed up. Ryan bought a weather-proof bag for the roof of the van, and it's a good thing: we had a TON of stuff.

We drove to Yellowstone Falls this morning. We hiked (short but steep) down to the Brink of the Lower Falls first, and the amount of water was shocking. It was every bit as awesome as Niagara. And we were SO close too.

Then we drove to Artist Point. We struggled to find a parking spot here, but it was worth the hassle. It was the nicest, faraway view of the Lower Falls, for sure. We also hiked a little ways down a trail to better see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which really did have a lot of similarities to the actual Grand Canyon. Such neat rock formations and colors.

Then we drove a little ways to a picnic area along the river. We had sandwiches and fished again. After catching nothing again, I was still dying to see a bear, so we drove through Hayden Valley - where everyone always sees bears... we didn't - while the little ones napped.

We stopped at the Dragon's Mouth and Bubbling Mud (mostly because we loved the Artist Pots so much), and did it ever stink! It was ridiculously stinky... and so totally awesome. This mud was violently boiling, splashing up against the rocks. The Dragon's Mouth was awesome too. We thought it would just be steam coming out of a cave, but it actually growled (gases being released) and the water lapped like waves. Ethan kept saying, "It's throwing up!" So fun! And we got used to the smell after a while too.

Then we headed to the cabin for the reunion in Island Park. After starting two loads of laundry and showering/baths, we went to a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant nearby. We were hungry, and we wanted to be pampered. Ryan and I both got delicious bison burgers, and the kids all enjoyed their cheeseburgers. Ryan's aunt and grandmother joined us there too.

After getting Kate in bed, all the other aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents arrived. We were up late chatting and playing with the karaoke machine.

DAY 5, Mon - REUNION - Firehole Falls Swimming
We got a slow - but warm now that we were sleeping indoors! - start. After breakfast, we headed back into Yellowstone. We hit HORRIBLE traffic in West Yellowstone and at the gate to enter the park. (Hence, our now firm recommendation to always camp/stay IN the park.) We had planned on swimming in some heated watering hole, but it was closed due to the swift current. Undetered, we found another spot, and the kids splashed around while we had a picnic. We grabbed ice cream in West Yellowstone on the way home.

That evening Ryan and I did a full-out bbq for the family before they all headed to a play. We put our worn-out kiddos to bed at 7pm and got into the hot tub. Much deserved! We made brownies and ice cream for the play-goers and relaxed. This was our one, peaceful time together all week.

DAY 6, Tues - REUNION - Big Springs
We got an even slower start this morning, and we didn't make it to our activity until about 12:30, Kate and Ethan's nap time. We found an old cabin, had a picnic next to it, took a short tour and fed the fish and birds some smooshed bread. The highlight was seeing a moose and her baby downstream. My babies were grumpy. It was hot, and they were bored.

This evening we all had homemade pizza and played cards. The cousins played tag outside.

DAY 7, Wed - Drive Home
We got on the road about 9am for our 10-hour trek home. This time our travels took us through the other side of the Tetons and through Jackson Hole. Beautiful and LONG. We got home about 7pm, made the kids help us unload, and put everyone to bed.

Whew. It was wonderful! We are tired, but I got all sad unpacking and doing the laundry today. I started planning this trip almost a year ago, and it was totally worth it. We saw everything we wanted to see... except bears. We were so careful camping, because... well, you know... but then to not get to see one at all, that was disappointing. Guess the Denver Zoo will just have to do. ;-)

Everyone should go to Yellowstone. It is truly amazing, and it isn't too crowded if you plan, plan, plan ahead!