We decided to combine picking up Nate from BYU-I with our family vacation this year. We fondly remembered our RV road trip when the kids were young, and since this is probably our last year of summer vacationing with the six of us, we decided it would be great fun to do it again. The gas for an RV can really add up, so we chose to drive our van to Missoula, MT, pick up the RV there, then proceed on to Rexburg to get Nate. From Rexburg we would head out to Yellowstone, then up to Glacier National Park, then back to Missoula to drop off the RV and drive back home.
About 20 minutes into the trip, we heard this loud crashing noise coming from the top of the RV. At first we thought maybe the air conditioning unit had broken off! We pulled over and could still see the air conditioner, so Kylie offered to climb up and see if she could find anything. She yelled down that there was some kind of panel that was attached only by a wire with a pile of 8 screws sitting next to it. Hmmmm.... We called the rental company and they had no idea what it was. We finally deduced that it was a solar panel that someone had forgotten to attach properly. Good thing we had some duct tape with us! Kylie taped it to the roof and we were on our way again!
Then a few hours later, while I was driving, another loud banging/shuddering came from the back of the RV. Brad started yelling at me to pull over. I finally found a wide enough spot on the shoulder and upon inspection, we found we had a flat tire on the inner rear tire. Ugh! Another call to the rental company, who told us to call their emergency repair number. We also called AAA, upgraded to RV service, and requested a tire repair. By the time the rental company finally called back, AAA had already sent someone out and he was well on his way to replacing the tire.
Waiting on the side of the road...at least it was pretty!
And we got to watch a beautiful sun set!
We were back on the road after about an hour and a half. By this time it was close to 9pm.
We still hadn't eaten dinner, but thought we could find something on our way to Rexburg. No such luck! There is literally NOTHING between southern Montana and Rexburg, Idaho! We finally made it to Rexburg just before midnight, picked up Nate, and headed straight to Wendy's. Yes, we did consider stopping at Wendy's before picking up Nate, but decided to be nice!
We camped in the parking lot behind Nate's apartment for the night.
Here's Nate bidding farewell to his apartment. He wasn't at all sad to leave!
Then we headed out to Yellowstone! First stop was West Yellowstone, a tourist trap for sure. We let the kids shop for souvenirs for a few hours, but were anxious to get to our real destination.
We finally made it! And it was beautiful!
Our first stop was Gibbon Falls. It took us a little while to figure out that the Gibbon Falls picnic area was not the same as Gibbon Falls itself! We walked up the river a bit wondering, "Where are the falls?"
The girls couldn't see them from this rock, either, so we got back in the RV and drove a little further...
And then we found the falls!
We found the Artist Paintpot without any trouble and walked along the boardwalk intrigued by the steaming, bubbling, gushing earth.
Our first glimpses of buffalo! As we drove through Hayden Valley, we could see them dotting the prairie.
The further we went, the closer they got to the road, until traffic came to a standstill. Eventually cars started coming the other way and people told us there were buffalo on the road up ahead.
They weren't kidding! This big guy went right past our RV! A ranger in his truck was trying to herd them off the road. We crept slowly past and admired their massiveness.
Our first night, we camped at Fishing Bridge, right near Yellowstone Lake. It was basically an RV parking lot, but the lake wasn't too far from the campground.
Nate and Kylie finally found a spot where they could get two bars of cell-service to send/receive texts.
We sat by the lake and watched the sun set.
The next morning we headed up to Old Faithful. We got there about 20 minutes before it was due to erupt.
Showing signs...
And there she blows! I have to admit, I was a bit under-whelmed. Still pretty cool to say I've seen it, though.
After Old Faithful, we hit the Fountain Paint Pots, which in my opinion were much more impressive.
And then on to Mammoth Hot Springs.
This looks like ice, but it's actually boiling hot water flowing down the rock
Kylie reached over and confirmed that the water is hot!
A bit more desolate scenery-wise.
It was very hot out, and the kids weren't too impressed with this area. I made them climb up to the top overlook area (above their heads in this picture), which overlooked nothing and they were very unhappy with me.
Our favorite part of Yellowstone was the Boiling River. I'd heard about it, but it wasn't marked on the map we had. Fortunately as we were driving down the mountain from Mammoth, we could see people playing in the river below so we were on the lookout for a place to pull over. It was about 1/2 mile hike along the river to the exact spot,
and we encountered these guys on the way.
This is the spot where the boiling hot water from the Boiling River flows down and meets the freezing cold water from the Gardiner River.
It forms lovely pools where you can sit and relax!
We were highly entertained by the amorous couple next to us...
I wish we would have had more than 1 1/2 days in Yellowstone. There was so much more to see!
We spent our 3rd night in an RV park in Gardiner, a small town just outside Yellowstone.
This tiny LDS chapel was on the other side of the fence from the RV park.
The view from our "campsite."
