Rocky Mountain National Park
The experience on our road trip this summer that was the most
memorable for both Brian and me happened at Rocky Mountain National Park—the
first stop on our national park lineup of five parks. We had great memories of
exploring the park four years ago on our last cross country road trip and so we
wanted to take the boys there on the way through Colorado. When we pulled into
the park we asked a ranger which hike he recommended for kids. He told us there
was a small one by a river where a dam had broken years ago and the river now
flowed over and around huge boulders. We took his advice, and after a picnic,
we put on real shoes and went hiking. That was when Cal gave everyone our
climbing names: he was Mountain Horse, Clark was Mountain Cow, Brian was
Mountain Goat, and of course I was the more flattering Mountain Dog.
The trail was cute and small and the view was astoundingly
beautiful especially after having been in Kansas so recently. As we hiked around
we saw that a bunch of people were not only walking on the paths below the river
but were climbing the boulders and going right up the river. It looked fun, but
of course with the boys we wouldn’t be able to do it. We started exploring—just
seeing how far we could go. Then the boys started loving it—they were gritting
their teeth and finding footholds for their feet and pulling themselves up.
They were delighting in everything they saw and did (Mommy! Look how far I
stepped this time! Look at that butterfly! I’m climbing a mountain!) and were
caught up in the climb. So we did some boulder scrambling with three year-olds
and it was delighful and only a little frightening at times. At the top we
didn’t quite know what to do so we opted for the more dangerous choice of
carrying the boys on our shoulders across the river and hiking down the other
side of the boulder field.
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| Checking out the surroundings |
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| The river flowing over boulders. Notice the climbers up in the right. |
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| Boulder-y river |
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| Here we go! |
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| Bold climbers |
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| Behind the boulders |
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| View from the top. See the tiny people below. |
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| Taking a break |
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| We turned around and Cal was drinking from the river. |
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| Braving the rapids |
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| Made it to the other side! |
By the end of the journey, Mountain Horse and Mountain Cow were decidedly done with hiking, but they had loved it and they loved pointing up the mountain and saying, “We climbed that!” It was a super cool, unexpected family adventure. After that, we explored Rocky Mountain park a bit more. We drove up a one-way road with a million switchback turns up a giagantic mountain. At the top we saw elk and caribou and put on our jackets. After a couple more hours of soaking in the scenery we headed to our nighttime destination—somewhere in Wyoming.
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| Wrong side, Cal. |
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| Scratchy and Smoochie take in the view. |
The drive up toward Wyoming from the park is amazing—along a
roaring river in a beautiful canyon. The boys missed it because they slept, but
it we watched the sunset bounce off the brilliant orange sides of the canyon
walls. Great day.
Grand Teton National Park
I had never seen the Teton Mountains before, and once I saw
them from miles and miles away, I
couldn’t take my eyes off them. As we drove into Jackson, Wyoming, I was
excited to explore the park—well, as much as you can explore a national park with
twin three year-olds. We took a tram ride up the mountain at Teton
Village—right near where we stayed at Brian’s cousin and aunt’s house. I hate
heights but I don’t want to pass on my fear to my kids so I sucked it up and we
went up the mountain—as I envisioned falling and being skewered to death on
giant pine trees . At the top we walked around a little and the boys played
with snow for only the second time in their lives.
The third national park we visited is just north of Grand Teton
National Park—Yellowstone! I have fond memories of being a kid in Yellowstone,
riding around in a mustard yellow station wagon with wood paneling and no air
conditioning (known as the Groovy Stuvy Wagon to those familiar to our growing
up years)and probably a teenage chip on my shoulder. A walkman in my ears no
doubt.
I was also in Yellowstone four years ago on our last road
trip—Brian and I drove through it on a whim and spent just a few hours there.
We ended up driving between the lake and a wildfire. It was the closest we’d
ever been to a wildfire, and it was crazy. There were firefighters all around
by the line of the fire, just hanging out eating dinner or whatever, while the
mountainside lit up in flames that were consuming the black night. I can’t
believe they had the road open still, the fire was so close to it. So. Yellowstone in a station wagon and Yellowstone in a fire
were my past experiences.
This year it was of course equally beautiful but it was
frustrating that much of the beauty of the place is over the boys’ heads at
their age. They were way more into singing songs and eating snacks than the
fact that we were on top of a super volcano with wild-colored stones and pools
and spitting geysers. We were right next to bison the size of small buses for
crying out loud. “Can we watch a DVD?” GRRRR.
We watched Old Faithful, which was cool and they enjoyed. We
did some of the small hikes around the springs and geyser pools and I was glad
we did. Amazing colors. This makes me almost cry: I lost all of the pictures I
took in Yellowstone when my computer died on the way home from our trip. We
have only this one from Brian’s phone.
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| Scratchy and Smoochie at Old Faithful |
At the end of the day we only saw a few moose and bison—no bears,
which we were looking for. We stayed at an amazing little cabin that I did a
review of here. I hope we can take Mountain Horse and Mountain Cow back there when they are older and
can appreciate it a little more.
Craters of the Moon
The fourth national park we went to is actually called a
national monument, which baffles me and so I’m categorizing it my own way. It
most certainly is a park. Craters of the Moon. We had a fun couple hours here,
minus the part where Mountain Cow cried and refused to walk so I pulled him. I wrote about it and put a bunch more pictures of it here. It is such bizarre
place—an ancient lava field nestled in rolling farmlands of soutern Idaho. Mountain Cow and Mountain Horse briefly turned into astronauts on the moon at this park.
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| Astronaut Mountain Horse |
Badlands National Park
The fifth and final national park we drove through was Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I also have memories of this park from when I was a teenager in the Groovy Stuvy wagon. I loved our time there. We camped and hiked around on some of the crazy hills. On this trip, however, Mountain Horse and Mountain Cow were not entertained. The Badlands was by far the worst park for us. We simply drove on the loop through the park and early on we decided to get out and walk around a little—show the boys the amazing geologic scenery. The couldn’t handle it. Major meltdown because of something like important a rock in a shoe or a shirt being tucked in when it shouldn’t have been. I think at this point they were done with scenery.
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| Moments before the epic meltdown |
Mount Rushmore National Monument
We also saw Mount Rushmore, and the boys had an equally big meltdown in the midst of all the tourists, but you would never know it to hear them talk about it now. They love to pretend to be the presidents on the mountain and love to point out Mount Rushmore anytime we see a picture of it. (It’s weird how often you see it places)
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| Pre-meltdown |
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| The stuffed travelers |
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| Post-meltdown Mountain Animals |
And that is how Mountain Horse, Mountain Cow, Mountain Goat,
and Mountain Dog did five national parks and a national monument this summer.
El Niño Y Tu Pilin
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