DAY 15 AND 16 - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

We arrived in Yellowstone via the south entrance and worked our way northwest, going thru the park and seeing many elk and bison along the way. We stopped at Old Faithful to watch it for awhile, and then ventured into the Old Faithful Inn for a drink and appetizers in the bar. In Wyoming, kids can go into the bars with their parents so we pulled up a table in the "Bear Pit" bar and broke out the cards! It was a blast playing hucklebuck in this historical place, just like many many generations before us have done!

We then traveled west to our condo in West Yellowstone - thanks, Mom and Dad!

The next day we toured the park going north, stopping at Mud Volcanos and awesome waterfalls. In fact, as we were going back to our car, a giant bull buffalo was walking thru the parking lot!!! We kind of hurried into the car....

Then we went to Canyon, where we did a one hour horseback ride thru the wilderness, again passing a gian buffalo! We had lunch at the historic Lake Yellowstone Lodge at Lake Yellowstone, then had to come all the way back the same way as they have closed the road connecting the north to the west entrance. This takes about 2.5 hours one way!

Everyone has had an unbelievable time, but because we are very far from most of the attractions, we are going to head home today - one day early. We have a 10-12 hour drive ahead of us and the girls really miss their new puppy, Griffy. So we are on the road home!!!

DAY 14 - JACKSON HOLE, WY & GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

Robb and Lisa at Grand Teton National Park.

We had a long, 8 hour drive from Zion to Jackson, WY - but we saw some beautiful countryside along the way and Robb was able to procure a few fireworks in Wyoming! Lisa had visited Jackson as a child, but it does not look the same - it is said that the "billionaires are squeezing out the millionaires" now. Lisa was supposed to paraglide here, but when we showed up at the tram, they told us the winds were going in the wrong direction so they canceled the flights!!! Bummer!!!

We took the new tram up to the top of the mountain, about 10,000 feet and an exilarating ride! There is a waffle house up there, so the girls enjoyed some hot brown sugar waffles while Robb and Lisa looked at the awesome Teton Mountains.

Then it was off to Grand Teton National Park and driving through there is the most gorgeous scenery yet! We definitely would like to come back here someday and ski and stay longer.

Then it was off to Yellowstone Park- our last stop!

Grand Teton National Park - where is Mr Bill???

Brooke and Shelby in front of the arch of elk antlers in downtown Jackson, WY.

Lisa visited this same Chapel of the Transfiguration as a kid on a road trip in the 1970's! It looks the same!

DAY 12 AND 13 - ZION NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

We arrived at Zion in the early afternoon and took the free shuttle around the park to give us an idea of how we wanted to spend our next day. We decided on two things: Angels Landing hike in the morning, and hiking up the Narrows Canyon in the afternoon.

The next morning, we forgot there was a time change here, so we left an hour later than we had hoped! It was still fine, as the temperatures here are about 10 degrees below normal, so the high was only going to be in the low 90's.

We think the girls had a fun time going up Angels Landing, as it was much shorter than Half Dome and the trail had 3 distinct difficulties: the first third was pretty flat, the middle third was 21 switchbacks and definite elevation gain, and the final third was hiking along the , at times, 3-6 foot wide trail with drop offs on one side of over 800 feet, and over 1200 feet on the other! Thankfully, there were chains in the rocks that you could hold on to! (in most places...). The views from the top were amazing and we spent some time up there enjoying it.

After lunch at beautiful Zion Lodge, we headed to the end of the road and the Zion Narrows hike. This starts with an easy one mile trail up the canyon and from there you are pretty much walking in a small river all the way up the canyon, as the canyon walls start to "narrow" - thus its name. We all had a blast, especially the girls who searched out the deep spots in the river, just so they could get cooled off . We hiked appox. 2.5 miles up, then turned around but you can go as much as 10 miles up. Brooke would like to come back and do the entire canyon next time!

Next stop - Jackson, Wyoming.

Miles traveled: 2800 and counting...

Angels Landing hike is a 5 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of 1800 feet - not so bad after Half Dome!

Going along the Angels Landing trail!

Robb and the girls at the end of our 2 mile hike up the Narrows Canyon - all while wading in the water!

HELICOPTER TO THE GRAND CANYON

Robb surprised us with a trip to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas via helicopter!!!  We were picked up by a limo, went to the airport, then took a 45 minute ride over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and then the Grand Canyon. Landing in the floor there was so fun! Then we took a little walk to see the Colorado River, had some lunch, and zipped up to the top again for the ride home. It was probably one of the most fun things we have ever done!!!

Next stop - Zion National Park

Flying in the helicopter over Vegas, Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.

Amazing views at the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

DAY 10 AND 11 - VEGAS, BABY!

After a very long drive through the burning mountains in Santa Maria, we arrived at Las Vegas!!!  The kids were amazed at all the hotels and lights.  We stayed at the Marriott Grand Chateau right next to Planet Hollywood and almost on the strip.  We shopped at the outlet mall first (of course) then did the miracle mile shops on the way to the tram.  Las Vegas has a great tram system that gets you around the strip pretty quickly.

We had dinner reservations for our 16th anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants, Benihanas. This one is their largest in the world!  It was amazing as usual!  Then we went over to the stratosphere and did the rides at the top. There are three, one that shoots you straight up, one that dips you over the side and one that goes around the OUTSIDE of the top of the tower!  Then we walked home and got in about midnight - pretty early in Vegas time!  The girls saw alot of things along the way, some maybe not so good but oh well...

Tomorrow morning we are going for a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon!

Robb and Lisa celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary at Benihanas in Las Vegas!

DAY 7-9 PISMO BEACH, CAL POLY, AND HEARST CASTLE

It took about 4 hours to drive from Turlock to San Luis Obispo, CA - where Robb went to college and also spent many summers on the beach as a kid.  We arrived at the Sea Crest Resort in Pismo Beach and ate dinner at our favorite restaurant there - McClintocks Saloon.  The next day we took a 3 hour tour of the Cal Poly campus and attended an admissions seminar. You see, Miss Shelby wants to go into wine and viticulture, and they have a great program here!  After taking the tour and seeing all the students in shorts and flip flops, Brooke is dishing the UW and wants to come here, too!  I don't blame them...palm trees, the beach, surfing - who wouldn't want to come here?

Next we drove up to San Simeon and did the Hearst Castle tour- it is amazing every time and filled with history. The girls really enjoyed it!  

We moved down to Avila Beach the last night and spent the whole day on the beach just sunning and swimming, then shopping.  It was so beautiful and much cooler than the central coast.  Next stop -Vegas!

Shelby, Robb and Brooke at the entrance of his college, Cal Poly 

DAY 6 - TURLOCK, CA

It was very hard to leave beautiful Yosemite, but we were anxious to see our relatives in Turlock, so we left after viewing Yosemite valley from Glacier Point and drove 3.5 hours to the town of Denair. Our brother and sister in law, Clark and Dianna, made us feel right at home - and it was great to sleep in a real bed again! We had a wonderful dinner, swam in their pool, and even got to drive their vintage cadillac! We had an awesome visit, and their kids (Trent, Dani & Vanessa) just picked up with Brooke and Shelby like they hadn't been apart! We thank them for their awesome hospitality!

WILDLIFE IN YOSEMITE

We saw lots of wildlife at Yosemite - and so did Mr. Bill!

DAY 5 - THE HIKE

Set out at 7 am for a 10-12 hour hike with our batteries completely recharged (NOT!).  Took a shuttle to Happy Isles trail head, and began what would turn out to be a 16 mile hike with elevation gain of almost 5000 feet to the top of Half Dome, elevation 8,836 feet.

Along the way we saw Bridal Veil Falls and Nevada Falls.  We also saw several deer, some of them way too close - but no bears (yet).

We took plenty of food and water, which was needed, as we ended up having to fill up and filter water twice out of the creek during the day.

Shelby was the winner, drinking close to 6 liters of water - and a few nature breaks along the way!

Robb ended up being the only one brave enough to climb the cables at the end and ascend to the very top of Half Dome (meeting a nice girl from Finland...) , and Brooke made it to the bottom of the cables but Shelby and Lisa were very proud of themselves as we nearly made it all the way, which many did not!

After limping home we had a meal of hot pizza and took nice warm showers -the best of our lives!

DAY 4- SACRAMENTO TO YOSEMITE NP

Left Sacramento early in the morning so we could spend all afternoon sightseeing Yosemite Valley Floor. Our accomodations at Yosemite were tent cabins at Curry Village (thanks Robb!).  Curry Village was established in the late 1800's and they have tried to keep it about the same since. 

We were all thoroughly amazed at the beauty and amazing rock formations around Yosemite Valley - it will literally take your breath away.  Seeing Half Dome and El Capitan in person is something everyone should do in their lifetime.

That evening we had a wonderful dinner at the Awahnee Hotel.  It turned out that Rachel Ray was there dining in the same place, so the girls walked over and said hello to her - she told them they looked lovely and was very sweet to them!

The park rangers are extremely concerned about bears damaging your vehicle, as we found out three times during the night!  At 7 pm, 10 pm and 2 am they were knocking on our door asking us to take things out of our car!  Apparently, anything in the rectangular shape of an ice chest is "bear bait" - no sleep that night! 

DAY 3 - MEDFORD TO SACRAMENTO CA

We drove 6 hours from Crater Lake to Sacramento arriving in the late evening.  We drove by beautiful Mount Shasta along the way (might be a fun climb?).  We arrived at our hotel in downtown Sacramento, a block away from the capitol building.  We took an evening tour of the capitol building to stretch our legs from the drive!

DAY TWO - CRATER LAKE OR

Robb's plane was late , causing him to miss his flight so he  had to join us in Medford the next morning - we picked him up and headed up to Crater Lake National Park. It was an awesome afternoon, viewing the deepest lake in the United States!  It is also the clearest lake because it is filled by rain and snowfall only.

It was nice to get out of the heat, as it was chilly there!  We drove around the rim and actually hiked to the bottom so we could touch the water.  On the way down, we ran into the King Family from Wenatchee - what are the odds???

We then drove to Sacramento, arriving late but still walked down to the state capitol building.  Now, we are heading to Yosemite Park for three days. 

Miles driven = 950 in two days.  

See if you can spot "MR BILL" in some of our pictures - he is there!

DAY ONE - MEDFORD, OR

Well, Lisa and the girls made it 12 hours later to our first stop - Medford OR!  We had a blast , although we almost got blown off the road along the Columbia River Gorge!  We are waiting now to see if Robb is going to make his connecting flight from Seattle to Medford to join us - he is supposed to arrive at midnite, but it is going to be close. At least he has Mr. Bill to keep him company if he gets stuck in Seattle...stay tuned!