February 16, 2018
Last summer, my friend Stacey took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park with her husband and daughter. After her trip, she shared a picture of herself from a similar trip she took as a young girl next to a picture of her daughter from this recent trip at the same spot in this incredible National Park. I fell in love with these side-by-side captures and asked her if she would participate in a Travel Tales interview. She immediately responded yes! and then wrote the most beautiful story about the trip and her philosophy on travel.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy this wonderful story of family love and adventure!
I was bitten by the travel bug very early in my life, probably about the age of 4.
Last summer my husband and my 9-year-old daughter and I took a trip to Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons and Estes Park Colorado. I brought my photos home to share with my parents and after they finished looking through our 300 pictures (no exaggeration there) I decided to pull out the old photo albums from our cross country family (car) trip to the same spots in 1977. The picture was faded a bit in that 1970’s way old photographs look but there it was, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The same spectacular waterfall that was in the backdrop of the photograph I had taken of my daughter. Same rushing water, same beautiful mountains….there in all its grandeur and unchanged all of these years. It was both comforting and profound to me all at the same time. I realized at that moment that it is my job as her parent, to not only pass along this love and appreciation of our amazing world but also to help her understand that even in domestic travel, people are different. They look different and speak different languages and they eat differently, and shop differently and get to school differently. It is only by seeing and experiencing these things first hand can one come to truly appreciate those differences.
So there, I said it! It is my duty to travel! I MUST!
My husband is amazing. In so many ways, but with regards to travel he is exceptional. He has this knack for making travel arrangements that I do not possess. He does this out of a love for planning but also I think because he knows my attention to detail is not always stellar. I’m willing to admit this lack of attention to detail and also just be happy going along for the ride. Just tell me what time to be ready and what to pack? And I will say…I am in fact, stellar at this.
So we decided two years ago to go to Yellowstone National Park. We had just completed two city vacations over the previous two years to Chicago and New York and we were ready to get out in the fresh air and hike and see some large animals. When we decided to go, one of things on my husband’s “must” list was to stay in the Old Faithful Inn. He is adamant about getting the full experience. So we tried making reservations in November for a trip the following summer and quickly realized the entire summer was booked. Instead of compromising something he felt was important, we decided to just plan our vacation for the following summer ensuring our stay at this amazing place. When we were able to witness Old Faithful and other geysers erupting from the beauty of the hotel balcony or when we returned to our room to find an enormous bison right outside our open window I can assure you, it was worth our patience.
The wonderful thing about a vacation being a long wait away is the time it allows you to plan. And plan we did! We set our DVR to record hours and hours of educational shows on Yellowstone. We learned about every square inch of the place before we arrived. We bought books and decided which hikes would be appropriate for 9-year-olds (and mildly out of shape 44-year-olds) and we even completed some training hikes in Nashville to prepare. Not that you can really adequately prepare, the elevation can be surprisingly challenging we discovered.
We also made it a priority to allow our 9-year-old the opportunity to invest in what we were planning and to anticipate it in the same way that we were. She made her own list of animals she really wanted to see and things she wanted to do. She also purchased her own camera and took all of her own pictures which we printed and made into an album when we got home. (Her pictures are wonderful and not always things I would have photographed.)
She was doing it! Finding her own beauty in this amazing place.
For the trip itself, we knew we wanted to cover quite a bit of ground. We flew into Bozeman Montana from Nashville and rented a car. Hubs strategically planned our flight for a very early morning knowing that the drive entering the park would be worth doing in the daylight hours. When we arrived at the park entrance and of course had to pull over and take the Yellowstone National Park obligatory photo in front of the sign – it was snowing. We went in June.
Thankfully, by researching our trip and knowing that the weather can turn on a dime there, we had come prepared with appropriate clothing. The waterfalls and mountain views leading to the Old Faithful Inn were breathtaking. It was difficult not to pull off the road at every turn and snap pictures of everything we saw. We mostly did and have a zillion photos of rocks and trees! Now, they help prompt those memories but, of course, cannot in any way do it justice.
We arrived at the Old Faithful Inn and the massive stone fireplace was a welcome retreat from the wind and cold that was June in Wyoming. The Inn was built from 1903 – 1904 with local logs and stone and is considered the largest log structure in the world. If you stay in the historic part, be up for sharing a bathroom. There are however rooms in the newer part of the Inn that have a private bathroom too. We decided to not add this extra element of a shared bathroom to our trip however I feel, in retrospect, it would have been fine if we had done so.
We woke the next morning and had to obtain a few supplies. We wanted to tackle our first major hike but we needed a few provisions. We opted for a quick breakfast in the café downstairs. Being the foodies we are, we anticipated that this particular vacation was not going to boast the finest dining we had ever experienced. While the options were certainly adequate it is expensive and quite difficult to transport food to the outlying areas of the park so most of the options in all of the eateries were generally the same of hamburgers and chicken sandwiches and your basic American fare.
What they did specialize in however is Huckleberries! Huckleberries grown in abundance in the climate that is this strange place, so there is Huckleberry everything. From chapstick to jelly to syrup and ice cream and lotion and EVERYTHING Huckleberry. So we bought a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and some huckleberry jam and plenty of water and a few other snacks so that we could head out for the day and get into whatever adventures we wanted to and not feel the need to drive to the nearest eatery (which could be 30 or more minutes away depending on our location) to obtain sustenance. Given that our family all tend to become “hangry” (a term we have decided suits us well – hungry and angry), this proved to be our best decision all week. Not to mention cozy as we found sweet places to picnic each day that allowed us to sit and take in the view.
We also purchased Bear Spray which is highly recommended if you intend to hike at all. This became the source of a few jokes in our family, things we still laugh about literally every day since the return of our trip. We never had the opportunity to use it…thankfully. And just fyi….the TSA frowns upon you attempting to carry it back home with you by accident, lol.
Our first hike boasted plenty to see. We saw our first bison grazing in an open field below us. We first thought he was all alone until another hiker pointed out the momma grizzly bear and her two cubs bouncing around in the grass beside him. They were too far away to snap a good photo but I decided this one was best left in our memory anyway. To be able to witness these beautiful creatures doing what they do in nature every single day without being disturbed was a gift. Most people that visit the park don’t leave the main areas but this is why we like to get off the beaten path. I could see people in the distance just a mile or so away from the bison and the bears but because of the tree line between them and these animals, they had no idea that they were there.
Granted….we had hiked a good 3 miles up before we saw this and we were bundled from head to toe in layers bracing us from wind but oh my goodness was it worth it. Knowing your limits and the limits of your children is important in making decisions about your activities. We also saw waterfalls and yellow bellied marmots and trees and birds and flowers that we had read about in our books that grew only here. It was a most successful first day!
The next few days we decided to see all the corners of the park. This is truly the strangest place I have ever been. There is also a part of me that is slightly disturbed by the fact that I was walking on an active volcano. And this fact is not hidden because there is evidence of its presence all over the park in different forms. Some corners boasts geysers that project boiling water and steam 100 feet in the air. It is the job of a park ranger to time Old Faithful’s eruptions and record the variations. Think about that for a few moments and why that is someone’s job! Scary. Other corners contain bubbling pots of sulphur or clay like material. Others have a rainbow of colors created by the bacteria of this boiling water like at the Grand Prismatic Springs. And the strangest one to me personally was Dragon’s Mouth Spring located near the Mud Volcano area. It was like something you would see in a movie – a cave that spewed steam and literally roared like a dragon every few seconds. What? Where am I? I constantly had to stop and remind myself that what I was witnessing was in fact not some ride at Disney world but very real. Everywhere you turn, there are constant reminders that something very strange is going on beneath your toes. You could witness where animals had come to warm themselves close to the geysers because we identified many different piles of poop. (There is actually a book about this in the Old Faithfull Inn gift shop and kids get a big kick out of it!) But be forewarned, there are signs up all over the park about the dangers of stepping off of the boardwalks. Not only do they want to protect what is there but they want to protect you. Teaching your children to respect the rules of the park is of utmost importance. We noticed an ambulance at a geyser outside of our window one evening. It wasn’t until we had returned home that we realized that someone had fallen into one of the hot springs and had to be flown to the nearest hospital to be treated for burns. Following the rules is no joke – a good lesson in travel and in life really.
We traveled one day to the upper Northeast side to the Lamar Valley. We witnessed a bison jam. Traffic was lined up on either side of the road for a ½ mile in each direction while these amazing animals decided the grass was greener on the other side. The largest few were standing in the middle of the road making sure that the rest of the herd and their calves were able to cross safely. No one was going anywhere and this provided a wonderful opportunity for Bison selfies. Again….follow the rules and stay in your car. While typically not aggressive unless threatened they are still wild animals and just like any parent will protect their young should they feel the need.
The remainder of our adventures in Yellowstone included more hikes and drives where we were able to witness a big horned sheep, elk, moose, an osprey, a rare fox citing and a whole community of yellow bellied marmots. At the beginning of our trip, the first bison we saw we almost jumped from our car window. By the end of the week, we had seen so many that it became as common as witnessing a cow on the side of the interstate in Tennessee (which by the way still excites me when we travel outside the city – Look…cows!). So wild animals are certainly in abundance but it becomes like a scavenger hunt and some friendly family competition ensues on who can spot the best and most wild animals. Good times indeed.
My daughter has also obtained Junior Ranger badges from several places around the country and we added 3 to her list on this vacation. The National Park Foundation in an effort to engage and create the next generation of park visitors, supporters, and advocates launched the Every Kid in a Park Initiative. All kids in the 4th grade have access to their own “Every Kid in a Park” pass at www.everykidinapark.gov . This pass provides free access to national parks across the country for 4th graders and their families. It gave us access to all of the National Parks we visited on this trip. She proudly displayed it at the park entrance each time. It probably saved us a few hundred dollars in entrance fees and to her, she took ownership in being personally responsible for our entire vacation – which she was! Granted, we probably spent ten times that in souvenir t-shirts, and stuffed animals, but still! And perhaps given the success of the program they will choose to extend this initiative beyond 2018.
Our next journey was on to see the Grand Tetons. So we left via the south entrance of the park. We are not a family who ski’s however after seeing the surroundings in this place it made me want to become a skier. My 44 year old body might protest acquiring this skill only to indulge in location. Perhaps a cozy spot by a fire and hot toddy is more my speed. As you leave Yellowstone and start to see the Grand Tetons you almost feel like you are looking at a pretend backdrop placed there by someone in Hollywood. IT DOES NOT LOOK REAL. We stopped yet again for the obligatory Grand Teton National Park sign photo. What’s amusing about these pictures is that very often, we were the only ones and so we had to take turns taking photos of each other. Mom and daughter, dad and daughter, mom and dad. At least 3 photos had to be taken. Thus the 300 photos mentioned previously. No, not all of them were necessary but it became somewhat of a family joke. More memories.
We stopped at Coulter Bay Beach to take in the view of the Grand Tetons. Blue sky, puffy white clouds, snow capped mountains, framed at the bottom with Jackson Lake and the most beautiful rainbow color of smooth rocks that I desperately wanted to put in my pocket and take home with me. My daughter (being the rule follower she is) gave me the “if everyone that visited took home a rock” speech. So we stuck with the “don’t take anything out of the park” rule. It was hard. They were beautiful. We stayed at the most adorable one room cabin in Coulter Bay. There we resided for 3 nights while we explored the likes of Jenny Lake, witnessed Prong Horned Sheep and more moose (or is it meese?) , hiked to Inspiration Point, attended a bear safety Ranger led program and ate some yummy pizza at Coulter Bay Village.
We left the Grand Tetons and stopped for a bite of breakfast in Jackson Hole Wyoming. This is it. This is the place. If I had all the money and all the time in the world, I might just spend the rest of my days in this location. I feel I am fairly well traveled. I have been to Italy and Germany and Austria and all over the US and I have seen a lot of places. I can truly say that Jackson Hole ranks right up there as one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.
After a solid day of driving through the middle of nowhere Wyoming (there were times we didn’t see another car for an hour) we made an overnight stay in Steamboat Springs and traveled on to the Rocky Mountains, stopping for a few hikes along the way. The Alpine Ridge trail and Tundra Communities Trail offers a breathtaking view and also leaves you literally breathless as you trek up to 12,005 feet above sea level. Not too much inhabits this baron area. The wind will almost pick you up and take you with it. But it is surprising to find pika (so cute and look like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel) living at this altitude and a herd of elk that are taking refuge away from danger on the snowy mountains.
We made our way to Estes Park Colorado where we stayed in the most beautiful cabin we found on VRBO. Estes Park boasts a connection with the movie “The Shining” with Jack Nicholson. Steven King stayed at the Stanley in 1974 when he wrote the story. I think they offer a ghost tour however given the…ahem….9 year old that might be afraid of such a tour, we did not participate.
We did come to Estes Park for a purpose however. I wanted very badly to go white water rafting, which we did. I could have done without the hour and a half bus ride through the curvy mountains to arrive at the site where we put in our raft for the Cache La Poudre River however the class III rapids proved well worth the trip. Our raft guide with Rapid Transit Rafting was fantastic and it was definitely doable for my 9 year old daughter too (and her mom who the previous night had nightmares of her flying out of the raft).
Also, much to my husband’s dismay my daughter desperately wanted to ride horses. Hub’s is not fond of horses necessarily but he does love daughter. A lot. This was my one responsibility in the planning and preparation. I found the location and booked the trip. I *might* have slightly overestimated our endurance when I booked a 3 hour trip. We all could barely walk when we were done. We also endured a ridiculous hail storm right in the middle of our trip (remember what I said about weather turning on a dime out there – be prepared!) But it was a good lesson in adversity and dealing with the circumstances you are dealt, with a good attitude. All in all it was a good trip and daughter loved every moment but in retrospect, perhaps a shorter trip might have sufficed.
I handed the planning reins back to hubs. Again, know your strengths and embrace them.
We were leaving out of Denver the following day so we had just enough time to drive through Boulder, stay overnight, lunch in downtown Denver with a short tour of the city. The cost of renting a vehicle in one city and returning it in another was pricey but we knew that going in. We all had things we wanted to see and do while we were “out west” so we made the most of our trip out there and made note of the things we didn’t get enough time to do for when we return.
Where are we off to next? We are allowing my daughter studies at school dictate some of our travel. She will be studying the American Revolution in school this year so a trip to New England seems in order. The same way we went to New York when she studied the Statue of Liberty, or when we went to the Field Museum in Chicago when she went through her Dinosaur phase, or when we traveled to Disney World when she was 3 and dreamed of being a princess.
Listen to your kids. Show interest in what interest them.
It is a privilege to travel, I am aware. She certainly has been on a plane more times in her short life than I had at her age, which isn’t to say that it’s always easy to afford. We work very hard and we pinch and save the entire year in order to fund these trips. But it’s important. It’s important to show her a glimpse of this amazing world in which we live. To allow her to truly understand and experience these things so that she can treasure them and our memories in the same way that we do. And just maybe someday she’ll take her daughter back to that same rock wall with The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone in the background and she’ll explain to her why it’s important to get out and see the world and preserve and protect what is ours for just a little while.
Thank you Stacey! I can’t even express how much I love this story. I think my favorite part is ” I realized at that moment that it is my job as her parent, to not only pass along this love and appreciation of our amazing world but also to help her understand that even in domestic travel, people are different. They look different and speak different languages and they eat differently, and shop differently and get to school differently. It is only by seeing and experiencing these things first hand can one come to truly appreciate those differences.” I agree and love the philosophy of teaching our children that we live in a great big world and one of our jobs as parents is to share that with them. I can’t wait to take my kids to Yellowstone one day…and also scour through our family travel books to find pictures we could recreate, ha!
P.S. – Have you taken a trip with your kids that you’d like to share? Let me know and I’ll send some questions to get started! We love to be inspired to travel and take new adventures!
