Yellowstone Family Trip & Camping at Payson Lakes

We spent 4 days in Yellowstone National Park and 2 days at Payson Lakes. Now that's a lot of camping with two little kids! But it really was quite a bit of fun. We took what we hope to be our annual family trip to Yellowstone National Park. It was a lot of driving, but a lot of fun. The first day driving felt very long, we stopped by Stephanie's house to have lunch with her and Taiton. It was a nice break.
After a long drive we finally got to West Yellowstone. We stopped at Kentucky Fried chicken where our eggs fell out and a bunch broke. After eating we were just about to pull up at the gates of the parks entrance when we saw flashing lights behind us. We had no idea why we were getting pulled over but the police officer soon let us know that Rob was speeding (apparently that road is only like 15mph, who knew?) Eliza thought this was very exciting though and wanted to know why the police officer's car was flashing behind us. I let her know that Daddy was speeding and that he might have to pay some money so that he won't forget next time, just like we make her go to time out sometimes. I think she really liked the idea of this. Rob of course had to take a call while the officer was looking at his information. (Yep I didn't really like that.) Finally we miraculously got off scott free.
At last we entered the park, it took another hour to get to the Canyon campground and by the time we got there it was about 11 pm. I totally woosed out and did not want to set up camp that late, so I sent Rob to the check in place in hopes that he could get us a cabin. Of course he delivered as he always does with a task like this. We stayed that night in a fabulous little cabin and took a shower (It felt so nice because our Jetta has no A/C and I had been sweating to death all day). We started out the day by driving the upper portion of the loop. Rob's goal while there was too see all the animals he could. Although I love animals, there were a few moments of frustration when we would have to turn around because he thought he had seen a bear (I just felt like there was so much to see.) But soon I relaxed and started to enjoy the moment a little more. We saw all kinds of animals while there coyotes, deer, elk, big horn sheep, buffalo, and our favorite moment was when we got to see the bear gnawing on a buffalo carcus. It was from a far but an awesome sight. Just as we were about to leave another bear came up and apparently he was the dominant bear because the other bear went running. Then a wolf crept up and kept trying to get a bite as well. I felt like I was in a National Geographic.
The next day we went to see Old Faithful and the bottom of the loop. While there we ran into some of Rob's Japanese friends from Business school. After seeing Old Faithful (by the way we loved when Eliza would say geyther for geyser) we went to find some "hot springs." We went swimming in the Firehole River which was supposedly warm. I think that was an overstatement. It was warmer than Trial Lake but not as warm as a swimming pool. After convincing one of his friends to swim down the river a bit with him he then got me to swim down with him. I was not wanting to do it, but finally got the courage. It was rather adventurous. But after this swim Rob was still not satisfied since it wasn't very hot and Eliza also wanted some warm water. So Rob began his search. We saw some steaming hot water running into the river a ways up on the drive so Rob went to check it out. When he finally came back Rob reported that it was either burning hot or freezing cold, but Eliza still wanted to go back in the water so Rob carried her away into the river for a short swim in the cold water.
Then we headed over to eat at Yellowstone Lake. We saw a bear on the way and of course stopped to see it. We then got to eat at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge Cafeteria where there was a beautiful view of the lake and tons of up close buffalo to see. I just kept watching thinking that someone was going to get charged by on of them. My theme of the whole trip was "don't get too close, you know that there are more injuries caused by buffalo then bears." I was very nervous most of the time. There were just too many warning signs. In fact at one point some guy yelled at Rob for getting too close to the elk. We got it on tape and it was actually a little bit funny since then another person defends rob and says, "he's not that close."
There were various funny things that Eliza said but on of the funniest was when her and Rob were in the bathroom and Rob started reading the warning sign about buffalo. He was really making it animated as he was telling it to her and at the end she blinked both her eyes a bunch of times at him. And he said, "What's that?" She said,"A blinker! Cause your kiddin' me." We thought that was pretty funny.
The last night was pretty cold and Liberty didn't sleep very well so I was ready to go home in the morning. It wasn't the most relaxing of camping experiences because of all the tourist things but I really liked just being together as our little family.
We finally drove home. We stopped to eat lunch with Stephanie and then were on our way. After getting home for just a few hours, we decided we were going to go the next day and go up to Payson Lakes to go hunting. Yes, more camping! Are we crazy? The next day we headed up the Nebo Mountain Loop looking for deer. After a little searching we headed to Payson Lakes (I was worried we weren't going to get a spot since it was labor day weekend). We finally found a perfect spot filled with little frogs. It was great! We went on a family hunt that night. (What a great dad Rob is to include us.) The hunt was unsuccessful due to some noisy little kids. But still fun to be together. It was beautiful up there with the sun shining through the aspens. Eliza at the very end learned a hard lesson about being quiet, since she scared some deer away from some other hunters. We went back to camp and had some delicious dinner. After a few marshmallows we snuggled up in the tent. The next morning Rob took off early with a buddy to find an elk. Eliza, Liberty, and I hung out at camp. We made breakfast. (I was so proud of myself for making a fire by myself.) Then we cleaned up. Eliza caught frogs while I did a little more cleaning. Then we decided to go down to the lake and take a peek. (We were starting to get a little impatient for Rob to get back.) Fortunately when we got back he had arrived. We then headed down to the lake and checked out. We ate lunch and Rob took a quick nap. Eliza wasn't so sure about the cold water and was really wishing we had all the cool toys the other kids had. After a couple of hours we went on a drive to look for more elk. We met a guy who said he knew were some were at so we headed that way. We started it out as a family hike, but we were a little slow and Eliza kept getting distracted by the scenery. We encouraged Rob to keep going. As we left he told me that I shouldn't be worried if he didn't come back until morning because if he got an elk it might take him until then to get it out. Our plan was to meet where the car was and if he wasn't back an hour past night fall then I should go down to Payson and get a hotel. This sounded like a fine plan. Eliza on the way back however, had to go poop really bad. I didn't have any wipes or TP with me (they were with Rob) so I told her to hold it until we got to an campground. She just couldn't do it though and did a little in her pants. The rest ended up just next to the trail on a log. We used a leaf to wipe and felt horrible for her. We continued the trek back. At last the car! I was starving and also had to go the bathroom. Of course when I reach to open the door, its locked. In previous hikes Rob has left the keys on the tire, but not this time he forgot and I forgot to remind him. I sat there for a while, and thought maybe if I say a prayer, the Lord will be able to tell him we need him. So Eliza and I said a prayer. In it we asked for help and if it be his will that Rob would know to come back and give us the keys. At the end of the prayer I felt that Rob coming back wasn't an option though and I should go ask the people in a camper a little ways away for help. So I went to the camper and told them the situation. They were completely nice. We tried a hanger to unlock the car, but we both didn't really know what we were doing since it was a woman and her kids. So we just sat around the camp fire and kept warm. She offered Eliza yummy treats and chocolate milk. Her husband came back from hunting. And yes fortunately Rob soon came back. He said that he was down in the brush hearing a lot of elk and reached in his pocket and felt the keys. He turned around and hurried back as fast as he could. I am so thankful for that lady who would take care of us and do it in such a kind manner. I felt like the Lord truly took care of us and answered our prayers. It was cold and all of the girls warm clothes were in the car. It would have been a cold an lonely night if it wasn't for that woman and her kids. After we got back in the car we said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father for taking care of us. At last we went home to end our week long camping excursion.