{pretty, happy, funny, real} – Yellowstone Road Trip Edition

Today I’m linking up with Auntie Leila for her {p,h,f,r}.

The good news is that there is a lot of {pretty} in Yellowstone!  If I forced you to look at all the pictures, you would not be amused.

 

We also had a lot of {happy} moments there. 

Nothing like a stinky mud pot to make a small boy happy.  He’s wearing his great-grandfather’s hat, too, which makes his mom happy.

Nature of almost any kind makes Hannah happy.

Posing for pictures makes Naomi happy.  She also doesn’t mind the stink of the geothermal areas, so they don’t affect her happiness.

Junior rangers!  Hannah had been planning to get her badge at Yellowstone since she heard we were going – was that in February?  Naomi didn’t plan for quite that long, but is still happy.

Plenty of {funny} moments, too.

Our first morning, we had to be escorted to our car (see that silver minivan on the right edge of the photo?) by security because there were elk within a few yards of it.  Here’s one before breakfast, happily sunning herself and causing angst among park rangers and security guards, because the tourists weren’t staying 25 yards away. 

Thank goodness I packed our rain gear, or this would be a {real} photo of us getting soaked…or not going on the Artist Paint Pot hike.  As it is, we bundled up, and by the end, all of the rain gear was superfluous.

 

This wasn’t actually in Yellowstone, where they don’t provide massive trampolines for the entertainment of the tourists.  It was on the way, but it was still funny.  This is one of a series, and the kids love to look at them. 

For some reason, this was the most fun part of the visitor’s center for Naomi and Sim.  They played in there for a long time while others enjoyed the exhibits.   

{real}

Our drive out of the park was slowed down somewhat by this guy, who was NOT going the posted 45 miles per hour.  We had 7 hours of driving ahead of us…

…so Michael decided to pass when the bison had drifted far enough (we thought) into the other lane.  This picture is of him shaking his head at us as we drove past.  We’re glad it was just a head shake!

On the way out to Yellowstone, I had noticed the sign for Wheat Montana, which is the brand of our favorite bread flour, Prairie Gold.  It’s whole wheat, non-GMO, chemical-free, and really, really, really DELICIOUS!  So on the way back, we stopped.

I convinced Michael to buy 150 pounds of it to bring home because it was 50 cents a pound!  Here’s me, after emptying our trunk to fit the flour in.  Not my best look, and it certainly is a real experience to see all one’s luggage in the parking lot. 

We put the flour on the bottom because we wouldn’t need to get it out again before we got home.  Michael said it made us look like flour smugglers.  50 cents a pound is less than half of what we pay here, though, so flour smuggling it is.