West Yellowstone- Part 2!!!

Friday morning brought crappy weather. This is the day that we were planning on going into the park and to Old Faithful. My dad and Erik were planning on riding their motorcycle into the park and we were going to follow in my mom's car behind them. Only one problem.... it was raining and there was no end in sight. So, my dad and Erik decided to drive back to Sugar City and trade my parents car for our Tahoe so that we could all ride in the same car and so Erik and my dad wouldn't have to ride in the rain. This trip would take them about 3 hours, so while they were gone, my mom, Spencer, Ashli and I shopped around town a bit and then went to the IMAX theater and saw a 40 minutes movie on "Alaska". After the show, we were walking back to the hotel when Erik and my dad drove up, back from their jaunt to Sugar City. We all got in the Tahoe and headed into the park. Once we were in the park, it started to rain, and then came the thunder and lightning and finally the hail. We couldn't believe how hard it was raining and with the hail it looked like it had snowed. It was so crazy. If you look at my 2 second video clip from my previous post, you'll see what I mean. Needless to say, Erik and my dad were very glad that they were not on their motorcycles at that time. We saw quite a few animals on our short trip in. We saw quite a few buffalo (probably 200-300) some moose, a bald eagle sitting above it's nest and a grizzly bear. You will see most of these animals in my pictures that I am posting, except the grizzly bear because it was too far away.

We only had 2 hours to spend in the park and we never did make it all the way to Old Faithful. We were in a hurry because we were going horseback riding that evening. The lady told us that we had to show up for horseback riding, but if it was raining then they would cancel our ride. Well, we showed up to very dark skies and it wasn't raining yet. About 1/2 way through the instructions, it started drizzling. No cancellation yet. Towards the end, when we were mounting our horses it started coming down a little harder. By the time we left on the trail, it was coming down pretty hard. AND STILL NO CANCELLATION!!!!! We rode horses in the rain for about 30 minutes until it decided to stop. Luckily the place we went to had rain coats for everyone to wear. This time around, Spencer was able to ride his own horse. His was the smallest horse of the bunch, named "Hopper", and he looked so cute riding his own horse. We went up hills into the mountains, down hills, through streams and lots of mud and he did great the whole time. Ashli, of course, was in heaven. If it was up to Ashli, she would have her own horse by now, but we hope that going horseback riding once a year will be good enough for her. All in all, it was a nice time, even with the rain.

Friday morning we packed up and headed back to Sugar City to drop off my parents and then Erik, the kids and I headed back to Utah. It was nice to get away for a little bit, but it was also nice to come home. Hope you enjoy these next pictures as well. I took a lot of them, so I hope I don't bore you to much. I believe that I am now caught up on my blog. YAY!!!! Til next time.