4 Wheels 4 Girls

After driving for what seemed like forever we saw a ton I mean a ton. There were like 50 people or more. Mommy told us to go and see what was going on. When we got out I heard a girl say there’s wolf’s with there baby’s. I ran and told Stella and Greta, Ana, and Daddy. Where they all asked?!? I don’t know! We all went trying to see them when he let us look though his telescope. Then I saw the baby. It was so so so cute. It was black and was lying in the grass. Ana keep saying hurry up Ellie!! After a few minutes I let her see in. Then Daddy let me see though binoculars. I kept trying to see them when they rested on a herd of bison. I told Daddy about it and then left to go see what the other people were looking at. A grizzly bear!!! When we got there it was gone so we went and started looking for kooky. We meet her and went to go start dinner. We were having Indian food!! Yummy!!!

We couldn't get a picture so I drew the wolves

On July 30th, we went on a hike to see some mud pots that were called Artist’s Paint Pots.

The hike was on a trail, and we walked about half a mile before we actually saw anything. But it was SO worth it. The first thing we saw was a small colorful mud pot. Mud pots are like ponds full of bubbling hot mud, heated by magma under the surface of the earth. The mud in the first mud pot was gray and bubbly, and it was really cool. Then we walked uphill for awhile until we had a great view of the mud pots below. We saw a few geysers, and then we came to something really super duper cool.

Hanging out near "flying hot mud"

There was a blocked-off path and then a sign that said: CAUTION: FLYING HOT MUD. Sure enough, there was a mud pot full of splashing gray mud. We stood there and watched it fly up in the air for, like, ever, and then we finally moved on down the hill after taking about a million pictures and shooting a video too. Down at the bottom of the hill, we saw more geysers and even more mud pots. When we got back To the camper, I was actually a little disappointed; I couldn’t get enough of the beauty! It was definitely a worthy hike! 😀

On July 30th, we visited the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park.

The walk to go see it was pretty short, and it was on a boardwalk above boiling water. We crossed a river, and then we walked for a bit over some hot, shallow water. I was surprised to learn that organisms actually live in that boiling heat. We saw a bunch of cool geysers on our way to the spring, and when we finally reached our destination, I was truly amazed. It was huge, way bigger than any hot spring I’d ever seen, and the totally awesome thing was that it was rainbow-colored! Each color of the rainbow was where a different organism lived in the water, and that’s what made the different colors. Isn’t that cool?! We stood and admired the spring for quite a long time, and we took LOTS of pictures. Finally, we took a last look at it, and then we walked back to the RV. The Grand Prismatic Spring really was grand! 😉

At the Grand Prismatic hot water spring in Yellowstone

After having a quick lunch we went to go and see Old Faithful erupt. When we got there there were a ton of people. Old Faithful just started as we came. First not that much water came and the all of a sudden it blasted up so high that it looked like it went up to the clouds!!

Old Faithful

Mommy asked us if we saw Daddy and we didn’t. We looked everywhere. When Old Faithful stopped Daddy walked up. Where were you we all asked??? He said that he went the wrong way so he missed it so we told him about how cool it was.

After that Mommy, Daddy, and Ana went to go on a walk while me and Stella and Greta went to go find some answers to our junior ranger packets . We did not find any answers and went outside and ran into Daddy. We helped him fill up the water bottles and waited for Mommy and Ana to come. Daddy got a text from Mommy that said they were at the RV. I had a really fun time watching Old Faithful! It was so so fun!!!

July 30th, we stopped at a pond in Yellowstone National Park. Dad said that we were on the Continental Divide. Which we were, because I spotted a sign. As Dad always does, he told us about how the water on the Continental Divide goes to both oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic. And he said this spot on the continental divide was extra special, because the pond itself rested on the divide and drained to both sides!

On the continental divide once again

When we stepped out of the RV, I saw a beautiful pond filled with lily pads. I saw the lily pads and went back inside to grab my camera, and my fairy doll that I made, Lily. I took lots of pictures of her, and I even got a really good one. But I couldn’t reach a lily pad to put Lily on so I just took a picture of her next to them. Dad got a picture of me taking a picture of Lily, and that’s the picture here.

Taking a picture of Lily in the lily pads

Lily on the lily pads!

I had fun at that rest stop. If we could turn around and go back, I would!

And here is a picture of Daisy in the daisies!

After helping daddy with the RV we went to go find the pool. We walked all over and did not find it. At last there it was. It was so so so so HOT!!!!! We me Stella and Ana all took forever to get in. Finily I went under then Stella I think and then Ana. It was cold and then warmed up and we got used to it. We played follow the leader and swam around. After follow the leader we played dolphin and Stella would touch the letters I would tell her to say. It felt good and I thought of swim team in Iowa and how we missed it. After a while we got out because it got so cold. By the way it was July 29 and we were in Jackson Hole!!!!

July 28th, we went to a ranger talk. It was about a mystery animal that we didn’t know about until we got there. It was about wolves! The ranger was really nice, and she let us touch everything on the display table. There was a coyote skin and a wolf skin with the skull still in it, and you could touch the claws and the teeth and everything. We sat down on the amphitheater and the ranger began her talk.

My favorite part that she told us is that you can tell everything by tracking. You can tell if it’s a female or male, or if it’s pregnant or not, and if it was running or walking. You can even tell if it was stalking something, and if it was stalking, you can tell what it is stalking! The ranger said that once, when she was out tracking with her boss, when they had been out there a while, suddenly her boss said, “I think you have to use the bathroom now.” And the ranger said, “Well, how do you know!” And the boss said, “Well, I was tracking you!” I thought that was really cool.

We had fun at the ranger talk.

Grand Teton National Park

July 28th, we entered Jackson Hole. We were all looking forward to it because in a book that we read, the main characters were from there. So when we came in, the first thing I saw was the square. There were five entrances to the square and they were all bridges made out of elk antlers. It was amazing. The town was filled with stores and people. There wasn’t much to it, but it was cool!

Coming over Teton Pass into Jackson

Square ice cream?
Yes.
Like, shaped like a square?
Yes. Square ice cream.

July 28th, I spotted a sign. It said World Famous Square Ice Cream! Square ice cream, huh? It was hard to believe. To my surprise, Dad said, “Hey, girls, I’m gonna go check it out. You coming?”. And we all screamed, “YES!!!” So we went inside to check it out. Once we were inside, we went up to the counter. I was like, whoa! I’m going to eat square ice cream! It was cool to see the lady scoop up the biggest chunk of ice cream in a cake cone I’d ever had with a square scooper. I got huckleberry, and so did Dad. Jean didn’t get anything, which I thought she was crazy for. Ellie and Ana both got moose tracks, and Greta got licorice. She said, “It tastes slightly like nail polish remover, but I like it.” Which Dad cracked up at.

We ate our ice cream as we drove along to our next destination.

Enjoying square ice cream on a hot day in Swan Valley, ID

After leaving the campground on July 28, we went to Craters Of The Moon National Monument. When we got there we went to go on a tour [ranger-led hike]. We got everything ready for the walk. When we got there me and Daddy went to the restrooms. We had to keep going back to [the RV] get stuff. After that we started our hike.

We all liked her [the ranger] from the start. She taught us about the explorers. We were in the back so we did not hear that much of what she was saying. We learned about a’a and pahoehoe [both are types of lava formations]. It [pahoehoe] looks like pooh to me but it also looks like rope. A’a is sharp and when you walk on it hurts so you say a’a . We saw a lot of [lava tube] caves on the way. We looked for bats, at least I did.

Inside a lava tube cave

Daddy says lava tube caves are formed when lava is flowing along the ground like a river and the sides cool off and harden like a straw around the lava. The tube gets longer and longer, and after the lava is done flowing, a long cave is left.

When we got to the cave we got out our flashlights and started walking though the cave. It was not cold as I thought it would be. We saw small birds darting here and there. We heard pigeons cowing. It was so so dark in one part. After that the tour ended. We went by ourself [through the rest of the cave]. It was so cool because we came into a cave that had passages on either side. The ceiling was really sharp and I bumped my head into it. It hurt so badly. After that we got out and started following the cairns [along the trail]. We saw a ton of blue in the rocks. It was so pretty. After that we reached the RV and went to the visitor center to get our badges!!

Walking on the moon (actually pahoehoe).