Part II – Miller Family Reunion 2010

Tuesday afternoon the Yellowstone portion of the reunion began.  We drove to the Old Faithful Inn and got checked in to our rooms.  We fed the kids dinner at the store grill, because that evening Grammie and Grandpa treated all of the adults to dinner in the Inn Dining Room.  Sam and I got to eat in the early group with Grammie and Grandpa and Derek and Laura while the non-eaters watched our kids for us.  It was so nice to have a quiet dinner in a beautiful place.

The Inn is such a neat place to stay, and one of our favorite features of the Inn are the bathtubs on the 2nd floor.  We took full advantage of them during the two nights we stayed at Old Faithfull.
   Syd, Rach, and Emma might have thought it was a bit strange.  I think Elle was very glad she refused to be part of the family bath.
Another aspect the kids loved about staying at Old Faithfull was the nightly spooky ghost walks they went on with Uncle Derek and Uncle Brad.     


Wednesday was Dan’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, Uncle Dan.  We spent the morning walking as one big group around the boardwalks by the Inn, looking at many different thermal features.  It was slow going with that large of a group, but so very fun to be all together (Trent arrived the night before).

      
We spent the afternoon swimming in the Firehole River.  I sat in the car with sleeping Reagan, but the rest of the kids loved swimming in the river.
   
Around dinner time we drove up river a bit and found a nice picnic spot to eat dinner.  Reagan was awake by now and had a chance to play in the water.
     
It was a beautiful spot for a picnic.
       
Then back to the Inn.  The kids loved just playing around in the Inn with each other.  Such a fun place to stay.

A glimpse of one of our rooms.  Reagan loved that we brought in the DVD player for her.
Thursday morning we packed up and got ready to leave the Inn.  Grammie and Grandpa treated us to the Breakfast Buffet in the Dining Room.  Ellery proclaimed it to be the best breakfast she has ever had.

We then said goodbye to the Inn, and headed deeper into Yellowstone.

On our way to Yellowstone Lake, we stopped at the lesser-known Isa Lake.  Sam just likes it because he gets to tell the “I’s not a river, I’s a lake” story.  The story was lost on the kids, but they still liked exploring the area.
 
We reached Lake, and then headed in to Canyon to see the Lower and Upper Falls.
   
                                 (See the yellow stone in the canyon behind us?  Get it?  Yellowstone?)
It was on this drive between Lake and Canyon, and back again, that we actually saw some wildlife.  There was the lone deer that was hanging out at Canyon:

And lots of buffalo, or American Bison if you want to get technical.  One even walked right in front of our car, which the kids loved.

Thursday night we ate dinner at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge cafeteria.  Our group spread out, but Sam got a few pictures:
    
Then back to the Lake Hotel.  It is a beautiful hotel right on Yellowstone Lake, and the kids loved having another night to run around and play together.
     

Friday morning we said goodbye to the Tripletts (Dan and Abby and girls left really early in the morning).

Then we went outside to take some pictures before we went on our way.
 
We left Lake and headed even further north towards Roosevelt.  After a stop at Hardy Rapids,
 

Then we had a longer stop at a very stinky place known as Dragon’s Breath.  Lots of stinky thermal features and bubbling mud, and even a lone bison.

Friday afternoon Sam and Elle helped Grandpa with a little more water sampling with a hike to Lost Lake, right near Roosevelt.
   
Elle was a bit sick of photos at this point of the trip.
The rest of us just hung out at Roosevelt Lodge.

Then Friday night, Grammie and Grandpa treated us all to a wagon ride and Chuck Wagon dinner.  The wagon ride out was a lot of fun --
 
The site of the dinner was so beautiful.  And the food was really yummy.
       
   
The watermelon was a hit, of course.
Since this was the last night of the trip, we tried to get a nice picture with Grammie and Grandpa.

Then we rode the wagons back to Roosevelt.
We got back to our cars, and drove to Mammoth.  We got to our cabins late, and went right to bed.

Saturday morning the kids got to run around one last time with their remaining cousins before everyone went their separate ways.
  

Such a cute little cabin.
We couldn’t leave Mammoth without going to the Visitors Center, another spot that I have fond memories of from my childhood.  You can usually count on there being Elk in the area:
    Not sure what Reagan thought.
The classic kids-holding-the-antler picture.  My two brothers and I have a picture just like this, taken 20+ years ago.  It may be the exact same antlers.
 

After the Visitors Center, it was time for Sam’s favorite thing to do in Yellowstone – take the old road to Roosevelt Arch.  There’s a nice view of Mammoth from the old road:

And a nice view of the arch as you are approaching it:
  
Sam and Bennett under the arch:
  
And then we left Yellowstone. 
Trip of a lifetime? Yes.  So grateful to Grammie and Grandpa for making this trip possible for our family.  The kids saw and did so much that week, and had so much fun with all their Miller family.  Words cannot express our gratitude.
Did we go home after this?  No.  It wouldn’t be a roadtrip with Sam without some detour at the end to make the trip home longer than it needs to be.  I will cover our side trip up Beartooth Pass and into Billings in another post.