TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE WITH

THE SCHROTENBOERS

One place we never tire of visiting is Yellowstone National Park. Every time we visit it's just a little bit different. You never know what animals you will see (or not see) and depending on the time of year, all of the surroundings look different and beautiful in their own way. Each season brings different things to do as well. One of these years, maybe we'll get to do the snowmobiling thing there, but this time we just drove the one open road from Gardiner to Cooke City.

We checked into our hotel on Sunday afternoon and very quickly found ourselves walking the 1/4 mile jaunt to the the Boiling River.

The boiling river is where the hot water from Mammoth Hot Springs flows into the Gardner River. This picture doesn't show all the snow on the ground, and though the sun was shining, it was still a chilly day, especially when you get out of the water. I was actually kind of thankful for my "pregnant" excuse so I could just help the kids get warmed up quickly when they got out. :)

We ordered pizza in our hotel room and then once again the guys took the kids swimming in the pool. The kids couldn't have been happier!

Gina snuggling Gabe after a swim

Myah and Bria were pretty much inseparable the whole trip




Joel & Kiana loving the water

Monday morning we woke up and took the drive through Lamar Valley from Gardiner to Cooke City. In addition to the bison and elk, we saw over a dozen wolves, which I think was the highlight of the trip. We also saw many big horn sheep.

One of many wolves we saw

A herd of buffalo





Bull elk digging through snow



Big Horn Sheep

We had lunch in Cooke City at the Soda Butte Lodge. The amount of snow there was incredible!

Sierra, Bria, Myah & Kiana







Soda Butte Lodge, where we had lunch

(Terri, Joel, Evan, Mike & Gabe)




Kiana looking at wolves through the binoculars BACKWARDS :)

A happy couple.... :)

We ended the trip with a stop at Chico Hot Springs for a swim in "The huge hot tub" (according to Bria). I even got in here, as the water is just a perfect temperature!

All 6 of 'em

Joel, Myah, Bria, Kiana, Gabe & Sierra

It was a wonderful trip!