Yellowstone

So after Jenny Lake, we set up camp in Grant Village, which is on the south end of Yellowstone
Walk out a few yards from out tent and you get this view..... it was so awesome.
We went fishing a lot and during one of the trips, the clouds in the sky looked like this, which is only a small section of what the whole sky looked like.
I love this picture because it looks like Thomas is being caught with his hand in the cookie jar, ha ha ha ha, but I promise it is our truck! :)
Us girls getting in from fishing the lake. The wind had picked up and those of us who were in the canoe barely made it to the dock! The little girls were in a motorized boat, so they were safe.
Later that day, we hiked to a place called Storm Point. Thomas and i are standing on it in this pic.
Thomas fishing (again)
We hiked along the beach at storm point and are down by the lake here. It was so beautiful there!
After the hike we stopped for ice cream... do we look content or what? ha ha ha. They had an apple caramel flavor that was soooo yummy!
The next day we hiked to Riddle Lake (I think). We sat at the lake and fished for a while but the coolest part was when Sarah (Thomas's sister) caught a lilly pad with the fishing pole! What made it so awesome was that the little girl in this pic had been asking all day if someone would help her get one and we had all told her it wouldn't happen... but it did!
The happy content fisherman :)
We have lots of pictures of Thomas and the fish he caught, but I'll keep it at this one
I caught a fish!!!!! Yup, thats right, that is MY fish...and yup, I refused to hold it by the gills.....It was the biggest one of the night tho! woo woo!
Later that night we cooked them up, in total darkness at 9 pm. They actually turned out pretty good, not too fishy of a taste. The one being pointed to was Sarah's, she was proud that hers was the smallest of the group :)
The next day we hiked to a place that I can't recall the name of at the moment. It was a big waterfall and Thomas and his sister made it out onto this big rock in the middle of the river without getting wet!
I made it to the base, but not out into the middle of the river. The coolest part about the falls was that the main part was cold water, but if you went to the side of it (so to the right of the picture below) there was water seeping out of the rocks that was so hot you couldn't touch it. It was crazy. I should also note that I made it to the falls without getting wet, but on the way back down, made a mis-step and totally soaked one of my shoes..... ugh.
This was a hot spring pool that was along the trail hiking to the previously mentioned falls. It is incredible how quickly the landscape can change in Yellowstone.
After our hike, we decided to go to the Fire Hole to go swimming. We got changed and all ready to go, drove to the river........ and it was closed! With all the water they got this year, the river was really high in this area. Bummed, we drove further up the river to a spot that looked pretty decent to wade in. After a little exploration, Thomas and his brother discovered this huge rock submerged in the middle of the river that you could swim to and stand on. It was also deep enough that you could dive/jump off the rock into the river..... so we did! This is a sequence of us girls jumping into the river. Normally I wouldn't include all of them, but you have to see them all the get the full effect. May I just say that I do know how to jump off a rock, but that my foot slipped and I never really got a good launch like everyone else..... enjoy!
Ready? Get set........
Go!
Ahhhhhhhhh! (ha ha, ps, that is Thomas's farmer tanned body in the background)
Thomas and I having a diving contest.....who won? he he he
P.S. When we first got to the river, we were the only ones there.... about an hour later there were about 100 people (we counted) there. We totally started a trend!

Thomas and his sister in the canoe floating over some hot pots that are normally above water, but again, because of how much water the lake got this year, they are submerged..... cool huh!
ha ha ha ha ha.... so the fish was so big, they wanted to hold it up next to the little girl in red (it was almost as tall as her) but she wouldn't have anything to do with that and grabbed on to the nearest person she could to protect her.... it was so funny!
One night we went for a drive and the moon was coming up over the mountains and it was incredible. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. However, once again, we were the only ones that stopped on the side of the road to look at it and by the time we left about 10 other cars had stopped........ like I said earlier, trend setters :)
We made a trip up to the north entrance of the park, which used to be the only entrance. This structure is so narrow in the middle, only one car can go thru at a time..... can you imagine if this was still the only entrance into the park? Yikes :)
And of course, Thomas had to try and get as high up as he could..... he probably could have climbed all the way up to the top of the arch, but i was scared he would fall or get in trouble, so I made him come back down. I know, party pooper.
On our way back, we hiked to another waterfall area called Wraith Falls. The trial only lets you get this close to the falls (which as you can tell isn't that close) but we wanted to get closer, so we did. In this pic, I am just starting to head back toward the falls. Thomas and his sister are ahead of me.
I realize these pics are hard to see, that is because Thomas's dad took them from way back where the trail stopped. But if you look close enough, Sarah is standing on some logs right above the middle of the falls and I am standing to the left. Thomas has gone off to the right to climb even higher :)
Here we all are to the left of the falls, starting to climb back down.
Almost all the way down, we are by the left bush, closest to the bottom of the falls.
The rock was like shale and wouldn't really support your weight when you stepped on it, so you had to really watch your step but it was totally worth the hike!

So, every year, for some reason, Melinda and I get our picture taken right as we are getting ready to leave.... so I had to include this pic for tradition's sake :)
Everybody on the last day we were all there.

I was very sad to leave such a beautiful, relaxing place knowing I was heading home only to go straight to work getting ready for the new school year. Despite having to set up and take down our tent 3 times throughout the trip, I loved every minute of it and hope to be able to visit again soon. I am so grateful to those who, long ago, realized what an amazing place this was and set up laws to protect it. I recommend it to everyone!