seeing the geysers in Yellowstone

Taken in Yellowstone by Old Faithful

Traveling in the car...

Leigh Lake in the Tetons

On the Hike up to Leigh Lake- you can see the Tetons in the background

Marisa riding her horse at Grandma Ribera's house

Ribera Reunion 2006

Ribera Reunion 2006

Saturday, July 8: We drove to Logan, Utah and made it just in time for lunch! Then we went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was hilarious and we loved it. I will say it was darker than the first one and a bit scary for children. Kayla had her eyes closed most of the time, especially when the goopy guys were on. But I enjoyed it! After the movie, the kids were able to ride the horse around the yard. Marisa’s horse spent most of her time with her head down trying to eat the grass, but they still loved the opportunity to ride. We had a fabulous cook out dinner and then made s’mores over the fire pit in my parents back yard. She even made peach cobbler in the dutch oven. Yummy!!!!

Sunday, July 9: We went to church with my family and I helped my mom teach her lesson. Actually, she would have done a perfect job without me, but it was fun anyway. We enjoyed the evening watching Jonathan’s videos and slides from his amazing trip to Europe. Marisa is really excited now and more determined than ever to take a visit through Europe when she graduates. It was also Joe’s birthday so we had a little party. Happy birthday to Joe and congrats on getting his first teaching job!

Monday, July 10: Off we go, heading up to the Tetons. We went to Bear Lake first and enjoyed Raspberry Shakes before a yummy lunch at the lake. We played in the lake for a few hours and had a great time. However, I forgot that we were MUCH closer to the sun and forgot to apply any type of sunscreen (or “sum scream” as Alayna calls it). As a result, the kids got burnt. Okay, lesson learned. Anyway, then we drove about 3 hours up to the Tetons. It was absolutely GORGEOUS there. The weather was perfect (although a bit rainy) and it was just so peaceful. Since it was late when we arrived, we went to the restaurant for dinner. That night we stayed in Colter Bay Village in these cabins that were half cabins, half tents. Two sides were canvas and two were like a log cabin. Inside the tent were these primitive bunk beds and a wood burning stove. So, to keep ourselves warm we kept a fire going at night. Although, I woke up at about 2am and the fire had gone out and I couldn’t get the dang thing started again. Anyway, that night, Barb and Joan (friends of the family that came with us) set up their cabin like a huge store and invited us over for bingo. Every time someone won, they got to go into the “store” and pick out a prize. That TOTALLY saved us on our long trip home. The kids got all sorts of fun stuff- we even got prizes!

Tuesday, July 11: We started out the morning right with a great buffet breakfast. Then we went on a hike to Leigh Lake which was formed by a Glacier. It was only a mile away but took our entire crew about 3 hours. It was hot, so the kids spent some time playing in the cold lake. Then we came back to the cabin, had lunch, and we took the kids to swim in Jackson Lake. It was absolutely beautiful there and we stayed a couple of hours skipping rocks while the kids swam. A storm started in so we had to head back. We ended up making foil dinners and s’mores through cold wind, but I didn’t mind. We played Bingo again that evening and a new game called “Apples to Apples”. Very fun, but my brothers cheat. Bob had been feeling sick to his stomach all day, that night I got violently ill. Made for a fun night in the cabin: my air mattress deflated, the fire went out , and I had to run to the public bathroom all night. Yuck!!

Wednesday, July 12: Again, we had that great breakfast buffet, but Kayla started feeling sick. We drove up to Yellowstone for the day. We got to see Old faithful erupt which was very cool. Then we said goodbye to the Riberas as we all headed our separate ways home. It was a great reunion, just wish Nina and family and Grandpa could have come. Maybe next year? Anyway, we took our time getting out of Yellowstone. We stopped to see a lot of the geysers. It was so cool. Bob didn’t get out for much since he was feeling so sick. We were getting upset though since all these signs kept warning us to leave the wildlife alone and we hadn’t seen any!!!! Finally, at one stop, we saw an eagle dive down into the river and catch a fish- way cool! Then, we stopped to see a Buffalo eating grass, an elk, and saw several deer. It started to rain, but we got out to see stuff anyway, like the bubbling mud pots, etc. At one point, while we were driving, we found a buffalo ON THE ROAD. If I had been bold (or dumb) I could have reached out my window to touch it. Now THAT was cool. We had to leave through the East exit- I hope to never do that again. Bob was sick so I had to drive. It was over an hour on a narrow road with NO, and I mean NO thingies on the side so you won’t go over the giant cliff on the side. It was raining and muddy and under construction. If you recall, my mentioning in the Hart reunion my irrational fear of cliffs, especially with no protection. You can imagine the horror I went through and the terror I felt. It may be years before I get that out of my head. Nevertheless, we made it to Powell, Wyoming to our hotel to stay the night. We LOVED Yellowstone and hope to go back again someday!

Thursday, July 13: We woke up and Marisa started feeling sick. See? we are a family who likes to share! Anyway, we spent most of the day driving to Custer, South Dakota. After we checked into our hotel, we went up to see Mount Rushmore. It was a perfect time of day to go and it was so cool. Especially after just seeing it on TV on Treasure Hunters. We took some fun pictures there too. My favorite part was the walkway with all the flags of the US with pillars listing when each state was admitted. Awesome!! We also saw the new Crazy Horse Monument they are building. Its only part way done, it will be so cool when it gets completed. We enjoyed a nice evening swimming at the hotel.


Friday, July 14: We spent the day driving to Oacoma, South Dakota where we would stay that night. We took our time though and saw lots of really neat things on the way. We stopped to see the Natural History Museum and let the kids each buy a really cool rock. We also drove through the Badlands of South Dakota. It was so amazingly beautiful but beastly hot. It was 108 degrees as we traveled that day. Yikes!!! We enjoyed driving through there though, but can’t imagine how anyone can survive the heat out there. We also stopped at the Prairie Homestead, but decided it was entirely too hot to take a tour. We also stopped to see the famous Wall Drug and must say we were not impressed. It had solid billboards advertising for it for several hours before we reached it- it was kinda lame. Anyway, we made it to the hotel which happened to be the most awesome one we stayed in. It had 2 King size beds, a double bed, and a pull out couch. For the first time in weeks everyone had a comfy bed. We went swimming, out for ice cream, and watched our first TV in 2 weeks, the new show “Psych”.

Saturday, July 15: We finally headed home. It was a long drive and most of the group wasn’t feeling well. It was heavenly to be back home after having such a wonderful vacation full of family, adventure, and beautiful scenery!!