Our Crazy Road Trip: Day 8

Departure Time: 11:30-ish am
Destination: Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth Hot Springs
Miles Travelled Today: 98 by SuperRover

My apologies for the late post of yesterday’s adventures. We have had some Internet issues (pronounced isseeyoos). I also apologize that these pictures cannot possibly do justice to the glory and majesty of God’s works that we are witnessing here.

Today started off with possibly one of the most frustrating episodes I have experienced in my life as a mother. My female children were dirty, filthy little mongrels and desperately needed to be cleaned. I opted to take them to the restroom showers here at our fancy, modern RV park, as our bathroom in the motorhome is pretty cramped quarters. I thought it would be nice to be able to spread out a bit. The fun started before we even set foot out the door. Madeline pitched a big old fit about her left snow boot being uncomfortable and “not the way she liked it.” I tried to dissuade her by pointing out that we would only be walking a short distance, but to no avail. The boot had to come off and be put back on (mind you, in the same exact way it was put on in the first place). The shower itself went pretty smoothly, but as you can imagine, two small girls and a mama in a shower stall protected only by a flimsy curtain means a wet floor. We were also interrupted about 10 minutes in to the whole process by the maintenance man banging the door down to see if anyone was in there so he could clean. This, of course, made me feel rushed. So, I got out first, leaving the girls in the nice warm shower, and got dressed as fast as I could in the next stall over before a brawl broke out. I then scooped Fiona out to dress her, leaving Madeline to enjoy the shower all to herself. Let me tell you, it is not easy to put long underwear on a slightly damp two-year old. I’m just sayin’. Ok, so now on to the really neat, neat fun part.

I return to the shower to find Madeline crouched on the floor slurping water from the washrag lying thereon. I snap at her to knock it off and point out that it’s a good thing her Dad was not around to see that (a bit of a germaphobe, that one). As I am wrestling Maddie in to her clothes, Fiona is running her hand along the walls and touching every surface accessible to her and then plunging her hands in to her mouth at every opportunity. I FINALLY get Maddie dressed and herd them over to the sink area to blow dry their hair (something I don’t normally do, but it was 41 degrees out today). Fiona immediately dives into the nearby trash can. I grab her and very sternly tell her, “NO TOUCH!” Then, I turn around for a mere two seconds to plug the blow dryer in, and I turn back to find BOTH girls running their hands along the edge of the garbage can. WHAT!?!?!?! I give each girl a swat, which sends Fi into an emotional downward spiral. There are tears and snot and thumb sucking. But, as you know, her thumb is severely chapped, and it hurts her to suck it. So, she tries to switch and suck her left thumb and pinch her neck with her right hand. It was so awkward looking that Madeline and I burst out laughing. I did finally get their hair dried, but I decided that it would be just too hard to try and dry my hair and keep them from infecting themselves with whatever was living on the bathroom surfaces, so I marched them back to the motorhome in the freezing weather, with my hair still wet, only to find Patrick in his underwear holding a naked Chachi, awaiting my return to get him dressed (the baby, not Pat). Apparently they had taken an impromptu shower back at the motorhome, since Charlie has been a puke monster for the last week and smelled like a gallon of sour milk. My compromise was that I would get his clothes out, but then I wanted to go back and dry my hair, which I promptly did. All that for a little cleanliness. Sheesh.

And now, on to the beauty of Yellowstone.

More bird trivia. Cookies anyone?

In keeping with the theme of the day, Madeline tries to collect more dangerous microorganisms out of the hydrothermal spring (Patrick wants me to point out that I was the germaphobe who didn't want her to touch the water here; he let her.)

Maddie captures the essence of all that is Chachi.

We finally got to see a bear! The Rangers were in a frenzy at the side of the road, wearing their "Danger" vests, and we figured there was probably a bear nearby. Sure enough this little black bear cub came ambling out of the woods, across the road, and onto the trail below. His fur looked so soft and fluffy. I wanted to pet him.

Cool rocks

We encountered a large, rather slow moving herd of bison on our way out of the park. They seemed to be totally unconcerned about blocking traffic.

This is what Fi had to say about it.

Giant Bison signing off