"We Bear-ly Survived" was our motto this vacation. Not because we saw very many bears, but because we put those words on the backs of our shirts in hopes of seeing lots of bears. We only saw one, and only a select few of us at that.
Because I already posted my journal on
The Massner Tales in extensive detail, I will refrain from repeating myself. Instead, I will give a brief outline of our trip and share some photos with you (most photos on this blog are repeats of what was on the Massner blog).
I am almost exactly one month behind on this post. We left a month ago today around this time for Big Sky, Montana.
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| YELLOWSTONE 2014 - COUSINS VACATION |
Friday, July 25:
-Left around 4pm
-Stopped in Carroll, IA at Charlie's Steakhouse for supper to use up Matt's gift card.
Yummy food!
-Drove through the night
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| All ready for vacation! |
Saturday, July 26:
-Took our time after arriving in Wyoming
-Went grocery shopping in Boseman, met the Schmidgalls and Aschemans there
-Arrived at our vacation house in time to make supper
-Walked on streets around our cabin and saw our first (and last) bear!
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| Dad entertained us over the speakers with Matt's handy microphone. |
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| Wyoming, at last! (following a twenty-hour trip!) |
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| MOOSE!! |
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| Some wildlife we saw on the side of the highway. |
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| Billy gets settled into the cabin. |
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| The first Supper on Saturday evening. |
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| Happy birthday, Aunt Penny! |
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| There's our bear! |
Sunday, July 27:
-Small church service held at our cabin
-Afternoon hike at Ousal Falls
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| Ousal Falls |
Monday, July 28:
-Left at 6am for Yellowstone-spent an eleven hour day on the road!
-Wore our bright yellow vacation shirts!
-Saw Grand Canyon, Yellostone Falls, hiked Uncle Tom's Trail (very strenuous), and Old Faithful
-Drove through Hayden Valley and got stuck in a bison jam!
-Took Jesse and Gage on a Bear Hunt after supper.
No luck finding bears, but saw some moose and deer as well as a double rainbow!
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| Day one in Yellowstone. Our first Geyser! :) |
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| All twenty-one of us. The Massners, Schmidgalls, and Aschemans (and two Schulzes) |
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| Buddies! Jesse and Gage |
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| Yellowstone Falls |
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| At the bottom of Uncle Tom's Trail |
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| Bison traffic jam! |
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| The girl cousins!! |
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| Elk in Mammoth Hot Springs |
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| We're going on a bear hunt (rainbow in background)! |
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| We saw a double rainbow if you look close! |
Tuesday, July 29:
-WHITE WATER RAFTING!!
Everyone loved it! Our guide kept dumping us out of our raft in the calm parts.
-Johnny purchased a fitting shirt that said "I enjoy a good dump."
-Parents went out to eat while the kids stayed home and had a pizza party.
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| This is the only picture we took on Tuesday because we didn't take them on the white water. Travis was enjoying his pizza crusts. |
Wednesday, July 30:
-Left again at 6am for Yellowstone and another long day of sightseeing!
-Drove through Dunraven Pass, ate lunch at the top of Chittenden Road, stopped at Inspiration Peak, hiked Tower Falls trail, drove through Mammoth Hot Springs where there were elk all over, saw several geysers at Norris Geyser Basin.
-Dad's football moment in the traffic jam.
-Stopped in West Yellowstone for shopping and souvenirs.
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| Lots of photos! |
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| The view from Inspiration Point? |
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| Matt was trying to be a daredevil. |
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| Beautiful mountains!! |
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| Norris Geyser Basin |
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| The only bears most of us saw were stuffed. |
Thursday, July 31:
-A few boys got up early and hiked a mountain.
-The rest of us slept in, had an early lunch, and hiked Lone Peak trail.
-Only six boys made it to the top while the rest of us rode the ski lift a few times.
-Jesse lost his wallet.
-Kids played games with Matt after supper while Moms packed to go home.
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| Lone Peak: the mountain we climbed. |
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| The hike was steep and rocky! |
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| Matt's view from the top. I think you can see our cabin down there somewhere. |
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| Snowball fight at the top! |
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| Those who made it to the top got to sign the guest book! |
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| The brave crew of hikers that made it all the way! |
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| The boys got a free tram ride down when they made it to the top of Lone Peak. |
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| Everyone shows how far they made it up Lone Peak. |
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| My view down the mountain. |
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| Jesse and Gage |
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| Ryan and Justin enjoying a relaxing and scenic ride on the ski lift. |
Friday, August 1:
-Said our goodbyes to the cabin.
-Drove through Yellowstone again and through the Grand Tetons.
-Rode a ferry across Jenny Lake and hiked to a waterfall.
-Drove to Jackson Hole for the Bar-T-5 Chuckwagon Supper (Abby and Bruce had their performance debuts!)
-Said our final goodbyes to our cousins and headed home through the night.
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| The boys loved the entertainment in the basement. |
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| There was a theater in our house! |
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| The kitchen |
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| The view off our back porch. |
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| Getting ready to leave! The kids... |
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| ...and the parents. |
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| The Grand Tetons |
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| Riding the ferry across Jenny Lake |
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| We rode a covered wagon out to supper! |
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| The Indians attacked us! |
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| The Chuckwagon Dinner- Uncle Bruce and Gage are on stage! |
Saturday, August 2:
-Drove some more and arrived home around suppertime.
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| This was our charging station in the van. Everyone has a different color of cord for their device, and the cooler worked well as a table. |
For more details, please visit the vacation post at
The Massner Tales blog.
