Celebrating the 4th of July: Part II

The morning after the Stadium of Fire, we packed up our bags and headed off for Yellowstone to celebrate the 4th in traditional Larsen fashion.  We pitched our tent in Madison Campground and attempted to make it to church at Canyon, but there was an accident that caused some pretty serious delays.  We made it just in time for the closing prayer, but we were able to meet up with the rest of  the family.

From Canyon, we headed through Hayden Valley to take the Dragon's Mouth/Mud Volcano walk.  This walk  provided an excellent opportunity to catch up with what has been going on in everyone's life, initiate Derek's girlfriend Shiree into the Larsen Yellowstone experience, and hear the tales of the bears that had already been seen.

From there, it was back to camp for dinner before taking off into West Yellowstone for the firework show.  Fireworks are Jason's favorite part of the Fourth of July so he was thrilled that we got to see two different shows this year.  We avoided a coyote crossing the road on the way home and settled in for what turned out to be a long night because it was COLD in Yellowstone this year!

The next morning we got up and going and came together as a family for the annual Fourth of July brunch (even though it was technically the 5th).  Then it was time for the only tradition that has lasted through the years: the all-out competitive Larsen Cherry Pit Spit.  There were 4 divisions this year:

Youth

Ladies (18-39)

Women (40+)

They were too scared to compete against us young'uns this years!

and Men

Everyone but the men get one chance to spit their pit the farthest.  The men go for the best of three.  Not really sure how that little inequality has persisted through the years, but then again, the women just got their own trophy a few years back.

My spitting technique causes a great fluctuation in performance.  Last year, I came in pretty much dead last, but came in second between the Ladies and Women this year.  Go figure.

Jason, while relatively new to the sport, has proven a tough competitor.  Last year he thought he had it in the bag until my dad came out of no where with a doozie of a spit and stole it from him.  He came in second this year too.

While everyone had Ryan pegged as the champion for this year (after a two year absence), Uncle Dwight came out of nowhere and set a new record with a spit of over 61 feet!

Division Champions 

(Grandpa created his own division this year and only competed against "Me, Myself, and I"--I won)

Since some were leaving Yellowstone later that afternoon, we got everyone together and took a picture of everyone who was there at the time.  (Alicia and her two girls would come in later that night).

Quite the Crew!

With all of the festivities over and done with, we set off to do some touring.  Our first stop was Old Faithful.  We stopped off first at the Knotty Porch to do some shopping/browsing.  And Jason did some rocking.

Then it was off to sit on the benches with hundreds of other tourists and wait with baited breath for the most predictable (and famous) geyser in the park to go off.  And go off it did!

At this point, just about everyone else headed back to camp, but Jason and I pushed on and drove the rest of the Lower Loop.  Along the way, we saw two moose, lots of buffalo, elk, deer, and our first bear of the trip!

This little guy showed his face just before we reached the Canyon horse corrals.

Back at camp, dinner was ready and the night was wrapped up with a mighty fine campfire and some tasty marshmallows and s'mores.  Just as we made it into our tent for the night, the sky opened up and let loose some heavy rain--all night long.  When we awoke in the morning, there was even a dusting of snow on the tops of the surrounding mountains.

The original plan for the day was to do the Grand Loop, starting with the Upper Loop.  Our first stop was Norris.  This is one of my favorite walks to do.  There is so much to see over a fairly short distance.  It is usually burning hot while we do this hike, but this year everyone was wearing jackets and were still cold.

Cistern Springs

"I just walked over that!"

After Norris, we piled back into the cars and made our way up through Mammoth, Lava Creek picnic area, Lamar Valley, Tower, and over Dunraven Pass.  We added four more bears to our list when we saw a a black bear and a momma grizzly and her two cubs (sorry, the grizzlies were too far away for pictures).

At this point, most of us were ready to head back to camp.  We were going to drive through Hayden Valley (just to see what we could see) and then turn back and ended up getting stuck in one of the biggest buffalo jams I have ever seen.  Hundreds of buffalo (that weren't in the valley the day before) were next to the road, crossing the road, and chilling on the road.  Most of us opted to turn around and head back to camp, so we separated from my family (who pushed on to do the rest of the Grand Loop) and headed to Canyon where Grandma bought us all ice cream.

Once we made it back to camp, we played card games while we waited for dinner to be ready and then sat around the campfire one last time.  Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as cold that night.

In an effort to extend our Yellowstone vacation as long as possible, Jason and I chose to go out the South Entrance of the Park and through the Grand Tetons.  Along the way, we did the West Thumb boardwalk before saying goodbye to my family.

Abyss Pool

My favorite hot pot and my favorite guy

Yellowstone Lake

On our way through the Tetons and Jackson we saw two more bears (for a grand total of seven) right along the side of the road.  We also saw a black wolf on a distant ridge.  Definitely not a bad year for spotting wildlife!

Beautiful! (Scenery, That is)

This year marked the 31st consecutive year my extended family has been going up to Yellowstone.  And even though the specifics are constantly shifting with the years, I am so grateful that we have this tradition to help tie our family together.