Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 3 Part 1 - Mud Volcano

We stayed at Fishing Bridge with our trailer, which was a great place to stay since it was in a very central location in the park and had a lot of the hook ups we needed for the trailer. They even said next year they will have electricity hookups, which would have been nice.
When we first got up that morning and were driving just a little ways down the road, we saw our first bison. They were off in the distance, but we were excited. Little did we know that by the end of the trip we would have seen so many that unless there was one about to run you over, we didn't bother taking a picture.


Here we are on the boardwalk at the mud volcano.
And here was our first up close animal encounter -- you could practically reach out and pet him.


I told my Dad I would label this picture "The Hairy Beasts". I don't think he appreciated it.



The Mud Volcano:
One of the coolest things we saw that day was the Dragon's Mouth Spring. It really did look like a dragon's cave with the steam billowing out.





The Mud Caldron:


Then as we continued down the road, we passed by a meadow area that had a whole herd of bison. We had to stop to take a look.

It was such a beautiful day, and the temperature was just about perfect. In fact the only rain we saw was during the night on our first day. Beyond that, everything was perfect.

Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 2 - Cody Wyoming

We got to Cody around 9pm on Saturday night (day 1) so we weren't able to see much. After we dropped off the trailer at the campground, we headed straight to Irma's Hotel for dinner. The bar there is really amazing and restored very nicely along with a very ornate cash register. Irma was the daughter of Bill Cody and the hotel was purchased by him for her.
The next day we headed over to the Buffalo Bill Cody museums. There are actually around 5 that are all linked together. I think the firearms exhibit was Saul and Dad's favorite. Mom and I looked at the western art exhibit instead. And then of course we all looked at the Bill Cody section.

Outside next to the "Friendly Cowboy" statue. Too friendly? You be the judge.
On the wagon out front.
In the tepees



In the museum

After the museum we headed over to Yellowstone. On the way it rained a bit and we saw a rainbow which you can kind of see in this picture:Here was the view out of our windows on the way up there:
We even saw a moose right next to the road on the way, but we weren't able to stop since we still had the trailer attached. It was the only one we saw the whole time, but it was pretty up close.

Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 1

July 10-18 was our big trip to Yellowstone this year. Day 1 was all spent in traveling. We got up very early to catch the plane to Denver and met my parents to continue driving to Casper Wyoming to pick up our RV. It was a 28 ft trailer with a pop-out, fridge, and everything. By the end of the day everyone was tired, but we were just starting our big adventure!

Here is Andreas on the plane with his favorite toy -- the beverage cup!




And here traveling in the car for 8 hours until we got to Cody Wyoming.

Grandma and Grandpa Z Come to Visit June 2010

July 4th In a Nutshell

This July 4th was depressing for us -- we weren't able to make it out to the Kimball Family Reunion and when we were planning going down to Brownsville to visit Saul's parents, a hurricane came! We even planned an outing out in Houston, but it was so hot on that day that we couldn't spend more than 10 minutes outside. We had bad luck all around. In fact, these are really the best pictures that describes our July 4th.

This was how I found Saul when I had come in from the other room:

Gretchen Turns 30

I turned the big 30 on July 26, 2010. Saul made me a chocolate whipped cream cake that turned out great. Sam (with his George Washington hairdo), Tiffany, and Zoe came over and we had a great time. I even wore my New Moon T-shirt because it was MY birthday! I also included some pictures of Andreas that were taken at various times in late July.

Abuelo y Abuela Vienen a Visitar

The week of July 19 Abuelo and Abuela came to visit us in Houston. Andreas loved having the attention and more people to play with. We hope they will come often!