Another Vacation Post--With a Bad Punchline Warning

So, I've been neglecting my blog lately.
But, I figure it's okay, because I've also been neglecting mopping my kitchen floor, cleaning my toilets, excavating the kid junk in my car, and organizing the garage.
Call me lazy, slacker, slug, or just plain busy. It happens.

Anyway, I haven't had a whole lot to blog about lately. I feel like I've been stuck in a wake up-eat-commute-work-commute-dinner-kid stuff-bedtime rut since we got from our vacation. Not the stuff a inspiration.

I realized I hadn't finished sharing some of our vacation photos--because I just know you've been dying to see them. (So pay me back, and show me yours...)

Anyway, with apologies for the bad punchline at the end (which The Husband did actually say), here's a look at Day 5 and beyond in our Great American Family Road Trip. (insert the wavy screen and the music here, a la Wayne's World) You'll last recall we'd made it to Wyoming, and were Yellowstone-bound...

We reached Yellowstone National Park (YNP) after five days on the road.

We actually stayed in a campground just outside the park in the town of West Yellowstone, MT.

We stayed on the shores of Hebgen Lake, nestled at the base of more mountains.

It was quite nice there. Apparently, the wildlife thought so, too.

We saw evidence of the native species visiting the lake over night. (This is a bear print next to my foot.)

(And I don't have small feet!)

We opted to stay outside of YNP because we preferred a campsite with full hook ups. (In other words, we had electric, water and sewage connections provided.) Not all of the federal campgrounds have full connections. 

Call us camping wimps, if you want, but I got nothin' to prove!

Actually, that turned out for the best, since the snow pack for YNP was running at 225 percent of normal.

Yeah, that's a LOT of snow!

Turns out, many of the YNP campgrounds--and two of the roads--were still closed (yes, first week of June!)

when we got there. So, we may not have had a camp site if I'd booked in the park.

BabyD and LittleD got a kick out of having a snowball fight (in shorts!) on their summer vacation.

The weather felt quite warm in the lower elevations, but was a little nippy up on the mountain tops.

We enjoyed so much of the beauty of the park.

Like thermal features...

 And buffalo jams...

And fly fishing...

Only all the snow melt (and a couple days of rain) left the rivers running fast and muddy, making for lousy fly fishing conditions. But, ever the outdoors woman, I did manage to land some salad for our dinner!

Here's the family over looking the canyon... 

So, I have to tell you a funny story about our neighbors in the campgrounds.


Our second night there, I was making dinner. While I was putting pork chops on the grill, The Husband and LittleD decided to walk down to the lake shore to take some pictures of an osprey that was catching fish. This included hauling all the camera gear along with them.(Yes, I'm talking about all the contents of That Bag, which I've blogged about.)
So, this older woman came by and stopped to talk to the three guys smoking cigars in front of the camper across from ours. The woman was noticeably upset, and I could hear every word.


Lady:  "Did you see the kids down there with the big guns?"
Guys:  "What?"
Lady:  "What are they going to shoot? Somebody should do something. I think they have bazookas or something."
Guys:  "You mean the guy with the camera?"
Lady:  "That's too big for a camera. I think they have big guns."
Guys:  laughing
Lady:  continuing to fret and carry on about someone's going to get hurt
By now, I'm chuckling, and I had to interject
Me:  "Um...That's a camera lens." 
Lady:  "That's too big for a camera, and he has something else under his arm. It's got to be a gun."
Me:  "That's a tripod. The lens is so big, he needs it to steady it."
Rebuffed Now-Disgusted Lady retreats to her camper.

When I went to wave The Husband and LittleD in for dinner, I walked by the camping guys. One of them says to me, "You didn't run into any terrorists did you?"



When The Husband returns, I couldn't wait to tell him what that old gal thought of him.
So what does The Husband say?

wait for it.... 

"Did you tell her it's a Nikon, not a cannon?"

Sorry, but I warned you...