Traveling Together: Yellowstone in Winter

We didn't know if we would be able to see Yellowstone. You can't take a private vehicle in, even with chains and 4-wheel drive. That leaves 2 options, snowmobile and snowcoach.

We decided on the snowcoach.

The coach was warm and roomy, comfortable and safe. We had an excellent driver and one other couple with us. We saw so many beautiful things!

There were lots of bison, geese, and swans.

They were close to the road and ignoring us while they dug down through the snow, looking for food.

The waterfalls are my favorite!

The kids loved the geysers and they were so fascinated by the "leaf" snow.

We rode all the way to Old Faithful, making many stops along the way.

I loved traveling this way even though it was pretty pricey for us. For once, my sweetie got to see all the sights as well.

Since our trip was scheduled for 8:00 - 5:00, we even had time to play in the snow.

I'm going to save my money so we can do this again soon.

Traveling Together: Settling In

I love seeing new places. I can't recall ever being in Idaho in the winter. We are just outside of West Yellowstone and the snow in the pines is beautiful.

Sunday is slower for us, so we didn't make any plans other than with the clubhouse. After a late lunch, the kids and I went for a swim at their amazing pool.

Then we hung out in their gameroom again before heading back to our rooms. One of my favorite things about being away from home is just hanging out together. Making dinner, playing cards...

Nothing is more important than family.

Traveling Together: Hi-Dee-Ho, We are in Idaho

I'm so sorry I have been neglecting you! I have been running around like crazy getting ready for our after-Christmas trip to Idaho. I know, it seems like we travel all the time and we certainly have the means to travel more now that most of our kids are grown, but the biggest thing that has made the difference for us was buying a travel plan. I don't mean this to be an advertisement, but we got a 2-bedroom condo for a week in Idaho for $99! No, not per night, for the whole trip! The room was so cheap that we got one for Grandpa too. The rooms are fun and rustic and huge!

Grandpa doesn't normally like to go anywhere with us since the kids tend to get a bit rowdy, but we are with a pretty small group this time. My sweetie and I are in the 2-bedroom with Baby Doll and Scout and Grandpa and Curly and hanging out together in a 1-bedroom. They aren't too far away, and they have been with us since we got here. We are doing all of the cooking in our bigger quarters, so they mostly just sleep away from us.

We got in just before dark, unloaded, made and ate supper and then had just enough time for an hour in the game room. They have foosball, air hockey, ping pong, and one of those basketball hoop games. Since we are all busy with basketball (Baby Doll's team had their first real game this morning...) we all took a chance at making as many baskets as we could in one minute. Scout had 28 and refuses to believe that Curly beat her with 30 since he was doing his own counting and recording. I'm guessing we will be having a rematch tomorrow. I didn't do so well, but I managed to beat Scout in a game of ping pong and Baby Doll at air hockey, so I guess that's not so bad.

There are several feet of snow here which is fun since we have very little on the Wasatch Front. It is mostly crusted over, but is supposed to storm a little this week. The kids are excited to go sledding and play in the snow. 

Getting away is difficult with school in session, especially since it is the end of the term (which is why we don't have everyone with us), but the teachers are wonderfully adaptive since they all have zoom stuff going on anyway with all the COVID-19 problems. Our new governor announced that teachers in Utah will be able to get the vaccine starting next week. That is a huge relief for my sister and her family.

I'm excited to share this little trip with you. We have some fun things planned.

Christmas is Over

I know, I know, Christmas is over, but I wanted to share one more fun new tradition we learned from a Hallmark movie. My sweetie is (or should I say was?) obsessed wih Hallmark Christmas movies.

This has been going on for several years now and I finally got sucked into it. In fact, I can unashamedly declare that I love Hallmark Christmas movies! Especially the mistletoe...

Anyway, this blog is about a specific movie. Before I tell you the title, I have to confess that we lump pretty much every dramatic Christmas movie under the "Hallmark" label and this one is not actually made by Hallmark. It is called Feast of the Seven Fishes. 

The movie was fun, but my sweetie was more interested in the actual feast. On Christmas Eve, this large Italian family tradition is that all the men prepare seven dishes made from various forms of fish. I don't know if it is true, but we decided to try it, but not on Christmas Eve. We chose the day after Christmas instead.

My sweetie was the main chef and instead of the guys, he chose Crafty as his sous chef. Together, they put on quite a feast! Even Drama Queen tried several types of fish and she usually stays far away from even the smell of fish. I won't be able to confirm until next year if it becomes a tradition, but we had a great time even if it was only one and done. Right, Drama Queen?

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm pretty sure my sweetie is definitely ready to put it on the calendar!