Wild West Part II: Yellowstone

DISCLAIMER: This blog posts contains an enormous amount of photos! And it is narrowed down! There were so many to choose from. So--if you are not interested in seeing an endless amount of scenic beauty-this blog post is not for you and you may click the red X at the upper right hand corner of your screen. : ) 

Okay-so after saying goodbye to Jackson Hole, Jeremie and I made the 55 mile drive to Yellowstone! This 55 mile drive took us about 6 hours. We stopped every 30 seconds to take in one amazing view after another!!! They were endless! (Several stops we made were still in the Grand Tetons, so for organizational purposes, I will keep those for Part III. )  We were SO excited to finally enter the park!

And here were some of the views along the way....

Our next stop was Old Faithful, and we arrived just in time-about 20 minutes before it erupted. (It erupts about every hour.) It was so amazing to see it in person! For a few minutes, it would just tease us, and spit out about 6 inches of water...in the back of my mind I was thinking "now I came all this way for a bigger show than this..." Then all of sudden: there she blows!!!

Afterwards, Jeremie and I ate lunch in the Old Faithful Inn, which was a site in itself.  It was one of the first structures built in Yellowstone, in 1904. It was beautiful!

By the time we finished lunch, it was time for Old Faithful to do her thing again, so J and I went to the other side (the back side) to watch it.  J wanted to see the water draining out the back down the rocks. Well, the geyser started to blow and it blew directly at us! Old Faithful water all up in my face! So now we know why all the observation benches are on the other side!  It was still a fun time of course J was all smiles. 

Isn't he handsome?

As we were leaving Old Faithful, we noticed Buford the Buffalo* (we named all the animals) hanging out in the field, so of course we wanted a picture! When entering Yellowstone, we received a pamphlet with "cartoon" of a bison goring a person and warning visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from wildlife. It also stated that buffalo can sprint 3 times as fast as the average person can run. Anyway...so of course I wanted to be in the picture with Buford, but as I was posing I tripped backwards a little bit and probably into the "less than 25 yards away zone".  Jeremie about had a fit and fussed at me for not paying attention. Luckily, I did not get gored and we got our picture. (With J hanging on for dear life.) 

*Note: I refer to Buford as a Buffalo, BUT the fact is that they are really BISON. That's right-America culture has taught us wrong all this time. Buffalo actually do not have the famous hump and scientifically, there are only 2 types of buffalo species that only reside in Africa and Asia. So now you know. 

The next major stop was the Midway Geyser Basin, which is home to lots of beautiful hot springs.  And HOT springs they were. The wind would blow the steam off these things and fog up my glasses. It was amazing and a totally different environment than the rest of the park. Apparently, millions of years ago (?) a volcano erupted in the Yellowstone area, leaving all these unstable gases/chemicals, etc. In my terms, lots of pretty, bubbly ponds.

Right before we drove out of the park for the evening, we saw LOTS brake lights and people standing on the side of the road...and you know what that means..wildlife!!! Sure enough, there was a HERD of buffalo on both sides of the road...and lots of them had calves...SO CUTE!!! 

J caught this darling video....I can just hear the baby buffalo going "Whoo Hoo!!! Come on-who wants to play!!!"

And THEN, I got really luckily and happened to catch a shot of these two having a little disagreement....

After that, we called it a day and finally made our way to the One Horse Motel in West Yellowstone, Montana, which is right outside of the West Entrance. Our accommodations were let's say...bare essentials. It was no little log cabin on a creek, but it was clean and had a bed. 

We spent the next three days seeing all there was to see in the park. Yellowstone's roads are designed in a figure 8, so each day we would conquer a different part of the 8. So the next day, we grabbed McDonald's and hit the road to the top left portion of the 8. This area held lots more hot springs, a beautiful waterfall, and more amazing scenery. 

At the very northern part of the 8 was Mammoth Hot Springs, which is another incredible geological feature, and also home of an old Army fort. They have built a little village and hotel around it, so we ate another huge lunch and checked out the hot springs. (I must insert that because of the elevation, we were SO hungry and thirsty all the time!) The hot springs were indescribable. Pictures don't do justice, but I can try.....

One the drive back, J and I discovered yet another beautiful hidden waterfall. J decided that he was going to climb down the cliff hill to get a better picture. Although I though it was the worst idea he'd ever had, I said nothing. When I married this man, I quickly realized that when it comes to daring acts of stupidity bravery, there is no arguing with him. I've just always committed to being the faithful wife at the bottom (or top) of the hill waiting on him.  I think J got some good pics with his phone (I would not let perish with my good camera) but after he came back quite winded, I'm not sure how worth it the climb was.....

Hidden waterfall.

Winded hubby.

Faithful wife looking quite refreshed.

Driving through the park at twilight was one of my favorite times. Everything seemed so still and quiet and peaceful. God's amazing creation was on full display. One of the neatest things was a buffalo heard settling in a field for the evening. I felt like I was on the set of Dancing with Wolves. 

Just in case you were wondering, we had BBQ that night. The waitress had never heard of BBQ nachos, so we pretty much told her to make us some nachos and dump some pulled pork on it. This was a revelation for her. After seeing it, 3 people around us ordered it. We like to think we left a legacy in Montana. 

The next day was another McDonald's breakfast in the car and another Buford the Buffalo traffic jam that lasted about an hour.  These guys rule the road!

We headed to the right upper side of the 8 on this day, which was a completely different environment than the other side of the park. This area is called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and it is very alpine-mountainy atmosphere with a canyon in the middle!  We also saw an elk (Ernie the Elk) with it's velvet horns! (We had been seeing lots of "lady" elks.) 

The canyon part of the park was by far one of of our favorites! The views were absolutely breathtaking with the waterfalls flowing down into the winding river....amazing.

One waterfall boasted a "300 step staircase leading to an unparalleled view at the bottom of the waterfall"......and for some reason this seemed fun to us. : )  As we approached the 300 steps, people that were coming off the trail literally looked like they were about to pass out. I'm not gonna lie-I was nervous-but with lots of encouragement and breaks to catch my breath, we made it, and it really was beautiful. 

After all the hiking, we definitely needed some calories, so we picked up a few groceries at the lodge store and had ourselves a picnic!

Since this area was particularly known for bears, J and I had a chat during our lunch about what we would do if approached by a bear. J claimed that he would grab his sandwich and run to the car. "No point in wasting a good sandwich." I couldn't believe my ears and told him that I am throwing my sandwich to the bear and running to the car. I believe that in a fight over a peanut butter-jelly sandwich, that a bear would certainly win. Another pamphlet we received upon arrival informed of us of what our reaction needs to be if approached by a bear. The unfortunate thing is that they are different per type of bear. For one, you are supposed to scream, shout, throw rocks...the other, you are supposed to play dead. (Sounds appropriate.) J had really been wanting to see a bear since we arrived in Yellowstone, and knowing in a state of panic I would never remember the appropriate response for each kind of bear, I prayed that morning that we would SAFELY see a bear. Well, what do ya know...as we were packing up our lunch....we see TWO creeping by! They were a good distance away-so J grabbed the camera and actually caught a pic of one climbing up a tree!!!  Prayer answered!

The rest of the afternoon was filled with more beautiful scenery.....and guess what...another bear!!!

Prayers doubly answered!!!!

We topped off an amazing day with an amazing pizza and good nights sleep. BTW-we were in bed by usually 9:30 or 10:00 each night! We were so tired! Funny thing was that it stayed light there until about 9:30!

For our last day in Yellowstone, we completed the 8 by riding along the bottom right part. It was gorgeous because most of it borders Yellowstone Lake. 

We played in the snow on the way out.....

We were sad to leave Yellowstone....we have been talking about going for years...so really couldn't believe that part of the trip was over. But we had a blast riding around the park--will be memories for a lifetime. AND we had a whole third part of our trip awaiting....and the view looked pretty promising.....

Stay tuned for Part III!!!! 

Wild West Part I

Well folks, nine hundred rental car miles and 1,048 pictures later, we have returned from our Wild West Adventure to Wyoming. There are no words or pictures good enough to describe how AMAZING this vacation was. But you bet your bittie I'm gonna try! For time purposes (on your part and mine) I'm gonna break the trip down into 3 parts. 

J and I have always talked about going to Yellowstone, so about a month and a half ago, we finally just said-what the heck-and we booked it! I was so excited that I started a countdown on our chalkboard from 47 days! So when we left for the airport at 5:00 a.m. last Wednesday, it looked like this (I didn't have the energy at 5:00 a.m. to change it to "0")

We landed in the smack middle of the Grand Teton mountains and walked through an archway of antlers to get into the airport. The airport has 9 gates, one baggage claim, and a two lane road to get in and out. This place was already meeting our "middle of nowhere" criteria.

We checked into our first destination, the Rustic Inn, where we had a DARLING little cabin at the foothill of the mountains with a stream running right in front of our little porch. It even had little tepees around the property.SO CUTE!

Jeremie and I were starving, so we freshened up and headed to a place called Local for supper. (Recommended by a local.) It was fantastic and quite possibly the best steak and potatoes I've ever had. Jackson Hole was the most DARLING little town with shops and restaurants around the town square with the famous elk antler arches.

We slept super late the next morning, so of course that called for a cowboy sized breakfast! We checked out The Bunnery (another local recommendation) and again ate ourselves silly. Hello.

Afterwards, while shopping around the square, J and I both purchased hats...J's was a normal one...but I finally got my own coontail Davie Crockett hat. I remember being a kid and always wanting one of my own...don't ask my why. So even though I will probably only wear it on Halloween, J was happy to fork out the $8 if it fulfilled this childhood dream of mine. The man is still making my dreams come true. 

J sporting his new hat...I think this bear chair made him feel like an Indian chief. 

Note, we are in the middle of the mountains and I had to wait 10 minutes for J to walk this "Labyrinth". He finally made it to the middle.

Later that day we hit up the Visitor's Center, like any good tourist. I'm glad we did, because a worker told us about a short drive we could take that afternoon that was off the beaten path. So we grabbed our map and hit the road!

This map became our bible for the next few days!

The views were breathtaking! On this drive we saw our first buffalo, moose, and the famous barn that you see in all the Grand Teton photos. It was down a dirt road that we probably never would have gone down. We had a great time and it just filled us with more anticipation for the rest of our trip!

These fences were everywhere....which was beautiful. They work well in the winter because they can pick them up and set them on the snow....and the fence goes back down to the ground as the snow melts!

This barn is on a dirt road called Mormon Row...gorgeous!

I LOVED the moose!!! They are so big in person! Their antlers were still in velvet, but so neat! 

The next morning we ate brunch at Dolce, which has 14 different types of gourmet grilled cheeses on their menu. So J and I shared a grilled cheese and their fresh handmade donuts that came with three different dipping sauces. Ya'll-if this place would ship these donuts- I would have them every day. They were heavenly. I am hungry just thinking about it right now. 

And that wraps up Jackson Hole! The next day we headed to Yellowstone, which will begin Part II of this trilogy! Stayed tuned. : ) 

The Wells "Four" Ever!

Well, today marked four years of wedding bliss for me and the Mr. I can't believe it's been 4 years! To celebrate our anniversary, we ate dinner at Brick House tonight and I made a pecan pie. Unfortunately, we are so full from Brick House, that I doubt the pie will get touched tonight. (Who knows, I could come back and rally in a little while.) Instead of a long, mushy paragraph about being married, here are ten things I love about marriage:

1. The most fun times are the unplanned moments.
2. Jeremie and I have times when we talk non-stop, like we just met, and then we might go hours without saying anything to each other. (Not an awkward silence!) ; )
3. I finally got answers about what really goes on in a guy's mind during the dating/beginning of a relationship. (Blows my mind!)  On the flip side, J finally got to hear what a girl is thinking at the beginning of a relationship. Probably scared him a little bit.....because by the 4th date, we are probably testing how his last name sounds with ours.
4. I just asked J what came to his mind first about marriage...he immediately said "friendship". Aww.....but it's true. Just the pure, unconditional friendship is the best. And knowing that your best friend is continually praying for you.....awesome.
5. Just when you think you know everything about each other, something new is uncovered. (Like J's slight obsession the King Arthur era, or the fact that I had probably an unhealthy attachment to my Simba stuffed animal as a child.)
6. Cuddling up at night never gets old. Ever.
7. We challenge each other to step out of our comfort zones. This means I finally learned to cook something other than corn casserole and J finally gave in and took dance lessons with me. (Granted, he gave me 5 lessons as a gift-enough to make me happy, but also a limit on his torture....smart on his part! He actually was an outstanding Tango partner.)
8. We do not have to participate in the dating scene. All the smiling, impressing, analyzing is over. I'm not saying we don't still DATE each other, because that is necessary. I'm just relieved that the process is over.
9. Facing challenges/tough times together is by far how we have bonded the most. I could write days about this, but the point is that victory through the battles make standing on the mountain together mean so much more.
10. Laughter-we laugh together (okay, or maybe at each other) every day. Deep conversations are great and all, but you just can't beat good old-fashioned funny. Good for the soul.

That is not an exhaustive list--or even my "top ten"--it was just what I could think of tonight. I should have set the bar low and done 4 and added one for each year of marriage.....haha...just kidding!

Happy Anniversary to us! Looking forward to the years to come!!!

TGIF!

Happy Friday!!! For the past 6 years, me and my besties, Mary and Meg race to be the first person to send the titled "Happy Friday" email each week. It's stiff competition. Especially since I'm a housewife and they are both overachievers.  But I was the winner today!

I don't have much to report, but feel like I've rejected the blog lately! So here we go:

• We continue to enjoy our "dates". The last 2 have been more simple. Last week, we went to Lowe's together (J would probably choose this "date" every week) then we took the little buddy on a hike at a new park we found. It's 200 acres with great trails, a creek, very woody/nature-esque, so it definitely put us in the spirit for our Wyoming trip! The week before, we celebrated Super Bulldog Weekend even though we couldn't be in Starkville. We boiled shirmp and ate on the patio while we listened to the baseball game.  Hello.

• Jeremie went bowling with our church group guys and lost a bet. This was his punishment at our next group meeting:
  

  

  Needless to say, it was more than difficult to focus on Jesus while my hubby looked like this.

• In regards to Jr. League, I have finally graduated from a "Provisional" (Jr. League's nice way of calling us Freshmen.) I received my project placement for next year, and I'm so excited! I will be working at a place called My Friend's House, which is a home where children go when they have been removed from their homes for allegations of abuse or neglect. We hold a reading program on Tuesday nights and also do arts & crafts with the kids. At the end of the night, they get to keep a copy of the book we read. Can't wait to start. 
• We are headed to MS next weekend for J's cousin Matt's wedding. He did The Lord's Supper at our wedding (which was one of my favorite parts!) Can't wait for the wedding and so see our families!!!
• Manny has had a very tough week, so he slept in this morning: 
  
  
  
  Happy Trails!

Springtime!

I hope everyone is enjoying this time of the year as much as I am right now! I am usually a Fall girl all the way-but I am just loving all the flowers in bloom/green grass/blue skies and warmer weather!  (Minus the allergies that come along with this!)  The Wells Family has been pretty busy, which I am not complaining about! Here are the going-ons in our lives lately:

• I hosted a Thirty-One party at the house a couple weeks ago.  I've been wanting to have people over for a while--I love hosting stuff--so this was super fun. 
• Unfortunately I do no have a family Easter photo to post! Allergies hit me SO hard that weekend and there was no way I was gonna make it through the service. Fortunately, our church shows the service online, so I was able to watch the Easter message in my pj's on the couch clutching my Kleenex box. J was not gonna let my sickness ruin his traditional Easter, so he put a roast & potatoes in the crock pot, made butter beans and rolls and insisted that we eat on the good china. Love my man.
• Jeremie and I have joined a Community Group at church and we are so excited! There are about 8 other couples and they are awesome. Fortunately, everyone shares the love of food, sports, competition, and oh yeah, The Lord! : ) Should be a fun journey!
• My handy husband has struck again! He put together this coffee table in about a week: 

• This weekend I was busy working at the annual Jr. League Rummage sale. It. Was. Crazy. I have never seen so much stuff! I was literally sore today after helping unload/unpack stuff yesterday! But most importantly, all the proceeds go towards the amazing projects that Jr. League does like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Center for Family Violence, etc. 

• Last weekend I experienced my very first "High Tea" at The Adolphus Hotel. It was amazing! We actually did this as a baby shower for my sweet friend, Lauren, and it was a fantastic atmosphere. Very girly and traditional. The finger sandwiches, the scones, the butlers swooping in to pour your tea.....the whole bit! I could get used to it. And next time, I'm wearing a hat...cause the ladies next to us were totally rocking darling hats.
• Jeremie and I are always doing stuff together-but we are making sure that we carve out specific time that is considered "date night". A few weeks ago we found a dollar theater near the house, so we went and saw Lincoln. It was good-different than I expected. More about the passing of the 13th Amendment than war action. The next week's date was at Studio Movie Grill-which is  a theater that serves a full restaurant menu-and the food is fabulous! I chowed down on a big burger as we watched "Olympus Has Fallen". This movie was REALLY good. Pretty violent, but very intense, on the edge of your seat. Kinda has a "God Bless America" feel, and true to Texas form, people clapped at the end! Love it! Today's date was a trip to McKinney to a little antique village that is open once a month. Again, true to Texas form, we found a vendor that is a taxidermist that "dresses" up her projects....like a jackrabbit with glasses, a bowtie and a pipe in his mouth...or a little dear that had a flower headpiece and pearl necklace. Unbelievable. She was really cool and said that she had been featured in "D Magazine" (popular Dallas magazine) and ships her stuff all over the world! I'm not gonna lie-these were the best conversation pieces, so I kinda want one. After McKinney, we headed to a restaurant called Whiskey Cake and had fried green tomatoes. 
• Other movies we have watched at home recently were Argo, which was GREAT, and Parental Guidance, which is a good soft movie if you want a chuckle.
• We have booked a mountain vacation to Jackson Hole, Wyoming!!! I am beside myself with excitement! When J told his co-workers he was going to take time off for a vacation, they actually clapped for him. That is how much he need this! We can't wait! 
• Lastly, I am continually amazed an thankful for what God is revealing in this Genesis study!!! I have really overlooked so many lessons in Genesis all these years! I am going to be sad when it ends in May! It is SO neat to see how God used these people that we consider some of the "most faithful" (Abraham, Issac, Jacob,etc.) but how they still sinned after God had been SO faithful to them through enormous struggles! (But that is exactly how we all are!) So--I'm learning about being dependent on The Lord, but also not completely beating myself up when I fail to be obedient...because we can never be "non-sinners", but thank goodness Christ took care of that!   

Romans 5: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• Hope everyone has a great week! Happy Trails!

The Honeymooners...

Contrary to what this post is titled, this entry is not about me and Jeremie! Ha! I have blogged before about our sweet friends, Bart and Jenn, that we met on our honeymoon. The last time we saw them was 2 years ago when we went camping in Florida. Jenn was 6 months pregnant and was a champ. She set up the tent, broke down the tent, went canoeing,etc. (Totally ruined any chance I have of completely milking my [future] pregnancy! I was totally going to play the helpless card. ; )

Anyway-their sweet baby is almost 2 now and Bart received The Husband of the Year award by telling Jenn to take off to wherever she wanted for the weekend...by herself! So while he took care of Baby Blake, Jenn jetted to The Big D and we had a big time! Our weekend included LOTS of catching up, shopping, a trolley tour of Downtown Dallas, the movies, mani-pedis, and a pottery painting session. I was actually pretty happy with how my pottery piece was going until I tried to stamp the "W" on. Total fail. I like the "distressed" style, but this was a little much.  Jenn helped me recover though.

We had a great time and I am campaigning for them to move here. : )