We decided to take a little break from work and homeschooling and go on a little adventure to Yellowstone National Park. If you know me, you know that I love to travel with my family. We have schooled all over the world and enjoy the homeschool lifestyle because it gives us many opportunities to learn outside of books.
As we were talking about travel plans, my husband found an old SD card that had some old pictures on it. This little treasure included pictures from our first trip to Yellowstone National Park, nine years ago. The boys were so little and didn’t find the park very interesting back then, and Peyton played in the rocks the whole time we were at Old Faithful. We thought now that they are older it would be a good time to go. Camping also seemed like the most COVID friendly travel option with the least amount of risk of shut downs and canceled plans.
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The Big Red Camper
My parents had this cargo trailer that they converted to a camper. They don’t use it anymore and since it was just sitting not being used, they gave it to us. We’ve been talking for awhile about getting a camper, but they are hard to buy right now. It seems Corona has had people looking for alternate forms of vacationing. We have always tent camped, but having a camper with hard sides is a bit safer with some of the local wildlife in Yellowstone. After making a few modifications in order to sleep four instead of two, Big Red was ready to go. Here is a picture of how we set up the the trailer.
The boys were comfortable sleeping on these bunk bed cots and they were perfect for the small space. Josh and I had this air mattress with a built in pump. Josh is quite mechanical and he was able to convert the pump so we could plug it into his truck. If you ever decide to go camping in Yellowstone, there is no power at any of the campsites, so plan accordingly.
Since there is no power, there is also no refrigeration so you need a good cooler if you plan to camp in the park. After reading many reviews and watching numerous YouTube videos, we bought a 77 quart Lifetime cooler. This thing was amazing. It held enough food for five days
(plus some because we bought a lot) and it retained ice for eight days. I never thought I would be such a cheer leader for a cooler, but we were super impressed with this one.
Exploring the Park
There were several closed roads throughout Yellowstone making sightseeing a bit of a challenge. We loved exploring The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and hiking down to some of the lookouts. We didn’t enjoy the hike back up the canyon nearly as much as down, but we all made it.
Old Faithful is iconic and you need to check it out at least once. Carter enjoyed reading all about how they estimate the eruption time to within ten minutes. The boys were much more impressed with the
geyser this time around than they were when they were three and one years old.
We ended up combining our trip to Old Faithful with exploring around the geyser basins and a trip to Mammoth Hot Springs. It was a lot of driving for one day, but with all of the road closures we decided to do it all at once so we wouldn’t have to take the long drive several days in a row.
Gone Fishing
The boys’ latest hobby this summer is fishing. They were really excited to get to fish while we were in Yellowstone. We even rented a boat to fish and explore Yellowstone Lake. Nobody caught any fish while there, but they had fun trying.
Grand Teton National Park
We decided to take the southern entrance through Grand Teton National Park. Josh had never seen the Tetons and I told him how majestic they were. There was so much smoke in the air from the California wildfires, that we couldn’t see the mountains. Our final night in Yellowstone brought pouring rain, so the smoke cleared out of the air. We decided to leave through the south entrance again, and the Tetons did not disappoint. We actually like Grand Teton a little bit better than Yellowstone and hope to make a trip back to actually explore that park more.
Every Kid Outdoors
I highly encourage you to explore some of our National Parks. As Peyton says, they are treasures and home to the animals. If you have a fourth grader, they qualify for a free National Parks Pass through Every Kid Outdoors. Simply go to the website and fill in some information to get your fourth grader’s free pass. The pass is good for one year and will get everyone in the same vehicle in the park for free. Sometimes you just need to change things up, get outdoors, find an adventure and do some homeschooling away from home. Happy adventure schooling!