fowlandfishmommy

More from Sunday's drive.  We had just entered Wyoming.  

 
Sorry for the dirty windshield.  

 
 
 
Finally we made it to our destination, Casper, Wyoming.  This is where we stayed http://www.caspereastrvpark.com/ It was not an extremely nice campground.  In fact I'm pretty surprised it was a Good Sam Campground.  We called earlier in the day and reserved a spot with a credit card.  They told me they'd have an envelope waiting on us with our spot on it.  Well we got there and our spot was taken.  We really had no other choice and it was about 11pm so we just found an open spot and parked for the night.  We woke up bright and early before they were open and got on our way.  I really have no idea if they even charged us.  From our one night opinion Casper is a fairly rough town.  I'm sure you have to be a pretty hard core person to live there, so we understood.  But we were yelled at and cussed at when heading out the next day (while driving).  And it was just not a very pretty town, or at least the parts we saw.  (Sorry if any of you are Casper residents)  All was fine though and we continued on to Yellowstone. 

A few more of that evening.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We got back to the hotel and this was right outside!  

 

 
Phew, that was a busy busy Monday.  Up next is Tuesday and we stay fairly close to our campsite.  
 
 

No we didn't make it there.  We wanted to see it, but we heard it was too dry maybe I can't remember.  But it wouldn't have been fun with the wild children.  Next time for sure!  
The Tetons were great and I think we'll camp there at least one night next time.  We loved Yellowstone so much.  If it was closer I'm sure we'd go every year.  

Next we left Cody after buying groceries at Walmart.  FYI there are no frozen buttermilk biscuits or tea bags (for sweet tea) at the Cody, WO Walmart.  Ha!
There were several awesome tunnels that we drove through.  The kids LOVED it.  I have a video that I can't find, but if I do I'll post it.  

 

 
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/fjvick/media/trip42_zpsa1x8ciqy.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj554/fjvick/trip42_zpsa1x8ciqy.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo trip42_zpsa1x8ciqy.jpg"/></a>
 

 
 
There were tons of ranches along the way.  Many that you could stay at and get the whole "City Slickers" "Hey Dude" (y'all remember Hey Dude??) experience.  We learned that this land was given to WWI veterans for free if they were willing to homestead it.  (AKA move to the middle of nowhere) So since it was very hard to grow anything they had animals (sheep especially) and eventually they were sold or families passed them down and made ranches for tourists.  Wish some of my ancestors would have taken up that offer!!

 
There were campgrounds all along this roadway.  I'm not sure if they were full hookup or not. If I had to guess I'd say not.  But I could be wrong.  From the way it freezes and snows here in the winter I think having water and sewage all over the place like a campground requires is not very common.  

 

 
Another ranch.

 
These pictures do not do this justice.  This was the most gorgeous stretch of land I've ever seen.  (Well up until then)

 

 
And FINALLY!!  

 
The national parks currently have a program called Every Kid in a Park.  Basically if you have a forth grader, your whole family gets into the park for free.  From this point on we realized these park rangers were amazing.  They all LOVED talking to the kids and seeing the kids enjoying the park.  They were very much like castmembers.  So knowledgeable, so helpful, so nice, so fun.  So our oldest had to do a little pledge and sign his name to a card and we were in.  For free.  (not the camp sight just the park entry) 
https://www.nationalparks.org/our-work/campaigns-initiatives/every-kid-park?gclid=CO7Nl4WI988CFYEvgQodKgcA_w

 
And the Park Ranger who checked us in told us that there would be a bison (they are very serious that they are bison in Yellowstone) on our right as we drove in.  We were thinking oh he'll be off in the grass.  Um nope...

 

 

We learned that the rangers constantly talk to each other via radio about the location and status of wildlife and really anything else going on in the parks.  
We also learned that they just let the bison roam.  They are happy there and are thriving and so they just let them be.  Every once in a while when one was completely blocking traffic they would run them off the road.  But over all they run the place.  This was so neat to see two minutes after entering the park and the boys went nuts!  
This is why we travel with kids.  We wouldn't trade seeing their faces for any money (or bigger house) in the world.  (I have to keep telling myself this when I'm frustrated in this tiny house with three boys!) 

 

Hi everyone!  New roof has to be done, but we needed one anyway.  It came in cheaper than we thought so we went ahead and got a camper.  We got a really good deal and we are really excited.  So the trip is back on!!  
It's a Jayco 29QBH.  Its a 2012.  We like the new model better but not enough for the price difference. 



 

Thanks for the tips everyone.  We have run into a little snag.  Our current camper (was given to us) is not in good enough shape to go that far, so we had planned to buy one around $10,000 or so that has bunks (current one doesn't have them).  Well we noticed a big water spot on our ceiling in our bedroom in our house so it looks like a new roof may replace the new camper.  We are praying some kind of miracle happens and this trip still works out.  But we'll see.  I'll keep you updated.  

Okay so I'm about half way done with this report.  It's keeping me sane on these hard days of adjustment.  We got home from China about a week and a half ago!  Yay!
 
Here's the boys at the airport!  They all did great!  I'm so proud of my big boys and so glad we took them.
 

 
 
Question.  We were at HS one night when it closed early and we thought about taking the boat to the Boardwalk.  Well a CM told us that we had to go in EPCOT when we got there and we didn't have park hopper tickets.  So could we have just gone to the Boardwalk?  And if so was is there a bus from the Boardwalk to the Resorts?  

Okay so many of you know we traveled to China to adopt our sweet baby boy.  We got home about 2 weeks ago.  
 
I don't have the time to do a TR on here, but I am doing a blog.  So I'm going to post it on here.  You can go back and read whatever, but I'm posting on a good starting point.  This is when we were live in China.  We didn't take our laptop to China so we just posted ipad pictures from there.  (yes we were those people)  Then when we got home, I've been doing a detailed trip report.  So far, I'm only about half way done with the pictures.  I'll post on here when I do a new blog post.  
 
I'll check back on here when I can for comments or questions.  
 
https://byfaithadopt.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/china-day-1-2-3/
 
Make sure you go in the right order, so check the dates.  I hope it won't be too confusing!  
 
 

I'm not sure how long that room has been like that, but it was just like that in April of 2010.  They have kept it up though.  It has a few rough spots but it had been redone since our visit then.  I'll try to post some from then too.  I think it is the only place they are together.  
 
We would love if they would do a Toy Story character meal.  They would have families with boys lined up out the door to eat there.  (And I know some little girls that love Toy Story also).  Meals for boys are lacking big time.  Think about it - princesses out the wazoo, Alice in Wonderland (my boys aren't fans), Tigger and Pooh (maybe when they were 1 or 2).  Really Chef Mickey's and Ohana are the only ones for boys! (and they aren't really geared for boys in particular)  They would love Buzz, Woody, Jesse, and all the gang together!  

Yay another report!
 
War Eagle!!! 
 
I have never seen the garland in person so bummer.  But it also irks me a little that it blocks the view of the castle.
 
I was in the night time parade when I was 16 in the high school marching band.  I have no idea what parade it was then.  (1996)  It was really really fun.  We got to line up back stage and see characters not completely ready for show.  And we got to make fun of the other band that was in the parade.  Fun times.  :)

Yay another report!
 
War Eagle!!! 
 
I have never seen the garland in person so bummer.  But it also irks me a little that it blocks the view of the castle.
 
I was in the night time parade when I was 16 in the high school marching band.  I have no idea what parade it was then.  (1996)  It was really really fun.  We got to line up back stage and see characters not completely ready for show.  And we got to make fun of the other band that was in the parade.  Fun times.  :)

Yay another report!
 
War Eagle!!! 
 
I have never seen the garland in person so bummer.  But it also irks me a little that it blocks the view of the castle.
 
I was in the night time parade when I was 16 in the high school marching band.  I have no idea what parade it was then.  (1996)  It was really really fun.  We got to line up back stage and see characters not completely ready for show.  And we got to make fun of the other band that was in the parade.  Fun times.  :)