I Like #23

Well I missed I like last week because I was in Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks for a long-planned multi-family camping trip.

So a double dose of things I like:

1. I like being someplace with no cell reception.  It was wonderful to be truly disconnected.  I realized (by virtue of the absence) how often I just check-my-phone-real-quick, or just-look-something-up, and it was really nice to just have to talk to people!

2.  I like playing games!  We played a lot of games on the camping trip, everything from go fish, old maid, memory, and uno with the kids (9 kids ranging from 1-10) to catchphrase, settlers of catan, spot it, and quiddler with the older kids and adults.  Quiddler is especially fun- I wish I had more game playing friends around here.

3. I love camping (especially in the fifth wheel with my parents), and I love National Parks.  Of course there are many beautiful state parks, national forests, and wilderness areas which have lots of hiking and camping opportunities with fewer people, but I still love the National Parks.  I hope one day to see them all!

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone

Grand Tetons, Grand Teton National Park

 4. I love hiking.  It's my favorite way to see National Parks, and we got to do more of it than I had expected on this trip.  Lots of easy but beautiful hikes the kids joined on and then later one nice longer more strenuous hike with some of the adults.

Grand Tetons, Heron Pond

Grand Tetons, from patrol hut at trail junction in Death Canyon

Death Canyon Glacial Valley 

Waterfalls from the Death Canyon/Phelps Lake trail junction

5. I love wildlife spotting.  We got luck with some fairly good moose and bear sightings on this trip, and luckily Mike gave me a good camera with a nice long zoom a few years ago.  But by far our best sightings were of yellow-bellied Marmots, of which we saw many and which often posed for us most dramatically.  Of course one of the funny things is that things which, at home, would be considered nuisances (I'm looking at you geese-that-chase-me-at-the-lake, squirrels-that-knock-over-the-birdfeeder, and elk-in-dad's-yard-eating-the-trees, coyotes-that-catch-our-cats) suddenly become "wildlife" and thus worthy of pictures.  Oh well, it's all fun.

Baby bison and their mommies crossing the road.  Bison jam!

Juvenile yellow bellied marmot.

A posing marmot!

A different posing marmot!

A final posing marmot!

Moose!

Grizzly bear!

6.  I love wildflowers.  June really isn't the best time to visit these places from a crowds standpoint (it was very crowded) but the wildflowers were phenomenal, more different types than I could ever take pictures of, and more colors mixed together than an artist could capture.  Certainly my pictures don't do any of it justice.

7.  I like canoeing!  I don't care too much for kayaking, though I've tried it several times.  I do like canoeing though and Mom and I rented a canoe one morning and explored the coves and inlet of Jackson Lake with some friends who brought their own canoe.

7. I love catching up with friends and family.  Just a blessing.

Thanks to LeeAnna as always!