The First 27 Hours

Started in: Boise, ID
Ended in: Cody, WY
Miles Traveled: 520.11
# of times someone asked, "Are we there yet?": 7
Hours of driving before this question was asked for the first time: 4
Number of snacks consumed: Countless

Tanner's Quote of the Day: (after seeing the huge buffalo along the side of the road) "Dad, you hold me so the buffalope don't get me?" From here until he dies that particular animal is a "buffalope".

Jake's Quote of the Day: (I bought him a little journal to write in for the trip, not really thinking he'd be too into it, but after seeing Bear Country he asked me for it. When we got to our next destination he said, "Mom, I've finished my first two posts. Can I read them to you at lunch?" Obviously a child of bloggers...

Worst Parenting Decision of the Day: Allowing the boys to pick souvenirs at Old Faithful, not paying close enough attention to the combination flashlight/carabiner thingies that they picked out to realize that there was an ear splitting whistle on the other end....they quickly got confiscated.

Memories (good and bad) of the trip so far:

• Jake having to stop to go potty 3x in the first two hours of driving
  
• The kids wanting to be snapped into their carseats a full 20 minutes before we were ready to leave the house
• Singing Kumbayah (spelling?) and Michael Row Your Boat Ashore for half an hour to get a very tired Faith to sleep in the motel room (a spot similar to the Psycho motel)
• Going to Bear World and having Jake hug me and say, "Mom, this is the best trip. Thank you for taking me here!"
• Watching baby bears wrestle at Bear World
• Arriving at Old Faithful exactly 10 minutes before it was going to put on its show. We told Jake it was karma because of all the trash he picks up so now he is even more motivated to clean up the world.
• Driving through Yellowstone and seeing the huge lake and several big forest fires. Tanner loved seeing the helicopters getting water in big red buckets hanging from them. He was cheering, "Go firefighters! Go helicopters!"
• Arriving at our campsite and finding a cabin (or as Tanner refers to it, our "cabinin" cleaner and roomier than we had imagined, along with a nice swimming pool, hot tub, trampoline, playground, and arcade. Yep.... we're really roughing it!