Christmas at home...

The trip home...

The steam from the hot spring freezes on one side of the tree. The added weight on the one side causes it to bend over..sometimes until they break.

Old Faithful

When Vacations Freeze Over

Our trip to Yellowstone this year was memorable. That means a lot of unforgettable stuff happened! First, we tried to enter in the West Gate at West Yellowstone. About an hour before the entrance...the road was closed due to blowing snow. After a few tears and several maps we decided to head to the South entrance to try to catch a snow coach there. As we headed off on a remote highway from Ashton, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming I was reminded of the stories on the news "Why did this family take this small back road over the mountains in a snowstorm and get stuck...will they ever be found??" :-) Well, we called and they held the snow coach for us as we drove like a bat out of somewhere in a blizzard to get there in time. I am adding some pictures from our trip. It was wonderful! We then drove back over insane mountain roads in a blizzard to get home (see picture of snowplow off the road). We made it home in one piece with many wonderful memories. My favorites were being the only ones out at Old Faithful, and the only ones in the store at Mammoth. It got busier as it approached Christmas..but the serenity of the first few days was unforgettable! We had a great Christmas at home and we are all now relaxing in warmth! We are getting ready to head to San Diego in 3 weeks, talk about opposite types of vacations! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Cliff, Diane Linda (oldest daughter - 21), Kevin (only son - 18), and Shannon (youngest daughter - 15). You will notice in one picture that because we rushed to the snow coach, Shannon did not have time to change into her snow boots which were loaded onto the top of the snow coach...you can see how appropriate for snow her 'car' shoes were! :-)