Post #48

Well, we're back from Yellowstone now! We got home pretty late on Saturday night. But I'll start at the beginning. :)

Well, we left the Saturday before that, which I believe was June 28th. We got to the airport at around 7:00 in the morning, since our flight was supposed to leave around 8. My parents went up to the moniter to print our boarding passes, and my brother and I noticed that they didn't look happy. It turned out that they had completely changed our flights, because originally we were going to fly from our home to Atlanta, and then all the way to Bozeman, Montana. But our flights had been changed to where we had to fly from Atlanta to Salt Lake City and THEN to Bozeman. Not only that, but now our first flight wasn't even going to leave until 9, so we were there an hour early. So, we had to go up and talk to one of the people, and they told us that they didn't think there would be enough time in Atlanta for us to catch our next plane, so they changed it. But no one even bothered to notify us! My dad had even mentioned when we first bought the tickets that he didn't think there was that much time in between flights, but back then they had insisted that it was fine. So let's just say my parents were pretty mad at Delta airlines. lol.
But anyway, we had to hang out at the airport for a whole hour since we were there early, and there was not point in going back home. We finally did board our plane, but those darned people not only changed our flight, they put us in the very back! I discovered that the back seats had no windows, so I didn't even get to look out the window. What I really hated about it was that the plane ride was kind of bumpy, and for some reason it felt really scary to me since I couldn't see anything out the window. lol. I will admit that although I am pretty much fine with flying, I can still get a bit apprehensive during take-off and landing, especially when my brother is sitting next to me telling me about every plane crash that ever occurred in history just to scare me. But I always remind myself that statistics show you're safer in a plane than you are in a car. But anyway, luckily that wasn't a long flight, so we made it to Atlanta and then boarded the plane to Salt Lake City. That was a really long flight, so that got kind of boring, but luckily the next flight to Bozeman only took about an hour. So we were finally there, only a little bit later than we had hoped because of our flight mishap. By that time it was time to eat dinner, so we looked in this directory thing they gave us and looked up all the restaurants, and discovered they had a Famous Dave's! We used to go there all the time in our former home, but there isn't one in the place we live now. So we went there for dinner, and then drove a rental car the rest of the way to West Yellowstone.

So on our first day at Yellowstone, I think we pretty much just drove into the park and looked around. We went really high up in the mountains where there was still snow on the ground! It was weird, it was about 70 degrees but there had been so much snow there in the winter and spring that it still hadn't melted yet! We saw some animals that day too, I think some elk and a lot of buffalo.
Then the next day, we pretty much did the same thing but went to some different places. We saw a lot of the waterfalls and stuff.
The third day, we drove a pretty long way- we drove all the way into Idaho to go to this place called Bear World, where they had habitats for bears. We got to drive through and see all the bears. Then later we went to see the Tetons since they were near there, which were amazing. We also walked around the town Jackson a little bit (which is in Wyoming), which was cool. It was a normal town but there was a part of it with old western-style buildings. We ate dinner at a pizza place there that was apparently famous because Bill Clinton and his family actually ate there one time. So that was interesting. lol
Then the next day, we went to Old Faithful. We walked around and looked at the pools, which were really cool. The water in them was so blue! We had to go back later to see Old Faithful erupt, because as you know, it only erupts every 90 minutes or so and we didn't get there at the right time. But we did finally get to see it. :)
The next day, my dad and I went horseback riding in West Yellowstone. My mom decided not to go because it made her so sore the last time we went (lol), and my brother also decided not to , because I think he's secretly scared to try it. :P Well, my mom did come with us so she could take pictures, but she stayed in the car while we rode. Well, that turned out to be quite an adventure, because I ended up getting the most stubborn horse on the ranch, who was named Buck. Well, apparently Buck didn't enjoy going on trail rides so much, because before I got on him, the guide warned me that he tends to just stop in the middle of the ride when he gets tired, so I would have to give him a good kick to keep him going. So we all got on our horses, and they all started lining up to go on the ride, only Buck wouldn't budge. Soon all of the horses were in line and starting to leave, and no matter what I did, Buck just wasn't going to move. Finally one of the guys that worked there saw me and got him to go. That was kind of embarrassing because the rest of the group had to stop and wait for me, and everyone was kind of looking back at me. lol. So finally Buck and I caught up with the others and continued on our way. As we went on, I was really surprised when I realized we were actually going up a mountain! I had never been on a horseback ride where we went uphill and downhill. So the horses all started up the mountain. Then, before I knew what was happening, Buck started galloping at full speed!! I had never been on a horse that galloped before, and I knew they weren't supposed to do that- Buck just wasn't behaving that day apparently. :) But anyway, I was pretty terrified for a split second, but I just held on really tightly to the reins and I leaned forward like you were supposed to do when you were going uphill. He ran only for about 5 seconds and then thankfully he slowed down. The girl in front of me saw what happened and just looked at me with huge eyes and asked if I was okay. Luckily I was, I had managed not to fall off or anything. lol. Finally we got to the top and we were riding on flat land again. I wouldn't mind so much if Buck decided to run again now that we weren't going up a mountain. lol. But still, I hoped he wasn't going to pull that again. Luckily he only started running again one other time, and again it was only for a few seconds. He did, however, stop a few times, but after I gave him a little kick in the side he started going again. Sometimes he would look back at me with these sad eyes as if to say, "Do I HAVE to keep going?" The part that made me the most nervous was when we went back down the mountain. I just prayed really hard that Buck wouldn't decide to start running downhill. But I figured he was probably smart enough to not do that, and luckily he was. :) So we finally got back to the place we had started, and of course I had to tell my mom about my adventurous ride up the mountain. The guide that went with us apologized for Buck's behavior (lol), but we told them it was okay. I mean, now I can tell people that I've actually been on a galloping horse! lol.
Later that day, we went to Mammoth Hot Springs, where the limestone terraces are. That was really cool too.
Then, the last day we were there was the 4th of July. We didn't really go and do anything that day, because we'd seen everything, so we pretty much just stayed at our motel and I read most of my summer reading book. So at least I got that out of the way. :) Then in the evening, they had fireworks in West Yellowstone, so we all went into town to see those. Unfortunately, there were no cops around so a bunch of people there had illegal fireworks. I couldn't believe how inconsiderate they were! They just sat there launching their fireworks where a bunch of people were! There were some people standing literally right next to them. Luckily we weren't that close to anyone who was doing that, but I was still kind of freaking out since I could see some people a few yards in front of us launching them. I mean, if anything went wrong...well, that would have been bad. But finally, a cop did show up. I practically laughed hysterically when the people in front of us got busted. Luckily the cop stayed there so they didn't do it again. So finally the show started. It was pretty cool. I mean, I guess it was like any other fireworks show I've been to, but it's always fun to see fireworks for the 4th of July. :)
So we left the next day, but this time we didn't have an early flight, so we started heading over to Bozeman at about 10 in the morning. We got there at lunchtime and discovered that they also had a Fudrucker's there! I was so happy, because that's another place I haven't been since I moved. So we ate there and then went to the airport. This time they actually didn't change our flights, so we flew from Bozeman all the way to Atlanta. That was a pretty long flight, but I read more of my book during that flight. By the time we got to Atlanta, ate something in the airport, and got on our plane to go home, it was pretty much dark so we got to take off and see all the lights in Atlanta. It's really cool to fly at night like that if you're in a big city. But anyway, as we started nearing our home, we saw lightning! So the plane ride became a bit turbulent, even though we were flying around the storm and not through it. Of course, my brother had to start trying to scare me again, saying things like, "Wow, look how close that lightning is!" or "Omg! We're gonna crash!" Luckily, I was able to laugh it off and not get too scared, since I knew we weren't going to fly right into the storm or anything. It was scary and fun at the same time! The plane bobbed around quite a bit, but we still managed to make it back in one piece. :) So it was really late by the time we got back, about 10:30. So basically, I went home, checked my e-mail really fast, and then went to bed since I was so tired. So yeah, that was basically my trip! It was a lot of fun, and as you can see from how incredibly long this post is, we did a lot of stuff and a lot happened!