Yellowstone Day 1

We were so excited for our trip to Yellowstone in 2025! At the last minute we decided to add most of a day by booking a hotel in West Yellowstone. This meant that we could drive on Friday and start Yellowstone early Saturday rather than late. We even hiked into the park via Riverside Trail on Friday night after we checked into the hotel. We didn’t see much, but we were happy to be in our favorite place in the world. 

We found a dead tree that made for a funny walking stick.

Seth and I were laughing at how far ahead Mark was from everyone else. 

Our hotel was right across the street from the Yellowstone boundary. We loved it!

By 7:45 we were through the gate and driving to our first hike. This was a new 4 mile hike called Grizzly Lake, and it’s located just south of Mammoth. There was a bit of a climb, but the area was so beautiful, and we were so ready to be back, that we hardly noticed. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but we did spot a snowshoe hare. Finally, we arrived at the overlook for the lake. 

Lots of pretty views along this trail. 

There were some bison across the meadow.

We saw a lovely mountain bluebird.

This marmot kept peeking at us with his stick!

The snowshoe hare

We saw elk way across the lake.

Lots of ground squirrels on this trail, too.

Our favorite downy woodpecker

Mom and Dad really liked this trail.

Mom loved the flowers.

We made it!

We were surprised out how large, and how far down it was. But we hiked to the bottom and stood on the shore. We even walked out on the logs that blocked the outlet, looking for fish, toads, or ducks. On the way back, we spotted a marmot colony. There were probably a dozen marmots, and as we were standing there laughing at the babies trying to scurry over a log, we spotted two beautiful weasels slinking along the rocks. We don’t often see weasels, so we were excited.

We made it to the lake shore.

We couldn't believe how big Grizzly Lake is.

Seth balancing on the logs.

Mark will be missing Yellowstone trips for a while.

Miraculously, we found a parking spot in Mammoth near Beaver Ponds trailhead. Mom made sandwiches, and we started up what has become our favorite hike in Yellowstone. As usual, there were a lot of animals. We saw white-tailed deer with a baby, several elk, and a lot of birds. There were lazuli-buntings, and Mark identified 4 types of woodpeckers (three-toed, Williamson’s sapsucker, northern flicker, and hairy). Of course, by the end of that 5.5 mile hike we were really dragging. We treated ourselves with ice cream in Mammoth.

We love the Beaver Ponds Hike.

Can you see the fawn laying in the grass?

Her mom moved her because we seemed suspicious.

Some kind of woodpecker.

The lazuli bunting was beautiful!

Mom took pictures with all the flowers this trip!

Seth and Mom always bringing up the rear.

Great picture of Mark and Dad.

We are all happy in Yellowstone, except Seth. Just kidding...he just wasn't ready for the picture.

I warned you about all the flower pictures.

We saw an elk right near the end of the trail.

Also, Big Foot!

After checking into the cabin in Roosevelt we grabbed dinner in the lodge there. The waitress brought out pictures she’d taken over the last few weeks, and as we flipped through, she told us where to find things. We were most excited about the coyote den with the pups. 

After dinner, we went out for a drive through Lamar Valley. It was pretty quiet, and we only saw a pair of coyotes. Back toward Tower Junction, we finally spotted a black bear on the side of the road. 

One of the coyotes we spotted.

And another!

Look at this beautiful buck!

The black bear was right by the road. 

We got some great pictures of him!

That night was a cold one in the cabin. We started a fire and snuggled up. The room had three double beds, and we’d brought extra blankets, but we were still surprised when we woke up on the summer solstice to snow! 

Disneyland Day 8

Today we really slept in. It was after 9 o'clock and breakfast was over when we finally rolled out of bed. Luckily, we had some cereal leftover from our early morning, so we ate and headed down to the beach. Mom and Dad's favorite beach is Newport down by Balboa Island. We like it because we've been there a lot, and besides, they have Ruby's right at the end of the pier. We drove up and got parked. Then we walked down to the exact spot Dax got soaked in 2015 when we visited San Diego. Seth loves the beach and played in the water. Mark and Mom like to sit on towels in the sun. Dax enjoys walking the pier to see the fishermen and what they catch. Dad likes walking up and down the beach with bubbles at his ankles. The waves were huge and there was a caution from the lifeguards, so most of us stayed out of the water. Seth was determined to get wet, but Mom wouldn't let him go too far. It wasn't the best day for a beach day, but we did our best.

Running from the waves. A classic game with the kids.

The waves were really rolling in!

It was a rough day.

Seth tried to make the best of it.

He loves the beach so much.

Mom and Dad love this beach.

After playing on the beach for a bit, we went out to Ruby's for lunch. The food was great and the boys ate really well. We knew we had to get back pretty early, though, to clean up and get ready for the Dodgers-Mets game. 

We saw some fun birds on the pier.

Ruby's on the Pier is the best!

We got to the game really early this time. Dad got his nacho helmet, Mom had her Dodger dog, and the boys got popcorn and treats. Then we settled in for what turned out to be an amazing baseball game. Dodger Stadium really rocks, and we got to see Ohtani hit a home run. The Dodgers then tied the game up at 2-2, sending it into extra innings. Finally, the Mets scored two in the tenth to win. 

Dodgers Stadium was a lot of fun.

We loved the atmosphere.

And we got to see Ohtani hit a homer!

It was a fun night!

We didn't get home until late, but we still got up early enough to make the drive back to Utah. We arrived just in time for dinner. It turned out to be a pretty great vacation.

Disneyland Day 7

Today we spent the day at Universal Studios. It had been 25 years since Mom and Dad had been, and so much had changed. But we arrived right before gates opened and were ready to make a dash for Mario Land right at 9 o'clock.

We did the Mario ride first, and it was a disappointment. None of us liked it much, and we were glad to have it out of the way. Mercifully, we didn't have to wait in line at all. The rest of Mario Land was a little better, and we used the wristbands we'd borrowed from the Pooles to play the rest of the games. Mario Land was pretty cool, but it seemed to be for kids much younger than ours. 

The Mario Ride

Mario World was cool to see.

You felt like you were walking right through a Nintendo game.

Seth hopped in line to see Toad.

The boys had fun.

Mom and Dad love Mario.

Outside Mario Land we found two rides that were much more to our liking. The Mummy was a fast roller coaster that went forward and backward. The second ride was Jurassic Park, which was really fun, though we did get a bit wet.

Next we moved up the escalators (there are 4 of them) to Simpson Land. We shared a massive Lard Lad Donut, which was great. Then we rode the Simpson's ride in Krustyland. We laughed at the reruns they showed in the line, and the ride was the most entertaining of the day. 

Randy has always loved The Simpsons.

There were lots of fun places to take photos.

This donut was SO GOOD!

Harry Potter land was pretty cool. We really enjoyed the shops, and we all had a nice cold butterbeer, which was delicious. There were two rides in this section of the park, but we didn't love either of them. The village itself was much more interesting. It really looked like Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.

The other ride that we really enjoyed was The Studio Tour. This is a ride that takes you through some of the actual stages used for making movies. It also has some fun action things that happen like Jaws coming by, or Norman Bates coming toward you with his knife, and a 3-D King Kong tunnel. We thought it was interesting and entertaining, too. 

Harry Potter World looked just like the movies.

The Butter Beers were amazing.

We found some bad food and a place to fill our water bottles, and then did a few of the kiddie rides that we hadn't been on. Then we caught a few shows. We made sure to stay out of the green seats at Water World, but we got soaked by jet skis anyway. Still, this show was our favorite part of the day. The short show at Harry Potter wasn't as interesting, but a guy handed us a front line pass for any ride, so going to Harry Potter Land for the show was worth it. 

We decided that we'd use the pass on the Mummy Ride again. Then we hit the Simpson's ride one more time. That was the end of the day at Universal Studios. We did have an amazing dinner at an Italian restaurant back near the hotel. The pizza and pasta really made the perfect end to the day.

The Studio Tour was super interesting.

Oh no, the subway is flooding!

Mom loves Back to the Future.

Seth, too!

It was a fun day!