Nigel, Mom and Dad went to Colter Bay and Yellowstone with Grammy. The station wagon was very full, with the canoe, paddles, life jackets and sleeping bags on the roof, and the back stuffed full of suitcases and other such items. The trip was filled with driving, but was memorable more for all the things they did when out of the car.
Upon arriving at the campground, Dad went into the hotel check-in lodge by himself. Nigel was busy playing a Mario game on Gramm's Nintendo hand-held, as he had been for hours at this point. Dad came back out after a minute to report meeting the strangest person in there. He was tall, well-muscled, very green of skin, very angry and growly, with strange protrusions on his back, and all he said was, "Your princess is in another castle." At the tent village check-in, Nigel got out with Dad, and they met Cheyenne, whom they dubbed Princess Cheyenne.
This was Nigel's first introduction to Colter Bay's tent cabins, and he immediately began exploring and climbing on or in everything, including the bunks and the bear box. Mom and Dad were concerned with him falling off his bunk in the middle of the night, and had happened to bring an air mattress along, so Dad spent a good deal of breath blowing up said mattress and placed it right below Nigel's bunk (bottom bunk, to be sure). Nigel was very excited about the idea of falling out of bed onto that air mattress, and that night, while supposedly asleep, he rolled right out of bed onto it, then woke up laughing. Everyone was highly amused.
Nigel became well acquainted with Grammy's game system on the long drives into and through Yellowstone on their second full day of the trip, and with the shows brought on the iPad. The long drives brought them to some interesting sites, stopping to see hot pots and geysers, Old Faithful, ice falls at Mammoth Springs, and the Continental Divide (several times), but did not bring many views of wildlife. Coming back from Mammoth, Nigel fell asleep and missed seing two bison close-up, one of which was ambling along the side of the highway, with a ranger escorting it in his vehicle. The family climbed out at the next pull-out to get a look and some pictures. Just a couple of miles down the road, they drove past a second bison standing nearly right next to the road, with some very foolish tourists seeing how close they dared get for the sake of a great photo. There wasn't a good pull-out, and the family didn't stop here, but did get a picture while driving by, as traffic had slowed to a crawl. They wondered if the previous bison would actually encounter this one, as it was heading its way, and probably only 20 minutes distant.
On the first full day of the vacation, they sorted out getting a permit to put the canoe in the water (two trips too and from Jenny or String Lake and a couple of hours later), and spent the day at String Lake, a family favorite, toodling around in the boat, and swimming, and jumping off the big rock, in Dad's case. While taking Nigel on a tour around the lake, Mom and Dad found a beaver dam and a huge island of lily pads. The lake was quite busy, but fun as ever. Nigel tossed the water football around with whomever he could, and once caught the ball on the back of his neck, while trying to dodge out of its way. Nigel also made a point of squirting everyone possible with cold lake water, much to their bemusement.
They all noted the Triangle X ranch, where Rama (and Leslie) had worked. Deer wandered through the campsite. Mom went running a couple of times out onto a nearby island that the resort has built a causeway out to. She brought the family out there one evening for a walk. They saw a small group of pronghorn antelope, and toward the end of the walk, heard a loud, deep grunting sound just up ahead of them. That sound brought a prompt end to the walk, with everyone turning around and walking quickly away. Soon afterward, everyone was laughing about the scariness of it, and Nigel threw a few rocks and sticks into the bay.
Marshmallows were roasted, naturally. Nigel likes his to stay white, just showing his to the fire, but not allowing them to become well acquainted. At dinner at the resort's restaurant, the night they elected to make that choice, Nigel asked for "fruit fries" for dinner.
Another great quote from Nigel: "Is that hot springs hot enough to kill me?"
A memorable driving moment: Dad was remarking on being tired, and Nigel told everyone, "This is what I do to wake up when I'm about to fall asleep," and promptly poured his bottle of water onto his sandaled feet. Sadly, Mom and Dad first yelled at him to stop, it taking a few such hollers for him to end the stream of water pouring down onto the carpet, but everyone was soon laughing. It was really a funny moment, regardless of the (relatively minor) mess.
On the drive back home, they stopped for a couple of hours in Idaho Falls, to see Keith and Sharee, and Kristen stopped by with their kids, to play with Nigel.
