Camping at Ohanapecosh

Ohanapecosh is officially an Annual Tradition for The Dillon 6! We camped there with The Campbells (Sheila, Andy and Preston) this last week. When we camped there last year we scoped out the "Celestial Site" and determined that we wouldn't settle for anything less than that site this year. Despite the fact November's flooding caused a lot of damage to various locations at Ohanapecosh, our Celestial site remained unscathed!!





This year we took a 3-mile hike to Silver Falls. Last year we only heard about it from April and Dave, and we were excited to try it this year. Signs posted said that the bridge was out, but we figured we'd go as far as we could. When we reached "the end" of the hike (at the Falls), we were fortunate to meet up with 2 Ranger Engineers who were carving out a new path down to the bridge. They offered to escort our families over the bridge so we could do the entire loop. It was so awesome!! We felt pretty lucky to have the opportunity to do the entire loop this year.




















Here are some pictures...isn't it beautiful?!

Ohanapecosh ~ Celestial Site

If you look closely in the background, you can see a massive pile of trees and debris left during the floods of November '06 ~ they were an impressive reminder of just how powerful Nature truly is

the last stop on our 2200 mile Odyssey in the Odyssey

As we drove across the Idaho-Washington border, we were greeted by dark black storm clouds, lots of rain, and a strong wind that rocked the car. When we finally arrived at our friends' lake house, we found a tree on it! Their family was stuck on the top of a mountain ~ a tree fell on power lines in front of their van. So while we waited for the Forest Rangers to rescue them, Doug hopped up on the roof with a borrowed chainsaw and started removing as much of the tree and debris before it got dark.

Our families had never met. Melissa and Jill were friends in High School and recently reconnected. It was fun (once the Binns family made it off the mountain and surveyed the damage) to get to know Jill and Aaron all over again!

Diamond Lake is beautiful and we LOVED visiting. The kids ask when we can buy our own Lake House. ;)

A Carousel for Missoula

After leaving Yellowstone, we headed North to Missoula. At lunchtime we stopped in Ennis for "The Best Pizza in Montana!" And, true to their signs, the kids agreed that it was, indeed, the Best Pizza in Montana! (although if you ask them, they will agree that it's actually the Only pizza they ate in Montana...)

We stayed at the Wingate Inn in Missoula. The hotel was very nice (our nicest accommodations on the whole trip ~ aside from our time with the Dickamores, the Kings and the Hutchings). The kids couldn't wait to get there because it had 2 waterslides that dumped into a not-too-deep swimming pool, as well as a wading pool that Dana fell in love with! We didn't get to use the hot tub, but there was one of those, too. Mommy and Daddy took Dana down the slide a few times, and then Daddy went down the Fast Slide by himself...he cracked his head open...not too badly, but enough to make it bleed. Aside from that little mishap, we loved staying there. One night, 2 Queen Beds, Internet Access, Cable TV, hot and cold running water and flushing toilets AND a free breakfast in the morning...all for $108.23 including taxes. We'll stay there again if we ever happen into Missoula.

The next day we visited "A Carousel for Missoula" and "Dragon Hollow." The Carousel was fun. Daddy got the golden ring (and a free ride) the first time we all rode. Then Laurel got the golden ring (and a free ride) and Aubrey's tears of sadness got her AND Malcolm a free ride, too! ;)

Dragon Hollow is an amazing Park. It was built by 4,000 volunteers in 9 days. We wish Maple Valley would build something like this here...it's beautiful! The kids thought it was a lot of fun, and were sad when we finally had to call it a day to reach our next destination.

Just before leaving Missoula, we visited one of the schools that Melissa attended in Kindergarten (and stopped in front of the house she lived in that year). It's amazing how everything changes and yet stays the same...

...and then there is Yellowstone...

The South Gate of Yellowstone is located just about an hour north of Colter Bay Village. It was a beautiful drive and we enjoyed looking for wild animals (which we didn't see). A few minutes after we entered the park we saw the sign for the Continental Divide. We quickly pulled over and piled out of the van again ~ much to the dismay of the kids who wanted to know WHY we had to take a picture here. Daddy quickly explained that, "It's not every day you cross the Continental Divide." Little did we realize that over the course of the next 4 days, we would cross the Continental Divide a total of 9 times. It still makes us laugh when we think of it!

The amazing views started right away. The hot pools are simply beautiful. We were surprised with how big Yellowstone Lake is! It was our first stop (Grant Village in the Geyser Basin) that we also saw our first wild animal of the trip (not to be our last). There was an Elk eating on the shore of the lake. We all got excited to see one so close!

Just a few minutes after seeing the Elk, we spotted two big bison in an open field just off the road. We did exactlly what we weren't suposed to do and got out of the car to take a close-up picture. The kids were nervous but thought it was really cool to see such big animals!

But this grizzly bear stole the show! It was in a gift shop and the kids didn't want to leave him once they found him.

On the second day we pulled into the Old Faithful Lodge parking lot just as she finished blowing her steam. So we ended up waiting almost 90 minutes to see "THE Show." The kids thought it was pretty neat and we all cheered when she finally erupted. Although we knew we couldn't leave without see Old Faithful, we definitely felt that there were a lot of other sites that were more amazing than this "must-see" attraction.

Once we left Old Faithful we started seeing lots of animals ..a mama bear and her 2 cubs...a mama moose and her cute calf...herds of bison (with big babies)...bald eagles in their nest...2 male and 2 female elk, and (as we were leaving the park near midnight) a lone coyote scurrying off the road and into the darkness.

We were really proud of Laurel, Malcolm and Aubrey who worked hard and earned their Junior Ranger patches. They had to complete at least 4 pages in their newspaper workbooks, and we all learned a lot more about Yellowstone than we realized!

Being in such a beautiful and amazing place reminded us of the topography and land that the Pioneers and Explorers must have seen as they "discovered" the West that we love so much. We had so much fun that we're already planning to return in a few years. Next time we actually want to stay IN Yellowstone, rather than outside the park like we did this time.

...and then the adventure continued...

When we left Utah we headed to the Tetons. We stayed one night Colter Bay Village where we slept in a "tent cabin." It's a one room cabin with 2 log cabin walls and 2 canvas walls and a canvas roof. The 2 log cabin walls held 4 built-in bunkbeds and there was a wood stove next to the cabin door. It was an inexpensive place to stay the night ~ and the scenery was unbelievable!! We were impressed with the beautiful Teton Mountains. The kids met their first Forest Ranger (who let them touch Elk scat!). We got our first lessons in Bear Safety, and were careful to keep ALL food and drinks inside the van for the night. We love bears, but didn't want them to eat with us!

More fun with cousins...

After Aspen Grove we were happy to see even MORE cousins. While visiting with the Kings, we were treated to a TLMMA Concert (that's Tyler, Laurel, Matthew, Malcolm & Aubrey Concert). There were in the neighborhood of 15 songs and dances..The kids had a great time!


We also visited the SLC Children's Museum and the Olympic water play area in the new mall area.

We're glad that Karen and Brent let us unload the van and stay with them for a couple of nights!

Summer started early...

...when we pulled the kids out of school a week before it actually ended. We attended a Dillon Family Reunion (Aspen Grove, UT) to celebrate Nonie & Poppa's 50th Wedding Anniversary and Poppa's 75th Birthday. It was the first time in 9 years that the whole family had gathered. Our kids were soooo excited to get to know cousins they'd never met, and reconnect with those they hadn't seen in several years. It was a great week and the kids couldn't get enough of the extended family. They kept expecting to meet up with them as our vacation continued into a second week.

(right now the rest of the pictures are safely secured on Doug's work laptop ~ so secure, in fact, that we can't get them off...we'll post more later)

We hope all of the Dillons had as much fun as we did!