I was four months pregnant with my second child when we took our first trip to Yellowstone. It doesn’t sound bad except I looked closer to full term. All my boys were born four to five weeks early, but I didn’t know that until after the third one. My oldest was 20 months old and we were in a pop up camper. Not a trailer, but a camper on a truck bed that the top popped up. It had a sink, a bed over the cab of the truck and a dining area, but did not included the most needed accommodation for a pregnant woman. That’s right a toilet. My husband graciously bought me a porta potty that sat in front of the door when we went to bed.
 
 Anyway, back to Yellowstone. No I think I’ll continue down this line for just a little bit longer.
This was no vacation. It seemed I spent most of the time between the sink and the table. One meal ran into another until bedtime. It was hard to get past me so my husband spent most of his time outside with our son. I knew what it must have been like to be a bull in a china shop, thank goodness there was nothing for me to break. This was all I remembered of Yellowstone, so when our three boys were three, five and seven we went back.
 
 This time the boys were madder then heck because we wouldn’t allow them to run down the board walks. My fear radar was spinning like a top, I had a death grip on the youngest, and my husband was twirling like a whirlybird holding on to the other two. Of course, they tended to go in opposite directions.
 
When I lived in Germany I was only three and my mom had one of those harness things. Too bad, we didn’t have a couple of those. We spent more time walking through the forest where we didn’t have to restrain them. So again I had few memories of Yellowstone.
 
One year my folks took the boys on a trip while my husband and I headed back to Yellowstone. Do or die, by golly, we were going to see that place. Wow! Old Faithful was incredible with it’s 100 plus feet of pure raw power. The vibrant colors of the hot springs are almost too indescribable.  The photo doesn’t do it justice.
 
You can’t leave Yellowstone without visiting at least one of the waterfalls. But like the Lay’s Potato Chip commercial, “I bet you can’t eat just one”. I would say “I bet you can’t see just one”. You could spend days and not see everything nor hike every trail.
Michelle in our critique group has just left to work at Yellowstone for the next six months. I am envious and our group laughed about a road trip. You know — that’s not a bad idea.

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