Monday, July 26, 2010

Feeling Refreshed and Recharged!!

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Can you guess by this picture where we have been?  We’ve had this trip to Yellowstone planned for a long time!  It was heaven! 
In all we drove around 50 hours roundtrip, making our way through many places and states that we had never been to!
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There was plenty of kids getting to enjoy the outdoors to the fullest…
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Lots of “way too up-close-and-personal” moments with animals…
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Everywhere we went there were so many different kinds of animals from bison, to coyotes, to uinta ground squirrels, to canadian geese, to elk, to moose, to bald eagles, and more!  I have children that want to grow up to be animal rescuers, so this was HUGE to them….
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so many beautiful plants that do not grow around us…
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of course the landscape and views were breathtaking, no matter which way you were looking!!…
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We actually hiked most of the way to the bottom of that amazing waterfall.  I have 3 pretty young children and was sooo proud of them for doing this difficult and scary hike!  My son told me he was more than just scared, he was, “scared and totally fweaked out!!”  In the end, even he thought it was well worth it! 

We hiked so many trails and went on so many boardwalk paths.  Again, I’m so proud of my kids most of all because they loved it all.  It was not me forcing them into this.  It means so much to me that my children enjoy this kind of thing as much as I do. 

We are trying to visit as many national parks as we can.  They each got their Junior Ranger badges, as they always do, and we got sooo many stamps in our national parks passports!  We love all of the visitor centers and ranger stations with all the history, information, dioramas, and movies!
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And we stayed in amazingly cute cabins in the midst of all that beauty!

Our road trip also included a much needed reunion with family, including cousins (and their children that I had never met) that live out of the country, and most of all my wonderful Grandma that I named my daughter after (she’s one of those Grandmas that everyone fights over who gets to name their child after!)! My whole family is super amazing!  I have the most loving and kind Aunts and Uncles, and fun cousins to boot!  I’m so thankful for these wonderful people being in my life!  So much to live up to!

This trip was also partly made with some of my siblings and their families in my car, and caravanning with us!  We have done this so many times and it is always a hoot!  Thanks to Erika’s husband who stopped at all the best places (including an amazingly cute visitor center in such a beautiful setting) and took all the rural roads that made the drive as much of the fun of the trip as the rest of it was!  If you ever need an 11 hour trip to take 16 hours, we’ve got it figured out for you! ;)  I wouldn’t have changed any of it (except maybe my poor nephew who puked, poor guy), and making it longer!  I did not want to leave my family or Yellowstone.

No other vacation or trip could have recharged me like this one did. 

What helps you to recharge and reset your priorities?

Rebecca

9 comments:

Shorty said...

Great photos! So glad you guys got to experience so much nature. We just completed a Canadian Rocky Mountain train excursion and were lucky enough to take in lots of nature. We loved it! There is so much beauty to see!

I found the trip to kind of reset and recharge me, but as soon as I returned to work I began questioning my purpose in life... am I really enjoying life to the fullest? I know the answer is 'no' so I'm trying to figure out what to change.

This past week I had to say goodbye to my closest little pet companion and that has caused me to reflect more and kind of try to recharge. So, thanks to our recent trip and now my recent loss I'm really questioning my priorities in life. I'm hoping to maximize all the good things and not keep getting stuck in the 'rat race', so to speak.

Melissa said...

I love vacations with lots of walking and exploring - so much more relaxing and worthwhile than big "destination" vacations to amusement parks

CitricSugar said...

Looks like you had a blast! Wow!

Heather at Happy Chippy Junk said...

I'd love a link to the cabins!!

inadvertent farmer said...

What a wonderful place to go! Yes getting away into God's BIG outdoors does tend to reset priorities...glad you all had such a good vacation!

Just a reminder that we are getting near the end of the kinderGARDENS series and I'm urging everyone to link up as often as possible with their best posts. Soon the judges will be looking them over!

Have a happy Thursday! Kim

Anonymous said...

What helps me recharge my batteries? The exact same thing you just did! Getting totally away from the world I know and immersing myself in the wonders of the natural world.

I am so happy that your trip lived up to your dreams and expectations! Wish I could have joined you. But it sounds as if keeping up would have been a challenge!:-)

Cassie@You Go Girl said...

Have your legs recovered from all those steps? LOL! We hike Uncle Tom's trail every time we go. It's my favorite hike in the park. Steps and high altitude...always refreshing. So glad you enjoyed your trip. We are very lucky to live so close. Believe it or not, my girls have friends who have never been to Yellowstone or Glacier (also a short drive away). That always blows my mind! They don't know what they are missing. Do they? I hope all is well in the land of Roots and Wings.

Take care,
Cassie @ You Go Girl

Unknown said...

I would also love a link to the cabins. I think the chalkboard idea on your most recent post is adorable. Love your blog.

RootsAndWingsCo said...

There is no direct line or link to those amazing cabins. Here's the information for them though:
Xanterra Parks & Resorts-866-GEYSERLAND
www.YellowstoneNationalParkLodges.com

Those amazingly cute one room cabins were in Mammoth Hot Springs. They were called Budget Lodges.

Hope this helps! I'm excited for everyone else to stay there! It was so amazing!

Rebecca