Vacation Log: 5 - The End.

I know that it's been a while since I last updated, but it's been busy the last few days.

August 9th:

We drove to Yellowstone and did some hiking around Old Faithful. There were a lot more people there than I have seen in a while. It probably didn't help that author C.J. Box was there to autograph books and such. It was a poopy day. The weather was shifting between rain and sunshine. We visited the new visitor center. It was very nice and more hands on than others in the park. We hiked along the geyser basin for what felt like forever. I have to say, though the geysers and thermal pools are beautiful, they smell like rotten eggs and sulfur. I absolutely hate that smell with a passion. For my suffering, we ate dinner at the Hamilton Store which is right next to the Old Faithful Inn. It's a gift shop and a diner. I love their burgers and their fries. Then we went back to Aunt Barb's and Uncle Ted's house.

[Pictures will be added ASAP]

August 10th:

We didn't spend the whole day at Yellowstone because we needed to get back to Livingston to pack since we were leaving in the morning. We went to the South Rim Ridge Hike of the Lower Falls and walked the whole 1.5 miles of it. I have to say, though it gave us great views of the canyon and the falls, the hike was mostly uphill the whole way there. It was pretty steep in places and the altitude made it difficult to breath. We started that hike at around 9:30am and didn't get back to the car until 12:30pm. Thankfully, I had my knee brace so it didn't bother me as much as it would've.

We went to have lunch at a picnic area with one of the worst smelling outhouses that I've ever been in. It smelled like someone tried to cover the smell with a freshener that only seemed to blend with the odor and make it a hundred times worse. On the way back to Livingston, we got stuck in a couple of traffic jams caused by people stopping to take pictures of buffalo and elk. Seriously, there are a TON of animals in the park, and they stop to take pictures of just six of them. People were leaving their cars in the middle of the road while they got out to take pictures of them and getting too close in the meantime. Now, I can understand that maybe this was their first time seeing them, but if you're going to take pictures, pull over to the side of the road and then get out.

August 11th & 12th:

On the two days that we drove home, we were either following or being followed by rain clouds. When we drive through South Dakota, on the horizon in front of us, there was a gigantic thunder cloud. We could see the lightning and knew that it was a bad one. We were between Rapid City and Presho when we sat a total of 7 trucks rolled onto their sides in the median. There was one that laid across the highway so they had to divert traffic off of the highway. I was driving at this point and thoroughly freaked out. But, there wasn't any wind causing me to have difficulty driving, so we suspected that we were going with the wind, not against it.

We stopped in Presho to get gas and switch drivers. But as it turns out, the gas station was out of power. There was a group of bikers that told dad that they heard of 80-85 mile an hour winds coming from the storm that was just ahead of us. So I happily handed over the wheel. We hadn't hit the storm yet, when we were shown the most spectacular display of lightning that I've ever seen in my life. I'm serious. I've never seen lightning like that. It would start off zipping across the sky and stay visible in one spot for a few seconds. There was this one where it started on my side of the car and zipped to Jake's side--all the while it would crash down to earth while it went. It lit up the whole sky with colors of blue and yellow. It was absolutely amazing. It wasn't so amazing when we hit the storm. The wind was absolutely terrible and the rain made visibility next to impossible. Though the speed limit is 75, we were going, at the most, 65. By the time we made it to Sioux City in Iowa, we beat the storm there but it was close to midnight. I didn't get to sleep until almost one thirty in the morning.

We left around eight the next morning and the storm had hit us again, though not as hard; it was more windy than rainy. When we drove over the Missouri River, they had sandbags up on either side of the road because the water was SOOO high! It was ridiculious! There was a farm that was under water and the water was just on the other side of the bags of sand! When we left Iowa, it was still cloudy the while way back to Michigan, but it wasn't horrible. The storm that was chasing us, hit Michigan this morning while Jake was mowing the lawn.

You know how when you get home from a long vacation, you just want to relax? Well, that didn't happen with us. We had a power outage while Dad and Jake were out west that caused something in dad's computer to fry and now he has to order a new part for it because it won't start. We had a few leaky pipes that we found out about while I was in the shower-I didn't have any hot water to speak of. The roof is leaking in my grandpa's living room and we now know isn't caused by my air conditioner that is right above where the crack in the ceiling is. And lastly, when we figured out that the pipes were leaking, they were leaking in the dining room (because the ceiling was wet) and in the basement (because there was water down there were there shouldn't be). My, today has just been a mess one right after the other.

My, it's good to be home.

[Pictures will be added at a later date.]