The Carter Family Blog

Hello everyone, today was day 10 of the Carter Family Road trip. We went to Grand Teton National park today after a sleep in until 9am, followed by breakfast.

We went to Jenny Lake where we took a boat shuttle to the other side of the lake and hiked up a long trail to both the Hidden Falls and then on up to 7200 feet where we looked out from Inspiration Point. It was a long and sweaty hike but we felt good when we had done it. After taking the boat back to our starting point, we had a late picnic lunch.

We then went for a drive to explore Signal Mountain and Jackson Lake Lodge. As we were all tired and hot, we found a spot on the bank of the Snake River right next to a dam, and parked the car. Abigail and I went in the river which was very cold. I dunked twice and Abigail dunked once. It was very fun. While at the river, we also saw my favorite bird of prey, the osprey.

Around 6:30 we dried off, packed up and drove to Jackson Hole for dinner. We went for a walk around the town, admiring the antler arches on the village green. We had a late dinner at the Snake River Brewing company, followed by ice cream at Moos.

We made it back to our hotel by 10:30 and are off to bed before heading for Sun Valley tomorrow.

Love,

Oliver (and Mummy)

Today was our last day in Yellowstone, and I think we saved the best two things for last. We woke up in the West Yellowstone Gate hotel, where we had breakfast and I had a really good waffle. After breakfast we packed up the car, checked out and headed into Yellowstone through the west entrance.

Our first stop was Old Faithful, once we arrived we went to the geyser and sat on the bench and waited for the geyser to blow. We waited forty-five minutes for the biggest flume.There were a bunch of little blasts but once the biggest one went, it went about 70 feet, and it was really cool. We then watched it go on, it was about 4 minutes long but by the end it went back down to the little blasts again. After we got a picnic lunch and then went and found a shady picnic place to eat lunch.

After lunch we went to the Grand Prismatic Spring and hiked up the hill so that we could see the spring in a different way. It was so cool and there were so many colors incorporated and got some very cool pictures. After a nice hike we got back in the car and headed to Grant Village.

At Grant Village Ollie and I both got a double scoop of ice cream. I had peanut butter chip and moose tracks, Ollie had mint chocolate chip and moose tracks. We then got back the car and drove through Grand Teton National Park to our hotel in Alpine, WY, south of Jackson Hole. When we got to our hotel we unpacked the car and rested until we went to dinner. We ate at our hotel, The Flying Saddle, and it was really good. After dinner Ollie and I spent a lot of time in the pool and then came back to get ready for bed.

Today was our first day in West Yellowstone. We went to the Grizzly Bear & Wolf Discovery Center which was very cool. It is a sanctuary for animals who can no longer survive in the wild for a variety of reasons.  We saw wolves laying down in the shade; they had 7 wolves and 8 grizzlies.

Next we saw a big male grizzly named Sam and then we went to their raptor exhibits which included an owl, a peregrine falcon and two bald eagles. After that we went to the gift shop and I got a stuffed animal and to DVDs next we went to the theater and listened to a talk about birds of prey she had a American kestrel, rough-legged hawk and a small owl it was great. before leaving we checked the wolves and the bears and there were 4 bears out two were playing the water and 1 wolf was a little more active then we left

After the Discovery Center, we went into the park and went to Artists Paint Pots there was one that we thought was the bestist was a bubbling pit of md that shot up mud around 1 ft. then next to it it had the same thing but it hadn’t dried out yet and popped bubbles instead f shooting mud after that at 4:45we went on an awesome wagon trip to a western cookout on the wagon there and back our wrangler told us about the area at the cookout I had 2 stakes it was delicious our horses names were Oscar and Felix the only white horses of all the wagons and the best they in the medieval days the same breed was bread for French war horses they were pretty cute I pet both until it was time to go back on the wagon of course after I ate then we went to the hotel and went to bed

                       From,

                                        Oliver 

Today was an exciting day full of driving and walking, some of both. We started off the day in Gardiner since last night was the last night in the Victorian inn, which I have to say was very cute. We all awoke from a very deep sleep since we had been bombarded with loud fireworks last night. I have to say they were pretty spectacular so I’m glad that we got to see them. Well then back to today, we all woke up and then went down to breakfast. This morning I had a muffin, a donut, some yogurt, and some cereal.

After breakfast we packed up the car and then headed out into Yellowstone. We first drove through Mammoth and kept on got until we reached Norris where we got out and went to find the Norris geyser basin.

The loop around was around 1.6 miles but Ollie and I handled it fine. As we walked around there were many geysers and hot springs, each one was different in some way. They either were different colors, had a different shape or erupted differently. We went by one called The Steamboat Geyser which had erupted more than 300 feet in the air just last year.

The Steamboat is the tallest geyser in the world when it goes off. Also let’s just say that these geysers are very stinky and smell of rotten eggs because of the sulfur. This bothered us a bit but mostly mummy and Ollie. As you can see above it was quite stinky sometimes because we had to hold our noses. After we got back in the car and drove to a nice place by the Yellowstone river and had a picnic. There we ate lunch and Ollie and I played around the logs. After a nice lunch we headed to the mud volcano which was also another patch of geyser basins and hot springs. When we got there, there was a lot of people standing on one side of the boardwalk, looking at a bison rolling around in the dirt and making quite the show for everyone. The was a loop so we wandered on it and saw the mud volcano, the dragon’s cauldron and many others.

A bison and I even had a staring competition (as seen above) I won because he started to puff and made a noise at me and he moved. Afterwards we got back in the car and drove along the Yellowstone lake, and while driving we saw a bunch of cars parked and a bunch of people. So we parked our car and got out, it turns out they were a bunch of elk just grazing and eating. It was pretty cool to see them so close.

We then were back on the road again and after a little drive we got to Grand Prismatic spring. We walked around and saw a spring that was made of so many colors it was really beautiful. After a little while we were back on the road again and headed out so that we could get to our hotel.

We reached our hotel check in, took all our stuff and and then headed out for dinner. We had dinner at Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon which is known for the best pizza in West Yellowstone. And I have to agree because it was pretty darn good. We came back to the hotel, I helped mom with laundry and then Ollie and I went for a swim. After a nice swim we came back to our room and got ready for bed.

Hi everyone it was an awesome day 6 on the Carter family road trip. It was our first time in Yellowstone National Park and our first time white water rafting! First we started out the day with the white water rafting, it was so cool the four of us and our guide, whose name was Jack, went on the boat. We all paddled at the start but “rode the bull” which was where you sat on the front of the boat. It was so cool and my guide pushed me in off the boat which was very surprising because the water was cold but it felt good. And then he pulled me back in the boat. Abigail rode the bull and daddy pushed her in the river. Then daddy jumped in and our guide too. We saw three osprey, it was an awesome raft trip.

Later we had lunch and went to a waterfall and then we headed towards Canyon Lodge and got on a bus with our guide for the Lamar Valley Wildlife Excursion.  We saw Bison, Elk, Deer, Pronghorn and even a mommy black bear and her cub – they were so cute! We had a fantastic time then later that night the fireworks went off for Fourth of July right across the street from our hotel. We had breakfast for dinner because all the restaurants were closed. The fireworks were great but very noisy. We finally went to bed around midnight – we had a great day.

                                  From,

                                                Oliver

Today we woke up in Fairmont Hot Springs and went down to the dining room and had breakfast. After breakfast we headed down to the pool where we spent our whole morning. Today Ollie and I got waterslide passes for the morning so that we could go down it as many times as we wanted. After swimming for two hours and going down the waterslide, head and feet first many times, we had to go pack up and check out. We got in the car and headed to Butte. In Butte we went to the mining museum which was really cool and there were so many replicas of the actual mining equipment.

After, we had lunch at a place called Humming Bird café, which was really good. After lunch we got in the car and drove to Gardiner, MT. During the ride Ollie watched a movie and I accidently fell asleep, The drive took three hours but we entertained ourselves.

When we arrived we checked in and went up to our room. the hotel is very small as it is in an old house and is very Victorian. We then went out to dinner at the Iron Horse, we got a lot of food but managed to eat most of it as we shared ribs, Elk burger and buffalo meatloaf – mummy has sampled her share of meat for the next five years! After dinner we walked around the town and found the Yellowstone arch. We then came back to our hotel and settled down.

Hello!

It’s day 4 on the Carter family road trip. Today was our only full day at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. We have gone to Crystal Park, deep into the Pioneer Mountains scenic byway, where we dug for crystals in the ground. It was a very successful dig as we got small scepters of quartz and some big clusters of quartz, it was very cool! Not so cool w were the gazillions mosquito bites Mummy and Abba brought back…

Then we went to the ghost town of Coolidge which was an old mining town with fallen houses that have been completely decimated by time and weather.  There was even a house in a river right in the town. Later we went in the hot spring pool back at our hotel which have been cooled to 94 degrees. And at the end of the day while writing this blog right now,  my dad is outside on the small deck taking pictures of a big electric storm, so that was our day!

                             With Love,

                                                   Ollie 

P.S. from the parents:

We are all surviving the roadtrip remarkably well! Abigail even texted her BFF that it is going better than expected (we called her on this, suggesting she must have really been dreading it??) Oliver has his usual bursts of choral energy, no Nessum Dorma, rather the latest obnoxious “wiggle wiggle” and vestiges of England soccer songs.. my boys are faithful to the bitter end.

Nick and I have enjoyed the driving so far, listening to the book, “ A Piano in the Pyrenees” and dying laughing over the raining bugs that accumulate on our windshield as we drive!

Perhaps our favorite road sign which we did NOT get a photo of, sadly, sums up why ALL should come to Montana…for the annual “Testicle Festival” of course! The sign included the dates of the festival for the next three years at least!!!!!

Today we woke up at the Holiday Inn, had breakfast and then packed up the car. But instead this time of driving we went a spent a few hours at Triple Play. We decided to do the non-wet rides, so we got a special deal that allowed us to do three attractions and then $5.00 worth of tokens downstairs in the arcade. 

We first headed to mini golf were Ollie and I went head to head to see who would win. Let’s just say that in the beginning I needed a little help but as we went on I got a lot better. We both got a lot of hole in 2 and hole in 3; however in the end I didn’t do enough to beat my little brother.

We next decided to do go-karting, I will be honest I was a little nervous that I would be pretty bad at it. We stood in line and then got in our cars, Ollie had number 11 and I had number 4. Once he said go we were off on our way. I almost passed Ollie and sadly I did get lapped by some people but I still thought it was tons of fun. After many laps we came back in and may I just say I wasn’t the greatest at slowing down and “parking” the car. Next the four of us went downstairs to the arcade and after winning many games, and gaining many tickets we finally ran out of tokens. Ollie and I decided that we wanted to do it together so we put all our tickets together and ended up with 355 tickets. Most likely one of our best records. We both got one big thing and then of course, candy (the best) . Since we had one more attraction to do we really wanted to do go-karting again, so we did. This time we had the whole track just to the two of us and Ollie got car number 2 and I got car number 8. I definitely think that I did a lot better this second time and so did Ollie. We then got in the car and said goodbye to the Holiday Inn in and went to the lake Coeur d’Alene to have our picnic lunch. After lunch we got in the car and headed to Montana.

After three hours we arrived at my mom’s friend’s house where we were having dinner. For dinner we had buffalo burgers and then we all walked to an ice cream truck for dessert. After a really nice time we got back in the car and headed to Fairmount Hot Springs.

Hello everyone it has been a very exciting day 2 of the Carter family road trip to Yellowstone. Today we have been in the very fun Silverwood theme park and Boulder Beach water park. We have gone on lots of rides and water slides ( Timber Terror, Ricochet Rapids, Thunder Canyon, Scrambler etc.) All the rides were very fun except for one that I didn’t like so much. It was the big Timber Terror roller coaster. Of course daddy and Abba loved it but mummy and I weren’t so sure. But in the end mummy loved it as well. I didn’t like the first big drop and the bumps after but I was ok with the parts where we turned and looped around but all of us still liked it. The other rides were great. Thunder Canyon was a river ride with bumps and splashes, Ricochet Rapids was a huge family water slide which we waited 45 minutes for but it was still worth it, Scrambler is a spinny thing that spins you around far and fast. Overall it was a awesome day we all enjoyed it

                    love,

                                   Oliver Carter

Today we headed off on our first of many adventures of the Carter family road trip. The journey from Seattle, Washington to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho took around six hours with the exceptions of potty breaks and a lunch break. We stopped off at Carl’s Jr. in Ellensburg for lunch and each had a burger and fries. During the drive Ollie and I watched two movie, played hangman and tic tac toe and drew. We arrived in Idaho at 4:00 and then made our way to the hotel. We checked in, went up to our room and then got ready to go to the indoor water park that was located right next to the hotel. The waterpark included four waterslides and wave pool and a mini water playground. Lets just say we all went down the waterslides many times. And by the end we had all decided that our favorite was the “toilette bowl”. After a couple hours in the water we headed out for dinner. We went to Moontime pub for dinner which was quite good. After dinner we headed back to our hotel and quieted down in our lovely room.

First road trip photo

Time for a photo, wait Abigail’s not ready

Welcome to Idaho

Waterpark fun!