Union Pacific Train Museum in West Yellowstone

Today Brian and I went into West to visit the train museum because I had never been in and wanted to see what it was about.  Now I know and I won't take littles to it.  My history buff friends will love it, though.

 There were several wonderful displays on fly fishing, snow travel, early workers in the park called 'savages', among many others.

 There is a stuffed bear called 'Snaggletooth' because he had a prominent lower tooth and was very recognizable.  Some poachers killed him and then someone had him stuffed. 

There was even a trax, the newest idea in retrofitting ATVs for the snow....  hmm....  Seems like we already knew about trax...


There was an attempt to entertain little ones with this table but I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if we had brought kiddos. 

I do think it is worth the entrance fee.  There were several side rooms where videos were being shown on topics like the fires in the park, the earthquake that formed Quake Lake, and other topics of local interest. 

Down the street at The Branch restaurant you can walk through a real passenger rail car from 100 years ago.  It is nicely restored and very fancy. 

Transoms in every room

They traveled in style back then.

Let's Go For a Swim in the Lake

Now that the old trailer is gone, Scot and Chris are trying to relax a bit.  They invited us to go for a swim off the boat this afternoon.  What a lovely treat it was.

My Honey

A summer resident's mode of travel to the cabin...  seriously.

Max's fam floats the Buffalo

Actually, Max and family were our guinea pigs for floating the Buffalo.  We have never done it but heard it was great for littles, so we launched them and hung out at Ponds for an hour. 

An hour was all the little ones could handle so this was a good choice for this trip.  They had fun playing in the water all the way down and especially at the end.

The Trouble Makers Take Yellowstone!

Kelsey named the three cousins, Ava, Ethan, and Jack, the Trouble Makers.  They rode in one car with Max and Kelsey, while all the rest of us non-trouble makers rode in our car. 

The Trouble Makers

We all went to Yellowstone.  For Vinny it was a first so we just had to show him all the highlights we could cram into one short day.

The new relief map at Canyon Visitor's Center

Patty and Randy's Gang of 12

We ate lunch with buffalos

All of us after watching the geyser

Old Faithful Inn - Papa and Jack

 Last but not least Vinny and Max had to pass the man-test by jumping into the Firehole rapids in the cold rain.  The water was much warmer than the air and they had to go on our sketchy directions because none of the rest of us would go in due to the cold.  Vinny had to do it by braille.

We finished up the day with dinner at the Geyser Grill in West Yellowstone.  Great service, great sandwiches.  A good day was had by all.

Rescuing the dock

Scot discovered one of his docks had floated away, so we jumped in to help rescue it. Of course, this involved a boat ride for the grandsons and son-in-law, as well as a few others of us.

The dock had to be moved off the shore and into the water, then hooked up to the boat to be towed back.

It seemed extra weight was needed in the back to keep the dock afloat.

Hmmm.....  Nice muscles...   ;)

Jack and Jackson love ATV rides

Need I say more?

He learned this from me, ya know.

They watched the boats with great interest.

Jack pushes down dead trees

So Jack and Jackson brought up the family last night.  Today Jack bared his biceps, triceps, and other various muscles to push over some dead trees. Papa lent his moral support.  The trees made a nice crack.