Thermopolis- Day 1

Our first night at Tamarask campground was not very peaceful. Wind River and the Wind River Valley lived up to its name. We had about an hour of extremely strong winds in the night. The kids were soon tired of their tents folding down and hitting them in the face. Isaac Colson made a game out of it and kept saying, “Hello tent, thank you for scratching my face for me.” I had visions of children tumbling across the dry lake bed inside their tents but when I peaked outside, all was well and the sky was an amazing field of stars.


Tuesday we had a lazy morning. After breakfast, the boys set off on the lake with the inflatable raft while the rest of the kids played around the campsite. I spent way more time than I wanted to (20 minutes) combing through Elizabeth's hair. There isn't a lot of down time for me and hair becomes low on the priority list. When we were at the KOA, we ran into a man who was biking across Wyoming into Montana. As he walked by me for the third or fourth time carting laundry to the laundry room (this time at 7 am), he told me “You are one busy lady!” This trip feels that way!

I continue to be amazed at how spoiled these kids are when it comes to produce. We're on a vacation, tent camping, and they're enjoying: fresh pineapple, mangoes, apricots, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, honeydew melon. I brought all the fruit from home that wouldn't keep for three weeks. They don't seem to think there's anything unusual about their tasty treats. Maybe there isn't but it sure feels like a blessing of abundance to me!

It's a 20 minute drive from our campground to Thermopolis. Our first stop in Thermopolis was the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. We spent 2 ½ hours there, viewing the dinosaurs on display and going on a tour to the dig site. There was a viewing platform over the bones where we stood while the guide explained what we were seeing. I wanted to hide my face in shame when William spilled his water bottle down onto the bones. The guide stood their shocked for a few moments before stammering, “That's never happened before!” Then, Miriam dropped her souvenir penny down as well. Yep, the Dicksons made their mark at the dinosaur dig site! After the tour, I asked Miriam, “Do you want to go to the park and play or do you want to see more dinosaurs?” We were all surprised when she said, “Dinosaurs!”

inside the museum

standing on the cat walk, right before the water spills

The bones we were looking at were this type of dinosaur's

see that pink water bottle, he's about to spill it all!

Once we could pull Miriam away from the dinosaurs, we headed to Dairyland for ice cream. The kids all ended up getting slushies and I got cheesecake flavored soft serve. Once I'd eaten half of it, I realized raspberry topping would have elevated it to even better. Maybe next time!

We dropped the boys off at the skate park in town and I took the kids to the town playground. The library was right next door so first we went in there so I could check email and update the blog. The kids read stories while waiting for me. The park reminded us of the wooden playground in Marysville. This one had more shaded tunnels which is probably good considering how hot it gets here. The boys were just a block away at the skate park. After about an hour, they skated over to us, totally overheated.

We went back to camp and everyone went swimming in the lake. There are five families camping in our loop of the campground. Of those five, three were running generators until 10 pm. I understand how handy it is to be in a trailer and be able to entertain yourself when the weather goes sideways while you're camping. But, last night the weather was perfect. Since they were providing plenty of noise pollution, I let the kids be loud and crazy. I spent another 20 minutes of Elizabeth's hair and I think we conquered the tangles. It was very peaceful to sit at the lake and watch the fish jump. Some of them were swimming just a few feet from shore. We found a sandy area to park ourselves at. When the little ones got too cold for swimming, they enjoyed building: volcanoes, dinosaurs, and finally castles.