Day of the Rainbows

Our 5th day in the Yellowstone area was Bug's day. We each got to pick out one activity for him to enjoy that day. I choose an activity that would bring Bug out of his comfort zone. Bug doesn't always like to venture out of his comfort zone, but he knows that I will always make sure he is safe and if he doesn't enjoy it he won't ever have to try that activity again.

We drove to Gardner, Mt, and found the Wild West Rafting Company. I had done a little research prior to our vacation and knew that they offered just the right combination of class II and III rapids for a little boy's first white river rafting trip.

We weren't able to take the camera with us, so these are actually photographs of the pictures that I ordered later.

We donned our live vests and listened to the instructions and safety tips. Then we carried the raft down to the river.

Wave to the camera!

Up until shortly before this picture was taken Bug was sitting in the middle of the raft next to me. Logan, our guide, asked if anyone felt they hadn't gotten wet enough yet. Bug had enjoyed the bouncy ride but felt that he wasn't wet enough so he raised his hand. Logan tried to convince Bug to sit on the very front of the raft with his feet hanging over. Bug is a hard one to convince though, so he satisfied himself kneeling on the floor.

All forward!

We approached a rapid called Sleeping Giant. It looked fairly calm as we barreled through the water towards it. Bug certainly couldn't say that he didn't get wet enough when the wave engulfed the entire raft, completely covering him at one point.

I recently asked him what the underside of the tidal wave looked like. He said he couldn't tell me as he had his eyes closed.

Bug will always remember that the hungry Yellowstone River devoured his flip flops that day. We had pulled the raft up to feel a hot spring when we got caught in an eddy and thrown towards the rocky shore. The whole crew had to get out and carry the raft over small boulders downstream. Bug slipped as he was climbing out and his bright orange sandals rode the current swiftly past us. A tour guide in another raft did manage to rescue one but the other made it's way towards the gulf.

"Don't worry Mom, I didn't like those flip flops anyway," he told me as we boarded the bus later.

Bug requested that we visit a ghost town for his chosen activity. After we dried off, had a change of clothes, and a brief lunch we loaded up in the truck and drove toward Virgina City, a supposed ghost town. Along the way we drove through a terrible storm. The sight of this rainbow eased the whiteness in my knuckles.

The approach to Virginia City looked promising.

The post office looked authentic and old.

Unfortunately these weren't anything more than old store fronts on newer buildings. It was 7 pm when we pulled into town and almost everything was closed for the evening already.

The opera house was the only thing open and had unfortunately already started the evening program.

We decided to head back to West Yellowstone for some supper. We saw another beautiful rainbow from the Madison Valley overlook.

A short drive up a mountainside later, I realized why we had seen another rainbow.

The hail was coming down so hard that I had to pull over for fear of driving over the edge of the mountain. The road was completely white by the time the storm passed. Bug wanted to get out and save a piece of the gum-sized hail, but I convinced him that it was late and we should get going.

Later that night I sat outside our cabin and star gazed. This was such a relaxing perfect trip so far.