We went camping in the Grand Tetons and drove up to Yellowstone a few times during the week. I was pregnant with our youngest daughter the last time we were here, so it was fun watching everything through her eyes for the first time.

This trip was extra special because we spread the ashes of my Dad’s parents in Yellowstone at a spot my Grandpa picked 10 years ago when my Dad and Grandpa were going through Yellowstone together. This was a week filled with family and so many wonderful memories were created. ❤

Camping adventures with kids always include highs and lows and ours was no different. We were blessed with many highs and a couple lows sprinkled themselves in. 😉

Saturday – June 3rd

Chili Dogs for Dinner – We left really early so having a super easy dinner was a perfect plan and who doesn’t love a hotdog cooked on a campfire stick? The chili was a freezer meal that I threw into my crockpot to cook on high when we got to the campsite to have ready at dinnertime.

Our first afternoon was pretty low key. My husband took our girls on a “bear hunt” around the campsite. My parents and nephew also arrived today, so it was nice to be able to have some quiet time to visit with them while the bear hunt was taking place.

Bears continued to be a hot topic for most of the trip. Being “Bear Aware” was brought to our attention by the many, many signs. When we checked in they mentioned that two had already been seen by the campsite. My nephew was on top of reminding us to stay “Bear Aware” whenever he felt we were getting a little to loosey goosey.

Sunday – June 4th

We started the day with breakfast burritos that my husband made last weekend that we popped into the freezer to save for the trip. Breakfast burritos seem to be the tastiest while camping and heading out early for antelope hunting in the fall.

My husband and Dad were super excited to go fishing and we headed out to do that this morning at the Jackson Lake Dam. This is the same spot that my Grandpa would take us to when I was a little girl, so it’s fun now to get to take our kids to the same spot.

My son did a lot of the driving today (and other days too.) It’s still crazy to me that he is old enough to be driving let alone driving all of us around in the Grand Tetons.

We had wonderful luck! My Dad caught a fish on his fist cast! Everyone fishing caught at least one fish. After we had caught three and let them go – we decided we should start keeping them and ended up having five lake trout to cook for dinner.

My Uncle and his wife joined us and my parents at our campsite later in the evening. It was great having an opportunity to visit. The kids, of course, went to town on smores!

Monday – June 5th

This is the day that was chosen to spread the ashes of my Grandpa and Grandma. We headed towards Yellowstone mid-morning after a delicious egg and bacon sandwich. Funny story… my Mom bought the same toaster for her camper that we had from Walmart that was only $7.99. Ours wouldn’t work after two sets of English muffins and hers did great the rest of the trip.

The afternoon before my Dad and Mom went looking for the spot where my Grandpa wanted the ashes spread. It had been 10 years since my Dad and Grandpa had the discussion and my Dad wanted to find it before we all headed to the spot this morning. It was such a blessing that we could go and do this together.

In the afternoon we did “touristy” things like visiting the Yellowstone Lodge (my Grandpa’s favorite) and waiting for Old Faithful while eating ice cream cones.

For dinner we snacked on veggies and hummus while hamburgers were cooking and hotdogs were being roasted. My Mom and I were sad to see that the hamburger buns we bought just before leaving for camping were already moldy. (I won’t name brands… but it wasn’t generic and I probably won’t buy them again for a long time.) Needless to say… that is why my hamburger is cut up and put on a hotdog bun. It was still delicious!

Tuesday – June 6th

Today included more fishing and then heading to Jackson Hole to look for parts we needed to fix water shenanigans in our camper. The question is this… is it really camping if there isn’t at least one camper shenanigan? I admire the people that full out camp inside tents because it tended to be rainy in the afternoons.

We had walking tacos for dinner tonight with my parents and my cousin’s family. My Uncle and his wife joined us after they got back to camp for a late night of visiting and kiddos playing. It was wonderful having the extra time to catch up.

Thanks for stopping by! I’m hopeful that I can finish up part 2 soon.