Yellowstone, Lagoon, Cabin Videos

I uploaded a bunch of video clips from both Yellowstone and when we went to Lagoon this past week. You don't have to watch them all, but some are pretty funny. We'll start with Yellowstone (See the Yellowstone 2008 post for more details).







Be sure to watch Brooklyn's dead on shot with Kaley's face in this video. This is on our way up to Mt. Washburn.







At the "Brink of the Upper Falls" of Yellowstone Falls.





Isaac is a little more chicken than Brooklyn when it comes to the "tummy tickle". This kiddie rollercoaster is very mellow, but you can tell by Isaac and Jack's faces that they were a little nervous. Isaac's smile does show through towards the end though.



This was Brooklyn's very first "big" rollercoaster. She barely met the minimum height limit. Little did she know how it was going to be. Her face at the bottom of the first hill is priceless. Listen close to what she says at the very end of the video. There was a glitch in the lap bars not coming up at the end of the ride so we actually went twice in a row. She did much better the second time.



This ride is called Wicked. It has a cool corkscrew in it and of course the start of the ride is the best part where it uses magnets to shoot you straight up vertically, a few seconds at the top and then straight down the other side. Quite the rush.





And finally to finish it off, a cute video of Jack swinging on some swings at the cabin. Notice his "eeeeee" which translates into "weeeee".

More good gas news

So, the slow driving theory doesn't just apply to economy cars. We drove our Trailblazer to Lagoon yesterday (an amusement park north of Salt Lake City) and kept the speed at a constant 65 mph on the freeway. Granted cruise control helps, but normal mpg on our Trailblazer SUV is around 16-18 on the highway. We tested it after just the trip to Lagoon and back (around 155 miles) and got an incredible 25 mpg! That's over a 50% improvement! We were very surprised. Not bad for a 7-passenger SUV, especially when EPA estimates 15 city and 20 highway.

Yellowstone 2008

Kudos to Mike and Marinda and their travel blog. In similar fashion, here's an update on our trip to Yellowstone.

Thursday

• Drove to Yellowstone getting 45 mpg
• Visited Fountain Paint Pots and Biscuit Basin
• Hiked to Mystic Falls (~3 miles)
  
• Watched Old Faithful blow it's top

Friday

• Celebrated Kaley's birthday by hiking Mt. Washburn with her, Pat and Adele (6.5 miles and 1,400 elevation gain with a 10,234 ft. summit)
• Saw 1/2 a bear en route (partially obstructed by a tree)
  
• Had ice cream at Tower Falls
• Kevin saw a Grizzly Bear in Lamar Valley through a spotting scope.
  
• Had pulled pork sandwiches with extended family for dinner
• Kevin learned about Yellowstone's extended eco system at the ranger program
• Tami unsuccessfully attempts to get children to sleep before 10:30 pm

Saturday

• Met extended family for very big, big breakfast
• Hiked to Natural Bridge trying to keep up with Tami's 91 yr old Grandma. (~3 miles)
• Rented 40 hp 18' motorboat for an hour and explored Yellowstone Lake including some pretty rough water (went ~17 miles on the lake)
• Visited Mud Volcano area and ever so popular Dragon's Mouth. (~ 1 mile)
• Brooklyn and Dad went to the Brink of the Upper Falls (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone)
• Saw big fish at LeHardy Rapids.
• Another big family dinner (taco salad) with delicious raspberry homemade ice cream.
• Went to ranger program and learned about the Bison/Buffalo of Yellowstone.

Sunday

• Packed up the car and saw a snowshoe hare outside our cabin.
• Had a quick sacrament meeting with family and talked about family traditions at Yellowstone.
• Stopped by Artist Point on the way out to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone again.
• Got 42 mpg on the way home.

Mixed in with many buffalo traffic jams and elk, we saw 2 coyotes and tons of mosquitoes. Weather was in the low 70s with afternoon sprinkles. The kids were true troopers and hiked a total of about 15 miles over 48 hours. Can't wait until next year! To see all the fun pictures, click the link below.

Yellowstone 2008

Slow down!

So, we happened to go to Yellowstone this weekend and were debating on whether to take our Trailblazer SUV or the 2-door Chevy Cavalier. We decided we could save around $120 in gas if we took the Cavalier, so with all 3 kids in the back seat (with carseats even), we packed every square inch of the trunk and left.

There's a radio ad by Chevron airing here in Utah that says if you drive 55 mph instead of 65 mph, you can get an extra 30-60 miles on a tank of gas. I wasn't about to drive 55 all the way to Yellowstone, but I did try an experiment to keep it at 65 the whole way, which tried my patience, especially since it's 75 mph speed limit from Ogden to Idaho Falls (I normally drive around 8 mph over the speed limit).

Just to give you a baseline, the Cavalier gets good gas mileage (around 34-36 mpg). I didn't expect to get a lot better than that, but we filled up in Rexburg, ID after going about 300 miles and when the car only took 6.5 gallons, I was surprised. If you do the calculation, that's about 45 mpg (25% improved efficiency or about 150 more miles on one tank of gas)! Pretty incredible.

So, the moral of the story . . . drive slower, don't "jack rabbit" when sitting at a stop light, and I bet you'll be surprised. I know our lives are busy, but are we always that rushed? It's worth experimenting at least, especially when gas is as expensive as it is.

Swingset Project

Well, about 20 hours, 378 pieces of wood, 2, 482 pieces of hardware and 58 miscellaneous parts later, the swingset is finally done. We purchased this swingset at Sam's Club back in the Spring when it was on sale. It's been sitting in the garage for the past 2 months while we landscaped the backyard. On the cover of the manual, it says "Assembly Requires Two Moderately Skilled People 20-24 hours". A pretty good estimate. The manual had 111 steps spread across 74 pages. Luckily my dad was in town and he helped me quite a bit. I spent several late evenings out with that old manual. We got to know each other pretty well. But the good news is that all of the wood pieces were used. Nothing major was left over (besides a handful of extra screws and washers. And it was a blast putting together. Kudos to Leisure Time products for a very easy to follow manual and very well marked pieces of wood and hardware. Here's all of the hardware before we started. It was a little intimidating to say the least.

I also decided to forego the grass under the swingset. I didn't feel like mowing the lawn underneath it. We're actually planning on getting some of that rubber mulch (made out of recycled tires) and using that as a ground cover. Supposed to be safer (for falling) than bark or sand or grass.

The beginnings of the clubhouse and balcony.

Balcony complete and the start of the roof of the clubhouse.

And finally the completed swingset. I like the tunnel that goes over the swings as well as the little crows nest at the end of the tunnel. The ladder that goes up the left side has rock climbing handholds to make it more interesting to climb up. I really like the covered porch that leads to the top of the slide. Under the clubhouse there is a deck below and a bench to sit on. Below the balcony (right behind my dad) is a place for a sandbox, however I'm not sure we'll be putting sand in there. Here's to years of fun and entertainment.