Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

Author Archives: taryngirl

• Vision of the Seas Day 2–A Day at Sea!

  Posted at 9:58 am by taryngirl, on July 31, 2023

  6/9/23

  Before I begin Day 2, I wanted to share a few documents we received in our stateroom on embarkation day.

  The first was the Crown & Anchor Society information. This is their loyalty program. You earn points for each night that you sail. Those points add up, and there are different tiers which offer different benefits.

  

  My children also received one because they are also members.

  

  I purchased a Voom internet package, and the information was also in the room regarding that.

  

  Also on Day 1, after the spa tour, we were given these special offers:

  

  Here is the entire spa price list:

  

  

  And finally, after the drawing for the winners in the spa, the spa manager handed out this special. The price was $169.00 though…not $199.00.

  

  We seriously thought about booking massages, but ended up not doing it. It was sooooo tempting though!

  Here is the Cruise Compass for Day 2:

  

  

  

  

  Day 2 was a Sea Day on the way to Bermuda. My family loves sea days, because we love laying on the deck in the fresh air, listening to live music, eating and people watching! Breakfast was served at the Windjammer buffet until 10:30 a.m. We woke up around 9:00 a.m., got dressed for the pool, and headed to find seats on the pool deck. There already were none left on Deck 9, so we went up to Deck 10 above the pool.

  This was my plate…pretty much every single day! I got fresh fruit, as well as FRIED RICE, french toast (which I love but hate making), some kind of eggs that were eh, and sausage (which I only ever eat on vacation!). So good!

  

  I will say that the buffet was chaotic during breakfast time! It was very crowded around the food and drinks, but we always managed to find a table.

  This was my view for most of the day!

  Here’s a good view of Deck 9 just below me.

  The morning and afternoon consisted of this! Just laying in the sun, listening to music, people watching, and napping.

  After some laying around, it was time for lunch! Around 12:30 p.m., I went for lunch at the Windjammer buffet. On this day, I had a salad, and my absolute favorite…stir fry with rice. A few other things were thrown in there too. They always had several dishes of ethnic food. This was my favorite part of the buffet!

  

  And for dessert…the RANGER COOKIE! These were my favorite too! So soft and chewy. I need to find a replica recipe to try and make them at home.

  

  We went back to the room around 3:00 p.m. to take a nap and start taking showers.

  Tonight for dinner, the theme was “Dress to Impress” a.k.a. formal night. There is quite a range of attire on these nights. Some people are in ball gowns and tuxedos, and some are in just casual resort wear. My opinion is to dress in whatever is comfortable for you! We tend to go somewhere in the middle.

  Here are my girls:

  

  

  View of the two story dining room from our table:

  

  Tonight’s menu was “A Taste of France.” Our waiter always gave his personal recommendations for all three courses, even if they differed from the Chef’s Recommendation.

  

  I started off with the fruit cup from the kid’s menu. It was just what I was craving!

  

  Baked French Onion Soup–very good!

  

  Iceberg Wedge Salad–very good!

  

  Chicken Cordon Bleu–this was very good!

  

  Seafood Linguine–I believe she enjoyed this!

  

  Roasted Beef Tenderloin–I ordered this and it was great! Very moist and flavorful. The potatoes and asparagus were also very good!

  

  Kids Chicken and Fries

  

  Kinsey’s usual–she loved these!

  

  Warm Apple Cobbler–I loved this! It was served warm and the waiter plopped the ice cream on top for us once at the table.

  

  Creme Brulee–I don’t remember hearing a report on this one. But I didn’t hear that it was bad.

  

  Overall, another great night at dinner!

  We did our normal after dinner pictures outside on the deck and walked through the Centrum where there was Latin Music with Barrio Tumbao. These guys were great!

  The Centrum is definitely the place to be in the evenings! There’s nonstop entertainment.

  

  Next up was the Headliner Showtime Starring Amy Jo in the Masquerade Theater. We showed up about 20 minutes early to make sure we got good seats.

  

  Her show was called, “A Night with Adele.” She was amazing! And we all really enjoyed it.

  

  After this we wandered around a little bit, and I noticed they put out the dreaded bags on the staircases… It was starting to get a little bit rocky, but it wasn’t too bad. We preventatively take Bonine beginning the night before the cruise starts, and continue taking it every night just in case.

  

  We ended the night in the Centrum listening to music by the band Rockport.

  

  

  Up next…Day 3 on the Vision of the Seas!

  Posted in Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Vision of the Seas

• Vision of the Seas–Welcome Aboard Dinner and Evening Entertainment

  Posted at 10:03 am by taryngirl, on July 21, 2023

  6/8/23

  After the Sail Away Celebration, we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and unpack some. Our Main Dining Room dinner time was scheduled for 5:15 p.m. every evening. If you are not familiar with cruising on Royal Caribbean, there are two dining times…First Seating around 5:15 p.m., and Second Seating around 7:45 p.m. There is also My Time Dining between 6:30 -9:00 p.m. You can choose times before boarding or just show up and wait in line once at dining room. We never saw this line to be very long when we were leaving our dinner. My family seems to like the early dinner time so we can enjoy all of the evening activities. However, if the cruise is port intensive, I would probably opt for later dining so we aren’t rushing back from any excursions to make it to dinner on time.

  You can find your dining table on your SeaPass card. Once arriving at the dining room, on the first night, the wait staff is on hand to help you find your table for the first time. This is your same table for every night, and you have the same wait staff. Our waiter was Richie, and assistant waiter was Delex. We loved them! They were very attentive, and made good recommendations. We were never short on bread, drinks, or cookies! One note also, soda is not free on Royal Caribbean. Except they gave it to me for free at dinner time without a soda package. I have read it both ways, so not sure on the official policy!

  Royal Caribbean just recently changed all of their dinner menus. This was our first night menu:

  

  And this was the Kids’ Menu, which was the same every single night:

  

  Anyone (child or adult) can order from either menu. With the change to the new menus, there was a lot of buzz around the different Facebook groups about only being able to order one thing, no substitutions, etc. Prior, you could order as many apps, entrees, or desserts as you wanted. I was interested to see for myself exactly what the policy was on this particular ship.

  We were on Deck 5. Deck 4 is the large main dining area. This was the view from our table:

  

  Bread basket…THE SOFT ROLLS! The ones on the top were called “soft rolls.” Ummmmm, quite possibly my favorite roll ever. By the end of the cruise he was bringing 3 baskets of bread! You can always ask for more bread if you need it!

  

  I ordered the Classic Caesar Salad. It was your basic caesar, and it was good.

  

  Someone else ordered the Spinach and Artichoke Dip. This was also good!

  

  My mom ordered the Crispy Crab Cake. She said this was really good!

  

  My one daughter ordered from the kid’s menu…Chicken Fingers and French Fries. The fries were good, the chicken was just okay.

  

  I ordered the New York Strip Steak with Herb Butter. I ordered this multiple times throughout the cruise. It was very good and cooked just the way I like it!

  

  My other daughter ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese. She loved this so much, she ordered it two other nights that it was on the menu!

  

  My cousin ordered the Southern Fried Chicken. I think the verdict was that this was just okay. Not terrible, not outstanding.

  

  I had to have the Key Lime Pie. It was delicious! I loved it.

  

  My youngest daughter had Chocolate Chip Cookies (every single night). And they were great. She couldn’t eat them all, so she took the extra along with her to eat during the show later.

  

  My oldest daughter had her absolute favorite…the Royal Cheesecake! On our last Royal Caribbean cruise, she had this every night. Now it wasn’t on the menu every single night anymore. She loved this as usual.

  

  After dinner, we lingered around the Centrum, where the Just Us Duo was performing. They were really good! And we enjoyed them poolside all throughout the week as well.

  

  The Welcome Aboard Showtime started at 7:00 a.m. It was Royal Comedian Bruce Gold. It was a great start to the cruise!

  

  We also took nightly photos of the sunset or out on deck after dinner.

  

  From there we just hung around the Centrum until it was time for Welcome Aboard Karaoke! We have so much fun watching this. Some people are really good!

  Up next…Day 2 on the Vision

  Posted in Cruise, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Cruise, Dining Review, Food Picture, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Vision of the Seas

• Vision of the Seas Embarkation Day!

  Posted at 12:14 pm by taryngirl, on July 19, 2023

  6/8/23

  We were so excited to go on this vacation! We cruised on Royal Caribbean out of Baltimore a few years ago, and it was a great experience. The pricing for this specific date and itinerary was excellent and we couldn’t resist.

  It was my mom, myself, and my two daughters (17 and 15), and we were booked in an inside cabin. I personally do not mind an inside cabin. We are basically only there to sleep and shower, and I’d rather have extra money to use on excursions, etc. My cousin and her daughter were also traveling with us as a high school graduation celebration.

  We live about two and a half hours from Baltimore, so my husband dropped us off at the port. Our port arrival time was 11:00 a.m., so we left home around 8:30 a.m. We arrived right on time. This was the line for those with the arrival window of 11:00-11:30 a.m. There was a separate line behind where I was standing to take this photo, for those who had a later arrival time. There were many more people in that queue. I *think* they had arrived prior to their port arrival time, and were not allowed to board immediately. If there was space within the terminal, I *think* they were letting them in a few at a time.

  You can see we walked right in because there was no line!

  

  There was a very short line to get through security once inside.

  

  This is the view once we were all checked in. You can see the check in desks to the left here.

  

  After check in, you walk outside the main building and head towards the ship.

  

  

  I would say from the time we entered the building to get in line for security, until we were on the ship, was about 20ish minutes.

  Our plan is always to get the earliest boarding group we can. Why not start the vacation as soon as possible??!! Something new post-Covid (this was my first cruise since), is the whole muster drill situation. For this particular ship, on this particular date, all we had to do was go check in with a person at our assigned muster station. There is a video that you can watch ahead of time through the app. We did not have to wait for everyone else who was assigned to arrive. There was no group drill. It was awesome!

  Each day we were given a Cruise Compass, which was the daily events guide. It had everything you needed to know about what was going on on the ship.

  This is Day 1:

  

  

  

  

  Once we finished checking into our muster station, we went directly up top Deck 9 to find a table and hit the Windjammer buffet for lunch. The pool deck (Deck 9) was empty! Another reason I like boarding early…

  

  

  

  It was kind of cool, which was perfect for me for a sailaway day. We found a table outside right near the pool and took turns going to get food. I had no idea what the buffet would look like post-Covid!

  Here are just some of the foods that were offered on the lunch buffet:

  They typically had a salad bar at lunch every day.

  

  They also always had a few ethnic dishes, which ended up being my absolute fave.

  

  

  So many desserts…

  

  This was my plate:

  

  It was all so delicious!

  The cabins were not going to be ready until about 1:30-2:00 p.m., so we still had some time to spare. There was a giveaway going on at the spa, so we decided to take a little tour and enter the giveaway. It was actually much bigger than I imagined it would be on this ship!

  The fitness center was above the spa, so we checked that out too.

  

  

  

  After the tour, we found a spot and just sat by the pool until our cabins were ready. There was a DJ playing some music. It still was pretty empty and we had no problem finding some chairs!

  

  

  Once our cabins were ready, we headed there to drop off all of our carry ons before the Sail Away Celebration started at 3:15 p.m.

  We found a spot up top on the 10th deck so we could look over the railing.

  

  

  The water sailing out of Baltimore is definitely different than sailing from somewhere in Florida!

  

  There was a party going on at the pool deck with live music and different line dances.

  

  Sailing from Baltimore, you go under the Key Bridge, under the Bay Bridge, and then over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel before making it out into the Atlantic Ocean. Here is one of the bridges:

  

  

  My kids thought thought it was freezing!

  

  Next up will be our dinner and evening on the ship!

  Posted in Cruise, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Baltimore, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Vision of the Seas

• Yellowstone National Park–Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful

  Posted at 6:02 pm by taryngirl, on May 16, 2023

  

  6/27/22

  Today was our second day in Yellowstone National Park. We just stayed one night at the Kelly Inn West Yellowstone, so had easy access at the west entrance. I highly encourage staying in West Yellowstone! There are many hotels and restaurants, and it’s super easy to drive into the park.

  Since it was night time when we arrived, here are some daytime pics of the hotel:

  

  

  

  

  The rooms here were very nice and clean. There was a complimentary breakfast that was very good. Many different options available for everyone. Sadly I have no pics of it or the actual room!

  Upon entering the park, we headed south towards the Midway Geyser Basin, which is where the Grand Prismatic Spring is located. When researching the trip, I knew this was one destination I definitely wanted to visit! This area was veryyyyy busy. The small parking lot was completely full and we waited in a long line of cars to park one by one as people left their spots. In hindsight, we left the hotel around 10 a.m. and finally were able to park around 11:30 a.m. If you are interested in this area, I would get there in the early morning!

  

  This is one view of the Excelsior Geyser while walking over the bridge at the “You Are Here” on the map.

  

  

  

  

  Next was the Grand Prismatic Spring!

  

  Absolutely amazing!

  

  

  

  It was everything I thought it would be! If you want to see it from above, there is a little trail you can walk on accessible from a different area.

  This blew my mind:

  

  Nature is actually amazing and at times incomprehensible! Here you can see some bison hoof prints just off of the boardwalk where we were walking.

  

  It’s hard to believe that flowers can grow here!

  

  We left here and headed towards Old Faithful, which was our other stop for this day. We caught this fella just hanging next to the road.

  

  We had an exciting moment on the way to Old Faithful. There were tons of cars pulled over, and park rangers were out with cones directly traffic along. This could only mean one thing….

  

  You can’t see it! But it’s a momma bear with her 2 cubs. I could not get a good pic sadly. We got to talk to a park ranger who was standing there. The momma bear was staying down close to the road because there was a male bear that was after her cubs.

  

  We continued on to Old Faithful, and arrived here around 1 p.m.

  

  We were just in time for the geyser to go off! We walked around to this side where we were pleasantly surprised by a bison just laying around in front of it. There was a park ranger standing here as well just keeping tabs on him and his movement.

  

  

  What an amazing sight to see! This guy was so unbothered by everything…the crowd of people watching, the geyser going off, the oohhs and ahhs from the crowd…

  We actually had NO idea that there were more geysers right around here. Had we not seen the sign I posted above by where we were standing waiting for Old Faithful, we would not have even known! We continued on around the trail.

  You could see the Old Faithful Inn in the distance from the trail.

  

  Here are just some of the things we saw along the trail:

  

  

  

  This interesting insect landed on Kinsey.

  

  It was about this point in our walk that we noticed some scurrying around. Tour operators who were leading groups of people starting briskly moving around. I caught wind of “this is like the trifecta, this rarely happens, we need to move over here, etc. etc.” What I learned was the Beehive Geyser was about to erupt. This geyser is taller than Old Faithful, and the eruptions last about a minute longer than Old Faithful. It usually erupts only two times per day, so we just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

  

  

  

  We were exhausted yet again, but I was determined to see more wildlife. So we drove counter clockwise around the lower loop again so we could go past Hayden Valley.

  

  This bird was practically flying parallel with us, but it was so far away. I had to use my good camera while driving in the car, so this is the best I could get!

  

  Along the way, we hit a small bison jam.

  

  We exited the park at the west entrance. Our next hotel was in Island Park just south of West Yellowstone. We stopped for dinner in West Yellowstone because we had not had time to explore there yet. There were many fabulous, reasonably priced souvenir shops, and several restaurants to choose from. We decided on this one, which had good reviews online, and was located right near the shops where we were.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  The portions here were HUGE! For some reason I only have a pic of my daughter’s meal, which was the Turkey Dinner. Everyone was happy with their food. There was just so much of it! We left here, shopped some more, and found a fabulous candy store that also had ice cream.

  

  Overall, it was a great day again!

  This marks the end of our trip. This night we stayed in a hotel, got up early the next morning, and drove to Bozeman to catch our flight home. The drive from here to Bozeman was also so beautiful! So many ranches, different landscapes, and just nature’s beauty.

  I am so glad we took this trip with our teenage girls. Even though they were dreading it from the beginning because they are so used to the beach, THEY LOVED IT! We all still talk about it.

  Posted in Out West, Uncategorized, Yellowstone | 0 Comments | Tagged Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, Out West, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

• Grand Teton National Park

  Posted at 11:24 am by taryngirl, on May 3, 2023

  6/26/22

  Today was our Grand Teton National Park day! We were checking out of our accommodations here today and checking into West Yellowstone after touring Grand Teton, so we had to pack everything and load up the car. We started off bright and early with breakfast at our hotel (Headwaters at Flagg Ranch). Since I missed them at dinner last night, here are some pics of the inside of Sheffields:

  

  

  

  They had a really nice breakfast buffet here! We finished eating and headed out towards Grand Teton.

  On the way, I noticed on Waze that there was red up ahead…meaning traffic. Well…that turned into our first bear sighting! Everyone was pulled off the side of the road, and we joined in not knowing what we were really looking for. We had to ask, and then some kind people pointed it out to us. It was kind of far, and my pics did not get very good, but there she was. They said her cubs were also there, but I could not see them.

  

  Here you can see everyone pulling over to have a look:

  

  Our goal was to do Grand Teton in one day. So using the Gypsy app, we started on our journey. We were entering from the north. You can see Flagg Ranch at the tippy top of this map.

  

  We did the usual stop at the sign. One note about the weather…it was cold! It did warm up a lot as the day went on but it was brisk first thing!

  

  The views along the drive were nothing short of amazing. We stopped briefly to see Jackson Lake. The scenery is like nothing I’ve seen before! Snow capped mountains at the top, and beautiful greenery at the bottom.

  

  We continued on to our first official stop, which was Signal Mountain. This mountain sits at 7700 feet above sea level. The views from here were just breathtaking! Looking over each side of the mountain, you could see so many different landscapes.

  

  THAT VIEW! There were so many wildflowers. I’m going to put together a little gallery of all of the ones we saw while in the Tetons. Kinsey did a really great job of capturing them.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Some more views from the top of Signal Mountain:

  

  

  

  Our plan was to stop at Jenny Lake next. We were going to park, take the boat across the lake, take a small hike, and then continue on driving throughout the Tetons. Well…that didn’t quite work out, because there was NO PARKING ANYWHERE! All spots were taken in all parking lots, and all along the road, kind of far away. This was around 11:30 a.m. If you plan on going to Jenny Lake, get there early , or much later in the afternoon!

  We decided to continue driving south and stopped at the Teton Glacier turnout.

  

  At this stop, you could see the glacier. I’m so glad they included these informational signs at the stops so we could read about them.

  

  Here you can see it in my photo. Right in the center of the picture. The landscape is just AMAZING in the Tetons!

  We continued to drive south and stopped at the Menors Ferry Historic District.

  

  The first building we saw was the Chapel of the Transfiguration. This is a very popular photography spot. And to our surprise, it’s a functioning place of worship still to this day!

  

  

  The reason we know this is, we went to open the door to look inside, and it was FULL OF PEOPLE! In the middle of a worship service! We later saw their tour bus in the side parking lot. So we didn’t get to see the inside.

  

  This was actually very interesting! You could see both landings where they put the ferry and traveled across the Snake River. There were no bridges, so this is how they transported things across.

  

  This is a replica ferry:

  

  After leaving this area, we headed to Mormon Row Historic District. This is also a popular photography spot.

  

  

  

  Our next stop was one of my favorites! Schwabacher Landing! We actually almost did not stop here because it did not look like very much, but thanks to the Gypsy app, he really encouraged us!

  

  The backdrop here was just amazing! The Snake River, with the mountains in the distance…just beautiful!

  

  It was so good, that my teen daughters just had to have a small photoshoot for their Instagrams. 🙂

  

  

  

  

  

  This area is known for moose especially, and that was one animal we had not seen yet! So we were on high alert and really searching as we walked along the river.

  

  

  

  If it would have been a little less windy, this would have been the greatest reflection photo! Sadly, we did not see any moose here. The search was still on!

  We continued driving and looped back around to Jenny Lake to check out the parking situation now. It was about 3:00 p.m. by this point and we were able to find a spot in the main parking lot.

  

  These were the first two things we saw when entering:

  

  

  Sooooo, we continued on to find the boat dock. Our plan was to take the boat across the lake and then climb to see some waterfalls, and hike back around the lake.

  

  

  I loved this board! Besides letting us know temperatures (look at the range!), it showed local animal sightings so we could be aware.

  

  There are several different hikes you can take in this area that are on the easier side.

  

  View of the lake from the boat dock before boarding:

  

  The water was clear!

  

  

  

  There were a few waterfalls in this area that we wanted to see. This little one was Cascade Falls. The water was flowing very fast and was casting a chill in the air.

  

  Hiking up a little further, we made it to Hidden Falls.

  

  

  We sat at the bottom of this for a little while, while Erik hiked up to Inspiration Point, which was farther than the girls and I wanted to go. The air coming off of the falls was so chilly! The snowcapped mountains were still melting and a lot of this water was from the top of the mountain.

  We continued our hike around the lake.

  

  

  The hike was fairly easy and the views were just amazing. We were still on high alert for any kind of wildlife in this area. We did see a beaver dam!

  

  

  We came across this sign along the trail:

  

  Sadly, we did not see any of these either!

  

  

  We made it back to the parking lot at about 6:00 p.m., and to our surprise, look what was running around!

  

  Now, because we checked out of Flagg Ranch, and were checking into West Yellowstone, we had to drive alllllllllll the way south into Jackson, and west into Idaho, then north. We were not permitted to enter Yellowstone, which would have been way easier, because of our license plate. It ended up being fine and we got to see a different landscape on the way. We stopped in Driggs for dinner.

  We finally made it to our hotel at about 10:00 p.m. and met up with the rest of the group who were also checking into this same hotel. The girls were hungry and luckily there was a McDonald’s basically in our parking lot, so we walked over there. Strange circumstances and for some reason they wouldn’t let us in, but let us walk through the drive thru??!!

  

  It was a long, fun day. So we got to sleep so we could wake up and do it all again tomorrow in YELLOWSTONE!

  This was probably my favorite day of the trip. I loved the different landscapes, the weather, and the different landmarks.

  Up next…Yellowstone Day 2!

  Posted in Grand Teton, Out West, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Grand Teton, Jenny Lake, National Park, Out West

• Yellowstone National Park–Old Faithful (Day 1)

  Posted at 11:18 am by taryngirl, on April 24, 2023

  

  6/25/22

  Picking up where we left off on my last post…we had just finished Yellowstone entering at the south entrance and made our way counter clockwise around the lower loop.

  We were so tired and were on our way back to the hotel, but the route we were taking went directly past OLD FAITHFUL! How could we not stop??

  The complex in this area is huge! Besides the actual geyser(s), there is an education building, store, Old Faithful Inn and more. We parked and headed directly to Old Faithful. It was supposed to erupt within the next 15 minutes, so we had good timing. It was late afternoon/early evening by this time. Around part of it is a boardwalk area with seating. We found an empty spot to wait and watch. This little guy came to join us:

  

  We didn’t have to wait very long, and there she blows! I would caution you to pay attention to which way the wind may be blowing. If it’s blowing towards you, think about moving to a different spot so you can see.

  

  We did come here another day and I have more photos that I will include in that post!

  After watching, we headed over to check out the Old Faithful Inn.

  

  The lobby was beautiful and rustic. Disney’s Wilderness Lodge is modeled after this hotel.

  

  

  

  

  We had one more day planned here in Yellowstone, so we headed back to eat dinner at our lodge (Headwaters at Flagg Ranch). The name of the restaurant was Sheffields. They are open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I thought I took a picture of the menu, but in my hangry moment, I guess I forgot! I do know we were starving, and everything on the menu looked good. Here’s what we ordered:

  Pork Pot Stickers:

  

  These were realllyyyyyy good!

  Kid’s Meal, Hot Dog and Fries

  

  Also good! She ate it all.

  Pasta Alfredo with Broccoli and Chicken

  

  Also good! Huge portion. She could not even eat 1/4 of it.

  Ribeye with Loaded Baked Potato and Veggies

  

  This was very good too!

  Overall, we had a really good meal.

  Next up….Grand Teton National Park!

  Posted in Out West, Uncategorized, Yellowstone | 0 Comments | Tagged Old Faithful, Out West, Yellowstone National Park

• Yellowstone National Park–Mud Volcano, Upper Falls, Lower Falls, Norris Geyser Basin

  Posted at 1:02 pm by taryngirl, on December 1, 2022

  6/25/22

  Our next stop around the loop was the Mud Volcano area. This was a small trail, and this entire area had a sulphur smell.

  

  View from the parking lot towards Dragon’s Mouth Spring.:

  

  

  

  Dragon’s Mouth Spring:

  

  Mud Volcano:

  

  Mud Caldron:

  

  

  This whole area was so interesting! So many different things all in one area! You can see the Yellowstone River here.

  

  While we were on this trail….this spectacular event happened! Walking on the trail around this area, and you could hear a rumbling coming. A bunch of bison came running! There was no time to even react or move out of the way. Kind of scary with nowhere to go. Standing still was the best option at this point.

  After leaving the Mud Volcano area, we continued on to the Upper and Lower Falls.

  This is just part of Hayden Valley. This is typically an area where you can see a lot of wildlife.

  

  

  View of the Upper Falls:

  

  This view was just unbelievable! The changes in terrain, they types and amount of trees…it was all just amazing! You could see hoof prints in the sides of this. I was looking the entire time for mountain goats but sadly did not see any.

  

  

  View of the Lower Falls:

  

  

  

  

  We really wanted to get to Grand Prismatic, but we were starting to get tired. We decided to continue on and just make a couple of stops before returning to our hotel. Here you can see the road closure due to the flood. This was going north at Norris:

  

  We stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin to explore a little bit.

  

  

  Here you can see the boardwalk that goes throughout the different geysers.

  

  

  

  Overall, our day was great! There was so much exploring, and so much more yet to come.

  Up next…Old Faithful! We couldn’t resist stopping on the way home to the hotel and dinner.

  Posted in Out West, Uncategorized, Yellowstone | 0 Comments | Tagged Out West, Yellowstone National Park

• Yellowstone National Park – West Thumb, Lake Village, Fishing Bridge

  Posted at 2:06 pm by taryngirl, on November 1, 2022

  6/25/2022

  Two weeks prior to us leaving for this trip, Yellowstone National park experienced devastating flooding and was actually completely closed for a little bit. We were unsure what was going to happen for our time there, but figured there was enough all around that we could do just in case the park was totally closed. The trip was still on! The north entrance near Gardiner was heavily affected and that is where we were to spend some of our trip. We scrambled to secure different accommodations in other areas of the park, and rearrange our touring plans. Once the park did reopen, they instituted a license plate entrance system. Plates ending in odd numbers could enter on odd days and even on even. This split our group up but it ended up working out just fine.

  We arrived at our lodging late the night of the 24th after leaving Jackson Hole. The drive was about an hour to get to Headwaters Lodge Flagg Ranch, which is located near the southern entrance to Yellowstone. It was dark and we couldn’t see a thing…but we eventually found our cabin through some trial and error!

  Fun fact…the heat was not automatically turned on in our room, and we woke up in the morning with the temp around 46 degrees! The room was perfect for what we needed. There was no television or mini fridge. I loved the location and would definitely stay here again! Here are the girls on our cute little porch in the morning before we headed out to the park. It was COLD! High 30s I think in the morning??

  

  We left around 7:30 a.m. Our plan for this day was to enter at the south entrance and go counter clockwise around the lower loop as far as we could get before reaching our physical limit. The lower loop was 96 miles. We were using the GyPSy Guide app for this park as well.

  

  

  We couldn’t resist pulling over to catch some amazing views…and we weren’t even through the gates yet!

  

  

  When we got to the entrance, they did have staff out checking license plates. There was no traffic back up for us to get in.

  

  Our first real stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin. This area bordered Yellowstone Lake and the views were simply breathtaking! There were so many different geysers and springs.

  

  

  (As a note, just recently someone died here. They found a foot floating in a shoe and that was all that was left of the body. So please take these signs seriously!)

  It was COLD this morning! There were some slick spots on the boardwalk while walking around.

  

  

  

  There were so many little “pools!” I tried to take a photo of the name in front so I would remember.

  Yellowstone Lake:

  

  

  

  Super interesting!!!

  

  

  

  

  

  Freezing!

  

  After leaving West Thumb, we continued our drive around the lower loop towards Lake Village and Fishing Bridge.

  

  We finally spotted our first wildlife in the park!

  

  

  This is one of my favorite pics from the whole trip!

  

  We made a small pit stop, as suggested by our Gypsy app.

  

  We saw some really neat looking ducks! The currents were pretty strong and they were just bobbing along like nothing was happening!

  

  

  Up next…Yellowstone National Park Part 2!

  Posted in Out West, Uncategorized, Yellowstone | 0 Comments | Tagged National Park, Out West, Yellowstone

• Anna Maria Island–2 Days Pre-Hurricane

  Posted at 7:57 pm by taryngirl, on October 21, 2022

  9/24-26/22–Saturday, Sunday, Monday

  My cousin, and traveling partner, has a place in Anna Maria Island. A few months ago she asked me if I’d like to go down with her for a girl’s trip. YES, OF COURSE! I love this area. The beach is perfect with white sand and shells, and usually very calm, clear water.

  HOWEVER! Right before we were getting ready to go, a “tropical system” was developing. As our husbands were sending us off, one was all…”have a great adventure!” While the other was all…”you guys are nuts!” Haha!

  We usually fly from Lehigh Valley Airport on Allegiant. It’s a super small airport, and way better than Philly! It’s less crowded, usually reasonably priced and the flight is quick. I have the Allegiant credit card, so besides priority boarding, I get one free drink of any kind. They have these new, cute little mixers!

  

  At this point the Tropical Storm/Hurricane was supposed to be centered somewhere around Tampa on Wednesday, which is just north of our location.

  Our other cousin that lives in Bradenton picked us up from the airport and drove us to the condo. We had to take stock of the grocery situation and hit the store. Already there were signs for limits on water, and it was practically sold out, as well as toilet paper.

  

  We got Publix subs to have for dinner. (If you haven’t had one, I highly recommend!) We did want to check for water somewhere else, and luckily the CVS on the island had some! Here’s a gorgeous sky while crossing the bridge.

  

  This evening was pretty uneventful. We did see that Jim Cantore was going to be in Clearwater Beach which slightly panicked us since we were just south of there.

  

  Our plan for Sunday was a beach day! And it was perfect to say the least…

  

  

  

  

  

  

  It truly was the perfect beach day. We stayed until just before dinner time. The beach was actually pretty full of people considering a hurricane was on the way. We didn’t see anyone on the island really preparing their homes or businesses yet.

  We went home and showered and headed out to meet our other cousin for dinner at a new-to-us restaurant called Old Hamburg Schnitzelhaus.

  

  This place was SUPER CUTE inside! It was like we were sitting in someone’s kitchen.

  

  

  Here’s a peek at the menu along with some specials:

  

  

  

  I couldn’t pass this goodie up!

  

  There were so many good things on the menu, that I really couldn’t decide…

  I finally decided on the Beef Stroganoff! It was DELICIOUS!

  

  Someone else ordered the Italian Schnitzel:

  

  And someone else ordered one of the specials:

  

  There was also a side of the warm German potato salad. It was good!

  

  None of us were still hungry, but we saw a waitress carrying this past our table to another family and couldn’t resist ordering our own. This is the Apfelstrudel and it was AMAZING!

  

  We all really enjoyed this restaurant, and I would definitely eat there again!

  Monday we woke up and wanted to have one more beach day before we left. We still had perfect weather!

  

  

  As we were getting ready to leave, the clouds were rolling in. They were not even from the hurricane yet though! This was just a normal Florida afternoon rainstorm on the way.

  

  The beach was noticeably less crowded. Preparations were underway now on the island. We saw several businesses boarding up with the same supplies that they used for Hurricane Irma. We also saw people getting their sandbags to put at their houses.

  

  

  Once we were back, we showered, ate dinner, packed up and got ready to head to Orlando. I had booked Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort with my DVC points on Saturday when we arrived. We decided leaving Monday would be better to try and avoid a ton of traffic fleeing Tampa on Tuesday.

  Up next…Orlando Adventures–Hurricane Ian

  Posted in Anna Maria Island, Beach, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Anna Maria Island, Beach, Florida

• Jackson Hole, Wyoming

  Posted at 6:21 pm by taryngirl, on September 28, 2022

  6/24/22

  We woke up early in the morning to check out of our hotel and begin our trek to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was almost a 5 hour drive to get there. Our plan was to check out the town and then hit a covered wagon dinner before checking into our next lodging.

  The drive was so beautiful! It still amazes me all of the different landscapes, just in one section of our country. We were at a stop light when I looked to the left and spotted these bird nests on the side of this small mountain!

  

  The entire trip so far we had been searching for any kind of different wild life. WE FINALLY SPOTTED SOMETHING! I had to google to see exactly what animal it was. It was a Pronghorn. We learned that this is the fastest land animal in the western hemisphere! It’s the second fastest animal falling just behind the cheetah. This was the first of many we would see over the next several days.

  

  I had to include this. We had been driving for a few hours and Devon realllllly had to use the restroom. There was NOTHING in sight for miles and miles. We pulled up to a construction stop light (where traffic was only one lane for awhile), and this fella was sitting right next to us. Heck to the N-O would I go in this. But Devon did. And, she proclaimed it the cleanest portapotty she had ever been in! HAHAHAHA!

  

  

  Just look at THIS! I could not get enough of the landscape!

  

  

  We were starting to get closer!

  

  We made it into town about 2:00 p.m. We had reservations at a covered wagon cookout at 6 p.m. So we had a little bit of time to check out the super cute town.

  

  We loved all of the little shops!

  

  

  At 5:45 p.m., we made our way to Bar T 5 Covered Wagon Cookout. It was very easy to find, and just outside of town. They guided us as we pulled into the parking lot so that they could fit everyone.

  

  We checked in at the ticket office and they assigned us a wagon which would then also correlate to our table number once at the cookout.

  

  

  Everyone was directed to this seating area to wait for the pre-show.

  

  

  I’m not sure why, but I don’t have any pictures of the lady who was doing the story telling! So we sat here and she told the history of Bar T 5. It was very interesting!

  She then introduced all of the horse teams with their drivers and sent us free to find ours.

  

  Our horses names were Maverick and Goose. Here you can see our caravan heading to the cookout site:

  

  

  Here’s a look behind us:

  

  Here you can see the tables where we would sit to eat and watch the show:

  

  The food serving area:

  

  The food!

  

  The food was good, not outstanding, but not terrible. You could go up for as much as you wanted of anything. After dinner, they performed a little show for us.

  

  It was entertaining and fun! Here is my daughter with some of the entertainers:

  

  Here are our horses!

  

  After the show, we all went back to our wagons to return to our cars. From Bar T 5, we started our trek to our next lodging just outside of Yellowstone National Park.

  Overall, Jackson is a super cute town. The Bar T 5 was a fun family experience!

  Posted in Jackson Hole, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Jackson Hole

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