Charlie's First Camping Trip

Our vacations are crazy. They always have been. They always will be. For example, we've gone on vacation to southern Utah, thought the weather wasn't ideal to see all the sites we wanted and instead headed south another 5 hours to the Grand Canyon - totally on a whim. Then we took the long way home through Colorado. This is normal for us. And it's fun.

This year's trip - camping in Yellowstone. Adding a child into the mix makes it a little more interesting, but didn't stop us. We planned things out a little more and had a few more stops along the way. We separated the trip into a few sections to adapt to CB's schedule.

THE PLAN

- Day 1: Stay the night in Idaho at a hotel on our way to Yellowstone.

- Day 2: Set up camp in Yellowstone and see the sites

- Day 3: See more Yellowstone sites and camp the night

- Day 4: Pack up camp and head to Billings, MT through the Beartooth Highway to stay the night in a hotel

- Day 5: Drop down into Wyoming to visit family

- Day 6: Travel home

THE REALITY

- Day 1: Stay the night in Idaho at a hotel on our way to Yellowstone.

• Totally like we planned. Except for a few spit up moments by CB at continental breakfast, all was good.

- Day 2: Set up camp in Yellowstone and see the sites

• All was normal during the day, but have you ever slept in 30 degree weather with a baby? What about a Hubby that keeps falling out of his sleeping bag and landing between the air mattress and the tent? Not ideal. Apparently we visited Yellowstone on one of the colder weekends.
• CB was a trooper. He woke up in his snow suit a 1:00am whimpering. We pulled him into bed with us during the night and he was better. Can't say the same for mom and dad. All the blankets in the world couldn't keep us warm enough.

- Day 3: See more Yellowstone sites, pack up camp and head to Billings through the Beartooth highway.

• Woke up in the morning freezing. Literally. I could see my breath.  Hubby made an executive decision to not stay the 2nd night. 
• We pushed our Montana trek up a day and had dinner in our favorite Montana town - Red Lodge.
• Checked-in our Billings hotel early.

- Day 4: Saw the sites of Billings, MT including CB's first zoo visit.

- Day 5: Drop down into Wyoming to visit family

- Day 6: Travel home

Though this year's vacation wasn't as crazy and out of plan than our standard vacations, we still found that we adapted as needed during our 1500 mile trek as a family. 

For more photos from our camping trip to Yellowstone (and beyond) check out our Photo Gallery.