When we woke up yesterday morning, the view out of our hotel window was this:
Snow and fog obscured the nearby mountains, and the snow was coming down pretty thick. We checked the weather forecast and road conditions for Yellowstone (our destination for the day) and learned that many roads in the park were closed, with snow tires required for winter driving conditions throughout the park. Moreover, it was going to snow all day with winds gusting to 30+ mph. Not really a fun day ahead.
So after a brief family conference, we voted to bag Yellowstone and head home instead. It was a real bummer, because we were only 60 miles away, but all of us felt that driving on slick roads (the van doesn’t handle very well on snow) and walking through the various areas of the park in 30-degree air with snow and gusting winds didn’t sound like much of a vacation. More than likely, some of the cool sites like the view of Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls would have been a disappointment because you probably wouldn’t be able to see far enough in the distance.
We came home, driving through snow and rain for several hours before emerging into the howling winds of southern Wyoming.
Today was technically still our vacation, so I decided not to work (much). Instead, Laralee, Kyra, and I drove down to Boulder to watch the national championship game for USAU college ultimate. It was Wisconsin vs Pittsburgh, and the game was really fun to watch.
Pittsburgh ended up beating Wisconsin, who had a lot of deep-huck turnovers. Afterward the three of us went out for lunch at Red Robin and enjoyed the last day of our “vacation”. Not everything turns out as planned, but we still manage to make the most of it. Good times.