Having a C-section Sucks, but it’s Not all Bad

Now that I’m pregnant again, I’ve been reflecting on my previous experience with giving birth with mixed emotions. I ended up with a C-section the first go around. It was definitely not what I had hoped for, but it ended up being the only real choice.

This time around, I’ve requested a C-section. Not because I want one but because it seems like the best option available to me. The circumstances that lead to my first C-section are likely to recur and if you are going to have a C-section anyway, it’s much nicer to have a planned one than an emergency C-section after a long time of trying for a vaginal birth and not getting anywhere.

But I can’t say I feel 100% comfortable with the decision. I don’t feel that anyone pressured me into having a C-section – there really was no other option, but I do feel like my body failed me. I feel a little betrayed that it wouldn’t do so many of the things required to birth a baby. Perhaps part of the reason I don’t want to try again is because I don’t trust my body anymore? I don’t know. Regardless, this is not a decision I have made lightly and I do not suspect I’ll be changing my mind.

While I’m thinking about it, I thought I’d share a bit my first experience having a C-section. A few things that surprised me and a few benefits to having a C-section.

But first, a PSA:

Denying the possibility that you could end up having a C-section, will not ensure that you will not have one, but will ensure that you are not as prepared as you could be.

Trust me – if denial worked, I would not be writing this article. By all means think positively, but at the same time, don’t skip that section in your book or however you are preparing yourself and make sure you have a plan in place for if you need to be in the hospital for 3 days (or more).

Things that Surprised Me:

Even though you can’t feel any pain you can still feel everything. I did not see this coming. It is kind of creepy and this makes many people nauseous.

You will still bleed. Have pads in your bag. Big ones. These will also come in handy if your water breaks before you get to the hospital.

Some Benefits

Medical professionals stop being so interested in your lower lady parts.

There is no way you’re going to get an episiotomy and the ‘trauma’ to that general area is low.

You don’t have to wait any longer to have sex after having your baby or to have your next one than women who have vaginal births but you may be more likely to listen to the recommendations.

In Calgary you get priority for a private room. This can quickly turn into a negative as if there is not one available when you are getting your room they will not move you to a private room and you will be sharing for the whole 3 days.

Your husband or support person will probably change all the diapers in the first couple days.

So did you have a C-section? How did you feel about it? How did you decide whether to try for a vaginal birth or not afterwards? Did you feel as ambivalent about the decision as I do? Any other benefits I missed?

Wordless Wednesday

 

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes

Our pancake kick continued, but the blueberries we used in our previous recipe didn’t last. So I thought I’d try a new modification. I love peanut butter and these pancakes are fantastic. A little skiff of peanut butter on top while they are still warm makes them even better. They’d also make an awesome peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancake Recipe

(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
1 Cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
1 Ripe Banana Mashed
2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
2. Add the peanut butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. It’ll have a crumbly texture when it’s done, but it will totally work.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
5. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch.

What’s Your Role When Your Kids are Outside? – Life Outside

Now that the Life Outdoors – Fall Challenge has been going on for a couple of weeks, I’ve noticed another set of expectations that I have for outdoor play that makes it seem like more work than just staying in.

I have no problem reading a book or writing a blog post while Gordie is happily playing by himself inside. But to take a book outside just seems so… deliberate. Like I am planning on ignoring my child.

It doesn’t really make sense does it? Just because I bring a book out, doesn’t mean I have to read it. And if it’s there, and Gordie is happily playing by himself, I’m going to have a much better time out there reading my book instead of tapping my foot until we go back in.

If the point is for Gordie to get outside, it doesn’t really matter what I’m doing does it? It’s about him, not me.

I think that being able to play independently is a really good skill for kids to have – both inside and outside. It’s not that I’m never going to play with him. I do and I will continue to do so all time. But letting him or even encouraging him to play by himself isn’t an inferior form of play.

So, this week I’m going to try to worry less about whether I’m being a good enough mom outside and just feel good that we are outside.

Wordless Wednesday–Life Outside–Airplane Watching

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes

I almost never make pancakes. I made some off hand comment that used the word pancakes (what on earth could that be? I cannot for the life of me figure out how you use the word pancakes without saying something like “let’s have pancakes”). Regardless, Gordie thought this was the best idea he had ever heard. I managed to get out of making pancakes for lunch but promised he could have them for dinner.

I put this together so I could feel like even though we were having pancakes for dinner, we were getting some decent nutrition too. Whole wheat pancakes always seem to be lacking something so I decided to add things to the pancakes instead. Plain yogurt, a banana and blueberries make these a lot more nutrient dense than your average pancake as well as sweet and moist.

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancake Recipe

(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
1 Cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
1 Ripe Banana Mashed
2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
2 Handfuls of Blueberries

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
3.Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
4. Add the blueberries and gently fold them in.
5. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch.

Easy Outdoor Fun–Spray Bottle

As part of our “Life Outside – Fall Challenge” I’m trying to find simple things to do outside. I had a spray bottle hanging around the house (used only for water) that I gave to Gordie to try out.

  

It was seriously, the best thing ever! For something so simple, it amused him all week. It was a little difficult for him to figure out at first, especially since it was a bit too big for him to handle but he persevered. The best thing is, because we were outside it didn’t matter what got sprayed (well except for when it was me!)

Life Outside–What Does it Take to Say You Went Outside Today?

After starting the Life Outside Fall Challenge I started to think about how I would decide whether we had achieved success for that day. How will I define “going outside” with Gordie?

Time

Although I can’t see counting the amount of time it takes to go from the house to the car, on really busy days, or days with bad weather, I’m not sure that requiring a minimum amount of time is going to be helpful. I think even if it’s a short time any time outside is a win, particularly if you don’t feel like going out in the first place.

Activity

At first I was thinking that this would be about playing outside. But that’s really just part of what we can do outside. Going for a walk is still good time, so is raking the leaves or watering the garden. I’m going to try to do some different things and make it fun for me and for Gordie, but just being outside is enough.

What I’ve Realized

It turns out that I have more expectations and “rules” for outside time than I thought I did. Unfortunately this makes it so we go outside less. It makes it seem like a lot of work. Instead of spending whatever amount of time doing whatever outside, it seems easier to just stay in. This is something that I’m really going to try to work on this Fall – taking advantage of time outside no matter how short and not worrying so much about what we are doing once we are there.

How do you define spending time outside with your kids? Are your expectations making it so you don’t go out as much as you’d like?

Easy Roasted Beets

I starting making these when we had a community garden plot. I had planted things like beets and turnips that I read grown well in Siberia. I figured it they grew well there, I  shouldn’t have a problem. And it totally worked, they were awesome. This year, I tried a square foot garden and had no luck whatsoever with my beets or turnips. I’m not entirely sure why, but if you had more luck than I did, this recipe is great.

Simple Roasted Beets Recipe
Beets trimmed and washed
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground pepper
Aluminum foil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Line a baking tray and wrap each beet with aluminum foil.
3. Roast beets for approximately 40 minutes. Longer if you have big beets, less if you have small beets.
4. When the beets are cooked through, take them out of the oven. I recommend covering your hands when you work with the beets, gloves are good, but I hate now they make my hands smell so I usually just use two sandwich sized ziplock bags.
5. Peel the beets. If the beets have been cooked long enough, the skin should slide right off with your fingers.
6. Cut each beet in half and then slice into half moons. It looks pretty to have full circles but the beets can be pretty slippery. Halving them first can really save your fingers.
7. Put the beets into a bowl and toss with the olive oil, vinegar and pepper. If you think they need a bit more flavor, add more vinegar. You only need enough olive oil to coat and the pepper can get to be too much pretty quickly.

Note: Beets contain quite a lot of natural dye. When you eat them this goes through your body with predictable purple/red results. This is perfectly harmless but can look a little alarming if you are not prepared. :)

8 Things I Love About Cooler Weather

I can be a bit of a weather whiner – I don’t like it too hot, or too cold, or too windy. Luckily Calgary weather provides a lot of opportunities for people who like to complain about the weather. If you’re not unhappy with the weather right now, just wait, it’ll change soon enough. To shake things up a bit, instead of complaining I thought I’d write a list of things I look forward to with the cooling temperatures.

1. My Winter Duvet – there is nothing better than snuggling into a big fluffy duvet.

2. My Oven – Most of my favorite recipes involve my oven. Cooking is so much more fun when you don’t melt while you do it.

3. No Bugs! – The best thing about freezing cold weather – it kills off all the bugs.

4. Hot Drinks – I love warming my hands on a hot mug of tea.

5. Jackets – my seatbelt always sits better when I’m wearing a jacket, I hate it rubbing against my skin.

6. No sunscreen – I don’t have to worry about Gordie getting a sunburn while we are playing outside.

7. You can always put on more clothes but there is a limit to how much you can take off.

8. Fall TV – What can I say? I love my TV shows.

I was going for 10 things but I still really miss summer. Maybe I’ll have to read my list again.

Fall Sensory Box

While Gordie and I were out on a walk, we picked up leave, pinecones and sticks to use for a Fall sensory box. It was a little harder than I had expected to get the leaves, most of the trees still hadn’t started to drop them, but it was still fun. We also used some other items from around the house.

What’s inside?

• leaves
• pinecones (check them for sticky sap)
• sticks
• fork (rake)
• small bowl
• small gourds
• decorative corn
• large rock

This bin wasn’t as bit a hit as the last one. The process of creating it was a lot more engaging for him than the bin itself. I also think it would have been better with a larger quantify of leaves so you could really run your fingers through them and rake them around.  I think we’ll try it again when more leaves have fallen.

 

I’m Finding Myself Unable to Resist a Good Challenge–Outdoor Play Challenge

My friend Misty wrote a post called “Life Outside - Making Myself Responsible” where she challenges herself to take her son outside everyday.

I’ve decided to take up the challenge with her. During the summer, this was not something I had much trouble with, but this month, I’ve been kind of bad. Even though the weather has often been lovely, I haven’t felt like going anywhere. We’re expecting another baby in March and pregnancy makes me feel soooo tired.

Although I’m starting to feel a bit more energetic now that I’m in my 2nd trimester, the weather is not going to be making it more attractive for me to go outside as it gets colder.

I think outdoor play is so important for kids. I also think it makes it easier to care for them too. Way less mess to clean up, less to get into and they love it so much! 

Today was the first day of our challenge and happily it was successful. We went for a walk to the grocery store (at which I was an impulsive sucker, buying a halloween cup, mini pumpkin, decorative corn and monkey stickers) and collected leaves and pinecones along the way.

Although the walk isn’t far, our neighborhood is VERY hilly. Getting to the store isn’t bad, but getting back is basically uphill the whole way. I had to take a lot of breaks. I have a feeling that perhaps there is some middle ground between doing nothing and trying to kill myself. Is it just me that has this problem?

We stopped off at a playground on the way home (Mama needed a break) and saw a woodpecker a couple blocks from home.

I’m sure most of our outdoor play won’t take all morning, especially when it gets cold, but I’m excited to try to keep it up and make it fun.

Anyone interested in taking the challenge too?

Construction Site: Sensory Bin

Gordie loves construction vehicles. We go around spotting them whenever we drive around. I can now identify all kinds of different vehicles by name instead of calling them all “diggers”. So I decided to use that as the theme for our first sensory bin.

What’s Inside

• Base – Mixed dry beans
• Construction trucks and figures
• Small cups
• 2 spoons (shovels)

That was it, but it held his attention for a long time. I had to be right there with him but he was actually pretty good about the “keeping the beans in the bin” rule.

Just Call Me Mother of the Year

My friend Jen, writes an awesome blog over at Family, Food, Fitness and Fun. She wrote a post called “Just Call Me Mother of the Year” that I would encourage you all to read.  It inspired me to get back to blogging and to write this post.

This is why I think I should be awarded the title of Mother of the Year.

Reason #1 – Gordie didn’t do any kind of art all summer including coloring. My Calgary Playground Review blog showed all the outdoor activity we did, but what it didn’t show was that was ALL we did. We went out in the morning to a playground and the most impressive thing we did after that was having a nap.

Reason #2 – This month Gordie and I have hardly left the house. Although I finally did get some art supplies, we’ve hardly gone anywhere. I don’t think we’ve gone to a single playground, and even on the really nice days we often just stay home. Kids don’t need sunlight and fresh air do they?

Reason #3 – Gordie often wears pajamas from nap time until bed time. Gordie often asks to wear pajamas for nap – and anything that is going to make him sleep better I’m all for. But seriously, how often am I supposed to change his clothes? If we’re not going anywhere, he is likely to wear them until he goes to bed.

Reason #4 – I think I spend more time looking for fun things to do with Gordie than actually doing them. But I have an awesome board on pinterest filled with ideas – it’s almost as good right?

Reason #5 – I hate singing Gordie his bedtime song. I know some lullabies that I really love, Douglas Mountain, Morningtime Ride, Baby’s Boat. But I end up singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, every single night and for every nap. Really, the song is just not that great.

Reason #6 – I’m finding it really difficult to get my energy together to make good food. One time Gordie ate Kraft Dinner for lunch, dinner and lunch again the next day.

Those are just a few of the reasons why I think I deserve the title of Mother of the Year. How about you? Any confessions to make?

Badlands National Park

The Badlands weren’t in our original itinerary. We squeezed them in at the end of a very long day (after seeing the Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore) and unfortunately the lighting wasn’t great by the time we got there and we didn’t have a lot of energy left to get out and walk around.

Nonetheless I’m really glad we went. If you have made it to Rapid City it is only 88 more miles to get to the Badlands and the Highway 240 Loop Road through the park only takes an extra 60 minutes if you don’t stop.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre mid way through the park.
Accommodations: There are campgrounds inside the park as well as Cedar Pass Lodge (located by the visitor center). Rapid City is the closest large-ish city.
Approximate Time: 60 minutes – half a day.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre give yourself about an hour to complete it
Admission: $15 for 7 days.

If we were to go again, I’d try to make sure we had enough time to get out and do a few short walks.

It’s amazing how fast the scenery changes while you go through. Similar to Drumheller in Alberta, this area is also a large fossil bed. It is considered to be one of the richest mammal fossil beds in the world.

There are two stops (one on each end of the loop road) that I would also recommend.

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is on the Badlands Loop and is located south of I-90 at exit 131. It closes at 4:30pm so it unfortunately wasn’t open while we passed through. At the site is a underground launch control centre and a missile silo from the cold war. The visitor centre gives you some insight into the cold war period and gives information about what the missile sites were really like as opposed to what you see in the movies.

You can see the Missile Silo May 2 – October 31 with no reservations. You can also get a tour of the launch control centre. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they offer short tours in the morning for the first 200 visitors. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays you can get a formal tour but you need to make reservations in advance. See the Minuteman Missile website for more information.

You can also get a stamp for your passport book at the visitor centre and they offer a Junior ranger program for kids 7 and up.

The 2nd stop is located in Wall South Dakota at the West end of the Badlands Loop. It’s pretty hard to miss Wall Drug. There are billboards along the way starting miles away. Offering things like free ice water, homemade doughnuts and 5 cent coffee. By the time we saw our 50th sign, we knew we had to go see what it was. It was pretty much what we had expected. It’s a large building complex that feels like a cross between a flea market and a mom and pop store. This was our last stop of the day.

They have a lot of souvenir areas, as well as a kids play space, a large western art gallery along the walls of the cafe and half a T-Rex up on the wall that moves and roars a few times an hour. Gordie was not fond of the T-Rex. If you have a kid would might also find it scary, I would suggest taking a look at the map and being very careful going into the back building. We we at the opposite end of the building and it still made Gordie burst into tears. You can find more about Wall Drug at http://walldrug.com

If you missed Mount Rushmore, the Devils Tower,Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

We stopped in at the Mount Rushmore after leaving the Devils Tower. They are relatively close to each other (okay it’s about 2.5 hrs) and neither should require more than half a day each, so together they make a really great travel day.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre.
Accommodations: You can stay at nearby Rapid City, SD. Rapid City seems to have every kind of tourist attraction you could think of, Waterslides, Minigolf, Petting Zoo etc.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes – half a day
Worth the Trip: It is definitely something to see
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)
Admission: Admission is actually free but you need to pay for parking ($11) which is not covered by any National Park pass. This is good for all year. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect at Mount Rushmore. I asked my husband along the way whether it was going to seem majestic or kitschy. In the end, it wasn’t either. The view of Mount Rushmore you typically see is in the picture above. That had always given me the impression that it was the mountain. But as you can see in my first picture, it’s actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected. It’s still huge, but it is only carved into a small part of the mountain. So it didn’t seem tacky, but it didn’t have the overwhelming presence that I was expecting either. It is really an amazing feat of human engineering, but I can’t say that I really connected with it. This I suspect was due to, as a Canadian, it just doesn’t represent part of  my history.

We didn’t spend a long time at Mount Rushmore, we were trying to get to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Badlands National Park later that day, so we missed all of the museum areas, walks and kids exploration area. We did stop for lunch and a woman there asked to take Gordie’s picture and then offered to take one of our family for us. I’m glad she did as it ended up being one of the few with all of us in it. Gordie looks a little suspicious :)

If we were to go again, I think I would save it for later in the day and get there just before dark. I don’t know if you could get a full appreciate for it without seeing it during the day. But in the evening they do a lighting ceremony which includes a ranger talk, and a film and concludes with the lighting of the sculpture. It starts at 9pm May 8th to August 13th and 8pm August 14 to September 8th.

Stay Tuned for our trip to Badlands National Park. If you missed the Devils Tower, Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Devils Tower National Monument

The Devils Tower of Wyoming is the first US National Monument. It was also our first stop after leaving Yellowstone. It is a natural geological feature – actually the core of a volcano, which became exposed after years of erosion. The Devils Tower is composed of 6 sided columns that are slowly falling apart, creating the boulder field at the base of the tower. This tower was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yes, it is a real place, no it is not hollow.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre at the base of the Tower (open mid-spring through fall)
Accommodations: Not at the Monument. But you can stay at nearby Hulett.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes if you’re just stopping to look, 1.5 - 2 hours if you want to walk the 2km path around the tower too. There is a longer path (8km) if you are interested as well.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely. It is a really interesting site. But I probably wouldn’t go again until my kid(s) would be old enough to remember.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)

Setting out on our walk around the tower.

Can you see Gordie and my husband sitting out on the boulders?

See? There they are. You can climb a short ways into the boulder field but if you want to get closer or climb the tower (yes you can actually climb the tower) you have to register at the Visitor Centre.

We saw someone climbing up the tower while we were there. The first people who were recorded to have climbed the tower built a huge ladder to get to the top. Apparently you can still see pieces of it up there, but we weren’t able to identify them.

After Gordie had climbed up onto the boulder field with his daddy he wanted to climb every boulder he came across (of which there were a lot).

The area is considered sacred to the natives of the area who tie prayer mats and and other items in the trees.

      

White tailed deer, mule deer, rabbits and porcupines live in the area along with many birds. Gordie really enjoyed looking for the chipmunks we saw along the way too. Also, watch for snakes! We ran across the one above (which it turns out is actually just a bull snake).

Stay tuned for Mount Rushmore! And if you missed my series on Yellowstone National Park, you can find it here. You may also want to take a look at my tips about taking your kids to US National Parks/ Monuments.

Wildlife in Yellowstone–Yellowstone #6

Yellowstone National Park has the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states. Wildlife spotting was probably my husband’s favorite part of Yellowstone and it helped keep Gordie amused too while we were driving around the park.

You are probably more likely than not to see wildlife while you are in Yellowstone, even if you are only there for a short time. But remember to keep your distance and do not feed any of the animals. All of the animals in Yellowstone are wild no matter how tame they may seem.

The animals you are most likely to see in Yellowstone are bison.  Although at one point the Yellowstone herd was down to less than 50 bison, the herd in Yellowstone is now of the the largest in the US at  3500. Sometimes they can cause quite the traffic jam as they wander along the road. They can be found all along the Western areas of Yellowstone during June and July but by August you may need to go to the Hayden Valley to see them (between Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon area). Although they do not seem as dangerous as wolves or bears they are responsible for more injuries and even some deaths. It can be sometimes be difficult to keep the legal distance of 25 meters away, but make sure you do not approach or cross in front of them.

We waited on the path pictured below for 20 minutes waiting for the bison to move away from the edge of the path. Although a few people went by, no one with kids did.

 

Bears are a lot less commonly seen while in the park. They tend to be in the North East areas of Yellowstone. If you are interested in seeing a bear, pay attention to the other cars on the road. If there are a lot of cars stopped somewhere (and lots of fancy cameras) someone has probably spotted some unusual wildlife like a bear or a wolf.

We were on our way to a restaurant when we spotted a bear on our last day in the park. My husband got out to see if he could get a picture while Gordie and I waited in the car. Gordie – “Daddy’s looking for bears. I’m not. I’m looking for the restaurant.”

Elk are plentiful in Yellowstone. They are commonly found in the Northern areas of the park (Mammoth, Tower/Roosevelt).

Wolves are not seen very often by visitors to the park because they tend not to hang out around populated areas during the summer months. This year was a late, cold spring, so we ended up seeing wolves on three occasions. The first time is pictured below, on the road to the Grand Teton National Park. The guy in the picture is crazy. Although legally, you only have to keep 25 meters away from them, it’s recommended you keep 100 meters away (like the bears).  We also saw one running across a field near the Old Faithful area and far far far away (I saw it through a telescope) we saw two wolves feasting on an elk.

Although historically mountain goats haven’t lived in the area, they’ve started to colonize the northern rocky areas of the park.

There is  a lot of other animals that you may see too, including moose, small mammals, numerous birds and even snakes.

The snake above is actually just a bull snake. Which are harmless, but it looks like a rattlesnake. This is a good strategy for its threats from most other animals, but unfortunately for the snake, looking like a rattlesnake gets you killed by humans.

That’s the end of my series on Yellowstone, but stay tuned for the Devil’s Tower National Monument! Also, if you misssed them be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas, and Other things to See in Yellowstone.

Other things to see in Yellowstone with Kids

Yellowstone’s most famous features are geothermal in nature But there is a lot more to Yellowstone than just that. Here are a few more areas in Yellowstone (and one just to the south) that you may want to visit.

1. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

                
Worth the stop – If you’re short time on time it’s not a must see, but it’s definitely a worthwhile sight..
Approximate time - Anywhere from a quick stop to a long walk.
Difficulty of walk – easy – difficult depending on the path
My thoughts – I’d recommend the Artist Point on the South Rim if you’re only going to make one stop. It has the most classic view of the lower falls. If you want a nice view of the canyon itself go to Inspiration Point on the North Rim. I’d also suggest going to the Brink of the Upper Falls (North Rim). It’s not the best photographic opportunity, but you can get up really close to the waterfall and really feel how powerful it is. Gordie found this a little bit scary this year. He woke up having a nightmare about it.

2. The Area Around Tower Roosevelt

  

Worth the stop: Even if you just drive through instead of stop it’s worth a trip, but if you’re only in Yellowstone for a day or two and it’s not on your route, you may want to skip itMy thoughts: The Tower/Roosevelt area is in the North East corner of Yellowstone. The around around it is some of the best spots  to see wildlife. We’ve seen bears to the South, and to the East you are very likely to see some elk. The geography is very different from the other areas of Yellowstone (more mountains and forests). There is a part along this roadway at gets to nearly 8000 ft in elevation. I generally think Calgary is pretty high up at around 3400 ft above sea level. There is also some interesting geology to look at, like the Bleached Cliffs pictured above. We had been hoping to see more of this area this year, but the road was closed while we were there.

3. Yellowstone Lake

  
Worth the stop: At least a drive by
My thoughts: To be quite honest, we haven’t spent much time at the Yellowstone Lake. We’ve walked along the West Thumb Geyser Basin, driven along the road beside it and eaten at a restaurant beside it. But that’s it. It doesn’t help that, as you can see in the picture above on the right, the lake was still frozen while we were there this year. But if you are interested, you can rest non-motorized boats or small powerboats (with a crew and guide) at Bridge Bay Marina to take out on the lake.

4. Grand Teton National Park/John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway

 

Worth the stop: It depends
My thoughts: Included in your entrance fee to Yellowstone, is admission to the National Park areas to the South, the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway and the Grand Teton National Park. It’s a bit of an extra drive, but if you are a national park passport stamp collector, you’ll want to make the trip, because you can get a stamp for both of these national park areas. Sometimes the Parkway Visitor Centre is closed, but we were able to get both at the visitor’s center in the Grand Teton National Park. Also, if you are planning on participating (or rather, your kids) in the Jr. Ranger program, you can earn a badge in the Grand Teton National Park too.
The mountains and lake front in this area is stunning. This year, there was still quite a bit of snow along the way (see the picture above – my husband is 6’3”, that is a lot of snow!) and Jackson Lake was still pretty low in Coulter Bay Village. Other times, it is a pretty vibrant recreation area.


Check out the last instalment – Wildlife of Yellowstone. Also, if you missed them be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations and Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas.