Cresap Reunion in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone

Grammy Cresap's retirement gift to all of us was a reunion in Jackson Hole. She spent her childhood summers there and it is her favorite place on earth. She rented a luxurious house for us in Upper Teton Village. The boys enjoyed running around with their cousins, watching cable TV and swimming in the hot tub--even in the cold rain!

Old Faithful began to erupt 90 seconds after we arrived. By the way, when I last saw Old Faithful in 1977, it was erupting every hour. Now it erupts about every 93 minutes. It has eroded some of the chamber inside, so it takes longer to build up enough pressure to erupt.

The boys spent the whole eruption look away from it, yelling, "Mom, Mom take a picture of me! No, like this!"

I'm so glad we went to Yellowstone in October. We had the boardwalks to ourselves and the extra steam makes the whole landscape like another planet!

I am the Sulphur King!

With cousin Allie

Papa using a device used by plumbers to measure the temperature of the pools. It correlated with what we learned at the visitors center. The pots with the yellow and brown bacteria are the coolest 140 or so. The blue and greens are closer to 200!

The Sapphire Pool was my favorite. So pretty! It would be even prettier in summer, with less steam obscuring the view.

With Cousin Annie in Jackson Hole. We took the kids to Ripley's Believe it Or Not! Museum--eww gross, said Annie. Lizard men, shrunken heads, two-headed cows--just right for boys. Then we went window shopping, with the intent to give each kid $5 to spend. Gone are the cheap souvenir shops I remember as a girl. Now it's all designer stuff. So we took the kids to the Dollar Tree, where $5 buys more landfill weapons than a boy can carry. Our boys voted it the favorite event of the week! Alas, the world headquarters for Dollar Tree is in Salt Lake City!

At Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park

Uncle Andy and Riley Burwell

L to R: Tal, Emily, Clint, Annie, Cole, Jeff, Trace

Fact: All the Cresap children, Clint and his three sisters, started their families with girls. Now there are 11 boys and 4 girls.

Clint, casting into a three-inch pool. None of the men caught anything. But they were nice to hang out with all of us.

Ryder Kost

Cole and Annie

Papa and Grammie and a rare view of the peak of the Grand Teton--it was shrouded in clouds the whole week we were there. (can you see Jackson under the bridge?)

A photographer came in from Rexburg and took our pictures--along the edge of a bicycle path! Many near collisions. And at least one ticked off cyclist. Trace had just woken from a nap and wasn't ready to smile.

Cresaps, Laffertys, Burwells, Kosts and Papa and Grammy.