Today was going to be another day in Yellowstone, exploring Mammoth Terraces. It was raining when we got up, but we put on our rain gear and started out on the boardwalk loop. Bear refused to walk within the first 12 yards and was riding on Benjamin's shoulders. Pax was in the Ergo but none too happy about it. The rain cleared for a moment but then started again, harder than before. We decided to pack it in.
"I hear Bozeman is nice," I said, "there's a museum or something."
Benjamin looked at his phone. "It's an hour away."
So we went. As we drove, the rain turned to snow. So we did what any fiscally responsible person who has already paid for an RV rental and has many large upcoming expenses would do - we found a hotel with an indoor pool. And wifi. And waffles.
The Museum of the Rockies is lovely. The children's area is Yellowstone themed, complete with simulated Old Faithful eruptions every fifteen minutes. On this particular day it was inexplicably overrun with tweens. Which was fine because Bear loves tweens. And also they are really fun to listen to, as they straddle the line between playing pretend and trying to flirt with each other. Bear gave them an excuse to be more playful, a little less self-conscious. But their pretend was still a bit more reality-driven than his.
Tween: Do you want to eat in my restaurant? We have eggs, fish, ice cre-
Bear: No! I'm not hungry because I'm a park ranger and also Spider-Man! Spider-Man is never hungry! (Knocks all of the food into the floor and runs off to the replica of Fishing Bridge to spit at the fish.)
At the hotel, Bear went down for a nap and Benjamin and I enjoyed the showers and wifi. We ordered delivery for dinner and then all went down to the pool. The pool was a little cold, but we disregarded the "no children in the Jacuzzi" sign and all of us got in together.
It should have been an enjoyable indulgence but honestly I was in a pretty crappy mood up until the pool. The kids both needed to be touching me all day and felt like I couldn't get a second to catch my breath by myself. It's moments like this when our plan to be far, far away from the grandparents seems really, really stupid. Adding that layer of self doubt to the general crankiness is rarely helpful, but knowing that doesn't seem to help me snap out of it.
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| Bear and Pooh snuggled up in the RV |
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| Ominous clouds |
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| Pax at the Museum of the Rockies. |
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| Why are there no pictures of Bear at the Museum of the Rockies? Every single one of them was blurry. |
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| Snow and blooming flowers in Bozeman |
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| Bear is in there someplace. |
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