"BabyMoon"

We went on a Babymoon. It's kind of like a Honeymoon only it's that trip you take before you become parents. Truly inspired genius, that's what I call it.

This last weekend Jake surprised me with a phone call and basically said "Let's go to Yellowstone tonight." Well allrighty then! It took some last minute schedule adjusting and honestly I was a bit frantic at first, but I was all about it! I called up my wonderful sister who has a Worldmark Timeshare membership. It just so happens that we could get a pretty good deal through her for a condo in West yellowstone for two nights. Sweeeet.

So before you know it, we were on our way and I was star struck happy. (Not just cheerful or extremely pleased, but star struck happy folks.) Jake really needed the break from work stuff, and I could certainly appreciate some rest and relaxation. Props to him for a PERFECT idea.

 

 It basically covered Babymoon, Valentines Day, and a badly needed vacation all in one weekend.

The first night we picked up a few groceries, ate at Big J's, then arrived at our destination. We made ourselves right at home, and watched a feel-good redbox movie: "Reel Steel" while eating apples with caramel dip!

Next morning, you guessed it.... sleep! But the room got pretty bright when the sun came through the window and prevented us from wallowing in bed for very long; which was probably a good thing.

We got up and went to "The Running Bear Pancake House" for breakfast. It was DeLIGHTFul. The smell of and warmth of the place was oh so cozy on a clear, but very cold day. I had one very large and scrumptious buttermilk pancake with a bowl of fruit on the side. Jake had french toast with eggs and bacon.

Next on the agenda (and the highlight of my stay, although it be a little silly) was SWIMMING. Oh the glorious weightlessness of the pool! I found overwhelming contentment when I immersed myself and did not have to carry the full pressure of the belly. Jake spent his time in and out of the hot-tub and almost took a nap on the lounge chair - but I drifted about in the big cool pool for the entire hour and a half. Back floats mostly, but also some lovely leg lift, and hip stretching exercises. Jake did venture into the cool pool for a bit of time, in which we invented some entertaining water sports with the floaty toys that were provided. But then back to the hot-tub he went. I will forever remember his graciousness in letting me swim as long as I wanted!

Quick shower, and on the next grand adventure: The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. oooooh neat! We weren't sure it was going to be worth $10 each to go inside, but we were wrong and so glad we went! The best part was it was a two day pass so we went back the next day for more! Here are a few of the pictures I took: 

Grizzly Bear playing in the snow

Wolf relaxing after chewing on some bones

 I was kind of amazed and a little freaked out how close we were able to get to all of the animals. There were secure fences and trenches between us and them, but there were times when we were only about 6-8 feet away from these guys. I am still not quite sure how I feel about it- but what an experience.

Wolf sniffing out the food the rangers had buried

HUGE Alaskan Grizzly Bear

At one of the indoor museums, one of the ladies showed us some animal skulls and different skeletons. There were some kids there who were mesmerized and it was fun to watch them handle the bones. I really enjoyed seeing all of the videos of wolf pack behavior, and learning some new things. For instance, I had never really looked at a bear paw. They had one in a case and although it seems trivial, I was intrigued that it was not like a hand with an opposable thumb. Did you ever realize that all 5 of their toes are on the top, and then they have sort of a pad down on one side that kind of resembles another toe without the claw.

I guess I always thought it was like a dog or cat where they only have the 4 pads on top. Hmmmm.

Back at the condo we relaxed for a bit before venturing out to window shop. A lot of the stores were closed for the winter, but there was still plenty to see. Good thing the candy shop was open for me! Just walking in the place was kind of magical. We indulged in a little slice of fudge,an assortment of hard candies, and some amazing chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters! Almost everything did close early though, with the exception of restaurants --- Drat, I guess we'll have to go in and eat :)

We found an awesome mom-and-pop place called Old Towne Cafe - where we ordered the biggest, most delectable Ribeye and Tbone steak that was ever cooked to perfection. I didn't get a picture, but my plate kind of looked like this:

Except my steak was BIGGER if you can believe it, and I got a mound of heavenly mashed potatoes instead of the baked potato shown - as well as steamed broccoli rather than this veggie mix. We dug a little deep in our wallet for this one, but really really worth it. No seriously, one of the best 5 meals I have had in my life.Yum yum, a thousand times yum - Could be pregnancy talking, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it any less. And I ate the entire thing, including sides, and every scrap I could scavenge. I don't have a lot of room in my tummy because the baby is pretty big now, so I don't know where it all went!? I think Jake was totally attracted to how piggish I was ;)

And after all of that, as if we weren't stuffed to the brim, we still went and got hot chocolate at the gas station. The perfect treat in the freezing night air. We took it back to our room and watched a few episodes of whatever was on T.V. Awwww, snuggly warm relaxation.

I'm just gonna say I had a ______ time. Insert into the blank "That perfect one word that no one knows yet." Yeah, I know,  it was just Yellowstone.... weird. But those were some serious good times, and we found it to be glorious!