Last week, I took the family to Yellowstone National Park. The ride is pretty tight with the eight of us in the van with all the gear. Yellowstone is full of hot springs, bubbling mud pits, geysers, all kinds of wildlife and beautiful country to look at. Unfortunately, it was raining for the five days we had for vacation. It didn’t matter too much, there were plenty of things to look at and places to hike.
We camped in tents and there was no shower at the place we were staying so towards the end of the vacation we were all getting stinky. We had hiked around, and did lots of things that involved campfires, mud and stuff. So, decided we were going to go swimming to clean off. We pile into the van, look up the GPS and start driving and driving and more driving, looking for a public swimming pool. We go through the park to this other entrance and take a look at this pool, it is a development that did not look fun. Later, we travel on another road and it is a similar situation. Apparently, they don’t believe in swimming in that part of the nation, despite the hundreds of hot springs in the area.
On the way back, we see this boat ramp picnic area. We stop to have lunch there after sitting in the van for hours. While I am helping my wife put together sandwiches, the kids stroll down to the river to play in the sand. They busy themselves stacking rocks, skipping rocks on the water and wading into the cold river water and wave at the fishermen as they float by.
After we make the sandwiches, gather the chips and drinks, we call the kids over for food and we discuss what they want to do for the remainder of the day. They were content where we were. There was more to see, but they (myself included) were all getting tired of sitting in the van to see the next site. We all vote on it and it was fairly unanimous to hang out there. For once, the sun was shining and it was a good time to relax.
For the remainder of the day, we just hung out there on the river, perfecting our rock skipping and eating snacky food. We really didn’t see much that day, but I would say it was probably the most enjoyable day of the trip, plus we all got to swim in the cold river water and got cleaned up a bit.
Life is like that, we often get too caught up in seeing the next big thing that we forget to enjoy the little things around us. All too often, we let ourselves become too anxious about the next big promotion, the next vacation, retirement, or whatever that we neglect living the little moments of life. As they say, "Stop and smell the roses", or at least stop and throw rocks at the cars from an overpass.
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