Ramblings by Jes, Part 5 - Weather

I spent a lot of time looking at average weathers for all the places that we were headed. I was planning on snow and cold temperatures in Yellowstone, 50’s and rainy in Oregon, hot and sunny in Utah and Vegas, and varying temperatures at most of the other places. As it got later in April and in to May, I was planning on wearing short-sleeve shirts with jeans or shorts with a sweatshirt. So, I brought layers – a lot of short-sleeve shirts with a couple sweatshirts. This year proved not to be average for anyone. We had way below average temperatures in Niagara, suffered through flooding rain and tornadoes as we headed through the plains, got caught in a freak snowstorm in Colorado, warm but not hot temperatures in Utah and Arizona, a windstorm in Death Valley, some actual sunshine in Oregon, relatively mild temperatures in Yellowstone, and thunderstorms and tornado warnings again back through the Plains.

All along the way, except for Vegas, we had lower than normal temperatures. As a result, we were hurting for clothes. I wore shorts in Vegas and that is all. The others braved the cooler temperatures in shorts a few times. But, we all wore the same sweatshirts over and over, day after day. And, given the boys’ propensity for climbing and sliding down rocks, we ruined at least 5 pieces of clothing. I tried to find extra pants at Target, but they don’t really sell pants this time of year. I’m so sick of all the clothes that I brought. I think many of them will not make it back into our drawers. If only I had known the actual temperatures, we would have been equipped with a much better selection of clothes.


But, despite the cooler than average temperatures and crazy storms that seemed to follow us, we were able to do almost everything that we had planned. The weather would let up for us to get in most of the cool stuff. We would have liked to explore Yellowstone better, but the snow possibilities kept us from venturing any further. But, we were still able to see much of the park. The only big miss for us was the fact that we did not see Mt. Hood when in Portland. The cloudy skies prevented it, and I am sad to have missed it because that is a beautiful mountain with an impressive presence.

I think, though, waiting a couple weeks would have been the best for the weather.  But, it would have meant taking the kids out of school for the end of the year, and they really wanted to participate in the end of year festivities.  And, the Boston Marathon really defined the beginning of our trip.