Yellowstone Adventure

The best kind of trips are the ones that are random and quickly planned. It all started off around the table during lunch with normal conversation on what we should do. Emily randomly said we should go to Yellowstone. I thought to myself and said why not. After the home school time the last few months, the kids were getting stir crazy to get out and have fun. The decision was made and we were on the road by dinnertime to spend a couple of days in Yellowstone. 

We were all excited to get ready and out the door. We gathered the bare necessities to eat and sleep with. Of course it was last minute so we did not have a place to stay, so we made it so we could sleep in the van. We were on the road by early evening and drove all the way. We made it to the entrance around midnight. We found a hotel parking lot and got the kids ready to sleep. The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived. We hoped for better weather the next day. Here are all the little yahoos all bundled up and ready to sleep. We were kind of out in the back of the parking lot out of the way when this car drove up about 50 yards away. He got out of his car and was rocking out to loud music and he looked like he was on drugs. Tiff and I both laughed and made a decision to move the van closer to the hotel. 

It was a good night of sleep, well maybe for the kids. We woke up to snow on the windshield and we thought to ourselves not fair, but we made the best of it and head to the park in hopes the weather would change for the good.

 

We made it and off we drove to the first destination. The hikes were fun and all the kids had a really good time. They were all good sports about walking all the trails. The scenery was awesome. We went many years ago with Tiffany's family, but I don't remember some of the hikes. Tiff said it is because we never went on the hikes we just saw things from the road. It was definitely more fun to hike farther in and see new views. The weather was cold and cloudy, but we were lucky to have no rain. The cold was worth it to hang out with the family. We saw a lot of sulfur ponds that were steaming, water falls and wildlife. Thank goodness we were prepared for the weather. Mom did a great job making sure we all had plenty of warm clothes.   

It was a lot of hike and get in the car drive a few minutes and get out again and do it all over again. All the stops were awesome and we thought it was going to be over crowded with people, but it was the opposite. We were worried about the whole mask thing and what was expected. We decided against them. The funniest part of our hikes was the people who wore masks. There were all different kinds of "face coverings." People would have them off and when they got close to us they hurried and put their mask on to pass and then took it off when they were passed us. I laughed at how people were acting. One lady just had a see through scarf as her mask. Tiff and I laughed at it when we saw this. Good for them for trying at least. We are such rebels. 

A one area we were close enough to the sulfur ponds to actually touch the water.  It was so cold outside but the water was so warm!  We liked warming up our hands in the warm water.

We also took this trip because we figured it was a great way to social distance in the great outdoors. We were plenty of feet away from all wildlife and also from people as you can see from the pictures below. 

The next stop was Old Faithful, the biggest and most viewed attraction in the park. This is were everyone was at. We should have planned better so we would have missed the big crowds. We pulled in around 11 am and of course everyone had the same idea as us to eat lunch, see the stores and the go on the trails to see all the sights around Old Faithful.

  

 The kids loved seeing Old Faithful go off. We were lucky to get there when we did. We did the whole loop around the area.  We were able to see all of the different geysers and sulfur pots around Old Faithful.  Our favorite was the one that looked like a toilet flushing.

By this time it was late afternoon, Charlotte was exhausted from all the hikes and she passed out. We had lunch and got some cool gifts at the shop and back on the road for more adventure. We found the Continental Divide and of course we could not pass up a picture moment. 

The last few places we went to were the coolest of all. We went to the Yellowstone Lake, and the biggest falls in the park. It was a fun day for everyone. All the water was a cool blue color almost like Glacier National Forest. 

Here we are all together at Yellowstone Lake. Every once in a while we find random people to take a picture of all of us. The weather kept getting colder and we were all hoping day two would be a warmer day. 

After seeing Yellowstone Lake we drove over to the best geyser: The Dragon's Mouth Spring.

This was our favorite because it actually looked and sounded like a dragon was living in this cave.  We could hear the water gurgling and it sounded like the dragon was angry and growling.  Charlotte kept talking about the angry dragon in the cave.

Here we all are at Lower Falls.This is a very impressive fall. It is 308 feet tall and can put out on average, 5,000 to 60,000 gallons of water per second. 

 

The view was amazing. Also to think how long it took to make this canyon and how much water had to move through to make this canyon that deep. People also call this place the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

On the way out of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we saw this big bear on the side of the road. It was so cool because we have never seen a bear this close before. If you are driving around Yellowstone, you have to pay attention to the roads and the side of the road. One minute you could be going the speed limit and then the next you are at a complete stop. If everyone is at a complete stop, then you better get looking to the sides of the road because there is something to see. We were really close to this bear. All the kids were yelling, "Look a bear!" 

We hoped to see more wildlife, but the things we did see were awesome.  We saw buffalo, elk, birds, antelope, a brown bear, and big horn sheep.  It was a great time to go to the park. It was so green and a lot of water everywhere. As we were leaving the north entrance of the park we got to a little town that always has elk everywhere. We also saw more buffalo. The kids were not very excited to see the buffalo because we had seen plenty of them that day. 

We hiked and played a few more hours and then went off to find a place to stay the night to get ready for day number two.  Every place was packed but we found a little campground outside of the north entrance in Gardiner, MO and spent the night in the van again.

Night number two was better than night number one. We did some moving around with the sleeping arrangements. The camping spot we found was actually full but we were tired of driving and found a pull out spot with a tree and called it camp. The kids got to run and stretch their legs. We got dinner ready and eaten in just the nick of time. Once we put things away and the bedding laid out, down came the rain. I made it in the van just as the worse part started to come down. We all laughed at how close it was. It was also cool that even with how cold and cloudy it was we did not get rained on until that night. Mom woke up before everyone and took some pictures of everyone. She was so sneaky. Everyone looked so comfy. I was wanting my bed so bad. It was worth sleeping like this for two days to have fun with these yahoos. We got ready to go and got breakfast and then off for day two. 

Emily was bugging us the whole trip to go to Mammoth Hot Springs, so that is where we went first. On the drive there Tiffany had really good eyes to see big horn sheep on the side of the road. More wildlife seen to check off.  I was glad Emily wanted to go here because it was way cool. I think out of the whole trip this was the coolest sights to see. It was a perfect day. No clouds and it started to warm up.  

We did another loop hike that led us to a really loud blow hole. It was pushing out so much steam and pressure that you could barely hear someone talk when you were close to it. Emily and the boys loved this one. We also went to on place where you could see how the temperatures from each of these sulfur areas killed off the vegetation all around it. One area there would be green trees and bushes everywhere and next there would be a very distinct line of dead trees and bushes.  

This is Colby and Logan near the blow hole that was really loud in Geyser Basin. During all the hikes we always smelled rotten eggs from the sulfur. Some areas had a light smell and some had a very strong smell. 

The whole two days was full of fun memories and cool sights. We all had our favorite places and want to go back again. 

This geyser behind us is called the Steamboat Geyser.  This geyser's eruptions are actually bigger than Old Faithful's.  The problem is that the eruptions are very sporadic.  They only happen every few months or years. No one really knows when it will erupt so you are lucky to see it happen.  Unfortunately, we didn't see it erupt we were about a week too late...

During our drive home we went through Wyoming to see the Tetons and drive through Jackson Hole.

 We stopped off at this cool place in Jackson Hole to take a picture with the antler arch. This was a great spur of the moment trip that needs to be done again.  We had a great time.  I am glad we live so close to this great National Park.