Yellowstone National Park

We're home now, vacation is unofficially over. BOOOO!!!!

We had a great time. Catherine and I got to relax a little bit and the kids had a nice time earning their Junior Ranger badges at all of the National Parks we visited. I'll recap a bit from each Park, then I'll wade into the weeds a bit with the animals and a funny (to us) story in future posts.

So last National Park I wrote about was Grand Teton, which was very pretty. Next up was Yellowstone which is jam packed with all sorts of outdoorsy goodness. It wasn't a long drive from Grand Teton to our camp site in Yellowstone, which was nice. We were able to set up our tent site and then head back up the road back to the Old Faithful area to go see the geysers in action. We stayed for a dusk geyser "eruption" at Old Faithful - but I gambled and lost. The kids and I went for a walk around the upper geyser basin anticipating Old Faithful's eruption at a specific time, which is plus or minus 10 minutes. In this case, early by 10. Which is why all you see here is steam, because the water was already gone by the time we made it to where I wanted to photograph Old Faithful. The timing never worked out again for a nice sunset eruption, which was a major bummer for me.

The next day we explored the rest of the geyser basins, to include some hikes. This geyser below is Riverside Geyser, which is apparently impossible to predict when it will erupt. Luckily for us, it was when we were walking by it.

Same place, just a hundred yards or so further up the trail is Morning Glory Pool, which was one of my favorites.

We decided to treat ourselves with a swim in the Gibbons River that ran right by our camp site. We even had our own hot spring to help keep us warm, but it wasn't necessary. The kids and I had a nice time swimming in the swift current, while Catherine enjoyed wading.

Good thing the kids' camera is waterproof!

And yes, both Ian and Leah earned their Junior Ranger Badges from Yellowstone. Total parks visited so far: 3. Total Junior Ranger badges: 3.

We made our way to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River on our second full day, which was an early morning for all of us. We had the place pretty much to ourselves, but that could have been because it was almost freezing. Literally. It was in the low 30's when we first arrived, and it didn't improve much while we were there. Which was true pretty much every morning. It made for some cold sleeping, but nothing that we couldn't handle.

Once the sun came up though, the tourists started arriving in great numbers. Catherine tells me that three buses arrived while I was tinkering around trying to get a good photo (this one above is from the afternoon, so no - my morning shots did not turn out). I believe her, and I must say that my behind will be the most famous butt in all of Asia judging from the number of people taking their pictures next to me on the overlook to the falls. I kept taking my own photos through the whole ordeal, which was a bit funny while it was happening.

Next stop, Glacier. I don't want to ruin the surprise - but trust me, if you haven't made it to Glacier National Park, start planning your trip now!

Cheers,

Marc