Steam reflections at Yellowstone
If you’re going to take the Great American Roadtrip, there are some visits that, to my mind, are non-negotiable. You must see Niagara Falls. You must see the Grand Canyon You must see Yosemite. You must see Mt. Rushmore (stay tuned).
And you must see Yellowstone.
Yes - there are dozens if not hundreds of other special places in our country - between national parks, state parks, county parks and unique cities and towns. But these 5 are the classics, the places that really define our country, and the places that visitors from other countries make special trips to come see.
We spent a long afternoon and a full day in Yellowstone and really just explored one corner of it. In our pre-trip planning Data expressed wanting to see Old Faithful so we geared our visit around the southwest quarter of the park that Old Faithful resides in.
We walked paths, marveled at colors, felt the moist heat from geysers as we walked past, and took great joy in finding wild life to stop and photograph. We - along with a intimate weekday off-season crowd of about 800 people - played the role of audience for the long-running drama of the Old Faithful geyser. We learned to heed the speed limits as we had close encounters with both a bison and some deer. And we took advantage of having food and a camp stove on board to make supper rather than wait in the exiting traffic jam.
And I got to witness another of my favorite moments of this big family adventure. It’s when one of the kids - moreso Storybird because she was a tougher sell on this trip - takes note of something, an unabashed “whoa!” escapes from their lips, and they dart off to look at whatever it was more closely. Those moments, when the joy of discovery becomes paramount, make all the effort and cost of “getting there” worthwhile.
It was too hard to whittle down the Yellowstone photos, so here are the ones from our first day.
Dan & JoAnne Schaub writes:
Love seeing the photos of Yellowstone! Glad you enjoyed it so much and great to here your daughter came around! :)
Boyink writes:
Wow - that has to be the fastest blog entry to first comment time of the entire trip! I had barely even published..:)
Crissa writes:
Yellowstone is my favorite National Park thus far… and we only saw a fraction of the area. There was just something otherworldly about the boiling/colorful/steaming pots of earth—of course, the fact that we viewed most of these things from a raised boardwalk may have added to the experience (I’ve seen too many sci-fi movies, maybe?)
I’d really love to go back and explore another portion of Yellowstone (with one trip back to the SW corner for a peek at some geysers/mudpots/colorful springs.
Crissa writes:
Our first day at Yellowstone included stops at:
*Lower Geyser Basin: Fountain Paint Pot
*Firehole Lake Drive
*Upper Geyser Basin: Black Sand Basin
*Upper Geyser Basin: Old Faithful Geyser
*Madison River: Pullouts to view wildlife and for dinner
Dean writes:
“tatanka”
Margie Lundy writes:
Great pics! This was the only part of Yellowstone I got to see. Had to work while Allen took the kids in a few other days to see the rest. They still talk about the smell! :)
Boyink writes:
Thanks Margie - we hope to return and view more of Yellowstone someday.
Hazel D. writes:
Great seeing your Yellowstone Pics. They look like the ones we took when we were there. Yellowstone is awesome! We spend two long days there. Sure glad we made that trip.
Crissa writes:
Good to hear from you, Hazel.
And yes, Yellowstone is awesome! I’m planning to return in the future to investigate more of the park.
Reflinse writes:
My MIL lives just outside the east gate to Yellowstone, and we try to get there at least once a year. It is such a wofurendl place! I love the little cabins at Mammoth, too. It looks like a fabulous trip!