Yellowstone

I have told you about our little trip down to SoCal we had a couple of weeks back, so now it’s a little tale about our July 4^th weekend excursion. My awesome in-laws were gracious enough to pay for some hotel rooms in West Yellowstone, so that as an entire family we could spend the holiday weekend together. I had never been to West Yellowstone prior to this visit so I was excited and the boys were beyond excited for this one. Mandy had found them some books about the park and that only further stoked their interest. So after a four day stay in between vacations, we packed up the car and headed north this time (After a 13hour drive the previous Sunday, five hours is nothing. As a plus no puking this trip and no iPad covers were harmed).

The drive up was uneventful. Stopped in Island Park at Ponds for a quick lunch and we were back on the road. Quick side note about lunch. When we told the boys about going to Yellowstone and telling them about the wildlife and geysers and the such, they got some notion that bison meat (hmmmmm) was a mainstay at the park. So every time we stopped north of Malad (which was too often. No more liquids on trips) whether it was a rest stop or gas station the question was always: “Do they have buffalo burgers here?” Imagine the excitement when at Ponds they had, wait for it……..BUFFALO BURGERS! We bought them one off the adult menu to split. Alex loved it, Connor ended up sharing pizza. Alex finished Connors burger and also shared some of my pizza (yes that was almost an entire adult size burger and two slices of MY pizza. Lord help us when he’s a teenager).

We arrived early afternoon in West Yellowstone, checked into our hotel and headed into the park. Not 5 miles in and we hit buffalo. Connor has a certain liking for the beast and the trip could have ended right there for him. He saw his buffalo and he was happy. After that we headed onto Old Faithful and the lodge area. Now I have only been to Yellowstone once before and that was the year after the great fire up there (89?). So to see it now was a different experience. There were still burnt husks of trees everywhere but always surrounding those were dozens of 10-12ft tall pines ready to take back over. We saw the spewing of hot water from the ground at Old Faithful, toured the Lodge and did the hike around the Old Faithful area to Morning Glory pools and the surrounding area. 

 The hike took waaaaaaayyyyyy longer than we thought, it was fun and a great time but by the end all of us were ornery and hungry (ok maybe I was the only ornery one). We headed back into town for dinner. On our way back we were stopped in traffic for a bear that was seen 500 yards off the road, under a felled tree and tall grass. Of course I grabbed the camera and headed up the road. My sister-in-law, Demi and I trekked up the road and off the beaten path to try and glimpse the animal, when I decided to try and get a closer shot. Not sure if you are aware but there are thousands of little streams and rivulets of water in the park. As I also discovered most of these are hidden by the extremely thick grass that is also in abundance in the park. To quote Seinfeld, I stepped off the path, yada, yada, yada, I threw some tennis shoes away (RIP Orange Kwiss. You always were and always will be my favorite pair of shoes). After a 30 minute delay we were back on the road. We ate dinner that night at a fantastic place, The Slippery Otter, albeit it was a late dinner. We got back late, (I had to change), we had a big party and it was the 4^th in a small tourist town. The burger and Moose Drool (from the tap) was worth the wait. Alex declared his pizza the best he has ever had. Great food and great service.

The next day was a lot of driving and sightseeing. We hit Gibbons Falls first on our way to Mammoth Hot Springs. Again, seeing the awe on your kids’ faces when they see something for the first time is better than me seeing the sights.

 Alex wanted to see an Elk more than anything and he saw one on the way to Mammoth.

We hit the Artist Mud pots on our way to Mammoth and did the quick tour there (I’ll get to more of this in a minute). After a long drive of gorgeous landscape we arrived in Mammoth. When I was a kid, Mammoth Hot Springs was by far my favorite site in the park. The hundreds of little pools in a kaleidoscope of colors was a something I have never forgotten. However, as with the Artists Mud pots, most of it is inactive due to the constant earthquakes that have hit up there recently. In the case of the Mud pots, it was active until the recent quake that was up there in March. Not sure about when Mammoth went so dry but it was and I was more than disappointed. However, the boys again loved it. From the elk that are always present up there to the pools and falls, they were in awe. I was too once we hiked up to the most active part of the site and I was able to relive a little bit of childhood.

We then decided to go over the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to check out the two big waterfalls. The drive took forever and normally I would blame car problems or little boy issues (see previous mentions of small bladders and car sickness) but this time we had a bigger problem:

This little fella decided to meander through the highest pass in the park at his own leisure.

Yup he got that close.

 After our little detour and one black bear later we made it to the falls (just realized I was damn scared of the heights I didn’t take a picture of damn water. FAIL). After falls, we wandered down to the Mud Volcano area. That was by far my favorite area. From the Volcano, Dragons Mouth and the sour lake it was all great. We even were entertained by two male buffalos that decided to it was a good time to play alpha male. There was snorting, hollering, rolling in the dirt and stomping. This guy was not in a good mood but it made for a great picture. 

We wandered around there for a good 90 minutes, when decided to head back into town for dinner. In town we had some BBQ and what I can only describe as God’s gift to the ice cream world. HUCKLEBERRY ICE CREAM! Alex and I are making the drive alone for more of this stuff. We should have gone back for seconds it was so good but noooooo shopping was more important.

The next morning we headed back into the park to let the boys get there JR Ranger Patches and explore the lower and middle geyser area. Again we were interrupted by some guests:

However because of this herd we decided to take a little side road and see where it took us. It took us to this:

Firehole Falls

We had never heard of this, let alone seen it before. Sometimes the road less traveled is worth it (sorry got sappy with some Frost there).  We eventually ended up at the Geyser area walked around for some time and by then we were all so tired, a family decision was made to head home at that point.

We can’t thank Brad and Linda enough for this opportunity. We definitely made the most of our three days. If only I can figure out a way to get that ice cream here……….