Wyoming Trip - Yellowstone

The second part of our Wyoming trip was 4 days at Yellowstone National Park. We received some funny and odd looks while balancing baby on top of the park sign. This is also proof that baby made it into Montana, where this picture was taken at the north entrance.





Yellowstone was amazing. It is such a unique area. Many of its natural features aren't seen anywhere else. Yellowstone is also very large, and there are very few roads so we spent a large part of the week just driving. However, driving was very enjoyable because Yellowstone is so scenic and we were always animal watching.

Around every corner you have the potential to see beautiful wildlife. We saw most of the kinds of animals that Yellowstone has to offer. Usually it was easy to spot animals - just drive around and look for a huge traffic jam with people walking around their cars.


Elk...

Bighorn Sheep...
My favorite, the Bison...Erin's favorite, the Moose...
Coyote...

Prong-horned Antelope...

And even a good view of a black bear.

The Geysers were awesome. Geysers require a very rare blend of conditions to be possible. As a result, there are very few in the world. Yellowstone holds 2/3 of the world's geysers. In fact, the 1 mile stretch we walked through in the Upper Geyser basin has 25% of the world's supply.

Everyone knows about Old Faithful. What you might not know is that for every showing (during the day at least) literally thousands of people surround Old Faithful to watch. It felt like a sports stadium.

We walked along a boardwalk that goes through many small geysers and hot springs.


We all picked geysers that were named appropriately for us. Baby was the Infant Geyser.

I was the Economic Geyser.

And Erin was the Spiteful Geyser.

Here is the Morning Glory Hot Spring.
We stayed at Pahaska family reunion lodge just outside the east entrance of Yellowstone. It held our entire clan and offered beautiful views of the mountains.

The closest city to us was Cody, Wyoming, named after Buffalo Bill Cody. On the way we stopped at a cool dam that was over 100 feet high.

Cody is the self proclaimed "Rodeo Capital of the World!" I have to admit, the rodeo was pretty good, but the best in the world??

One day we drove nearly all the way around the park, stopping at the main attractions and taking the short walks to the scenic views. Here we saw the grand canyon of Yellowstone including the upper and lower falls.
Here we visited the Mammoth Hot Springs, which were quiet at the time but still very unique.
Yellowstone is a remarkable place. I hope to return someday.