Road Trip: Yellowstone

 Yellowstone is magical.

It is one of my favorite places in the world.

I wish I could take my whole family there,

but so far C and I are the only ones who have been there.

Thankfully, we only had to spend that one night

in the van at Grand Teton.

We were able to reserve a cute little cabin at a KOA

right outside of Yellowstone. It was super close to 

the park, only about 10 minutes from the west gate.

Yay!

We enjoyed some of the amenities there,

like the playground.

And we rented a super fun 4-person bike.

Care Bear got to drive us.

She was a little bit crazy at first, but

then figured it out. We had so much fun!

We had dinner at their little chuck wagon.

It was yummy to eat real food!

We mostly just snack when we travel.

C got a steak and I got a grilled cheese sandwich.

C went swimming at their indoor pool for a little while.

We stayed two nights here and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

It was pricey considering that we didn't even have running water.

We paid just over $300 for the two nights.

But we slept great and you have to take what you can get

when you're in the boonies surrounding national parks.

We had to use common showers, which was the only thing

I didn't like about it. It was OK, but I definitely prefer having

my own bathroom.

A little cabin tour,

courtesy of Caroline.

Some of the sights we enjoyed at Yellowstone:

Roaring Mountain

Beryl Springs

Beryl Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

I love these gorgeous mineral formations

Last time we drove around the Mammoth Springs Lodge,

we saw elk hanging out in the grass near the buildings.

They were there again this time!

So fun.

Rustic Falls

I wanted to do a hike around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We thought this little half mile hike to Artist Point would be perfect.

THAT SIGN IS A LIAR!!!

It was actually 3 miles.

THREE MILES.

Um. That's way off from the .55 miles advertised.

When you think you're going on a half mile hike and it's

SIX TIMES THAT LONG...

That's lame.

Luckily, Care Bear was a good sport.

And it's hard to beat the views along that hike.

GORGEOUS

I LOVE this part of Yellowstone.

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone

Cute little marmot in the road

Virginia Cascades,

a cute little side detour that we didn't take last time.

We use an app called GyPSy to tour both

Yellowstone and Grand Teton. It's one of the

few apps that I paid actual money for and it is

SO worth it. It's a built-in tour guide that runs 

off your GPS. He makes recommendations of where

to stop and what sights are OK to pass by.

You get some historical and scientific insights.

I love it. I think Care Bear was sick of learning

from our Gypsy guide by the end.

Some elk (or deer?) along the side of the road.

OLD FAITHFUL!

This is another of my favorite spots.

We were in for a little more adventure than we anticipated this time.

A storm blew in right when we were staking out our spot.

It was raining and super windy.

And cold.

We had to run for cover at a nearby visitor's center.

Luckily, the storm passed in time for us to make it back

to our spot to watch the eruption.

Old Faithful was only TWO MINUTES

late from the predicted eruption time.

Amazing.

I absolutely love the variety of landscapes and

unique geological features around Yellowstone.

One of my other favorites:

The springs around the Firehole River

Opal Pool

Grand Prismatic!

Oh, how I love the colors around here!

It's hard to get a good pic, but it is breathtaking.

Dragon Mouth Spring

Mud Volcano

Near Mud Volcano

One of the things that pics can't prepare you for are

the smells of Yellowstone. Get ready for some 

rotten-egg sulfury smells. I don't mind it,

but it's rough for Caroline.

We saw a great big herd of bison just across the 

street from the Mud Volcano area, near the Yellowstone River.

There must have been about 200 of them.

We only had one kinda-close encounter, but

mostly kept a safe distance.

They are BIG.

Another place we like to stop is at Fishing Bridge.

Such pretty views.

And we like to get ice cream at the general store there.

Yummy.

We did a new-to-us hike to 

Natural Bridge.

It was fantastic!

Saw a couple of marmots right at the side of the trail,

It's a 3-mile hike and took us an hour to do.

The trail was quiet and we only crossed a handful

of people along the way, which seems crazy for

Yellowstone in July. The parking is not very well

labeled and there were only three or so spots, so we 

felt REALLY lucky to have nabbed one.

I think I read somewhere that you can also park at 

the Bridge Bay campground and hike to Natural Bridge,

but I'm not sure how to do that. 

You get to hike right up to this Natural Bridge.

So cool!

Care Bear found a walking stick.

I think it might be a titch too big.

The trail is pretty flat until the end, when you go 

up to the Natural Bridge itself.

We also explored just a little bit along the shore 

of Yellowstone Lake near West Thumb.

We spent two days in Yellowstone. You could definitely spend more time there, but it was a good amount for us. We were able to see most of our favorite things from last time and add in a new favorite hike, too. Wow, I am always awed by the beauty, majesty, and variety of nature when we visit Yellowstone. God is an amazing artist and I'm grateful we can see some of His handiwork.