Road Trip 2024: Yellowstone

Next stop on the Sweat Family Vacation:
YELLOWSTONE!

I love it when we visit places where we

have to wear sweaters in the summer!

Our first hike was to Natural Bridge.

It's a short, easy hike with a fun payoff at the end.

Shots like these make Andrew nervous!

Pretty cool shot!

Oh, I love being with these beautiful people

in beautiful places!

At one point, B and Caroline ended up racing back to the car.

It was a full-on sprint and he gave her a BIG head start

and then he ended up catching up right at the end. It was hilarious.

I forgot why I took this pic.

Maybe the cute wildflowers?

There was some sort of grouse in the field.

Cute little ground squirrel.

We love to stop for ice cream after that hike

at the Fishing Bridge General Store.

Then it was off to see some cool hot springs in the

West Thumb area.

I think this is Black Pond.

Quick stop by Kepler Cascades

We were using our GyPSy app to guide us

and he told us that we HAD to stop and peek

inside the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn,

which we never had.

Wow, it is something to see!

Old Faithful lived up to expectations!

So cool!

On the way to Grand Prismatic.

It's so other-worldly!

Grand Prismatic!

So colorful and beautiful!

Love love love!

Some bison on the side of the road.

And some elk we saw on the drive out of the park.

When we got to our Airbnb, we had issues.

They had emailed me the wrong code to get in the door.

And when I kept trying to call them, I couldn't get

an answer. It was such a disaster! We were all worn out

and ready to get off our feet--and nowhere to go.

(Except the sidewalk and the lawn.)

So B broke into the house.

Yep.

He found a window that he could

open from the outside and climbed

right in. 

Since Care Bear and I had road-tripped out,

we had lots of snacks packed in the car.

But then by the time we added three other

people and their luggage into the car,

it was getting tight.

Andrew was annoyed by our bags

of Skinny Pop that are not easy to pack.

When I went to the grocery store, I found

this GIANT bag of popcorn and *almost*

bought it just to make everyone laugh.

Out to dinner.

Our Airbnb was in Island Park, ID.

The ward there in the summer is CRAZY!

They have this unique A-frame building

where they broadcast sacrament meeting

from the regular chapel next door.

When we got there, even the second building

was already full of people

So we got to sit on the lawn between the two 

buildings where you could hear the talks.

It was a lovely morning for it.

We still had a couple more days in the park,

but Brandon had to fly home to work. Boo.

Andrew drove him to the airport.

Spent a chill Sunday afternoon at the Airbnb.

My friends had given me a card game called Monopoly Deal 

for my birthday. We'd never played it, but it's pretty easy

to learn and all four of us enjoyed it.

That evening we drove to nearby Mesa Falls.

We took the short nature trail to the waterfalls.

So pretty!

A mama deer and her baby crossed the road in front of us.

Hard to see through my dirty windshield.

I can't remember why we didn't go to Yellowstone on Monday.

I think it may have been raining?
Oh, and I think we drove into town and went to an IMAX

show if I remember right. But we didn't take any pics.

Anyway, the weather was OK in the afternoon,

so Andrew and I went to nearby Flat Ranch to do some birding.

We didn't realize we were going to have to walk through

the midst of big herds of CATTLE!

They look cute,

but it's super intimidating

to walk right through hundreds of them!

We saw a couple cute birds.

Tree Swallow

Northern Flicker

We could hear a long-billed curlew with our

Merlin app, but we couldn't get close enough to see it.

After a couple days of just chilling

(Which my family LOVES),

we headed back to Yellowstone on Tuesday.

Gibbon Falls

Spotted some bald eagles from the road.

That day, we drove up to the north part of the park.

Roaring Mountain

Swan Lake

We saw swans!

Made a couple stops in the Mammoth

Hot Springs area of the park.

Liberty Cap

Mammoth terraces--the pictures don't do it justice!

Undine Falls

Calcite Springs overlook

Tower Falls

Our second bear sighting of the trip!

The coat looked like a grizzly,

but it was another black bear. 

It was a little closer that I'd like, but there

were LOTS of people watching it, which made

me feel somehow more comfortable with it.

It was near the Chittendren Road/Mount Washburn Trailhead.

My very favorite hike in Yellowstone is 

the Clear Lake Artist's Point Loop Trail

starting at the Wapiti Lake Trailhead.

Care Bear and I were SOOOO excited to

do this hike with Andrew and Whit.

And about half a mile in, it started sprinkling...

Noooooooooo!!!!

I was so sad, but felt like we had to give up on the hike.

But then on our way back to the car,

it STOPPED raining!

Yessssssss!!!!

The girls were frolicking in the meadow!

The skies began to clear and my family agreed to 

turn around (again!) and try the hike again.

We were bursting with joy!

Got to see wildlife along the way

I love all the different landscapes that you hike

through in a relatively short hike (4 miles).

You hike through barren alien flatlands.

Walk by beautiful Clear Lake.

Then through a forest.

Perfect spot for practicing handstands.

 And then the views open up to the 

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone!

It is SPECTACULAR!

Again, the pictures don't do it justice.

I love it so much.

Yay! My heart was happy!

By this point, our 4-mile hike had turned into an 

almost 6-mile hike. It's not overly strenuous, but

Andrew's poor Achilles are still recovering, and his

feet were DONE. The girls and I ended up finishing

the loop and then driving back to pick him up.

More wildlife on the way out.

Finished up this fabulous day with burgers in

Canyon Village at the Canyon Fountain and Grill.

And that was the end of our Yellowstone and Grand Teton adventures. I was SO, SO happy to share this time with Andrew and the kids, doing lots of hiking, breathing in the fresh air, laughing together, playing games, and taking in the beauties of creation.