yellowstone national park.

July 11th, 12th

Yellowstone, Wyoming

The drive to Yellowstone was more of the same.  Flat cattle ranches and blue summer skies.  We finally made it to the park, which is H-U-G-E!  Much bigger than we anticipated.  The camp site we selected was 80 miles from the South Entrance, and there was construction going on.  It took us about 2.5 hours to reach camp.

Mammoth Springs... or Mars?

Yellowstone is an amazing place.  It’s the first National Park established in the entire world.  Ulysses S. Grant decided to designate the land as a national park in the late 1800’s, and keep it natural and wild so that everyone could enjoy it.  We did just that.

Yellowstone magnificence.

We were tired and hungry by the time we set up camp near the north end of the park, but we managed to hop in the car and head towards Mammoth Springs.  I suggest if you ever visit Yellowstone to leave your dog children at home.  They are not allowed in many places and this hindered our exploration of the park, but we still managed to see some wonderful things!

I don't think this guy's name is Yogi!

Our full day there we drove around most of the park and visited Tower Falls, Old Faithful (too much hype for what we saw) and a ton of wild life.  Our camera got a work out.

Tower Falls

I was a little leery of camping with all the signs in big letters saying “BEAR COUNTRY,” but the park ranger did a drive by through our campground at night, so that made me feel a little better.

Old Faithful

Yellowstone is so vast and has so many geological features, in some places it almost looks like you are on another planet!  As you can see from the pictures, it is an awesome and inspiring part of the country.  We are lucky we got the chance to see it.  Thank you, Mr. Grant!

Next stop:  Montana!

I guess this is a yawn. Mr. Elk must be tired! And yes, I was that close.

We saw many buffalo, but this guy was almost posing for us.

This black bear stopped traffic.

Ciao Ciao Yellowstone!