Yellowstone National Park!!!

I had a few expectations about Yellowstone, but honestly, I was clueless about this special place.  I had no idea that there was so much to see and experience.  Someone could literally stay here for a year, and still not "do" it all.....really! 
There are millions of acres.  MILLIONS.
We did not even come close to the full Yellowstone experience.  Our four days were jam-packed, though!

There are many animals, birds and sea life to hunt for, mud pots, geysers, mountains, lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls, valleys, plains, forests, hot springs, and much more!


Our first day, we went to the West Thumb Geysers.  Too cool.  There is a built-up walk way for the tourists to get pretty close to these 'skin-burnin' pools.  Boy, did they stink too!  Sulphur.  The kids were really surprised to learn that these pools are actually heated from the core of the earth.  To witness it in person, makes that reality pretty humbling.  :)

Afterwards, we kept travleing west and came upon:

The Continental Divide and SNOW!!  IN JULY!!  That just baffles me!  Ha!  It was a nice way of explaining to the kids, and then later driving over it and locating it on a map, where the continental map is....cool way to educate!!  LOVE it.

I could not wait to reach this spot of the trip to Yellowstone!  I have seen pics, and saw videos of Old Faithful erupt, but to SEE it before my eyes.....this was SO exciting!  Would it really happen?  How would we really know if it was going to erupt, or was it all a horrible conspiracy?  What if the water ran out?  I know, silly right?  But these were some honest concerns as we arrived, and then had to wait......

and wait......

and wait......

and wait........

Nope.  Keep waiting......

(there were MANY little teasers like this!)  UG!

When, WHAM!  He erupted!  He did it!  It was AWESOME! 

There was about 200+ people watching with us, and when Old Faithful decided to show himself, everyone cheered and clapped and whistled.  It was like watching your favorite sports team score the final slam dunk or touchdown or homerun.  It was special and contagious.  :)

 

The next day, we went to The Canyons to Artist Point.  It is called this, because many artists travel here to be inspired.  Now, I can see why.  :)

These pictures do NOT come close to showing the grand beauty of this landscape.  There were yellows, oranges, greens, reds, browns and even purples scattered through out Yellowstone's Grand Canyon.

One of the fun spots on this location, is the access to upper and lower falls.  The kids enjoyed climbing on the boulders and seeing the falls rush down. 

(ofcourse, we HAD to do a 'silly' picture!)

Driving through out the area, we saw more and more bison, some deer, elk and many small animals, like prairie dogs and chipmunks.  :)
But, the views, for me, were just amazing. 

Driving down the road, we see a forest that then opens up to a humongous lake, that then shows a snowy mountain range, that then turns into a lush, green valley, that turns into bison-covered hills and prairies!

The kids also worked really hard for a couple of days on their Jr. Ranger program!

Great Accomplishment Golden Gang!  :)
(Parker was camera shy this day.  :)

 

Something that we thought was pretty spectacular, was meeting up with our good friend Ryan again!  It was too cool.  There we were, checking in to our campground, when all of a sudden, there is Ryan, on his bike, coming towards us!  Ryan and his grandparents are from Pittsburg, and we actually met them in South Dakota!!!  The kids hit it off right, off the bat, and it made our time at Yellowstone even more special.  :)

Yellowstone was amazing.  I am thankful that we went, even though the mosquitoes were unbelievable at our campground!  Just a simple reminder that nothing can be perfect!  :)

Blessings,

Steph