Yellowstone 2019

We drove to Yellowstone on Friday July 12 and were so excited to get there!  As in, the kids had so much energy they couldn't hold still for the picture.

Then we tried self-time and Ben cut himself out. Ha.

Another family showed up, so we asked them to take our picture, and this is what we got.  Pretty good, I would say.

 I just think my kids are the cutest.  When we drove into Yellowstone, the power had just gone out, so she didn't charge us to enter.  Awesome.  But then we got to the campground and they couldn't tell us which campsite was ours because their computers were down, too.  So we wandered around and got super excited to be there.  After about 10 minutes the power came back on and we got situated.

We set up our tent, ate dinner, then went to do some evening exploring of the first national park.

Right away we saw a mother bison and her baby. We were so excited!

Our first stop was the Lower Geyser Basin.  All the steaming water, fumaroles (those are like dryer vents from the volcano underneath) and mud pots were just fascinating.  We saw lots of lightning while we walked and loved being there.

We decided to check out Old Faithful next, and that lightning brought rain, and then the most splendid sunset double rainbow I have ever seen.  Of course this photo does not do it justice, but know it was breathtaking.

And at 9:15 PM we saw Old Faithful!  In the rain, without hardly anyone else around.  We loved it.

See those cute McMillan kids with Old Faithful behind them?!

The next morning we hiked to the Artist Paintpots.  Something so interesting about the sun in Yellowstone-it is SO hot.  These little kids didn't get enough sleep and even though the thermometer said 75, it felt scorching.  Ben said it was because the UV is higher.  I believe him.  So the little hike took us significantly longer.  Oh, well.

Next we drove to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  It was so lovely.  But our two little kids were too tired to hike to the lower falls.  So Phin and I went while Ben stayed with Ruby and Jonathan, and then Ben went by himself.  That was one of our favorite things we saw the whole time we were there.  The falls were powerful, majestic, and beautiful! And green!

Next we drove around Yellowstone Lake and got a little tour of the hot pots in the lake.  Typically they aren't in the lake, but it was a great water year, so they were covered.  It used to be that people could catch a fish in the lake then put it in one of these hot pots to cook it.  All while never taking it off the hook. 

Our next stop for the day was the Grand Prismatic Spring.  These boardwalks you are confined to are a little bit stressful with small children.  There's hot water running around them and signs everywhere not to step off.  Luckily the kids stayed on the boardwalks, but Ben and I felt a little anxious the whole time.

Anyway, this spring is incredible, huge, and very hot.  It was interesting to feel the heat as you walked by these features.  The water flows down into the river (featured behind Jonathan) at a rate of 4,000 gallons a minute.  I wished I could touch the water, but the signs everywhere say not to!

We finally made it back to our campsite and felt like we could walk around without stress of stepping off the boardwalk.  The Madison River runs behind the campground and we inspected some trees that each looked like this one-rubbed near the bottom.  When we got close we saw bison hair stuck in it.  It was so fun.  Phin collected all the dry bison chips (poop!) and we made a fire from them.  He learned about their flammability in Mrs. Leishman's class, and we loved seeing it first hand. 

We went to a late-night class about mountain lions, but Jonathan had to go to the bathroom in the middle of it.  And we didn't have a flashlight.  As we walked, I was sure a mountain lion was going to jump out.  Luckily we were safe!

After we packed up Sunday morning, we stopped at Black Sand Basin and loved seeing the geysers there.  Our favorite one was Cliff Geyser that was unpredictable: the water shot at all levels and we loved watching it.   

The kids worked hard to earn their Junior Ranger Badges, so we went back to Old Faithful to get their badges.  Within seconds of being there we got to see Old Faithful erupt!!  It was thrilling to see it in the daytime with an enormous crowd.  Then the kids got their badges and we were off on our way home.

All these toilet signs were my favorite. 

The drive home was a little long.  We had listened to "Danny: The Champion of the World" by Roald Dahl on the way there, but the version of Anne of Green Gables we got was not as fun to listen to.  So the kids were feeling crazy.  And then the parents were feeling crazy.  So next time we go to Yellowstone, we will stay longer than two nights.  We essentially had 8 hours of driving three days in a row and that was a little much. But, once we got home and everyone got sleep, we were glad we went!