Yellowstone was much more varied in landscape than the Grand Tetons - and more challenging to capture in photos, too. So much of what we saw is hopefully etched in our memories, because I don’t have decent photos of everything! For example, the Old Faithful Inn where we spent our first night inside the park. After exploring some of the *many* thermal features, we made our way to the most famous of them all, Old Faithful. We checked in to the hotel, and managed to snag seats on the terrific upper-level deck overlooking the geyser, just 20 minutes before it went off. We saw it go off again later that evening, and then again the next morning, where I grabbed the above photo.
When I say there are a lot of thermal features in Yellowstone, that is a bit of an understatement. Some of them were eerily beautiful, such as the prismatic pool above. Many others were referred to as “gunk holes” by Laura. Most all of them smelled pretty bad. Oddly enough, bison really seemed to flock to these areas, which baffled us given the many other, much more scenic options.
Chief among the scenery was Artist’s Point, in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Just wow! A stunning waterfall surrounded by majestic canyon walls on either side - we could have gazed at this all day (too bad “Beed’s bored”). Well worth the steep hike!
From here we headed into the Lamar Valley, hoping to see wildlife. We were rewarded with sightings of elk crossing a distant river, and hundreds of bison!
These rapids were a nice respite from the heat, and obviously lovely!
Despite fellow travelers assuring us that the water was frigid, these three weren’t going to be satisfied until they swam in Yellowstone Lake. They frankly made it farther than I guessed they would!
As we drove back to the (spartan - no TVs or Wi-Fi, only so-so food) hotel that second night, we saw a bear! (No photos.) We also saw the same elk we saw at the start of our day. This guy really liked this same location! The kids and I got up extra early the next morning to try to add to our wildlife viewing tally, but didn’t see much else. Watching the sun rise as we drove was worth the wake-up, however!
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