I love Yellowstone! John's family has so many fun traditions. We always get ice cream at the Inn At Old Faithful and sit on the balcony while waiting for and watching the next rocket launch of Old Faithful. It is such a cool building! Everything is somewhat "giant-sized" and made of wood, except for the gigantic fireplace, made out of huge rocks.
We usually don't go on hikes, but this year we hiked to Fairy Falls. It was perfect the way there, but hot the way back. Probably the best part of the hike, other than the falls, was the view of Grand Prismatic. We saw the best view I've ever seen!! When you actually visit the Prismatic, the steam is so dense that you hardly see anything. From a certain viewpoint on the hike, you could see all of it in its blue and green beauty. The steam coming off was in rainbows.
Part of the Yellowstone experience is to drive around and look at wildlife--and avoid running into it--haha. We waited for about 30 minutes for a buffalo herd to pass--lots of baby buffalo too. Sometimes you'll have a buffalo leisurely walking down the road and you just have to follow him as cars pile up behind you. This year we saw a coyote, so that's cool. And I don't think I usually see so many swans. We always stop at a certain spot where a bald eagle likes to hang out (there are a ton of "pull-outs" along the road), and he was there when we stopped by. It was very nice of him. ;) We didn't see any bears this year, but I'm okay with that.
Another family tradition is to play on the beach at Fishing Bridge. We always have a picnic at Fishing Bridge on Friday, mosey around the bird museum there, then go behind the building and play in the sand and cold water. This year was the best ever because John's dad brought his new canoe! We spent all 3 hours taking turns paddling the lake. I love canoeing. (And don't you love words that you can spell "eing"? Like snowshoeing...)
After we play in the beach, we go take showers, then drive to Bridge Bay and have dinner at Lake Lodge. After dinner we sit on the porch and watch the wildlife across the street and end with a tour of the gift shop. John and I always buy a new Yellowstone Christmas ornament.
We learned a few things this year to remember for years to come:
1. Generic sunscreen does not work at high altitude.
2. Lake Lodge still has the best pot roast in this world.
3. Canoe + Yellowstone = A new family tradition.
4. It's okay to have your feet touching the bottom of the tent if you are laying at a 20-degree angle.
5. Jackson Hole is a silly town.
6. Provo, UT is just as good as Yellowstone when playing the license plate game.
Pictures coming! Check back later!
Okay, this is one of my favorite Yellowstone features: Dragon's Mouth! There's a dragon inside of the cave that makes lots of noise and smokes at all the visitors. (Okay, actually, there's some sort of hot air vent under the mud and water that makes the cool effects.) I always have to make a visit when we're in Yellowstone--just in case the dragon ever decides to make an appearance, you know?
This is another favorite--perhaps my new number one favorite--feature at Yellowstone: the Grand Prismatic. When you actually visit it, you can hardly seen anything but steam. On the trail to Fairy Falls, we saw an amazing view in all its glory. And, yeah, you just don't understand the amazingness nor the hugeness of the real thing through a photo--you just gotta be there.
