Yellowstone Day 1

We went to Yellowstone last weekend and it was absolutely fabulous. I hadn't been back there since I was pregnant with Sarah Kate so it's been a good 7 years or so. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is. I love going to Yellowstone as an adult because I have so much more appreciation for it's beauty than I did as a child. It's definitely an incredibly beautiful place that everyone should go visit sometime in their lives. It's nature at it finest.

Anyway, we left Friday and of course we were late. It turned out OK though because we were meeting Kenny's parents there and they were also late. We took the drive up through Island Park and West Yellowstone. As we drove I realized what a pretty place we've moved to. It's amazing to me that we live so close to so many beautiful areas. We stopped in West Yellowstone and ate lunch at McDonald's. It was a constructed like a log cabin and Ben thought it was the coolest McDonald's he had ever seen. It was great, a log cabin McDonald's and a Star Wars Happy Meal toy, he couldn't have been happier.

After lunch we stopped at an outlet store in West Yellowstone that was selling Yellowstone shirts for cheap. We bought the three oldest kids sweatshirts which came in handy as the park did get a little cold. We couldn't find anything for Gracie, but I didn't think she cared all that much. She was just happy to be out or her car seat and to crawl around on the floor.

Then we headed into the park. As I said before, it's just beautiful. Pretty much as soon as we drove in we spotted a Bison in the river. It was such a welcoming. Kenny said it should wear a sign around it's neck that says 'Welcome to Yellowstone.' I don't know about you, but I wasn't willing to put the sign on him. :) We saw other Bison and some Elk as we drove to our campsite.

Our first bison sighting.

Our first stop, minus the stops for wildlife pictures, was at Gibbon Falls. It's a waterfall along the Gibbon River (I bet you couldn't have figured that out.) Kenny decided we needed to walk down to it and so I gave up my east coast mentality that you can't go exploring and headed down with the family. It was beautiful and the kids enjoyed looking down over the edge (don't worry we held on to them.) On the way up I got the first (and only) battle wound of the trip. I was trying to help the kids up as I was holding Gracie and I wasn't paying attention to the trees in front of me. I walked right into a very poky, dead tree limb and it hit me square between the eyes. I guess it's good it didn't poke my eye out, but it did leave a small mark and Hannah was very concerned for me. She still looks at me and points as she says "Mama owie." It's very cute.

Gibbon Waterfall

Next we went to find Kenny's parents who we thought were at Canyon Campground, but when we got there we discovered the campground was closed for the season. We drove down to Fishing Bridge and got lucky when we found them there, it was also nice that they had only been there for about 15 minutes. We were originally going to take the trip with Kenny's brother Michael and his family along with his parents, but last minute Michael discovered he had to work that weekend so it was just us with Grandma and Grandpa. It turned out great and everyone had a wonderful time. They let us stay in their trailer which was very nice and cozy and kept us very warm overnight with the sometimes below freezing temperatures outside. We were grateful to have a nice place to stay.

After we got all settled in the trailer we headed to Yellowstone's Grand Canyon area. We first had to stop at the Mud Volcano, which is a hot spot for bison as well. When we arrived the Bison were by the road and as we left they were headed up the hill for the night to the warm area of the mud pots. We stopped and took a few pictures of the bison and then went to see the mud volcano. The kids loved the walk and enjoyed looking at the springs and mud pots. They even tolerated the sulphur smell, which was very nice.

Watching the Bison at the mud volcano

When we finished there we went to Artist Point which gives you an amazing view of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon and the huge waterfall along the Yellowstone River. Every time I go there I'm awe struck. It's such an amazing place. I always think of two things when I go there. One, I wonder what it would have been like to discover it. What an amazing sight it would have been had you never seen anything like it before. It probably would have also been very daunting, how would you get around it? Two, God had created some amazing things in this world and I'm so grateful for their beauty and for the opportunity I get to enjoy them.

The Grand Canyon and waterfall.

The kids enjoyed the waterfalls, but it was getting dark so we had to head out. On the way home we ran into something you only see in Yellowstone, a Bison roadblock. There was a herd of Bison on the roadway and they were just happy to chill out. They were in no big hurry to leave and no one wanted to mess with them. It took a while before the Bison moved a bit and for the people to get brave enough to drive by, but if I have to be in a traffic jam, I'm OK with it being that kind of a jam.

The bison road block.

We went back to the trailer, fed the kids and put them in bed. Then Kenny and I went for a quick walk and headed back into the trailer to play some Scrabble with my in-laws. It was a wonderful day and that set us up for yet another wonderful day.

We had a lot of great pictures so check out the slideshow.