Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone, the first national park in the United States, is as amazing today as it was when it was created (or so I would imagine.)  It’s huge and full of incredible nature.  It’s hard to use words to describe it.  The shear beauty of Yellowstone takes your breath away.

We arrived through the east entrance in the afternoon.  Last time I drove through this entrance it was midnight, so I enjoyed being able to see where we were going this time.  Munchkin was crying/screaming for most of it.  We stopped at the General Store at the Fishing Bridge to stretch, eat lunch and of course we browsed the merchandise for sale.  Munchkin was ok getting back in the car after and we headed up to the loop road.  It was slow going because there was bison everywhere.  I lost track of how many herds we saw after 6.  There were thousands of them, just about everywhere you looked.  People were stopping and taking pictures from the middle of the road.  It was kinda insane.

We took the loop road towards the West Entrance.  On the way we drove through the Virginia Cascade Loop.  It took a little but but we finally found the falls.  There was a river leading up to it and I had mom pull over at a turn off so I could go see the river.  Munchkin was asleep (thankfully!) so mom stayed in the car with her.  The air was cool but clean and crisp smelling.  It was quite and you could hear some birds and the river gurgling as it headed to the falls.  It was so peaceful.  I wish Munchkin had been awake because I would let her go wading, even though the water was cold. 

 

The next day we headed towards the geyser section of Yellowstone.  We stopped to walk along a path around some and we saw three go off.  It’s amazing to see water shooting out of the earth.  After that we headed to Old Faithful.  It was going off as we drove up so we waited around to see it again.  It was worth it.

After a quick lunch at the lodge we headed to the Continental Divide, where we left the crowds behind (thankfully!) It was nice and peaceful, perfect for a Munchkin nap.  There was a little lily pad covered pond and it smelled clean and pure.  It was heavenly.

After that we continued driving the loop road.  We ended up back at the fishing bridge where we had come in the day before.  We decided that we would drive the whole loop.  Munchkin was doing great and it really wouldn’t take that long, would it?  I should have known better cause that’s what The Man & I said when we were there.  Yes, it does take all afternoon.  You would think that I would have learned from last time but no.  So we drove around and while we enjoyed it we were exhausted by the end.  We did manage to stop at Mammoth Springs and walk around.  Munchkin was sleepy so I carried her in the Ergo.  While we were heading back to the car I saw a man carrying a baby in an infant car seat.  While I agree it’s totally your choice to use one, I really wanted to let them try my carrier.  Who wants to carry a heavy car seat around Yellowstone?  Baby wearing is the way to go…so much easier and so much better for your back!

We were super excited to get back to the hotel but the mule deer and line painting slowed us down.  We really need more time in Yellowstone.  I think we have to plan another visit…soon!                                     

Behind The Scenes: Mule Deer

My mom, Munchkin & I had had a long but fun day at Yellowstone.  We ended up driving the entire outer loop of the park and were exhuasted.  Our hotel was in West Yellowstone and we were on our way out of the park when traffic slowed down.  At Yellowstone, that usually means one of two things: road construction or wildlife.  We had driven this road on the way in and knew it wasn’t road construction so it had to be wildlife.  We had already seen our share of bison and really wanted to see elk or a bear.

We slowed to crawl.  I opened my window and try to spot the animals but could see nothing.  We were coming up to a bridge so I undid my seatbelt, hoisted myself up and leaned out the window.  I has about halfway out the window as we slowly drove by a lady carrying a camera.  I called out to her “What are we looking at?”  She called back" “Mule Deer!  There are three of them.”  I said thank you and in about 2.5 seconds my mom & I agreed not to stop.  After all, we had a sleeping baby and we didn’t want to get her out of her car seat again.  I’m sure Mule Deer are cool, but not cool enough to get her out of the car.

Mom was still driving S-L-O-W-L-Y and I managed to see one and snap the picture of it. I know it’s a horrible picture but my mom was laughing me because I had shouted at some lady.  I love the photo because you can see the deer and you can see my shadow taking the picture.  I also don’t know who that lady is but if it’s you, I’m sorry I took a photo of your bum.  It was just kinda there. 

After I took the picture we were able to speed up for about a mile and then traffic backed up again.  We had about 8 miles left and were surprised that there was another animal sighting.  We waited and waited and waited to get to the animals but none appeared.  We were crawling and had no idea why (I actually could have run faster than we were driving and that’s saying a lot!)  To make matters worse, Munchkin woke up and was screaming.  Not just crying but SCREAMING.  At the top of her lungs.  It took us about 45 minutes to go those last 8 miles.  As we reached the park exit we figured out why traffic was so slow.  We were behind a line painting truck and he moves at a snails pace.  It was torture.  We were so excited to get to our hotel room and crash!

I’m linking up with Crystal Stine for the Behind the Scenes. Wondering what it’s about?  Here is how Crystal describes it: Social media and online relationships can make us feel like everyone else has it all together. We're edited, proof-read, Pinterest-perfect versions of ourselves  (or so some might think!) when - in reality? There is an unfinished pile of laundry around the corner. That cute toddler smiling for the camera just had a massive meltdown seconds ago. That yummy breakfast-for-dinner you just showed us on Instagram? It's because the cat licked the chicken that was supposed to be for dinner.

 

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