Yellowstone Part I

For the past few years our family has gone camping during the month of August. While we love our trip up to West Fork of Black's Fork, we regretted the fact that everyone didn't come with us to the mountains. A couple of months ago we decided to take the entire family on a trip to Yellowstone. We set the dates, found a condo, and headed north to Montana.

It was a pretty uneventful first day as we drove the 5 hours through Northern Utah and Idaho to arrive in West Yellowstone, Montana. About the only interesting stop along the way was in Pocatello. I've never been to this city before and I'm not sure I want to go back. The city is arranged with the downtown area located quite a way from the freeway, so you are forced to drive through neighborhoods to find places to eat. Even worse, once you're ready to leave you drive around on one way streets until you finally make your way back to I-15.

Yesterday we woke up and headed into the park. For Day 1 we decided to drive the northern loop of the park. The kids absolutely loved seeing all of the hot pots and mud pots as we walked around the pathways. Kennedy wasn't too sure about the geysers, but she really liked the colors and the bubbles. I don't know that I've ever seen her run like this before!

The other big event of Day 1 in Yellowstone were the Upper and Lower Falls. These are really amazing and it was fun to take the kids to the lookouts to watch the water course off the rocks. I think everyone couldn't believe how much water is in the rivers of Yellowstone. Kennedy and Alex have only been around Utah water, which is mostly lakes and swimming pools, so this was a huge difference.

As we were driving back to the condo, we realized just how wild Yellowstone really is. Tara spotted a bison hanging out on the side of the road so we hurried to grab some video. I know it's nothing great, but Dede had the line of the day - "Why is that buffalo peeing?" Ah - Yellowstone.....