Yellowstone - July, 2019

After spending a few fantastic days in the Jackson Hole area, we loaded up our gear and headed north to Yellowstone.  The drive took us up through Teton National Park and was absolutely beautiful.  As we entered the southern entrance of Yellowstone, our first stop was the West Thumb Geyser Basin area.  We didn't ever make it that far south last year and were excited to see a new area of the park.  The hydrothermal areas are right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake so the views were fantastic.  It's so strange to see how the "hot pots" flow into the lake - we were pretty sure we wouldn't ever want to get in and swim in that area.  After a year away from Yellowstone, we were all completely enthralled by the beauty and the mystery of all of the pools, geysers, and bacteria fields.

Next stop was the Old Faithful area where first things first, the kids completed the work to become Junior Rangers.  They took their responsibilities very seriously and it was great to see them so interested in preserving these areas of nature.

Call it cliche, but watching Old Faithful is really one of our favorite things to do in the park.  This times we had to wait a little extra - she wasn't quite as faithful.  We were able to see the geyser erupt three times, each with a varied perspective from a different location

And the geyser field behind Old Faithful was just as awesome as we remembered.

Anemone Geyser, AKA the toilet bowl, one of our favorite geysers

Ice cream at Yellowstone always tastes better

When we went to Yellowstone last year, Grand Prismatic Springs was hands down, our favorite location in the park.  When we went this year, we were a little disappointed - there was so much steam being blown around by the wind that you could barely even see the pools.  It's interesting how much the views of any area in the park change depending on the time of day and weather.  So this year we didn't get the views we wanted, but it is still my most favorite.

We made it to West Yellowstone late Saturday night.  Our original plan had been to head home early Sunday morning.  But we decided that we couldn't go home without spending a little time in the Grand Canyon area.  Visiting the sights along the river meant a long day, with about 8-10 hours of driving, but it was totally worth it.  We love how big and bold the canyon area is, and are always amazed at the diversity of the area.  

Plenty of places for monkeys to climb

The power of the water was completely awe-inspiring...

And a little bit terrifying

As we got ready to leave the park, we were a little sad that we had not seen very many animals on this trip.  So it was a perfect ending to the outing when we found a few small buffalo to befriend.

I am not sure when we will make it back to Yellowstone, but for now, we have amazing memories of a great family trip.  We consider ourselves so lucky to have had the chance to experience the wonder of it all, together.