What We Did at Yellowstone- Day 3

Day 3 at Yellowstone National Park was shorter as we each had to go our own ways- Jeremy's family heading toward home and our family heading toward the other Montana fair.
We spent most of our time around the Mammoth Hot Springs area.  We checked out the visitor's center and had lunch together then said Goodbye to each other.

Again it was a nice drive out of the park.

It was a good third day at Yellowstone.

What We Did at Yellowstone- Day 2

Day 1 of our Yellowstone trip was mostly searching for wildlife.  Day 2 was more on the geologic side.  Of course we wanted to see Old Faithful.  You can't go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

We saw plenty of other geysers and hot springs as well.  Again there was so much to see.  Some areas were too crowded so we saw some things as we drove by, but we went on a few scenic drives and were rewarded by what we saw.

We did stop at Mammoth Hot Springs to walk around a few of the hot springs as our first stop in the morning.  So cool... or hot.

We saw swallows nesting in the mineral deposits.  We saw a killdeer walking around the lower areas of water.  I'm guessing it was probably cooled off enough by then.

It was so neat.

We stopped by the National Park Ranger Museum.

The couple there who were explaining things to us were so friendly and informative.  They even gave the kids stickers.

And this is what happens when your brother-in-law hands you his camera and says to take pictures with it:

At the end of the day on our way out there was major traffic backed up because there were bison all over the road and on the sides of the road.  Luckily we were stuck next to some bubbling mud pots which we were able to watch while waiting for the bison.

Driving in Yellowstone is also so scenic.  I mentioned before that there are so many different types of places around.  We did drive around flat areas with meandering rivers.

We drove through canyons with rapids and waterfalls.

We drove by rivers and ponds and lakes.

We stopped at one place called Fishing Bridge which is clearly marked "Closed to Fishing."

While there we watched a beaver swim by with a big branch in its mouth.  They do exist.  This one was smaller than those we saw in the Pacific Northwest last year.  I blogged about those on July 10, 2016.

Looking back at some of our pictures, there were also river otters swimming around.  They were farther away so the pictures aren't that great, but we could definitely tell there were otters.
We were driving through mountains as it was getting darker and we did see a black bear.  Unfortunately it was too dark for the pictures to turn out but it was definitely a black bear.  That was fun.

It was a good second day at Yellowstone.

What We Did at Yellowstone- Day 1

Between fairs in Montana, we visited Yellowstone National Park.  None of us had ever been there before and since Jr. had his National Parks Pass and since we didn't have many days between fairs, we decided to visit.  Jeremy's parents and his brother came with us.  We stayed in a cabin right outside the park and spent some great times in the park.  Wow.

I love Yellowstone!

There was so much to see.  We spent 2 1/2 days and it felt like we did so much, but there was still so much more we could have done.
There was wildlife.  There were geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and lots of amazing geological formations.  There were so many different habitats.  We were up the mountains, we were on flat plains, we were in canyons with roaring rivers and beautiful waterfalls.
Yellowstone National Park is incredible.

It is definitely a place we would like to visit again.  So awesome.

Since we spent so much time in the park and took so many pictures, I need to divide up pictures on this blog between days.  So here are pictures from Day 1 in Yellowstone National Park.
Day 1 was focused on searching for wildlife... mostly.  We got an early start and didn't see specifically what we were looking for.  Oh, well.  No wolves.
We did see plenty of bison, including those walking down the middle of the road.

We also saw elk and pronghorns.

At one point while we were stopped, Nichole looked out the window and said, "There's something digging over there."  Sure enough, there was a little vole or something excavating near where we were parked.  We watched it for a little while.

While we stopped for lunch, we got some pictures of gray jays (a new life bird for me.  Jeremy got one when we were in Oregon last year.  I blogged about it July 28, 2016) and ravens.

While we were about to get in the van in one area, there was a nice big bug with long antennae.  I got the kids in then tried to take pictures of it.  I finally got a picture of it just as it was about to fly.

I didn't see where it flew to.  Apparently it flew to on me.  I didn't realize it until I felt something and shook it off.  Jeremy saw it fly off so I was safe to get in the van.

We also went on some walks.  We went to Petrified Tree.

We went for a walk at Artist Point to see Lower Falls in the canyon.

click to see the pictures larger

On our drive out, we stopped briefly because... Wow... Mammoth Hot Springs... Wow.  We decided right then that that was going to be our first stop the next day.

It was a good first day at Yellowstone.