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This place is AMAZING....
Wow! So many things to see and do. The boys were just in utter awe. It really is just INCREDIBLE. There is no other way to describe it. We stayed the night in Cody, WY on the eastside of Yellowstone and then made a day of driving through Yellowstone to the West Gate which was our home for 3 days. Here are some of the pictures from our drive through and the various stop-offs we hit along the way on day 1.
Jake couldn't get over that there was snow on the ground in so many locations but we could still be in shorts... Here he is touching snow in June. He thought this was so crazy!
Yellowstone Lake was so picturesque and HUGE! We spent some time walking up and down the rock beach and skipping rocks. According to the boys, Jeremy is a champion rock skipper. They saw one other Dad that did "pretty good" and might compete with Jeremy in a contest.... Jeremy denies this is even possible. The bison pictured below was laying beside some trees and a few big rocks right there on the beach. I turned around and said, 'Oh my gosh, look guys a bison is RIGHT THERE!" Bryce ran back to the rv down the beach faster than I have ever seen him run. Jake and I were just dying laughing as he was next to us one second and gone the next and we could see him down the beach. Don't worry, this is zoomed in, I'm not like the idiotic people who walk up way too close to the animals.... It was pretty unintentionally close though as we didn't see him laying there like a rock while we were by the water.
Next up, we hit the Mud Volcano area. So much to see on both sides of the road. Beautiful river scene on one side and mud thermo geysers on the other side. And yes, it stunk. The boys could not get it through their heads why it smelled SO BAD! We also got some up close and personal views of the bison from the trail around the mud volcano. Jeremy did pretty well in the boot on the mile plus path with a decent incline. We also have now gotten into bear territory. The boys (and us) were a bit nervous about all of the signage about bear activity even though they are all smiles in this bear pick below. That sign was to the side and not up (thankfully).
After a quick stop off at our campground at the Westgate KOA and picking up the rental car, we headed back into Yellowstone for dinner at the Old Faithful Inn and then a tour of geysers at sunset (Fire on the Hole tour). The Old Faithful Inn is breathtaking. Pictures don't really do justice to what a beautiful building this is. And pictures are taking forever to download in this mountain internet.... so here are just two but take my word for it, the building is really cool!
When we researched things to do online the one thing Bryce really wanted to see was the Grand Prismatic. This was one of the stops on our Fire on the Hole tour. He really liked it! We had about a mile hike up with swarms of mosquitos along the way, but we got to see the Grand Prismatic from the top which was a really cool view. Did I mention there were SWARMS of mosquitos????? Hence our distracted faces in the pics as we were UNDER ATTACK!
Next up, we got back on the old fashioned bus and toured more geysers and a really pretty sunset waterfall. What a great first day in Yellowstone!
