Epic Road Trip 2017: Yellowstone, Day 1

Now we come to the part of the trip that I had been dreaming about.  Yellowstone is one of my favorite places in the world and like any parent I couldn't wait to share one of my favorite things with my children.  Yellowstone was created by a GIGANTIC volcano eruption and the earth's crust is so thin that pools of hot, gaseous water and mud bubble up at any given time.  Water ejects out of the ground and shoots 30+ feet in the air--and sometimes it can even be predicted! There are hundreds of earthquakes that happen--sometimes in a day! How can you not find that interesting?  Since the science behind Yellowstone is so singularly fascinating, the kids were as excited to experience it as I was.

 We were lucky enough to begin the day seeing a mama black bear and her cub swimming in a little creek.  It made the long drive in through the Northeast Gate worth it.  Our plan for day 1 was to see Mammoth hot springs, Upper Geyser Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, and end at Old Faithful.

I was disappointed that Mammoth was not as cool as I remember it as a kid since it has dried up.  The road construction near mammoth as well as all the tourist traffic meant that this stop added way too much time.

  We made it to Upper Geyser Basin and some of us enjoyed the hiking but not enough so we skipped a few things that I would have enjoyed if we had more time.  The kids were pretty good troopers, but Spencer definitely wins for hiking with 70 pounds of extra weight (he didn't carry them the whole time, don't worry).

 Classic picture!

 By the time we made it to Old Faithful, it was around 5 pm.  We had a good 2 hour drive back to our campsite and dinner to make.  This meant we would skip the hike around Old Faithful, but of course we had to watch it erupt, even if it meant waiting another 1/2 hour.  Yellowstone Lodge to the rescue!

 We found some ice cream to perk us up and nobody minded the wait after that. In any case, as soon as it started to erupt the kiddos decided it was well worth the hype.  No matter how many times I've seen it erupt, it is still breathtaking.

 Even though it was going to be so late by the time we got back to camp, we just couldn't pass up the Grand Prismatic Spring.

 And we caught this gem of a picture as well--this is the winner of the most awesomely bad picture of the trip.

 As we drove out of the park, my heart sank a little.  The geothermal features of Yellowstone have fascinated me since I was a child and I could have spent another day or two reveling in the curiosity of nature, so even though we would still come back the next day, I bid farewell to my favorite part of Yellowstone.