Family Vacation: Day 2: Yellowstone Grand Tour

 Yellowstone Geyser Day! Bison Traffic Jam! Red Fox! Elk!

We got an early start and beelined it to the Upper Geyser Basin area next to Old Faithful. This was one of our favorite areas of the entire trip. It was really cool to see all the geothermal features steaming and gurgling in the early morning light and to have the boardwalk through the area almost to ourselves. We are so happy we got to experience this. Then we went to explore Old Faithful Lodge which features a spectacular 4-story stone fireplace with giant clock on it and multiple balconies looking out onto the central space. The crow's nest up to the very top has been closed since an earthquake in 1959 damaged its supports. It was on the second story deck that we found a couple benches to sit in to view the Old Faithful geyser eruption that morning. It really is remarkable to see and hear hot water pump 100' in the air with steam billowing out into a giant cloud around it.

We then went to Middle Geyser Basin and got to see the Grand Prismatic Spring up close, but unfortunately, the steam it was generating totally obscured seeing into the rainbow-colored pool. Luckily Emerald Spring nearby was a very intense turquoise and was delightful. We also stopped at Lower Geyser Basin to the see the Fountain Paint Pots. Then it was a drive east, stopping at the fantail Gibbon Falls before arriving a Norris Geyser Basin. We did a two-mile hike on boardwalks through the Back Basin which, after the first feature, Excelsior Geyser (which is the largest geyser in the park but erupts infrequently), was pretty uncrowded and had some interesting features to it. The Norris Geyser Basin is the most active and hottest geothermal area in the park.

We popped into Canyon Visitor Center before heading south through Hayden Valley once again. This time we were greeted with an absolutely thrilling encounter with an entire herd of bison on both sides of the road, including crossing it and creating a large traffic jam. After a rest at the cabin, we ventured out in the early evening to check out the fancy and enormous Lake Yellowstone Hotel done in a somewhat Victorian theme with a beautiful sunroom overlooking the lake. We also saw Fishing Bridge Visitor Center and the Bridge Bay Marina before finding a nice spot on the lake to relax and enjoy some sun and skipping rocks. We ate dinner at the restaurant in the Lake Lodge and the boys hung out in the lodge while Charlotte did some driving practice afterwards. We got to see a red fox next to our cabin while she was driving!

Family Vacation - Day 0 & 1: Missoula and Yellowstone

 (Saturday, Aug. 16) Day 1, Yellowstone: After driving to Missoula on Friday, we woke up and took a quick drive through the University of Montana campus. Then we hit the road and did the same thing a few hours later in Bozeman on the Montana State University campus - which also happened to be their move in day which was interesting to see. 

Our next stop was the Roosevelt Arch and northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park. This was the first time I'd gotten out at Mammoth Hot Springs and explored what was Fort Yellowstone back in the late 1800s and early 1900s when the US Army managed Yellowstone. We also walked the hot spring terraces which was really interesting to see how those bubbled up and built up the levels over time. Being a lover of National Park Lodges, we popped into the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge which had a really cool "map room" with a giant wooden inlaid map of the United States. 

We saw Undine Falls and then checked out Roosevelt Lodge which was a large log cabin surrounded by primitive cabins and a horse corral. We peaked at the impressive Tower Falls and drove up Mt. Washburn which didn't have much of a view despite being at almost 9000'. We drove to Artist Point to see the best view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, I wish we'd spent more time just soaking up the magical spot but the kids were back in the car before I could blink. By this point it had started to rain and we heard thunder in the distance. 

We kept driving south through Hayden Valley, seeing a few bison and elk, and doing one last stop at the Mud Volcano feature which was pretty impressive and smelly. Then we pulled into the large, historical, Yellowstone Lake Lodge and got checked into our cabin on the hill behind it, happy to be able to rest after a long day on the road. We found spotty wifi and a couple fires burning in the Lake Lodge and it was nice to have a cozy spot to decompress for the evening.