Yellowstone!!!

I have never been to Yellowstone. I have lived in Idaho for four years and I have never been! Jeremy is shocked every time we talk about it. Since this is our last summer here we decided it was now or never. So we set the date for July 14th, invited Tyler and we were on our way for a day trip. On our way up I was asking questions of what to expect and was shocked when I found out that you drive through the park. I thought you parked your car, walked around to see some wildlife, and that was it. After laughing at me, the boys explained that Yellowstone National Park is huge! It will take all day just to drive through half of it; which is what we ended up doing. After seeing the map that we got when we drove in I understood. There are two loops shaped in a figure eight with different attractions to see on each. I was all about seeing as much wildlife as possible but Jeremy wanted to show me some of the cool land formations too. So we chose the loop with a good variety of both and we were on our way.

The first thing that we saw when we drove into the park was a bald eagle....serious! We took this as a good sign that this trip was going to blow our minds!

Next, after only a couple minutes of driving we saw a field full of deer, and some right next to the road just chowing down on grass. I was so excited! So of course we pulled a tourist move and pulled off the side of the road to take too many pictures.

Then we were back on the road until we hit a stop to see some of natures miracles. Of course it started raining but that only added to our experience.

The pictures don't do these justice but it was beautiful. These were all a bunch of different hot springs.(beware of egg smell)

On our way back to the car we found this sweet tree stump! It was crying for us to take pictures with it. Seriously incredible!

The coolest part of Yellowstone was just driving along, spontaneously pulling over and finding cool little snip-its of what nature has to offer. This was just off the road. A hot spring on the other side of this river overflows. That burning water trickles down the side of the hill into the river actually making it kind of warm.  

Next we stopped to see some small geysers and the paint pots. 

Of course we had to make a stop at Old Faithful.

While we waited a tour guide talked to us about the geyser and a little boy in front filled us in on all the details. He'd already seen it and was very knowledgeable on the subject. :)

(Later we got free interactive bookmarks of Old Faithful...one of the highlights!)

We stopped at a waterfall and to see some of the view from higher up.

And then to see some more water features that were around/ in Yellowstone Lake.

This was a sign near the trail warning people to not leave the designated boardwalk...classic!

Jeremy decided to make one of his spontaneous stops off the road at a small hidden beach off Yellowstone Lake. We all got out, hiked down the little hill to get to the beach and couldn't resist taking off our hiking boots for a wade in the water. Jeremy was sad that I nixed his hiking plans due to tired feet so he went off on his own little adventure while Tyler and I played in the water. 

We didn't plan ahead and bring towels so we used what we had...Jeremy's shirt.

And left Jeremy looking like this... :)

At this point I was really ready to start seeing some serious wildlife. I mean I had been promised buffalo and still had seen none. Along the way to finding buffalo we spotted a different kind of deer. Jeremy was able to get up close to this one. 

After this we were optimistic that we would see some more animals. Jeremy was the first to see this guy and was not going to let him get away without getting some close up pictures. The buffalo wouldn't let him get very close so he had to chase him up a hill to get this picture. 

Little did we know that this was the first of many more buffalo. 

Even though I was a little over the "thermal water features" I agreed to stopping at one more that looked like it could be cool. As we walked along the boardwalk we saw this little guy by a geyser. 

We also spotted some hoof prints right up next to the boardwalk. I was saying how crazy it would be if a buffalo was right next to the  walkway. A minute later we came to one of the mud volcanoes and there he was!!!

That's not on zoom!!! Highlight of my day!!!

This was also one of my favorite features....Dragon's Mouth Spring. Boiling water from inside a cave sounds like a dragon and the smoke that comes out adds to the effect. 

On our drive out I couldn't help but snap a few shots of just how absolutely beautfiul this place is. 

Of course we made one last spontaneous stop when Jeremy spotted this little hidden gem...a tiny water volcano. He and Tyler hiked down to the water's edge to get a closer look.

Whew! What a day...one to remember!