Yellowstone!

Americans have had many great ideas and in my book, the National Park system has to rank near the top.  What a wonderful gift to future generations that these beautiful spots will be preserved.  I believe our country was the first to start this system and a trickle down benefit is that now many countries have adopted the  practice for their generations (and ours).  

This summer we all went to Yellowstone with the North Carolina Hammonds.  It was 5 days of chaos and beauty.  The kids had a great time mostly hanging out with each other, but in the back of their mind, they do have those beautiful features etched for later recall when they come back in a decade or two.  I hadn’t been to Yellowstone in about 15 years and it didn’t disappoint.

We started out trekking up to Jackson and stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge.  It was a beautiful spot overlooking what many consider the most beautiful mountain range in the US.  We ate good food, ran around, threw rocks off a hill and went on a short hike.  We then piled in the car the next morning and headed for Mammoth.

The ride up to Mammoth was beautiful.  We  stopped by some mud pots and Yellowstone Canyon.  There’s a visitor’s center that talks about the Yellowstone Caldera that the kids really enjoyed (talked about Yellowstone basically being a large volcano).  The canyon was beautiful.  We saw  the upper and lower  falls, a  petrified tree, two bears and rolled into Mammoth just before the restaurant closed and collapsed into bed.

The next day we saw Mammoth which is  incredible.  It had changed a lot since I had been there last and I guess that’s the trend in Yellowstone.  Our guide pointed out that geologists usually don’t get to see change in their lifetime but because Yellowstone is such an active place, they do see it here.  The springs change yearly and they actually have to move the walkways as the runoff moves.

After a great guided tour, we headed off for Old Faithful.  We saw a couple of mudpots (stinky…see Owen fingers)  and a geyser field on the way.  The kids were getting a little tired of jumping out of the car  every 30 minutes to see “another geyser” but we dragged them out anyway.  They’ll appreciate it later (or so we tell ourselves).

Nighttime was spent in one of my favorite  hotels on earth (might be my favorite)…The Old Faithful Lodge.  It’s amazing that this huge building was built so long ago.  It still has such a genuinely rustic (not trendy rustic…it’s the real deal) feel.  The kids  were all excited to see Old Faithful and we were not disappointed.  We probably saw three eruptions (one at night and two the next morning).

Our final Yellowstone day was spent walking around the geyser basin.  I saw the biggest geyser eruption I have ever seen.  It was fortunate as it was one of the more unpredictable geysers (can’t remember the name) but it was amazing.  The girls turned  in their Junior Ranger packs (great program at most National Parks where kids fill in a booklet about the park and then turn it in when they’re done and get a badge complete with swearing  in ceremony – highly recommended).  We then left and made our way back to Jackson.  On the way, we stopped by Yellowstone Lake and rented motor boats (wouldn’t really call them speedboats).  We got  two and all the kids took turns driving (“hammer down” was the theme in my boat).   All of them were a little hesitant at first, but I couldn’t drag them away from the wheel by the end.

Our last night was in Jackson and then we were off to home.  It really was an amazing trip  (mostly for the family time but Yellowstone really is incredible).  We missed having the Durhams there (my sister and family) but we’ll drag them out next time.

More photos here.