July 2, 2014 Yellowstone, WY Day 1
Mileage: To be determined
Points: Jennifer won
the points today for spotting the first Bison!
Favorite Sayings of the Day:
After Nana had a discussion about wolves with Joe-Nicholas the night
before and he refused to call his dog an Alpha…insisted on saying he was the
strongest and the leader, but not the Alpha…the following day he declared…"I’m
the Alpha Child." I think he pretty much understood the new vocabulary.
Weird things we saw along the way: EVERYTHING IS UNUSUAL IN YELLOWSTONE!!! BOILING MUD POTS, HISSING HOLES IN THE GROUND,
EXPLODING GEYSERS, HERDS OF BISON JUST WALKING AROUND, MELTING ROADS. THE WHOLE FREAKING PLACE IS WEIRD!!!!
Favorite building of the day: Old Faithful Inn (http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/lodging/summer-lodges/old-faithful-inn/?gclid=CPD_8e2-vr8CFUEF7Aod6kIAMA)
Christopher:
Kayden:
Benjamin:
Joe-Nicholas:
Jennifer's story/Amazing Adventure of Big Doggie, Little Doggie, and Combat Wombat, and now Jackson the Wolf Captain's Log-The
Atkins Clan continued their “Grizzwald’s-Go-West-trip-of-2014” with a
full day in Yellowstone National Park. We started the morning hoping to
have a good camp breakfast with eggs and bacon. Unfortunately, in the
middle of the night, we didn't realize that one of the grocery bags got
left out and the bacon was out all night. On to plan B. We heated
cinnamon rolls in the microwave and had a quick breakfast before heading
out. 
We
loaded into the car and in the daylight, Chris attempted to put the
back seat in the Suburban up. The sweet clerks at the Hertz counter
assured me that the Suburban seated 7, but after many attempts and sweat
and tears, we determined that the seat wasn't going anywhere. So,
thankful that I have two skinny-mini kiddos, we put Kayden and Benjamin
in the same seat belt...not ideal or legal for that matter, but we were
only going to be cruising around the National Park today anyway. So we
were just going to go with the flow as usual. Off we headed to
Yellowstone which was just north of our ranch.
We came upon the Yellowstone National Park sign and had our pictures made!
We
ran into a group of young hikers that asked us to take a group shot. I
began talking to them and one of them Ma'amed me...you know, said yes
ma'am like I was old or something! Okay, they were like 20 and I am now
40, but ma'am!!! Good grief :) We hopped back into our rental (not
thinking about the broken down van in Rock Springs today) and headed for
our adventure--SO EXCITED!
As we entered the
park, Nana graciously let us use her to purchase a senior pass to the
parks. This discounted lifetime pass now guarantees that she must
participate in all future road trips whether she wants to or not! We
drove through the gates and used our various maps to locate the closest
visitor's center. We found the Grant Village Visitor’s center and went
inside to check it out. We came upon the Yellowstone National Park sign and had our pictures made!
We
ran into a group of young hikers that asked us to take a group shot. I
began talking to them and one of them Ma'amed me...you know, said yes
ma'am like I was old or something! Okay, they were like 20 and I am now
40, but ma'am!!! Good grief :) We hopped back into our rental (not
thinking about the broken down van in Rock Springs today) and headed for
our adventure--SO EXCITED!
We knew we wanted to ask about the Junior
Ranger program thanks to Aunt Lacey. Benjamin was so excited about
earning his badge, Joe-Nicholas...not so much. When he found out he was
going to have to "do work", the badge wasn't too appealing. We loaded
back up and were on our way to Old Faithful which was predicted to erupt
around 11:20 AM. The drive was beautiful through the mountains. We
arrived at Old Faithful (http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/oldfaithfaq.htm),
grabbed our bug spray, and headed with the crowds to witness the
eruption! We found a good place on the wooden boardwalk to watch the
show and waited. The crowd was excited and friendly. 
We sat next to
another family that had 3 little ones. They were very interested in the
boys' ranger workbooks that they had brought with them. At 11:16,
after several teases, Old Faithful finally erupted. It was AMAZING. To
see water shooting straight into the air over 100 ft for 2 to 5 minutes
and to know that it is natural, not a man-made fountain, is just the
neatest thing. The fans ooohh and ahhhh'd and we got some great
pictures. After the eruption, we decided to take a short hike (Geyser
Hill Loop Trail is an easy 1.3 mile boardwalk trail starting at the Old
Faithful Visitor Center) around the Old Faithful boardwalk to see the
other nearby hydrothermal sites. We saw beautiful bubbling springs and
other geysers. We got so close to some of the steaming features that my camera would get steamed up. We could feel the heat and the steam and certainly smell the sulfur fumes from this area. There were also many signs that bison had been in the area. The boys were excited to find tracks, bones, and scat as signs to write down in their ranger books. This was a great hike and we got to see a wide variety
of features.Mom was waiting for us back at the main boardwalk as she had already completed this hike on her trip out west before with Papa. When we found her, she told us to take a spin around the Old Faithful Inn (http://www.usparklodging.com/yellowstone/old_faithful_inn.php?gclid=CMmFscT9wL8CFdBi7AodIicAUQ) . It was beautiful.
It is the largest log structure in the world. We
took a few pictures and made a pit stop in their very fancy bathrooms.
By the time we finished our hike and tour of the Inn, it was almost
time for Old Faithful to erupt again at 12:52 PM. We had called Papa
and Aunt Mary to tell them where we would be so they could watch it with
us on the live webcam! Both of them saw us on the cameras...I am sure
that the hundreds of folks watching Old Faithful erupt wondered what in
the world we were doing with our backs to it waving randomly in the
woods (we knew the webcams were mounted in the trees!) We were hot and hungry, so we jumped in the Suburban and searched for a picnic area in the shade. As we left the Old Faithful area, we headed clockwise in the bottom loop of Yellowstone. The roads are set up in an enormous figure 8. We were only going to explore the bottom loop today which was going to take us ALL day! We headed for the picnic area called Whiskey Flat just north of the Midway Geyser Basin and had a wonderful lunch of sandwiches, chips, and cookies. It was a perfect location and perfect temperature!
Next, we head counterclockwise just a bit until we got to the Midway Geyser Basin and got to see the famous Grand Prismatic Springs. It was BEAUTIFUL! My pictures don't do it justice, but I found this one online.
It was crystal blue in the center and orange and yellow around the edges...the tiny black dots on the sidewalks are people so you can see how enormous this was. I was just in awe. Even when you are standing there seeing it with your own eyes you can't believe that this is something here on Earth. It is just too weird and just too beautiful. There were other springs here too. One was as blue as the waters in the Bahamas...wouldn't want to swim here though. This and Old Faithful were definitely on my list...everything else for the day was just icing :)
Our next driving tour took us north to Firehole Lake Drive which is a five mile driving loop just of the main road where you can see enormous springs, a geyser, and other hot cascades near a hot lake. We had no idea the weirdness we were about to experience!
We were driving through the one way loop and all of a
sudden we heard this noise (so of course I stopped the car immediately in the middle of the road!). I thought that something had fallen off of
the rack on the back of our Suburban, but Kayden said.."No, it is
something coming off of the car!". We had tar all over our tires! 
We realized...about 60 seconds too late, that the earth was so hot underneath this part of the park that the road had heated up and the asphalt was melting!!! We were literally sinking into the road! We had between a 1/2 inch to an inch of tar that had melted all around our back tire. We drove out of the pit and onto the side of the road into a bunch of tiny gravel (not smart when you have hot tar on your tires). Two brand new corvettes passed just behind us...I know they were hating this mush pot! We had to use two tiny, plastic picnic spoons (our only tool at the time) to scrap the hot tar from our tire because I was afraid it was going to ruin our tire (cannot believe we didn't take pictures of this!). It finally all came off after driving all day! It was the craziest experience ever! Yellowstone is full of wonder and weird! http://www.everytrail.com/guide/firehole-lake-drive-yellowstone-national-park
WBIR featured this story the week we got back!
(THE STORY: http://on.wbir.com/1mnX5gR)
After all of this excitement, we decided to find a restroom and take a quick break. Just down the road was the Lower Geyser Basin so we stopped in to check it out. We hadn't heard anything about this stop really, but there were a lot of cars and buses, so why not explore a bit. We hiked around the wooden boardwalk and discovered one of our favorite stops ever! In this area, there are all 4 types of geothermal features found in Yellowstone Park (http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/tours/fountainpaint/). We saw the most beautiful erupting geyser, Fountain Geyser, that sprayed water for over 20 minutes. It sounded just like the waves in the ocean because it was so big and such a violent eruption. The spray would gentle fall onto the boardwalk and onto the onlookers...of course it was cool by the time it fell on our faces thank goodness! The screaming fumaroles were just odd. They were enormous holes in the ground with hissing gases coming out of them...they sounded like some middle Earth monster roaring. Just next to the dry fumaroles were bubbling mud pots...giant boiling mud puddles! Why were the fumaroles dry and just a few feet away a constantly wet and muddy pit? This place is just weird. If you could only spend one hour in the park, this would be the stop to come to because we got to see a little bit of everything except wildlife in one spot. AMAZING! This was definitely two thumbs up!
We were ready to head on around the loop and told the kids we would find a place with ice cream. A quiet ride in the cool car sounded perfect, so off we drove. We stopped by several overlooks and made a longer stop at the Gibbon Falls overlook.
As mom and I waited for the rest of the group to come back from the short hike to see the falls, we people watched for awhile. We saw an Asian family (we saw lots of different nationalities on our trip), and they were trying to get the perfect shot of their two teenage boys with the falls in the background. Well, this scene played out and we understood with no need for translation. Neither boy seemed thrilled to be on a road trip in another country with their nerdy parents. The mom kept fussing for them to look at the camera, to take off their sunglasses, to smile, and on and on. Although we couldn't understand her, her frustration was felt across borders. Mom and I laughed and laughed about how "fussing" is universal and how trying to get the perfect shot is a goal of all families despite the groans and unwillingness of teenage folks. The rest of the Atkins returned and we hopped back into the car.
We decided to drive towards Canyon Village Visitor's Center where they had a store and probably some ice cream. On our way, just of the right of the road, we saw him!!! A giant lone bison, eating his dinner! We, ok-I screamed "BISON!" and we promptly pulled over for pictures. He was huge! We had read all of the warnings about aggressive bison and knew to stay a good distance from them. It was so cool seeing such an enormous animal just walking along and eating freely. (I should tell you that Home on the Range song has been sung about 456,003 times already on this trip!). We hoped that he wasn't the only bison we would see, but Benjamin started a tally sheet immediately so we could keep track of our animal sightings.
We realized...about 60 seconds too late, that the earth was so hot underneath this part of the park that the road had heated up and the asphalt was melting!!! We were literally sinking into the road! We had between a 1/2 inch to an inch of tar that had melted all around our back tire. We drove out of the pit and onto the side of the road into a bunch of tiny gravel (not smart when you have hot tar on your tires). Two brand new corvettes passed just behind us...I know they were hating this mush pot! We had to use two tiny, plastic picnic spoons (our only tool at the time) to scrap the hot tar from our tire because I was afraid it was going to ruin our tire (cannot believe we didn't take pictures of this!). It finally all came off after driving all day! It was the craziest experience ever! Yellowstone is full of wonder and weird! http://www.everytrail.com/guide/firehole-lake-drive-yellowstone-national-park
WBIR featured this story the week we got back!
(THE STORY: http://on.wbir.com/1mnX5gR)
After all of this excitement, we decided to find a restroom and take a quick break. Just down the road was the Lower Geyser Basin so we stopped in to check it out. We hadn't heard anything about this stop really, but there were a lot of cars and buses, so why not explore a bit. We hiked around the wooden boardwalk and discovered one of our favorite stops ever! In this area, there are all 4 types of geothermal features found in Yellowstone Park (http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/tours/fountainpaint/). We saw the most beautiful erupting geyser, Fountain Geyser, that sprayed water for over 20 minutes. It sounded just like the waves in the ocean because it was so big and such a violent eruption. The spray would gentle fall onto the boardwalk and onto the onlookers...of course it was cool by the time it fell on our faces thank goodness! The screaming fumaroles were just odd. They were enormous holes in the ground with hissing gases coming out of them...they sounded like some middle Earth monster roaring. Just next to the dry fumaroles were bubbling mud pots...giant boiling mud puddles! Why were the fumaroles dry and just a few feet away a constantly wet and muddy pit? This place is just weird. If you could only spend one hour in the park, this would be the stop to come to because we got to see a little bit of everything except wildlife in one spot. AMAZING! This was definitely two thumbs up!
We were ready to head on around the loop and told the kids we would find a place with ice cream. A quiet ride in the cool car sounded perfect, so off we drove. We stopped by several overlooks and made a longer stop at the Gibbon Falls overlook.
As mom and I waited for the rest of the group to come back from the short hike to see the falls, we people watched for awhile. We saw an Asian family (we saw lots of different nationalities on our trip), and they were trying to get the perfect shot of their two teenage boys with the falls in the background. Well, this scene played out and we understood with no need for translation. Neither boy seemed thrilled to be on a road trip in another country with their nerdy parents. The mom kept fussing for them to look at the camera, to take off their sunglasses, to smile, and on and on. Although we couldn't understand her, her frustration was felt across borders. Mom and I laughed and laughed about how "fussing" is universal and how trying to get the perfect shot is a goal of all families despite the groans and unwillingness of teenage folks. The rest of the Atkins returned and we hopped back into the car.We decided to drive towards Canyon Village Visitor's Center where they had a store and probably some ice cream. On our way, just of the right of the road, we saw him!!! A giant lone bison, eating his dinner! We, ok-I screamed "BISON!" and we promptly pulled over for pictures. He was huge! We had read all of the warnings about aggressive bison and knew to stay a good distance from them. It was so cool seeing such an enormous animal just walking along and eating freely. (I should tell you that Home on the Range song has been sung about 456,003 times already on this trip!). We hoped that he wasn't the only bison we would see, but Benjamin started a tally sheet immediately so we could keep track of our animal sightings.
We continued clockwise around the loop and arrived at Canyon Village Visitor’s Center for a restroom, leg break and of course, ice cream. We sat outside on the picnic tables and had our snack. I purchased my Yellowstone Reusable bag for my collection (I got one in Jackson and now have one from Yellowstone...wondering if I can buy one online for the Arch National monument online?) It was good to stop and rest for a bit and get out of the car. The next stop on our journey was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and we were very anxious to check it out!
Chris and I had been to the Grand Canyon before and weren't expecting this smaller version to be as impressive. I was wrong, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was beautiful and unusual, and breath-taking. From the overlooks, you can see the Lower Falls which is a massive 300 foot waterfall. The volume of water flowing over these falls was impressive.
While we were at the Canyon, we got to see two Bison up close near the restrooms. We were behind some railings so I felt safer to have the kids nearer to these large animals. A very friendly man with a scope set up let mom and me look through his lenses to see a mother Osprey with her two babies inside the next perched upon this huge tower of rock. It was amazing to see this large bird feeding her babies in this beautiful area.
It was starting to get towards dinner time, so we decided to head south to find another picnic area near Yellowstone lake so that we could grill out some hamburgers. We left the canyon and head clockwise on the loop towards the lake. We came upon a familiar Cades Cove sight...a bear jam! We were excited to see what the fuss was about, but we were on a two lane highway with a very serious ranger waving us on. The area was very congested...however, Daddy, Kayden, and Benjamin all managed to see the back side of a bear (We later found out it was a momma grizzly with two cubs-researchers believe that she has discovered that the male grizzlies will leave her and her cubs alone as long as she stays so near the humans...She can be seen almost everyday in this same area when her cubs are little and folks stop there to catch a glimpse. I hate that I didn't get to see her, but I was tickled that some of our group saw her!)
We continued on and crossed a bridge that took us over the Yellowstone River where we saw two male Elk with huge racks and another buffalo. Benjamin's tally chart is keeping him busy. Shortly after returning to the main loop road, we saw a sight that we weren't expecting...Herds and Herds of Bison! It was magnificent seeing hundreds of wild bison roaming the fields. This must have been what it was like hundreds of years ago out west before the Europeans got involved. I was so overwhelmed by this sight. We also came across two huge herds of Elk (far away), and a beautiful raven. The tally chart was a mess by now :)
We stopped at Cascade Picnic area just along Yellowstone Lake and I grilled up some cheeseburgers while the kids played. Again, the mosquitoes were INSANE and we cooked and ate in a hurry! I would highly recommend long sleeves and long pants for visitors planning to be outside. The food was delicious and the company was great and the scenery was indescribable. Something about eating outside always makes it better.
As it got dark, we headed back towards the south entrance of the park towards Flagg Ranch and our cabins. It had been a long, but joy filled day. This was exactly what I hoped for and I couldn't have had a better Yellowstone experience!
As I was driving along the lake in the dark, a car was stopped in the middle of the road in front of us. I finally spied what they were looking at...a beautiful coyote running on the side of the road. He was so calm and so confident. We rode behind him for a good 5 to 8 minutes. He would cross the road right in front of us and then fall back and run beside us. He looked as if he was enjoying his evening jog and actually looked as if he was smiling as we passed him and took pictures. This picture that mom took was so good--even the ranger at our camp was impressed!
Chris and I had been to the Grand Canyon before and weren't expecting this smaller version to be as impressive. I was wrong, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was beautiful and unusual, and breath-taking. From the overlooks, you can see the Lower Falls which is a massive 300 foot waterfall. The volume of water flowing over these falls was impressive.
While we were at the Canyon, we got to see two Bison up close near the restrooms. We were behind some railings so I felt safer to have the kids nearer to these large animals. A very friendly man with a scope set up let mom and me look through his lenses to see a mother Osprey with her two babies inside the next perched upon this huge tower of rock. It was amazing to see this large bird feeding her babies in this beautiful area.
It was starting to get towards dinner time, so we decided to head south to find another picnic area near Yellowstone lake so that we could grill out some hamburgers. We left the canyon and head clockwise on the loop towards the lake. We came upon a familiar Cades Cove sight...a bear jam! We were excited to see what the fuss was about, but we were on a two lane highway with a very serious ranger waving us on. The area was very congested...however, Daddy, Kayden, and Benjamin all managed to see the back side of a bear (We later found out it was a momma grizzly with two cubs-researchers believe that she has discovered that the male grizzlies will leave her and her cubs alone as long as she stays so near the humans...She can be seen almost everyday in this same area when her cubs are little and folks stop there to catch a glimpse. I hate that I didn't get to see her, but I was tickled that some of our group saw her!)
We continued on and crossed a bridge that took us over the Yellowstone River where we saw two male Elk with huge racks and another buffalo. Benjamin's tally chart is keeping him busy. Shortly after returning to the main loop road, we saw a sight that we weren't expecting...Herds and Herds of Bison! It was magnificent seeing hundreds of wild bison roaming the fields. This must have been what it was like hundreds of years ago out west before the Europeans got involved. I was so overwhelmed by this sight. We also came across two huge herds of Elk (far away), and a beautiful raven. The tally chart was a mess by now :)
We stopped at Cascade Picnic area just along Yellowstone Lake and I grilled up some cheeseburgers while the kids played. Again, the mosquitoes were INSANE and we cooked and ate in a hurry! I would highly recommend long sleeves and long pants for visitors planning to be outside. The food was delicious and the company was great and the scenery was indescribable. Something about eating outside always makes it better.
As it got dark, we headed back towards the south entrance of the park towards Flagg Ranch and our cabins. It had been a long, but joy filled day. This was exactly what I hoped for and I couldn't have had a better Yellowstone experience!
As I was driving along the lake in the dark, a car was stopped in the middle of the road in front of us. I finally spied what they were looking at...a beautiful coyote running on the side of the road. He was so calm and so confident. We rode behind him for a good 5 to 8 minutes. He would cross the road right in front of us and then fall back and run beside us. He looked as if he was enjoying his evening jog and actually looked as if he was smiling as we passed him and took pictures. This picture that mom took was so good--even the ranger at our camp was impressed!
We made it back to the camp and the kids and Nana stayed in the hotel room/cabin and Chris and I headed for the camping cabin. It had been a wonderful day!
Good Night, Yellowstone!
Such an amazing time! Love it!
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