Day 2 In Montana: Yellowstone Adventures

As Nan is still agog over the sights we saw today at Yellowstone National Park, she asked me to blog in her place. Yesterday, when we realized how close we were to one of America’s most breathtaking natural wonders, we decided we had to visit Yellowstone. We headed south, actually crossing into Wyoming after we entered the park, which also extends into Idaho.

The shear size of Yellowstone is one of its most amazing features. The friendly National Park Service employee who sold us our pass suggested that we explore the Lower Loop today. It’s a mere 96 miles and spoiler alert–we didn’t make it all the way around. If you have a full tank of gas and wish to complete the Grand Loop, you would be driving 142 miles. Yellowstone is huge, although it’s only the eighth largest national park in the U.S. Today I’d argue it was probably the busiest. Traffic was bumper to bumper at times, although we were lucky to find good parking spots at our two stops, the Fountain Paint Pot thermal field and Old Faithful.

I’ve been to Yellowstone before, but it’s always mind-blowing to see the moonscape of boiling mud and geysers that are another amazing feature of this park. We timed our stop at Old Faithful well and witnessed an impressive eruption of water and steam, alongside half the U.S. population and a good representation of the rest of the world. And, to make Nan’s first visit complete, we spotted a bison on our way out of the park. We probably would have seen more wildlife if we’d completed the Lower Loop or ventured into the Upper Loop, but we decided to save those adventures for another day.

If you haven’t seen Yellowstone, I highly recommend it. Plan to spend at least several days, do lots of driving through an untouched landscape of mountains and rivers, and overuse the word wow.

Looks like Nan has recovered, so I’ll turn this blog back over to her. Hope you enjoy some pictures we’re attaching of today’s adventures (and yeah, we met a cowboy in West Yellowstone–strong silent type).

All the best,

Carol