Yellowstone Day 2: Part 1

We spent Friday night at Indian Creek campground inside Yellowstone.  Since our anniversary fell on the weekend before Labor Day this year, it wasn't "peak" season and we had our choice of campsites (most kids had already started school and it was right before the big holiday).  Therefore we chose one near the bathroom/port-o-potty, thinking it would help for my many nighttime trips to the bathroom.  Instead of tenting it, we decided to make it easy on ourselves and we took out the back seats of our Tahoe.  We laid down some padding and blankets. Voila! We had our bed made up.  In the morning we rolled it up, put our cooler back into the car (we stored our food overnight in the bear-proof storage containers provided), and we were on our way.

--A little tangent here.  We packed all our food for the weekend so we didn't have to worry about finding a restaurant or going back out of the park.  J went grocery shopping beforehand.  My idea of snacks: peaches, watermelon, grapes, and granola bars.  J's idea of snacks: chips, chex mix, and mm's.  Yep, that is the difference between men and women right there.  ;-)  Luckily we had a written grocery list.  

It was a good thing we slept in the Tahoe because it rained both nights and we didn't have to worry about our tent leaking or waking up wet.  The Tahoe also stayed a good temperature--not too hot, not too cold (even though it got pretty chilly outside).  I really enjoyed camping in the Tahoe, although it was rough because I resisted getting up to use the bathroom, so I tossed and turned until I just had to go.  If I remember right, I only got up twice that first night, but my sleep was more restless because of it.  If I hadn't been pregnant it would have been a blast.



We were up, breakfast made and eaten, camp "torn" down and on the road before 7:30 Saturday morning.  J was really excited for such an early start, and I was eager for the day ahead.  It was a little misty near the river as we were leaving the campground, which made for a gorgeous morning.



We kept our eyes "peeled" for animals, and we really didn't need to look far.  We saw several bison wandering either on the road or just off the side of the road. 


This bison was actually close enough that if I had extended my arm out the window, I would have been only inches away from touching him.  They are massive!  We were at eye level in our Tahoe, which is pretty high off the ground.  They are also pretty stinky.  

A herd of bison just off the side of the road.


We passed by Mammoth Springs.  I thought the steam rising from the mountain was really pretty.  We also saw a herd of cow elk grazing on some grass in the residential area by the restaurants.

As we were driving and keeping a lookout for animals, I saw a couple deer run into some trees across a meadow.  I was excited that I saw them because J has the "hunter's eye" as I call it, and he can spot animals that I wouldn't even know were there.  Not far ahead there was a turnout and a trail leading to a waterfall.  We decided to hike to the waterfall (giving us a chance to possibly spot the deer).

Not too far into our hike (about five minutes or so), we came across another couple who was returning from the waterfall.  They confirmed deer were ahead and that the waterfall was pretty but nothing spectacular.  Encouraged, we forged ahead.  Sure enough, we spotted a doe grazing just off the trail.  She didn't even move (other than to watch us) as we walked by. 

We continued hiking to the waterfall, which really wasn't anything exciting at this time of the year, although I can only imagine how pretty it is in the spring.

The view was certainly worth the hike.


Another morning detour was to see a petrified tree.  I was really disappointed that we spent the time to go look at it--it really looked like a regular tree stump


Our first planned stop of the day was at Tower Falls.  It took us longer to get there than expected because they were doing some road construction and had the road closed to one lane for both directions of traffic.  They had just started working when we got there (we were the lead car); if we had been less than five minutes earlier (and not stopped for the petrified tree), we wouldn't have had to wait the forty minutes for them to finish setting up and for them to let our side through (they let the other side go first).  Oh well, c'est la vie.

As we were hiking down the trail to get a better view, J (who was slightly ahead), stopped mid-stride and pointed at something in the bushes not 25 feet from us.  "Look, it's a badger!" He said all excited.  Once I saw the animal, for it took me a few seconds because all we could see was its rump as it was digging deeply into a hole, I wasn't convinced it was a badger until it finally poked its head up from the ground.  J was really excited and carefully stepped on a rock to get a teensy bit closer for a picture.  Knowing how mean badgers can be, he was really careful not to do anything that might scare or provoke it.  As it was, the badger gave up on whatever was in the hole and sauntered away in the other direction, not giving us one bit of care.

The badger made J's day.  He said the only thing that would be better would be to see a moose (which didn't happen).

Our next stop was at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Breathtaking views!
A view of the canyon and the river



This nest of ospreys (pronounced os' pree, not os' prey as I was corrected), came from a giant rock formation that jutted out from the river and sat alone in the canyon, hundreds of feet in the air.  It is hard to see, but there are two ospreys in the nest. 



Upper Falls (the river from the top of the waterfall).  The force of the water was so strong that we could see the water shooting back up after it hit the bottom of the waterfall



The Falls

Yellowstone Day 1

This year for our 7th anniversary we went to Yellowstone National Park/The Grand Tetons National Park.  We had nurses for Kai and my dad came out to spend the weekend with Zuri.

It was a funny conversation that led to my dad coming out again.  When he was here earlier in the month, we mentioned that we were planning on going to Yellowstone for our anniversary, and he asked who was going to watch Zuri for us.  We told him we hadn't asked anyone yet, and he said, "why don't you ask your dad?"  My response was "because you are six hundred miles away."  He said, "well, why don't you ask him?"  Subtle, Dad, subtle.  ;-)  Needless to say, I asked and he came.

Zuri was excited when she heard Grandpa was coming again to spend time with her.  They had a great weekend, and so did J and I!

We got up at the unlawful hour of four in the morning to start our trip and we were on the road by four-thirty.  I attempted to sleep, but I don't sleep well in the car, so about an hour into our trip I gave up.  We were caught up in traffic just before the Idaho border due to a semi-truck carrying other cars that had caught on fire.  We were about the fifth car behind the truck and we were stopped even before the firetrucks had arrived, which meant that we spent an hour waiting for the fire to be contained.  Nonetheless, we made it to Yellowstone just after ten-thirty, so we were able to make almost a full day of our first day.

It was definitely a packed day.  Within fifteen minutes of being in the park, we saw a golden eagle (we didn't get a picture), river otters, bison, and some pretty blue jays.  We also saw a wolf, a badger, a deer, some elk, and antelope among several other animals throughout our trip.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), we didn't see any bear, moose, or bull elk (which would have been the icing on the cake for J), and believe me, we tried.  

Between J and I, we took over 800 pictures, and it has been really hard to pick the best ones.  The next several posts may be very picture extensive, which is one reason I am splitting our trip up into days.  I hope you enjoy the beauty of Yellowstone as much as we did. 

We entered Yellowstone through the west entrance, and although we had mild traffic buildup near the entrance area, it dissipated as we drove further into the park. 





Gibbons Falls

Funny story about this picture.  We were getting back into our car after viewing the waterfall, and there was a bus of tourists/foreigners who were almost back at their bus.  We heard a loud crack and watched as a pretty big piece of rock fell off the rock wall.  One of the tourists said, "well, that is our cue to be getting out of here!"  They were all nervous and rushed to the bus.  I couldn't help but laugh, especially since we were on the opposite side of the road as the rock wall, and were far enough away that unless the whole side came down we wouldn't be in any danger.

Mammoth Hot Springs:
Note: All the white that you see is NOT snow.  The water at the springs is boiling, and the different temperatures create the different colors that we see (orange, blue, white, brown, green, etc).  














It looks like coral!








Canary Spring






Orange Spring Mound
 
When we saw this beautiful mound, neither Josh or I noticed the perfect "G" cloud in the sky.  We both took several pictures from different angles and most of them had the "G" in it, but it wasn't until we were showing the pictures to my dad that the "G" was noticed.  How cool is that? 



I know this place has a name.  It is slightly off the beaten path, and I didn't take a picture of the name to remember.  It was beautiful, though.  One of the amazing things about Yellowstone is that you can be in what seems like completely normal forest, and then -BAM- a steam pocket, a geyser, or something else beautiful and unique.  Here are a few other cool things we found while exploring.

 




This stream was seriously that toxic looking green color.  As far we could tell it was a normal stream, however, we didn't go into the water to find out, but there were ducks and geese near the water, which makes me think the coloring was due to moss--highly florescent looking moss, to be sure!

Throughout our trip we saw a lot of bison just off the side of the road.

Norris Geyser Basin:
The weather overall was pretty nice--in the 70's, but we had cloud cover when we didn't want it (to get the rich colors), and didn't have clouds when we wanted (such as hiking).  While we were at Norris Basin it rained on us, but it was a light rain for only about fifteen minutes or so.  Enough to cool us down (it had been a little warm on our hike). 





A shot of my pregnant belly. 











Crackling Lake:

The lake has a crackling sound as it boils; the whole lake has tiny boiling bubbles.

Steamboat Geyser:




 



Artists Paintpots:







The mudpots


These would be absolutely fabulous to see in the spring when they are spewing mud.  As it was, we could hear the gurgling mud and see a little spurt now and then, but it was fairly dry.  The mountain of mud was amazing though!





With daylight almost gone, we stopped at this waterfall as our last adventure of the day.  I can't remember the name of these falls, but they were very pretty, and the view of the river was beautiful.