Yellow Stones and Boiling Waters

We drove through America's first national park last year, but didn't get much time to stop and check it out. And I remember going to Yellowstone as a kid, but that was a long, long time ago, so when we went this past weekend it felt like a new place I'd never been. There's a reason it's so popular, it's really unlike any other place you can visit. From the massive waterfall carved canyon, to the boiling geysers and colorful pools, it makes sense why so many people would travel in from so many far away places.  We took the short drive down to meet up with Paul's friend Dean, whose family had taken the long drive from Corpus Christi to see it. The wait to get in was not as bad as some of the news stories would make it seem, but it wasn't always easy to find a place to park, with lines of cars circling the lots and fighting for spaces. We took a few short hikes, checked out the spewing fountains of hot water, and contemplated what would happen if the super-volcano ever decided to blow up. There was also some wildlife to see, including buffalo, antelope, elk, and apparently a bear that was somewhere in the woods, if you can believe the thousand or so people trying to take its picture. In all it was a good trip, and well worth making.

Found him.

First of a few waterfalls.

First of a few boiling pools of water.

Soaking in the colors at Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone... definitely worth the hike to the top of the waterfall.

Took a ride in the fully automated electric bus... first of it's kind in the parks.

Unfortunately there were no mammoths at Mammoth Hot Springs. False advertising.

We didn't see any real wolves in the park, but we did check out the rescued ones at the Wolf and Grizzly center outside the park - another stop well worth making.