We enjoyed the Grand Tetons but we were impatient to get to Yellowstone, so were soon heading out to Yellowstone which was about an hour north of our campsite. We got an early start to be sure to get a campsite. However, we were soon stopped in traffic on the roads of Yellowstone…this is often a sign that there is an animal near the road which causes a ‘gawker delay’. It turns out that there was a bear cub in a tree near the street. We clicked a quick picture and continued on our way… mama bear was probably not too far!
We got an awesome campsite at Lewis Lake which we were happily surprised were not charging fees for the campsites here. Lewis Lake is the southernmost campsite in Yellowstone and is rustic (just offering vault toilets) but it is easy to get to nearby hikes and attractions. We set up our big tent since we were planning on staying for at least 4 or 5 days.
Our first stop was at West Thumb Basin to see the geysers. This area was very beautiful because it was right next to a huge lake the served as the backdrop for all of the geysers and hot springs. There was a boardwalk that led you around the various geysers and a ranger gave some explanations. The clearer the water, the hotter it was.
That night after dinner we went for a long walk along Lewis Lake to watch the sunset.
The next day we were eager to go to see Old Faithful. This was like the Disneyland of Yellowstone, there were people everywhere and hotels and stores selling everything imaginable with the name of Yellowstone on it. But the visitor center was very cool. It gave awesome explanations and displays on how a geyser works, including a short film and an area dedicated to the kids. After soaking in all this information we went to see it in action. The center gave predictions on when Old Faithful would give it’s spectacular show, just about every hour and a half. So people started grabbing up their seats an hour ahead of time. Well we got there just 20 minutes ahead and were stuck sitting on the boardwalk. Normally they say that there can be a variance of 10 minutes earlier or later than the predicated time. We were still waiting when the 10 minutes was up and had to wait another 5 minutes or so before the geyser exploded into the sky. Well it was worth the wait because I guess the added pressure made this the highest spray that it has been in like 4 years. The record was set at 180 feet and we saw it spray to an impressive 170 feet! It was very cool.
Old Faithful is only one of the 300 geysers in the park (about half of all of the geysers worldwide!). So after seeing Old Faithful we took the boardwalk that extends miles out weaving around geysers, hot springs, and mud pots. We had an awesome timing and saw a few other geysers explode into the sky. Our favorite was Riverside Geyser who was bordering a river and the spray made a 75 foot arch over the river creating a rainbow in it’s spray, this only happens about every 6 hours and we arrived just 10 minutes beforehand.
The next day was July 24th and was Antoine’s birthday. We had made reservations at the Grant Village Restaurant for 8:15 that night. During the day we went just north of Old Faithful to the painted pots geysers which is known for its mud pots that change formations and can look like they are creating different images. We also saw the midway geyser which is a beautiful blue pool that flows into the nearby river, if the water were not boiling it would be awesome to swim in those clear turquoise waters!
We had to get a hike in during the day so we decided to do the Divide hike which is named so as it is along the continental divide. This was one that climbed quite a bit so it was a good workout to the top. Elisabeth pooped out halfway up and Antoine was stuck carrying her in the kid carrier the rest of the way up and on the way down as well. This was a good hike and we even saw snow on the ground at the top!! After this we stopped off at Grant Village to take showers and get ready for our first restaurant since we started the trip. We had some time before our reservation so we picked up some locally brewed beers and cheese from Montana and sat outside for the aperitif. We were still plenty hungry when we got to the restaurant and of course I had to let the waitress know that it was Antoine’s birthday (revenge for my birthday at the hard rock café!!). The food was awesome, we got a flatbread pizza as a starter with goat cheese and other yummy stuff on it. Elisabeth got the locally fished trout, I got the prime rib, and Antoine of course had to try the bison steak. Everything was delicious including the wine to wash all that down. Elisabeth had fun going to talk with the hostesses and they loved her. And of course when they brought out Antoine’s dessert they sang a Wyoming version of happy birthday starting with ‘home, home on the range….’. It was fun and thankfully no deer (or other animals!) jumped out in front of the car on the way back to the tent!!
The next day was a rough awakening and required an intense amount of coffee to get going. We took it easy in the morning around the campsite and there was a big drama when Elisabeth got a splinter in her hand that we had to pull out. We finally got going and headed out to see Yellowstone Lake which is HUGE!! It is absolutely beautiful with the snowcapped mountains in the background. We did a couple of short hikes around the lake. There was one hike, Pelican Valley, that we would have loved to do but the ranger suggested not doing this one with small children since it is in prime grizzly habitat. They suggest carrying bear spray here and walking in groups of at least 4 people. So since we did not have either of these then we decided it would be best to take it safe and not do this hike, even though we have been dying to see a bear!! But the shorter hikes were nice and gave awesome views of the lake. At one point we had an awesome view across the lake and started to see the storm clouds rolling in. We didn’t get hit with the storm but we could see the lightning flashing across the sky in the distance, I would have loved to have one of these awesome cameras to capture the lightning over the lake.
Then on our way back from our hikes we saw an enormous bison crossing the street right next to the car... it was very close!!!
The day ended with a good plate of macaroni and cheese and a hotdog before walking down to the lake to catch the sunset. Our adventure in Yellowstone continues. We are going to be heading up to the northern part of Yellowstone on Wednesday at the campsite Indian Creek.
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