Yellowstone and #1 on the 101

(1) Visit 20 places on "1000 Places to See Before You Die."

Update: 1) Las Vegas Strip 2) Bellagio 3) National Mall and Monuments 4) Smithsonian Museums 5) Yellowstone National Park

YELLOWSTONE

On Sundays, since the ranch doesn't offer rides to allow the horses to rest, our group went on a convoy through Yellowstone (only 10 miles from the ranch). We only took the lower loop and did not get to see even a quarter of the wondrous sights of the place, but the park is huge it took us all day to see what we did.

We saw elk and bison eerywhere! This one below, was immediately roadside, ignoring the dumb people approaching it to take a closer picture. And since I'm not a great fan of being gored to death by a behemoth of an animal, this pic was taken from the safety of our vehicle.

Bald Eagle's Nest

We stopped at the Norris Geyser and Porcelain Basin. This is the tallest geyser, Steamboat Geyser, to erupt. We only witnessed a minor eruption of several feet. But it was a treat nonetheless, it being the first geyser we have ever seen.

We followed the rotten egg smell to this hot spring called Cistern Spring. The water was an clear aquamarine. The true color of which I had failed to capture since my lens kept fogging up from the steam

The kids enjoying complaining of the smell. Dylan having read about this phenomenon prior to the trip explained to everyone that it was because of the sulfur in the water.

boardwalk trails

We walked down to the Porcelain Basin, a large valley full of geothermal features like geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. The pictures just do not do it justice.

Next stop is the upper falls. I heard the lower falls are much bigger but for some reason, the group didn't go that way. Bummer. Note to self: Next time...

Baby girl and her "i-spy"

Junior Ranger (check out the get-up) and the eruption of Old Faithful. For my foreign readers...Old Faithful is THE sight to visit in Yellowstone. For hundreds of years, the geyser erupts every 70 minutes like clockwork, spewing steam and boiling hot water in a show-stopping spectacle.

me and my boy. See how much taller he is already?

Sophie being awarded her Junior Park Ranger badge. She loves the Junior Ranger programs and has vowed to become a ranger for each national park we visit. I love that she gets to learn about what she sees, making each trip much more memorable.

It was a fantastic day trip. We are planning to visit again sometime during the summer, hopefully after our Operation Purple Retreat in Jackson just so we can take our time and see all the other sights we didn't get to.

Even after only seeing the limited things we did, it is not a surprise it is on the list of places to see.