Nature's Disneyland

For our 2nd wedding anniversary, James and I decided that we would head up to Yellowstone. I had never been there before. So we made reservations and headed up there for a couple of days.

It was absolutely wonderful. We had an amazing campsite near Yellowstone Lake and, luckily, we weren't to packed in our camp ground so it felt like there was some privacy.

We tried to make the most out of the days that we were there. We first went to the various geyser basins. We hit Fountain Paint Pots, Midway, Black Sands, Upper and Lower Basins and eventually Ol' Faithful. I loved the different hot springs they had there and all the different colors! I just couldn't believe how many colors appear there naturally; greens, blues, yellows, oranges, and all shades in between!






While visiting the geyser basins we did see some eruptions from smaller geysers and of course from Ol' Faithful.




Ol' Faithful


That day was our official anniversary and so we ate at one of restaurants there that sat on the Lake. It was beautiful and nice to eat some non-camping food.

The next day we went to the Visitor's Center at Canyons because it's all about how Yellowstone is a super-volcano. It's interesting because in Geography we teach the kids that if Yellowstone is going to erupt that it'll destroy the whole world and here I am camping right in the middle of it! I wonder what my student's would say.
Anyway.

We went and saw Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. It was magnificent. It was probably one of my favorite spots in all of Yellowstone. We hiked to the top of the Lower Fall. I have never been that close to a huge waterfall before. It was powerful. I just couldn't believe how much water was continuously flowing over the side there. Crazy! We stopped and got out at various other look out points to see the waterfall and the Grand Canyon.





We then headed up to Mammoth Hot Springs. They were cool looking but there's wasn't a lot of water so it was disappointing. Not as cool as I had heard they were. But oh well.



(Above) Here I am wearing what is called the Liberty Hat. The Liberty Hat is a dormant geyser and it is called the Liberty Hat because the initial explorers thought it looked like what the French Liberty fighter wore. So here I am wearing it!

We then drove back to our campsite that afternoon and made instant cheesecake, per request of James. Went to the ranger program that night and there was such a gorgeous sunset over the lake that night that we couldn't resist having our picture taken.


We didn't see much animal-wise. We did see bison and female elk, a jack rabbit and lots of chipmunks.

This elk is in our campsite. That is the table we ate at.



No, I wasn't stupid enough to get close to the bison. I was sitting in the car while I took that picture. That's how close he was.


We drove home through the Grand Tetons and got home to a thunder and lightning shower. I think we've seen it all!