Since we've had free flights for the last decade. we haven't really taken the opportunity to go on a road trip with the kids. We all felt like exploring the west and on a whim last week we decided to check if there were any cancellations for camping in Yellowstone. As it turns out, Grant campground had an opening for 3 nights and we booked it and packed up the car and headed out. We ended up driving a total of 2,500 miles and 30 hours. It was a beautiful drive through WA, ID, MT, and WY. The park is truly magical and so wild. It covers 22 million acres across most of Wyoming with some parts in Idaho and Montana. When you picture the old west, the park was exactly what you think it would have been like.
Dinner stop in Missoula MT. This was an excellent BBQ restaurant where all of the food is made fresh daily and when they run out, you're out of luck.
After dinner we found a park and ice cream!
There were a lot of bugs in Montana!
This is our impressive collection.
We stopped at Earthquake lake on the way to Yellowstone. It was created by an earthquake in 1959 where part of the mountain slid down and blocked off the river. The new lake is 200 feet deep and 6 miles long. You can still see where the mountain slid. 28 people lost their lives that night while camping in the valley.
We rented this Ford Excursion Max for the trip and it was great to have all of that extra room!
Ready for smores
Good morning!
There's nothing better than hot chocolate coffee on a cold morning.
Grand Prismatic Spring in the evening
Grant Prismatic Spring in the morning
Old Faithful erupts every hour and a half and lasts a few minutes. It shot up 100 feet.
West Thumb Geyser Basin where the water is around 200 degrees Fahrenheit
Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest place in the park, at 459 degrees. Steamboat Geyser is here.
Artists Paint Pots
Mud Pots
We enjoyed many sunset hikes when it was cooler out and the park was empty.
Cool and empty but we had to keep the mosquitoes from snacking on us.
We drove down to the Grand Tetons
This is Hayden Valley and it was one of our favorite places to visit in the park because there were so many animals in the valley.
There's a Grizzly bear munching on flowers on the hillside. Don't worry we were right next to the car and there were a lot of other people to Alia's left that the bear would have gone after first. A Grizzly can cover 50 feet in a second after all.
There were so many bison roaming around the valley.
They love to take their time crossing the road to the water hole. We all sat in traffic for 15 minutes waiting for them to move.
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lower Falls
Mammoth Hot Springs. 2,000 pounds of rock is deposited on these stone terraces every day.
The Arch way going out the North entrance near Gardiner Montana. The kids loved the little door.
On the drive home we witnessed the start of a brush fire on 1 90 near Vantage WA. It was pretty scary driving up to it not knowing if we would make it through. They had to shut the interstate down on both sides from 11:30 pm to 12 noon the next day. It turned into a wildfire and is called the Rye Grass Coulee fire. 1,600 acres burned and the town of Vantage had to be evacuated.
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