Yellowstone: Day 3

We heard from some other visitors that they had seen a LOT of wildlife early in the morning. So we decided to get a much earlier start to our day on Friday, Oct. 15. We headed out around 7:30am, just around sunrise, and it was FREEZING cold out! But they were right, we saw a LOT of animals this morning, and throughout the day. We decided to take the road through Norris, up to Canyon Village first, take the circle around south past Yellowstone Lake, and end our day in the park with Old Faithful. It ended up being perfect.

It was so cold, there was steam coming off the river. It was really cool looking.






We also saw eagles along the way into the park, but I didn't get any good pictures.
We headed first to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was still really cold in the shade.

This is the picture that Kimee took and we submitted for the PTA reflections contest.

As we drove through the Hayden Valley, we came across a big herd of buffalo crossing the road.

 
This really is a buffalo, coming down the hill and then walking right in front of our car.

 Then we got to the Mud Volcanoes. This place was REALLY stinky.

The Dragon's Mouth was really cool.

We saw a coyote walking across a field down to the river.

We stopped for our picnic lunch at a picnic area just off Yellowstone Lake.

Some people had fun feeding the birds.

The lake was so beautiful.

We stopped at the Continental Divide for a quick picture and diaper change :)

When we got to the Old Faithful area, we were in the visitor center when another geyser went off. Apparently it was somewhat rare, because the Ranger quickly announced it and then ran right outside to witness it.

We completed the Junior Ranger requirements at the Old Faithful Visitor center. It was awesome because the ranger made an announcement in front of everyone that Kimberly, Blake, and Derek were officially Junior Rangers.

Without too much of a wait, we got to see Old Faithful blow her steam, and it ended up being a pretty big one!

After seeing Old Faithful, we went to the (way overpriced) gift shop for a little while before heading back to the condo. We saw more animals on the way.

We took one little side trip on our way out threw the Fireside Canyon Drive.

Throughout the days at Yellowstone, we kept saying the animals we wanted to see. Skyler kept saying he wanted to see a wolf attack a buffalo. Well, on our way out we did see this wolf/coyote walking towards a group of bison. Almost, Skyler!

That evening we had another yummy dinner together as a group. Our vacation was coming to an end.
(At some point, Maddi got a hold of the camera and slimed the lens. Sorry these pictures are fuzzy.)

Saturday morning, Dave took Kimee and Audrey for one last trip to the pool. We got packed up and on our way home. What a wonderful trip! We can't wait to go again!

One of the things I have to say about this trip is that, I have been to or driven through Yellowstone several times. But compared to what we saw on this trip, I had seen nothing. I know I had been to Old Faithful and at least one area of hot pots (I don't know which ones). But we were able to see so much due to the lack of crowds and people on the roads, the good weather, and our fine planning skills :) (The only place we saw a lot of people was Old Faithful. And, by the way, they have a brand new, really nice visitor's center at Old Faithful that has huge windows overlooking the geyser, if it was bad weather or something.) This trip really was amazing!