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| Yellowstone is incredibly diverse in terrain and features! |
Yellowstone National Park was our Day 3 destination and we were on a bear hunt! Not only were we on a bear hunt, but is was also a punny Patterson day for our crew. It was almost unBEARable the number of puns that were bantered back and forth. I simply had to grin and BEAR it though because they were BEARy excited about Yellowstone and the potential of seeing a bear!
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| No worries - we were very far away! See the brown furry spot by the trees??? |
We were not disappointed! Not only did we see a grizzly bear, but we got an up close and personal view of a bison. And he actually seemed to be posing for us!
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| Also, no worries - we respect our wildlife - especially those that can outrun us! This view was from the car! FYI Bison can run up to 35 MPH! |
You GEYSERn't going to believe the variety of geysers we saw on Day 3! We started our geyser trek on the east side of the park with the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. These had crystal clear water, some bubbly some not. They bordered the lake and some geyser craters could also be seen just under the water at the lake's edge.
Other geyser visits included Sulphur Caldron which reminded me just how much I despise boiled eggs. However, the sites were definitely interesting. The aptly named Dragon's Mouth geyser literally sounded like what I imagine a dragon would sound like... if they were real. My children kept reminding me that they weren't real every time I said, "It sounds JUST like a dragon!" It even breathed out "smoke." The mud volcano was also in this spot as well as a very churning/boiling geyser that was intriguing to watch. To think that we were literally walking around on top of volcanic activity all day... well, let's not think about that.
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| Mud pots! And I keep being amazed at the wildflowers that grow in these conditions! |
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| Dragon's Mouth is the center pic on the left. |
While all the geothermal activity is amazing, my favorite view was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Absolutely gorgeous!! And if you get a chance to visit Yellowstone, do NOT miss it! The power of the water and the fact that we could stand so close to the brink of the falls was amazing. The canyon views were equally impressive, such color variation in the stone. Nature is incredible!
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| If you look at the top of the falls just where the water spills over the edge - on the right, there is actually on observation deck that we were able to hike down to and watch the water rush over the edge! |
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| Take from the brink of the falls. |
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| Jac and Audrey re-enacting a scene from our last west trip when CJ was much smaller! |
We trekked back late to the condo and after waiting for a bison herd to cross the road we swung by Diners, Drive-ins and Dives-made-famous Pinky G's in Jackson Hole to pick up our Friday night pizza. The overall Patterson Party of 5 pizza consensus was that is was good... crispy crust but not oh-my-goodness-we-have-to-have-this-again good. I mean, we are quite the pizza connoisseurs!
On Day 4 we are off to explore the west side of the park which I'm sure won't disappoint!! I can BEARly contain my excitement! ;-)
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