Days something through 14–Yellowstone

We have just spent the last four days in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

We have discovered and explored Yellowstone with more than a little help from our new friends of cabin staff, guides and locals. We saw the icons—Old Faithful erupted right at 5:38 as we dined at the Old Faithful Inn. We ate dinner at the Roosevelt Lodge where Teddy would stay, and we went to many different waterfalls and formations that I’d never even heard of. We saw hundreds of elk and bison; and even caught a glimpse of a lone coyote prowling through a meadow at sunset. We fished for trout in Lake Yellowstone (caught three but had to throw them back because they were cutthroats) and smelled the hot springs before we saw them bubbling away in a field or the side of a mountain. We saw colors I didn’t know existed including water so clear you could see the bottom of the river bed from yards offshore and crossed the continental divide several times. It was spectacular, but at the same time it was also the most natural thing in the entire world.

The kids learned what a huckleberry tastes like, what a bison chip feels like when you step in it, and how good a sandwich can taste when eaten on a picnic table outside. We saw the first National Park at sunrise and at sunset; and I bet no one could decide which is more grandiose.

One night on our way out of the park, we experienced a power outage that ran from Idaho Falls up to Bozeman. The town of West Yellowstone was without electricity for several hours, but you couldn’t tell because it stays so light for so late. We had s’mores for dinner (again) until the nice folks at the hotel came by with grilled burgers. We didn’t even notice or care when power was eventually restored later that night.

All told, I think we looked up, out, in and around way more than we looked down at a screen.

And that was perhaps the most beautiful sight of all.