Yellowstone Day 1 -- Buffalo Jam

For our first day in Yellowstone, we got up very early and headed into the west entrance of the park. It was crisp and cool and sunny. Our road seemed to follow along with a river. It was beautiful and peaceful.

Girls with the Elk

Elk having Breakfast

We hadn't gone far when we saw our first elk munching on the side of the road. And then across the road, up the hill, we saw a mom and baby peeking out behind the shrubs. We'd also seen a big white bird snoozing on the river which we're pretty sure now was a trumpeter swan as we saw it yesterday as well. We will try to get a picture another day. Seeing as we were only 10 minutes into our day, this led to exclamations of "I love Yellowstone!"

A bit farther up the road, a bunch of cars were stopped at a pull out and people standing on the river edge. So, like good Yellowstone visitors, we also pulled out, grabbed our cameras and went to check out the herd of elk munching on the opposite shore.

Soon we started seeing fumeroles which by now we're used to, but for our first glimpse led to lots of excitement and pointing and mad taking of pictures out the window.

We arrived at Old Faithful Inn to meet our friends, the Blairs. Then, we all drove in tandem to Bridge Bay Marina. Thanks to walkie talkies, we could chat and point things out to each other. It really made the day so much more fun. So, throughout the day there was lots of "bison on the right", "fumerole off to the left" comments and then a whole host of "roger roger" and "over" from the kids.

Kepler Cascades

We made one stop at Kepler Cascades on the way to the marina. Beautiful!

We arrived at the marina and boarded our boat for our lake cruise. I found it great fun and really interesting. We saw the front of the Lake Hotel and learned lots of history and tidbits. Dan has already mentioned the bit about cutthroat trout being native to Yellowstone Lake which is on the the Atlantic side of the continental divide so it gives clues to how things may have changed over time geolocially. The kids were rather bored. Oh well!

LeHardys Rapids

Mamma and her fawns

The Fishers & The Blairs at Lake Lodge

After the boat ride, we headed out to find a place to eat our picnic lunch. But first, deer sighting! A mom and two babies. We stopped at Lake Hotel which has a more formal old fashioned feel to it and got some supplies. We decided to head to a picnic area up towards Hayden Valley. We stopped and did a short jaunt to see LeHardys Rapids. The kids were thrilled for an opportunity to run and jump a bit and the rapids were another interesting sight.

Then, we continued along the road. Unfortunately, construction slowed us down. So, Alex pulled food out of the cooler and we ate in the car. However, Laura spotted an otter while we were waiting! That was exciting.

Dragon's Mouth Spring

Soon, we were on our way and we began seeing bison. We stopped at the Mud Volcano area and saw Dragon's Mouth Spring as well as the Mud Volcano. Very stinky, but very kewl to see the mud sputtering and spitting and the water boiling and steaming and hissing.

Dan was just telling me that we'd seen enough solo bison hanging out and we had some great pictures, now we needed the herd. And around the next corner - buffalo jam! Laura finds this term hilarious and keeps saying it and giggling to herself. Bison including at least a dozen calves on both sides of the road and quite a few crossing the road. big guys kicking up dust. I heard exclamations of "this is better than TV!" Finally the big huge bison hanging out in the middle of the road were persuaded to move by one of the rangers and we were slowly inching by.

Looking down the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The family in front of the Falls

Emily & Dan in front of the Falls

The Lower Falls of Yellowstone River

Everyone was VERY happy at this point. But wait! There's more! Next, we stopped at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We chose to go to Artist Point and view the lower falls. Oh my! The colors were breathtaking. The falls were gorgeous. I think many of the pictures we took look like paintings.

From there, we continued on our loop back to Old Faithful Inn for dinner. It is such a fascinating structure. We didn't take any pictures, but will try to get some later in the trip. We had a fantastic dinner and then lounged in the lobby while the kids enjoyed the gift shop. Then, we went and watched Old Faithful. It was cloudy and the camera was acting up so we don't have good photos, but we plan to do a day viewing later in the week.

Then, we headed out for our drive home full up of Yellowstone adventures. Soon, cars were slowing and we're wondering what animal is nearby when I turn to the right and RIGHT THERE on the shoulder is a big old bison walking along. I'm not sure, but it felt like if I rolled down my window I could have touched him.

It was a great first day in Yellowstone!