Yellowstone

One of the drivers for this trip was to take the boys to Yellowstone. It's our favorite national park and one of the most spectacular places in the world. We got up early in Cody and hit the road to the East entrance of the park. After about an hour of driving we arrived at the entrance to find it completely unstaffed. That struck us as odd for a summer morning, but perhaps this was evidence of the cutbacks to NPS staffing. We have our national parks pass, so we didn't need to pay in any event, but a map and guide would have been nice.

We continued our drive, stopping at various points to take in the view. Sylvan Lake was still as a mirror, reflecting the mountains and steaming a bit in the cool morning. As the road started to hug Yellowstone Lake we got out again for views and bird spotting. After a bit we reached the Fishing Bridge visitor center, where we did get a map (although not the cool trail guide we remember from previous visits; not sure what happened to those). Leaving the visitor center we spotted a mother elk with her calf.

We took the loop road up to Mud Volcano where we got out and walked the trail. Moving on up the loop road we spotted our first bison of the trip. Then it was on to upper and lower falls. There we again parked and walked the trails for various viewpoints of the falls. They absolutely delivered with stunning scenery on a picture-perfect morning.

We were getting hungry, so we found a picnic spot near Mt Washburn to eat our lunch. We'd brought things for simple sandwiches and enjoyed a nice picnic. It was still chilly in the shade! Another picnicker told us they had seen a bear further up the road, so as we left we were on the alert. And sure enough, pretty soon we encountered the classic Yellowstone wildlife traffic jam and it was due to a black bear nearby. We pulled off the road and joined the folks looking at the bear. It was a pretty perfect setup as the bear was engaged with feeding on plants in a meadow, providing excellent views without being too close. We watched for quite a while, until the bear got tired and sacked out in the shade of a tree. DJ was super excited to see a bear in the wild!

Our next stop was Tower Falls, where we again got out and walked the short trail for a view. By this time it was warming up, so we bought some overpriced refreshments in the store there.

Next stop was Mammoth Hot Springs. As it was now midday, the crowds were in full force and parking was at a premium. We did eventually find a spot, wedged in next to an RV. From there we took a long walk all the way up to the top of the springs. It was interesting to see how different it was from our last visit, which was in 2010. It's a constantly-changing environment, of course, and new trails had been added since we'd been there.

We then drove down to Grant Village, taking in the views and making a couple stops along the way. Our accommodation was there, in what were new-to-us "cabins." These are quite a bit nicer than the very rustic cabins we'd staying in on previous visits to Yellowstone.

Dinner turned out to be a bit of a challenge. We went over to the Grant Village Dining Room, where we were asked if we had a reservation. No, we did not, as I was really expecting more of the traditional national park cafeteria style dining. Without a reservation we were told it would be a 45-minute wait. So we said OK and sat down. Not really wanting to wait that long, I went over to the General Store, which also has a small restaurant inside. But I was told upon entering that they were closing in 15 minutes (the restaurant was already closed). I quickly grabbed some random stuff for the next day's breakfast and returned to the dining room. We waited a while and observed other groups coming in and being told they'd have to wait until after 8:00 for a table (this was around 6:15). After at least 45 minutes had passed I asked the receptionist about our table and it turned out they'd forgotten about us. But there was a table and we were seated.

Dinner itself was good and the service was nice. But the dining room was maybe a third full, which seemed odd given the wait times. I can only surmise that there was again reduced staffing that prohibited a full room.

After dinner we were treated to some elk wandering around near our room. Then it was time to rest up after a long day.Read more