Family Road Trip (part 6)

First Day in Yellowstone

We spent 2 full days in Yellowstone National Park.

It was amazing.  I really had no idea what to expect, other than Old Faithful.

A few things I learned about Yellowstone:

1. It was the first national park.

2. The central part of it is the top of a volcano that erupted a long long time ago, and then collapsed, creating kind of a valley (or something like that).  

3. Magma (or lava) is only about 2 miles below the earth's surface (in Yellowstone), which causes the ground water to be boiling hot, which creates the hot springs and geysers.  There's a lot more science to it, but I thought it was so fascinating.  

We crammed SO much into just two days, that I think I'm going to split these posts up even more.  So this post will be basically the first day, before 9am.  And I'm leaving a lot out.  

We stayed at a KOA about 10 minutes outside of YNP.  The first morning we got up at 5am because wildlife is most active at dawn and dusk.  The goal was to be in the park by 6am, but we didn't quite make it.  I think it was closer to 7, but that's ok.  We saw a lot of wildlife, and a very steamy and beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise from our campground, looking towards Yellowstone.

Cassie taking pictures

Bald Eagle, spotted by Derrick

These signs are common in YNP.

my nephew, baby E

steam pouring out of holes in the ground

Alyssa, baby E, and Grandma, waiting for Old Faithful

Old Faithful goes off about every hour and a half.

 We couldn't go to Yellowstone without visiting Old Faithful.  It was really the only active geyser that we saw go off.  All the other ones were just blowing a lot of steam.  That's not to say they don't ever go off, we just didn't see them.  This happened at about 8:30 in the morning.  It wasn't extremely crowded yet.  After Old Faithful we found some picnic tables and had breakfast.  

And that's all for now... up next, adventures in buffalo country!