Spring is Here

Spring in South East Idaho is always rainy and beautiful! And it always gives me the desire for three things. Goldfish... I have no idea why spring weather makes me want to buy a goldfish bowl and a pretty orange fish, but every single year I want a fish and I have 3 children and a cat! I don't think it would have a happy ending for the poor fish, so I don't give into that desire. Planting flowers... Pots and dirt and seeds call to me this time of year, but only if the sun is shining and the sun has not been shining around here lately. The last thing I crave in the spring is a road trip! Not a long one, just a couple of hours in a car and some pretty pine trees to see and maybe a few big, wild animals. So we went to Yellowstone National Park!

Of course I have to mention that I made ALL of the tops being worn in the picture above! This is pretty much the only picture that shows our me-made outfits. So enjoy because the rest of the pictures are of the park! 😂

I have lived within 2 hours of Yellowstone for my entire life and going into the park has been a regular Sunday Drive kind of activity since I was born. This could be one of the reasons that I love driving up there. Coby loves to take pictures of the beautiful scenery and the animals and my kids just enjoy getting out of the house and out into the forest.

We don't usually stop and take pictures at the Yellowstone NP sign, but we had an extra child with us. Kaylie's best friend and she has never been to the park, so we knew we had a few extra stops. Not a problem, it's good to be reminded that the park isn't familiar to everyone.

I didn't pay much attention to the exact walks that we went on. This was the first one we went on, it's the first geothermal area we can walk when entering through the West entrance and heading toward Old Faithful. This area has lots of dead trees and mud pots.

These dead trees are so cool! I have always been fascinated by them. Somehow I never knew what they were called until this trip when I learned that they are called "bobby sock trees" and basically they were living here when the ground opened up and started spewing out the hot and mineral-laden water and it killed them from acidity and heat and the minerals have soaked up into the base of their trunks. It's so neat!

This is a mud pot! It's basically super hot mud and water that spit all over. Oly was fascinated by this and called it "Hot Chocolate Milk" I think it is really called "Red Spouter" but we really like Oly's name for it better!

Here is Oly in front of his favorite geothermal place! It's a different angle so its hard to see all the "chocolate" spilling out everywhere. He had a lot of fun running around this boardwalk!

By the time we got to the next walk, Oly was done! 😂 We took our slow and lazy time at the next stop. This one takes us to Grand Prismatic Spring. Oly and I didn't get to see if, but Kaylie and her friend did.

Grand Prismatic Spring has so many amazing colors and Coby did a great job capturing it! Especially where it was cold and the water was very steamy

This is what most of the geothermal areas looked like. The best time to see these places is the height of the summer when the air is a lot closer to temperature to the water. But we love to come in the early Spring because there are less people and there is a greater chance to see baby animals!

Speaking of animals. We saw lots of American Bison but didn't take any pictures. There were even some babies! But again, no pictures, sorry! But we saw this moose! Actually, there were two, but this was my favorite picture, so this is the only I shared.

And I spotted this Mule Deer hiding in on the side of the road on the way to Mammoth. Coby said there were two of them, but I could only see this one.

Mammoth has these beautiful, chalky hills and mounds.

I love how the ripples and ridges form with water spilling down over the edges. And this place seems to look different every time I see it! It takes very little to change the view, an earthquake, a foot print, too much or too little rain, it is so delicate and so beautiful!

Of course we made a stop at Old Faithful and watched it go off! It was as magnificent as always! If you come this way, be sure you stop at the visitor's center and learn all about how and why there are geothermal features all over in this area! And go get ice cream at the General Store! We didn't do it this time because it was cold, but you really should! Eating ice cream while Old Faithful goes off is one of my favorite memories as a child and we've tried to give that to our children as well!

The last place we stopped before heading back home was the Roosevelt Arch. This beautiful arch is no longer in the park and not even at the entrance, but it's still magnificent! And the cute little town of Gardiner, Montana is worth the stop just to say you've been!

 This is one of my favorite places in the whole world to visit! And I do hope that everyone get the chance to visit one of these day. Have you ever been? What is your favorite memory of Yellowstone National Park? If you haven't been lucky enough to go, would you like to visit? What would you be more interested in seeing?

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