Yippee--We're in Yellowstone! :)


July 19th, 2017--The next day we were headed to Yellowstone National Park! To get there we needed to take the Bill Cody Scenic Highway (Cody, WY, was named for Wild Bill), which goes through the Shoshone National Forest, another breathtaking path to take via RV. The hillsides were orangish-red in color and were dotted with trees and bushes.

Before we passed this site we could see flames shooting into the sky.

Right before we arrived at Yellowstone's eastern entrance there was a fire on the hillside! I could have taken a better picture but I was shocked at what I was seeing. We later learned that 2,000 acres were burned. It's devastating as a visitor to see and learn about what wild fires do, but for the people that live here it's just a part of their lives.

Remnants of the 1988 wildfire. Hard to believe that it still looks this way.

As soon as we arrived into Yellowstone we could already smell the geysers!! What took our minds (somewhat) off of the rotten-egg smell was the gorgeous display of wildflowers. The variety of color and shape was beautiful and Michelle and I were completely envious for our own yards. We soon came to Yellowstone Lake and spent more time there than anticipated, but it was a wonderful experience.  We were at an elevation of 7792 feet.


The first attraction we came to was Yellowstone Lake, specifically Sedge Bay. It has a rocky shore with bluish-gray water and the shore was surrounded by wooded hills. We stayed for an hour at the lake on this sunny, windy day. The kids skipped rocks and built things out of drift wood while Mark, Michelle, Kevin, and I sat back and took it all in.



Our campground was still a drive into the park and along the way we were able to see a couple of the more popular sights. We first stopped at bubbling, steaming, roiling Mud Volcano. The smell of the geysers was overwhelming for our inexperienced noses, but it was so cool to see. Our favorite part was Dragon's Mouth, where steam comes puffing out of cavern in the side of a hill. This will make you a believer that dragons exist.

Dragon's Mouth

Next was Artist's Point, which is located in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. At 4:30pm it was still packed, but we were able to get some good pictures of the waterfall.

Artist's Point

We stayed the first three nights of our stay at Canyon Village, a campground central in the park. It was huge, and even though the sites were on top of each other you had the feeling of privacy because the amount of sky-high lodge pole pines on each lot.


We had a surprise when we checked in: no electricity. Thinking back, it makes sense why they wouldn't have it but were were not prepared! We could run our generators from 8am - 8pm, so it was great that we made it in enough time for Michelle to prepare a delicious meal of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread.

FULL : So glad we booked six months ago!

We ended the night with a fire and I was surprised by a magically colorful display! It took me longer than I care to admit that I was duped my Mark sprinkling some kind of powder that changed the flames to blue, green, and purple.



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