Yellowstone National Park!!!!

"C" to "E" was the path we took on Day 3.  "D" was Mt. Rushmore.  "E" to "G" was the route we took on Day 4.  "F" was Yellowstone National Park.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

We began by driving from Greybull to Yellowstone early in the morning.  The drive alone was incredible.  Here are some highlights...

We made a stop at the Buffalo Bill Dam on the Shoshone River.  Here's a video of the dam and the river:

After that, we saw more unbelievable scenery, just on the way to the park.  The highlight were some buttes that we saw on an upper leg of the Shoshone.  One of them even looked like Bart Simpson...

So eventually, we got to Yellowstone.  The first thing I noticed (it was kind of hard to miss it) was all the snow.  Yeah.  Snow.  Here's the sign we saw shortly after entering the park:

Yeah.

Yup...

Later that day we found out that the forecast for Yellowstone that night was 32 degrees, 7mph winds, and a chance of rain/snow.  I am young (and stupid?) enough that I would have tried to camp in Yellowstone that night.  Yet, Coach made the executive decision to stay in a motel that night, rather than Yellowstone.  Yet, we still spent the day there and saw lots of stuff.  Most notably, buffalo, and lots of them!

One decided he didn't like my pictures, or something like that...

That was a crazy experience.  There were lots more buffalo, but like I said, I have to save space on my blog.

The next stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We hiked down to one of the water falls in the canyon.  Rather than try to describe it, because nothing in Yellowstone can really be described, here are some pictures of the falls and canyon...



After hiking the 600 feet back up to the road from that vantage point (which was tough, considering the elevation was about 7,500 feet, which by the way, is the highest I've ever been), our next stop was Old Faithful.

Once we saw that, unfortunately, it was time to go.  Since we weren't staying the night, it was back to the road.  We went out the northern entrance so we could get back on I-90 to keep going west. But before we left, we saw some other wild life.  Elk, to be specific.



They're basically like deer, but MASSIVE.  The female in the first picture was taller than I am.

So, that was my Yellowstone experience.  It was awesome, but a big teaser at the same time.  I was in and out of Yellowstone in one day.  There was so much stuff left to do and see (I saw some springs but they were hot, and covered in steam, so the pictures don't show much), which I didn't get to see since I was only there for a day.  It was like opening presents on christmas morning, but not getting to use them...until the next time I go back to Yellowstone.  Hopefully, it will be soon.

Things I didn't know/had never done before:

*Yellowstone actually has yellow stones.  My camera died, so I didn't get any pictures.  But, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone literally has yellow walls up to 1200 feet high, that stretch as far as you can see through the canyon.  I guess thats where it gots its name.

*Beer update...Once we left the park and headed to Montana, we tried Moose Drool Brown Ale, on tap in a bar.  It was good stuff.  I also had Old Faithful Ale and Howling Wolf weisse beer, both of which I got in Yellowstone itself.  I'm not enough of a beer snob to describe exactly how they tasted, but they were all good.  Maybe it was simply the experience and excitement of just having come from Yellowstone when I had them, but they were good.



Coach's Quote of the Day:

This one isn't necessarily hilarious, but is absolutely perfect for me and both my brothers.

Coach: "Well Tom, if you come back to Yellowstone, you have to come for at least two weeks.  And you have to learn how to fly fish so you can do that, and hike, bike, kayak..."

Me: "I'll hike, bike, and kayak, but I'll probably never fly fish.  My dad tried to get me into it for years but I couldn't, its just too boring."

Coach: "Well, fly fishing is more than just casting a rod.  I think fly fishing is akin to throwing the hammer, or pitching a baseball.  Its really a skilled movement, with all these subtle, technical nuances that you have to be aware of in order to do it well.  If you don't have experience doing it or never tried it before, you really don't appreciate everything that goes into it."

Day 5 and hopefully 6 summaries come tomorrow...