Day Two, and our last full day, meant cramming in as much as we possibly could. We visited Old Faithful and we could not have timed our visit better. We arrived within ten minutes of the eruption. Hundreds of visitors lined the boardwalk, and watched (or timed) the geyser do its thing. The length of the eruption will tell you when the next one will go off. If it lasts less than 2 1/2 minutes, the next time it goes off will be in one hour. If it’s longer than 2 1/2 minutes, you have a 90 minute wait.

The boys cheer for Old Faithful

There is more to see at Old Faithful, you can check out other geysers, hot springs and fumeroles. We did the 1.3 mile walk around the Geyser Hill Loop, then headed inside to check out the Visitor Center. We were pretty impressed with the children’s area, which explained all the hydrothermic features. After a quick picnic lunch, we headed back towards Canyon intending to make a few stops. First stop was Midway Geyser Basin, to view Yellowstone’s largest hot spring, Grand Prismatic Spring. Geoff & Miles did this hike, while Elijah said the smell of sulphur was giving him a headache, so we hung out in the shade near the trailhead.

Next stop was Artists Paintpots. Geoff wanted to see mudpots, and this short hike gave great views of our surroundings plus mudpots. The kids were amused by the size and sounds the bubbling mud produced.

Last stop before heading back to camp was snagging a letterbox. I thought it was fate that a box was planted just a few weeks before my visit, and so close to our campsite. We drove back to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, but this time on the other side of the falls we visited the day before. I had not printed the picture that went with the clue, which proved to be the key for me finding my prize. Thank God for cell signal, I pulled up AQ and used the picture to locate the box. All the while I was doing this, the boys heading on a hike on Uncle Tom’s Trail. The hike led them to a rickety metal staircase of 300 steps “attached” to the rock face. But the view of Lower Falls made it worthwhile for them.

Lower Falls, from Uncle Tom’s Trail

The rest of the afternoon was resting from all our adventures. After dinner, we treated ourselves to some ice cream in the village. I indulged in Moose Tracks.

Moose Tracks, the finest of flavors.

Day 3, time to go home. No joke, we considered staying another night. We loved it there, and wished we had made it a longer trip. But reality beckoned us to return to Denver. We had packed up most of our stuff the night before, so we just rolled out of our sleeping bags and headed to the village to meet Gramma and Gary for breakfast at the Canyon Lodge Dining Room. This was a great decision on many levels, one being that the weather was starting to mist. A hot breakfast followed by one last stop at the Visitor Center. I had one more souvenir to pick up, and Miles was ready to become a junior ranger. Miles was tickled to earn his first ever junior ranger badge, and Gramma & Gary awarded him with a junior ranger hat. (*side note, Elijah had not finished his book, it is a little harder for 8 year olds. He earned his badge and hat a few weeks later)

It was time to part company, but the memories we made were amazing.

Group picture

Was it worth the drive? Yes.

Worth the cost? It was definitely one of our most expensive camping trips when you add up gas and park fees. But since we don’t plan to do it every year, and it was our family vacation for the year, I’m going to say yes.

Should you go? Absolutely! Yellowstone was awesome. We hope to go back in a few years, next time checking out Grand Tetons and the parts of Yellowstone we missed.

For more information, visit Yellowstone’s website.

There seems to be something so Americana about taking a family trip to Yellowstone. A road trip, with two kids, all our camping gear and heading to Wyoming. We settled on this idea a year ago, and made the actual reservations 6 months in advance of our stay. Depending on what accommodations you are looking for, 6 months out is a good marker.

Yellowstone is about a 9 hour drive, if you take the East entrance. We opted to split this into two days driving, staying in Casper, WY the first night. This gave us more time to set up our campsite the next day, and not arrive grumpy or in the dark.

Passing Yellowstone Lake on our way to Canyon.

We’ve never been to Yellowstone before, so we were unsure what campground we wanted. We decided on Canyon, because it was kind of center of the park, and equal distance for us, and my mom and her husband Gary, driving down from Canada. The campground had all the amenities I require (flush toilets) and with the Canyon Village so close, it was practically glamping.

I’m not exaggerating- we may have had the best site in the campground. We had a water pump right at our site, the bathrooms were over the hill from us, and we had a ton of space between us and the next site. This gave the boys a lot of freedom to play, run, and explore.

Miles shows off our campsite.

My mom and Gary stayed at Canyon Village, in one of the cabins. The sparse rooms offered beds and a bathroom. They loved coming to visit us, hang out by the fire, and eat fire cooked food. I can’t say what the other rooms looked like.

The boys and I went to the ranger talk that night, which was about bears. The talk was very educational, but did not allow for interaction, which disappointed Elijah. Still he learned a lot. Miles got bored early, so we headed back, leaving Elijah to come later with Gramma.

Our first full day there I planned to hike. The 6 of us drove to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. It is a short drive from Canyon. We hiked Brink of Lower Falls, which was a little steep, but everyone was able to do it. There are a lot of places to stop to take pictures and rest. Following that hike, Mom and Gary decided to drive to Brink of Upper Falls, and we would meet there. Our brood of four hiked there, seeing small waterfalls and a deer along the way. Once we were all reunited, the six of us headed down the fully paved, short descent to Brink of Upper Falls. After this, we pawned the kids off on the grandparents, to take them back to camp, while Geoff and I hiked back to our car at Lower Falls. Amazingly, that hike was quieter. 🙂

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, from Lower Falls

After lunch, Geoff and I went to the Village to see what was there. A lot of shops, selling EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you could need. It was crazy. We also checked out all the dining options, because we knew we wanted to eat breakfast there our last morning, to make the packing up of the campsite go faster. I was able to procure some souvenirs and mail off some postcards (they have a post office there!).

The rest of the day was chilling. Playing games, and just enjoying being in Yellowstone. As luck would have it, one of my friends from Denver was also camping Yellowstone the same dates as us, so her family joined us for running around and s’more making. This is just what my kids loved, having friends around, even new friends.

Tomorrow’s post, what we did with our last full day in Yellowstone.

Beautiful Colorado

We took a few days to get away and do the first camping trip of the year. We love the Reverend’s Ridge Campground near Golden, in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. It’s about an hour’s drive from our house, and you avoid the I-70 traffic.

Campground

The downside to making reservations, is you can’t bail due to foul weather. And the weather on Sunday was foul! We were able to set up camp in the breaks from rain. But it made that first day hard on everyone. The highlight was a new recipe we tried, polenta pizza. Basically, you make a polenta crust, then top with your fav toppings. Hot pizza made the cold a little better. Sadly, nothing would drag Miles out of his bad mood. He was cold, and refused to eat dinner. We tried to get some food in him, knowing the cold night would be harder on him without it.

Polenta Pizza

We all slept great, and woke to a block of ice on top of the tent. Monday’s rainy clouds didn’t clear until midday, and then we still had an afternoon rain shower. We took in the beauty at Panarama Point while the sun was shining. Tuesday was by far the nicest day, and naturally it was the day we planned to go home. We debated staying an extra day, but since we already have another camping trip planned this month, we figured we should leave on a high note. We did do one last hike in the area before we headed home. We all can’t wait to get back out into nature, you know, once we get the smell of campfire out of everything.

Pictures of us enjoying the sunshine & camping can be found on Shutterfly.