Day 6 - Yellowstone

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We got up and left Cody, WY a bit after 7:00 a.m. I was driving as it looked like it was going to be another winding drive and I didn't know if it was going to be up hill or down hill! (Much to my surprise, it was downhill!) Right outside of town there was a huge gorge with swift water running through it...had to get a picture of that! We were only about 50 miles from Yellowstone at that point so we got there quickly and it was still early in the morning. I think everyone should see it Yellowstone at least once in their lifetime..what a spectacular place!! We spent the whole day just driving the Grand Loop around it..which is probably more than 150 miles!! It has everything..animals..mountains...deep gorges...beautiful trout streams, which dad of course was just dying to go fishing in!! Gorgeous waterfalls all through the park and not to mention the steam vents and geysers! We walked down into the Norris Geyser basin and that was very unique..

Animal wise, we saw lots of buffalo, a single moose, a timber wolf, a couple of bear..the elk were mostly hiding though and we had a hard time spotting any of those until we were leaving the park.

The hills were still alive with color though with all kinds of wild flowers in bloom and there were some really pretty meadows too.

If you ever plan on going and want to get into it the "easier" way though, I would suggest coming into it from the western entrance via Idaho & Montana...not nearly as scary as coming in through the Big Horn Pass!!

We finally settled for the night in Idaho Falls and will head to Oregon next. We need to find Thomas a Potato though as his whole goal of the trip was to dig a potato in Idaho!

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Photos

Cody, WY
This was the gorge right outside of Cody.

Dad, Stephen & Thomas
Had to do their daily group picture! This was on an outlook overlooking a huge lake, fairly close to the eastern entrance to the park!

Meadow
I really liked this little hillside Meadow at the overlook

wild flowers
"Give me ALL your Lupines!!"

Wild flowers
Some wild Asters

small waterfall
There was a small waterfall on the way up to the outlook, just coming out of the rocks along the roadside

White water
There was a big white water area and dad and I walked down over the hill to get pictures.

more white water
This was a horseshoe shaped whitewater area but it was hard to get a good picture of

White water
A view from slightly above the break

Finally..
We start to see some animals...

And did we see animals!!
We came around the bend and there was this huge herd of Buffalo..just crossing the road from the water and moving up into the grazing lands on the hill...hundreds of them!!

Buffalo
This is just a small portion of the herd, but this end was mostly cows & calves. The bulls were all pretty much out in front and there were some BIG ones!!

Stagecoach
There was one place where you could take a stagecoach tour, but there were also many places where you could rent a horse and also go off on the trails.

Another Waterfall
Really liked this one!

Norris Geyser Basin
This was from the overlook there. It's a huge area though and we did walk down across the walkway

Norris Geyser Basin
Another view. It's very eerie landscape for sure. The water that is in the puddles is absolutely crystal clear and there are many steam vents and boiling puddles everywhere!

Norris Geyser Basin
A couple of puffers...

Norris Geyser Basin
The green color in this puddle was caused by a particular algae

And finally...
What would a trip to Yellowstone be without seeing Old Faithful!!! This is just as it was starting to go off

Old Faithful
...almost to full steam!

Old Faithful
"Thar she blows!!"