Day 7- Yellowstone horse ride

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Day 7

We got up in the morning and made pancakes for breakfast. We then got RoVer disconnected and went to the visitor center and got Alea signed up for the junior ranger program. After we signed Alea up for the program we headed off to the mud volcano. Around the mud volcano there was some smaller steaming sulfur mud pits (pits is a very good name for them because they smelled really really really really really really really bad) and the coolest of these was called The Dragon's Den. This pit had a cave on the side of it that would collect the steam and when the steam was released it made a heavy breathing sound and steam came shooting out of the cave hence the dragon. On our way to Yellowstone Grand Canyon, we pulled over on the side of the road to go look for a buffalo we had seen earlier. As we walked into the brush we were so busy looking down at the ground trying to avoid the huge buffalo poops that we almost walked right into a buffalo. We snapped a few pictures and then headed back to RoVer. On our way back we saw some awesome buffalo bones including a skull, the spine, three of the legs, and some of the pelvis. Once we arrived back at RoVer we drove to Yellowstone Grand Canyon. For those who have never been to the Yellowstone grand canyon, there is a river called the Yellowstone river (don't you just love the names Yellowstone this Yellowstone that!). The Yellowstone River has two main waterfalls the upper and lower waterfalls. The upper waterfalls are close to the parking lot and are a short enjoyable walk where as the lower waterfalls are 3/4 of a mile downhill hike on the way to the falls followed by 328 steps down into the Canyon so it is an enjoyable walk there but on the way back you are going up 328 steps followed by a 3/4 mile uphill hike so the walk back is very exhausting! We then went shopping in Canyon Village. After we had shopped for a little bit we headed off to Roosevelt Lodge Corral. When we arrived at the corral me (Ben) and dad got ready to go on our horseback ride. Then we were assigned our horses. I was assigned a horse name Jose and dad a horse named Ug who was a huge lazy horse. Once we were united with our horses we got on them and rode off towards supper. After about 45 minutes of riding we arrived at an outside area and we got to eat. The menu was all you can eat steak (each about 6 oz), cornbread, watermelon, beans, cole slaw, and berry cobbler for dessert. After about 2 hours of entertainment we got back on our horses and headed back to the corral. We then went back to our camp and went to sleep.

--Ben

While the boys were enjoying their horse ride, Alea and I were waiting for our wagon to take us to dinner. As we were listening to the instructions about how to get on the wagon, there was a noise behind us. As we turned, if you were quick enough, you could see a black bear. I was able to see it but was unable to get a picture of it going up a nearby hill. Nature doesn't wait to pose. We met up with the boys and enjoyed supper with them, then returned by wagon. -- Lisa

Fun Fact of the Day:

there is all the geothermal activity in the area because Yellowstone is a giant dormant volcano that is predicted to erupt again sometime in the next 150 years.

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Comments

[Andre Lijoi]

Great memories of our trip.
Reading your blog takes me back to our trip west in 2002. Yellowstone is truly a jewel! There are so many magnificent places to see in the U.S. I hope you enjoy the barbecue. Pax Christi, Andre