I had no idea the cell service in Yellowstone is almost non existent which turned the trip into an adventure all in itself.

We arrived and our first stop was at the Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring. Both were packed and we ended up parking on the road and hiking quite a distance. The weather was overcast and the photos were not so great. However it was really cool to see. There was no cell service and we had no idea where our hotel was located as it was not on the map. We had to drive for cell and then I put in address listed on the email from the hotel. Where we arrived was NOT our hotel. Brian was super annoyed and I put in name of hotel and finally we arrived at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It was built in the 1890’s and the oldest hotel in the park. When I read up on it, it was originally built by the railroad. After the first year they had to expand as they did not have enough rooms. The place was nice but dining was ridiculous. I did not realize you had to make reservations weeks in advance if you wanted to eat before 9:30 pm. So we had to find other options but rest assured we did not starve. Also our hotel did not have WiFi or TV’s in the room so we felt like the 1800’s get up at daylight and go to bed at sundown.

The park has a ton of geothermal activity. With areas smoking blowing off steam. Some shoot up in the air like old faithful and others bubble. Most of them emit a sulphur smell so after four days we were calling all of them stink pots.

The day we did Old Faithful we lucked out and it erupted about fifteen minutes after we arrived. It was cloudy that day so photos did not do it justice. It was cool to see in person what I had heard about all of my life.

The best part about the entire trip was all the animals we saw. Our hotel was situated close to Hayden Valley which is where massive amounts of bison hang out. On the way to the hotel the first night traffic was stopped in both directions. This dude was walking down the other lane like he owned the place. He was huge and majestic.

We saw bison up close on the side of the road several times. Twice we had to stop so they could cross right in front of our car. It really looked like they turned their heads both ways before crossing. We also saw one getting into the lake and actually swimming. That was super awesome.

We saw a moose which was super neat. My all time favorite counselor from Kesem Maine is moose so I sent her the photos and checked in with her. She has finished her masters and moved to another state so I will probably never see her again, but I will always remember her and the amount of time she put into camp. There are really no words to accurately describe all she has done for the campers.

We just happened to see an antelope hanging right by the road. Of course some idiot (not me, I stayed in the car) had to try and get too close for photos and spooked it away.

We also saw an elk but it was so far away the photos make you use your imagination. We were on our way back from Lamar valley. Now Brian wanted to pull the car over and stare at the field for three hours until sunset. I vetoed that stupid idea as I don’t have the interest or patience. He was glad I got my way when all these people were haphazardly pulled off the road so he yells out the window what is down there. They reply a grizzly. There is no place to park so Brian says “red jump out and get pictures, I’ll swing around and pick you up.” So I did as he said. I get across the road and it takes me a minute to locate it. Then the thought runs through my head “what if he doesn’t come back”. Then “crap the bear spray is in the car”. He parks and finds me and tells me to move down. Apparently this bear was not even one hundred yards away and if it charged up the hill I was in perfect spot to be attacked. We watched it for maybe ten minutes. I don’t think a single person had their bear spray on them. I took a lot of cool pictures because I never imagined I’d see a grizzly bear in the wild.

All the rest of the people within a hundred yards of a grizzly.

The only downfall of the entire trip was the food situation. I will advise if you plan to stay inside the park make dinner reservations two months out. Everything will be taken by the time you arrive. The populated areas with the hotels all have a food bar but they all close by five. Our hotel did have an area to sit and you could get drinks and appetizers which we did twice. There was another lodge whose place had burgers and things that was open until 10. We ate there as well as it was in walking distance of our hotel. I’m glad for once I wasn’t cheap and decided to experience staying inside the park.

Mole Moral ~ When you hear a grizzly bear is on the side of the window, all caution and reason goes right out the window.