The first few days were mostly just hard push to get somewhere new--we didn't have the urge to sight-see in the states neighboring California, which in theory we could go visit anytime. So the first night we stayed in a casino lot in Sparks, NV and the second in a Walmart in Utah. The only bit of intentional roadside fun was stopping to stretch our legs at the Bonneville salt flats.
Day 3 we officially camped at Henry Lake State Park in Idaho, right outside the West entrance of Yellowstone:
Day 4 we got up bright and early to make it into Yellowstone and to Old Faithful before it was too crowded for a good view. We had front row seats!
We spent the day exploring what we could, visiting as many "must-see" spots as possible.
Exploring the historical buildings was as much fun as all the geologic wonders:
I love the architecture of the lodge!
Those of you familiar with Yellowstone know it is so big you spend a lot of time driving, parking, then walking. Parking with a trailer in a crowded park can be a challenge. Documented above--the miracle of there being empty space in front of our car so we could pull out after one such stop!
We saw several bears as we drove around, including this mama and baby right next to the road! If you double-click to embiggen the photo, you can see the mama as that black lump. Her cub was right next to her, rolling and reaching for low branches on that tree, falling over, and generally being amazingly adorable. I am sure the kids got much better photos on their cameras--they were all standing in the car with their upper bodies outside the sun roof as we went by, for the best view. : )
Lots of bison--so many that we decided to skip the drive we had planned through Custer State Park. The kids and I had been through Yellowstone once before, when the kids were all really little, but that time we only saw a few animals, and then from a distance. Except for the herds of elk, which seemed to always be in the road. This time we saw all kinds of animals besides the bears, but not a single elk.
Pulling over to fill water bottles from icy mountain spring water. Delicious!
I can't believe we packed all that into one day!
But then we had a harrowing drive out of the park at night. Winding, steep, sharp curves with drop-offs on either side. Deer in the road. Black cattle in the road. And the one time we pulled over so teen girls could try to capture the gorgeous purple sky and full moon we were attacked by mosquitoes so badly it was like something out of a horror movie. The blood-thirsty hoard was literally banging against the car windows trying to get in. (shudder) But God was merciful and we made it safely to a Walmart in Cody, Wyoming late that night, weary from a long day, but happy with our first real road trip adventure.
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