Welcome To Yellowstone!!

While Meemaw was here, we decided to take a trip to Yellowstone.  It was so much fun!!  It was Chris's and my (and Mitchell's) first time ever visiting Yellowstone, and it did not disappoint.  What a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L place!!  If you have never been before, put it on your bucket list.  We only live a couple hours away and are already planning return trips within the next few years.  We spent Saturday afternoon in the park, then stayed the night in West Yellowstone (a small town right outside the West entrance of the park), and then went back to the park Sunday morning before heading home.  The park is huge, so we did not have enough time to explore everything.  But, that is why we are planning future trips:)  We did manage to see Yellowstone's Grand Canyon (and all the beautiful waterfalls, rivers, and greenery along the way) and Old Faithful (with all the geysers and mud pots next to it).  We also saw a lot of bison, some elk, and a deer.  We were really wanting to see some bears and moose, but we were probably on the wrong side of the park to see any in abundance; most bears and moose live on the East and North side of the park.  But again, maybe next time:)

Before we headed into the park, we stopped to eat lunch at a Yellowstone-y restaurant.  Haha, and by "Yellowstone-y" restaurant, I mean they served buffalo, elk, trout, etc.  Chris did have their buffalo burger and said it wasn't bad.  Mitchell was just happy to be out of his car seat.  Let me tell you... for being in the car the majority of two days, and therefore not having any naps, he did so amazing!!  What a trooper!!

The Yellowstone Grand Canyon!!  It was so gorgeous!!

You can see the mist in the canyon from the giant waterfall hitting the river below.

Chris, Meemaw, and Mitchell enjoying views of the waterfall.

The Canyon was amazingly gorgeous.  And let's test your eyes... in the middle of this picture, we spotted a huge nest on top of a peak.  We assumed it was a Bald Eagle's nest because is was so big, but unfortunately we did not see any bird on top of it.

Overlooking the river running through the canyon.  And poor kid, seemed to always have the sun in his eyes.

We also stopped by Gibbons Falls (much smaller than the falls in the canyon, but still beautiful).  Mitchell and I are actually standing over/next to the falls and have the valley the river follows behind us.  And as a fun souvenir, we bought Mitchell this "Daniel Boone" hat.  He got quite a few looks, smiles, and comments from adoring fans over this hat. 

Here are some elk we saw playing in a stream.

We saw a lot of bison.  Even found this beauty walking along the road.

As we got closer to Old Faithful, we saw steam vents all over the place.

View of the river running through the plains.  I think it is cool how you can see the steam vents in the distance.

Getting ready to watch Old Faithful go off.

In front of Old Faithful.

There she blows!!

One of the prismatic springs.  The gorgeous colors come from the different gases seeping into the water.  Of course, the lovely sulfur smells were not as pleasant as the pretty colors of the water:)

This is the famous Giant Prismatic Spring.  It was so vibrant and gorgeous!!  But looks can be deceiving... you can't swim in this puppy; its water is 160 degrees.

The Painted Mud Pots were some of my favorite features.  Because of the gases bubbling out of the mud, it basically looked like boiling paint.  It was pretty cool.

Another geyser by the Painted Mud Pots.  This land was pretty barren because the volcano left it that way.

Old Faithful was pretty cool.  Of course, we were sitting in the splash zone so we got the whole experience;)

These were the different mud pots we saw.  We really thought these were neat.

*** FOR MORE PICTURES FROM OUR TRIP, CHECK OUT OUR "TRAVEL" PAGE LISTED ABOVE***