Yellowstone - Day 1

we stayed in Missoula, Montana that night and went to see some land that was passed down to my dad. it was a beautiful area with farmland right by the giant mountains. it seemed like it'd be a nice, simple, pleasant life living out there. we continued driving the next day and drove into Wyoming and made our way to Yellowstone National Park. it was a very pleasant drive with beautiful views. 

once we got into Yellowstone National Park we immediately spotted some elk. they were near the lodge and they didn't seem to be fazed by the people. there were some girls trying to get close for some pics and the ranger yelled at them through a megaphone. I have heard of lots of animal attacks happening at Yellowstone when people try to get close to get selfies with the animals. the bison especially are dangerous and they will gore you if you get too close. I think they forget the harm that these wild animals can cause. 

Yellowstone National Park is so huge with many incredible things to see that we knew we weren't going to experience all of it in our two days there. we just wanted to see as much as we could though and get a good general feel for the park. we came in on the north side of the park and our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs. 

Jason appropriately sporting his Yellowstone t-shirt :). he is not one for buying or wearing new souvenir shirts but if it is vintage he is all for it. especially if it is awesome like the one he found.

it was unlike anything we had ever seen before and it was like we walked onto another planet.

mmm.. eggs :) 

 abstract-

 liquid gold.

 we continued driving through the park. 

 it was cloudy, rainy and really cold for the rest of the day. every time we got out of the car we tried to make it quick because we were wet and cold. 

this is the brink of Upper Falls which we only saw from above.

 this is the Lower falls in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. 

 we walked down some wooden platform stairs to get a little closer to the falls.

there were a bunch of people stopped on the side of the road so we stopped too. this elk was wading across the river which was really cool to see. 

sulphur pots which were really stinky. 

Dragon's Mouth Springs really looked and sounded like a dragon lived in the cave. Jason made a little video for my nephew who is obsessed with dragons and it was pretty funny.

we had originally planned on camping in the park and were excited for it, but it was rainy and cold (about 38°) and we didn't have warm enough sleeping bags for that weather. also, we had tried to get a camping spot that morning and they all filled up before we got there. we might have done some back woods camping for the first time if it weren't raining. I would have loved to see some wildlife while camping there.

we didn't know where we were going to stay that night and we were tired and frustrated. we were headed out of the park towards Jackson Hole and the cheapest hotel we could find there was $300. that was out of the question so we drove two hours to a nice hotel in Idaho we got for a good deal. well, Jason drove while I slept because it was past midnight at that point. it was quite a disappointment that we couldn't camp in Yellowstone but we would have been miserable in the rain. we were going back into Yellowstone the next morning so it was very inconvenient being so far away, but at least we didn't have to overpay for a hotel. up until that point we had had great luck with camping and finding hotels but since Yellowstone is such a huge tourist destination it makes things more difficult. and when you drive as far as we had on the trip two hours doesn't long at all :). despite our difficulties that night we still really enjoyed our first day in Yellowstone.