where the buffalo roam

On the morning of our 3rd and final day of vacation, we packed up and left the Grant Village Lodge. We stopped at the nearby store, and the boys all got a new ripcord bracelet souvenir. Then we drove to West Thumb and walked around the looping boardwalks with people from 3 big tour buses. One of the buses had a slogan on the back that said "Please drive carefully. This bus is carrying very special people.". The boys loved that one! We all got a good laugh about it! The entire time we were at Yellowstone, we felt like we were the minority because there were so many foreigners! It was interesting to hear so many languages, and to see such a variety of people from around the world. We saw people who were Amish, Japanese, French, Indian, and more. 

I've always liked West Thumb. I like the contrast between the cool lake water and the many nearby hot pools.

Out on the boardwalk, we'll be having some fun...

Kanyon by the Fishing Cone on the edge of Yellowstone Lake.

Boys, boardwalk, and beach!

One of the clearest, deepest hot springs at West Thumb is Black Pool. The bright blue water is so breathtakingly beautiful!

After we left West Thumb, we headed north. It was such a beautiful day, and I enjoyed looking at the lake as we drove along it. It felt so peaceful and serene seeing the vastness of blue water against the clear blue sky.

After Fishing Bridge, the lake becomes Yellowstone River. We saw a bald eagle perched on a small island in the river, and traffic on the road was at a standstill because of it!

Our next stop turned out to be the favorite of our Yellowstone experience. Halfway between Fishing Bridge and Canyon Village is the Mud Volcano Trail. It encompasses the Dragon's Mouth, the Black Dragon's Caldron, and the Sizzling Basin. We had been on the shorter loop trail before, but only Josh had been on the longer loop trail that goes back to the Dragon's Caldron.

When we first arrived at the area, we saw a few buffalo near the entrance, and they were headed up the hill. We thought we'd go on the longer loop trail up the hill, too, because we were hoping to get a better view of the wildlife. I love this next photo--the buffalo is heading into the "Do Not Enter" area!

We started with the smaller loop that goes past the Dragon's Mouth (I love the hissing and splashing) and the Mud Volcano (the boys thought it looked like cement mixing).

The trail got pretty steep after that, and the steepness along with the elevation, made me feel lightheaded and short of breath. Josh stayed back and walked with me, and the boys went on ahead of us. When we got to the Caldron, we could see some buffalo near the trail up ahead, which is the area where the buffalo we'd seen along the road had been heading to. The boys stopped walking to watch the wildlife that were so close, and as I approached them, I loved the scene that I beheld in front of me so I snapped a photo. After I took this picture of them, I walked closer to them, and I could see why they had stopped: a buffalo was super close to them on the right side. The nearby park ranger in the area yelled at us right then to back up slowly, which we did, as the buffalo was heading our way, and then it walked over the boardwalk to the other side to be closer to the water and the herd. It was an awesome experience!!!

the first photo: the boys admiring the bison

the second photo: the same area as before,
but now showing the bison approaching after the boys backed up

the third photo: the same bison crossing the board walk ahead of us

When the buffalo was no longer a threat to us, the park ranger said we could come forward again. We slowly walked along, stopping in this area for quite a while observing the bison. It was fascinating to watch them in their natural habitat.

We saw them rolling over...

We watched them fighting...

The Ranger said it was mating season. We definitely saw some of that, too:

This is my FAVORITE picture from our trip to Yellowstone! Doesn't it look like the male buffalo is smiling (as he's sniffing her backside) and the female buffalo is laughing, too?! This photo makes me smile! I just love it!

We all enjoyed being near the bison immensely. I am so glad that we went on that extended hike to be so close to the bison. It was an amazing experience that uplifted all of us! Just across the street from the Mud Volcano walk is the Sulphur Caldron, which is one of the most acidic springs in the entire park--which is why it has that weird green/yellow color.

We continued north again, and were able to witness another awesome bison experience from the road. We saw a herd of buffalo swim across the Yellowstone River. It was so fun to see them gliding across the water, and then shake off their bodies to rid themselves of the excess moisture.

As we neared the Canyon Village area, we turned to go to the view point of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and once again, we got to be very up close and personal with some buffalo next to the road. 

We were all so delighted with having these fun experiences seeing the buffalo! We felt like our Yellowstone experience was complete! Our last major stop in the park was the Artist's View Point of the canyon. The yellow rock of the canyon walls is such a different color than anything else in the park, and it is so unique and gorgeous because of that.

a close-up of Lower Falls. 

It was after this that we headed east to go back towards the park entrance. We stopped at the Norris Visitor's Center just for Kanyon to receive his Junior Ranger badge that he'd been working on the whole time we were at Yellowstone.

We left the park around 2:00, and we were so happy with how the day had gone. Overall, we enjoyed our Yellowstone experience!

On the way out of the park, we stopped at a gift shop in West Yellowstone, and each one of us got to create a custom T-shirt. We picked what shirt we wanted, what logo/image we wanted on it, and what the ink colors were. We'd never done anything like that before, and we all were so happy with our T-shirts!!! Josh, Kanyon, and I picked tie-dye shirts, and the other boys got solid shirts.

Josh had to be back to Salmon by 6:00 that night for a work meeting, and we thought we could drive a different way home that would save time and miles instead of driving through the construction in Island Park, south to Rexburg, then east and north to Salmon. Josh picked a route that went east right after Henry's Lake. It was a 60-mile gravel road that ended up not being the best decision. The first half of the road wasn't maintained well, so it took forever!!! When we made it to I-15, we headed north in Montana until Dillon, then we drove on another gravel road over the Lemhi Divide to Leadore, then north for another hour to Salmon. We only saved about 15 minutes total going this way, and Josh was still late for his meeting. The boys played the license plate game while we drove (they each had a clipboard they marked off and by the end of the trip, only 6 state plates hadn't been sighted) and they watched DVD's too.

It was a great vacation, and two nights away was just the right amount of time! I'm so glad that Josh agreed to go along with my plans for a family vacation for my birthday, because I enjoyed it so much! It gave us a good ending to our summer, and an opportunity to remember doing something fun to remember the summer by!