Exploration! Destination: Yellowstone National Park

We're still on the road!

I am going to do you a grave injustice right now: I am going to attempt to sum up the entirety of Yellowstone National Park in a blog post. I know this will be a grave injustice not because I've been helping myself to some delicious Big Sky beer while I type this, but also because Yellowstone National Park is something you should definitely go and see for yourself. It is AMAZE-BALLS.

Jack and I essentially did a quick and dirty one-day round trip grand circle tour through Yellowstone--it was roughly 160 miles and it took us about 10 hours with stops for lunch, assorted dawdling, and picture taking. We hit all the spots that one would consider a "hallmark" of the park: The Grand Prismatic Spring, the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone, and (of course) Old Faithful. While they were definitely worth the stops, it was also a pain the major ass to deal with parking and the tour buses (oh god, the tour buses!). In the end, it was the smaller, more quiet spots that I enjoyed the most.

I call this one: Pensive on Yellowstone Lake

While we were driving through the park, I started keeping a little log book of all the things we saw and what we did. It turned out to be pretty handy because it did become a bit overwhelming, given all the things that you can see. Halfway through the park, Jack and I switched driving, so then he was in charge of the log book. I will share an excerpt below and see if you can tell who is writing what:

• Minerva and Jupiter Springs: Mineral rich waters from the springs hardens the trees, which makes them technically dead.

• Swan Lake: The more "traditional" shots of Yellowstone: Meadows and mountains in the distance.

• 1706: Joanne "toots" in the car. Twice.

• 1830: Petrified tree; Joanne's bad parking not noted.

• 4Jul2012: Mud volcano. Buffalo next to boardwalk. DRAGON!