Kay. This is a post about the place that changed my life.
{Old Faithful}
No exaggeration. Guys. Yellowstone National Park is the most incredible place I have ever been to in my life. Half the time I felt like I was on another planet. I'd stand there, with my jaw on the ground, staring at a geyser or a hot spring or just a beautiful landscape and would think to myself, "How is this real?" Every time. My. mind. was. blown. by this trip.
After staying in Teton Village for a week, our family reunion migrated to Yellowstone for the remaining four days of the trip. Really all we did each day was wake up, and then spend the entire day walking around, driving to amazing places, browsing visitor's centers, listening to presentations, and just soaking up the completely fascinating place that Yellowstone is. I was in heaven, people. Like, could not wipe the smile off my face for the entire time we were there. Yellowstone happiness surpasses any level of happiness I have experienced as of yet. As in, my happiness is now measured on a scale from 0 to Yellowstone happiness.
{Yellowstone happiness}
First, the thermal pools. Holy gorgeous. Some people we talked to said once you'd seen one you'd seen them all. I cannot even begin to agree with that. I had mini heart attacks with each new pool we visited. The fact that these pools form the way they do, with the incredible colors of microbacteria and chemical reactions, is absolutely unbelievable and so fascinating to me.
Next, the geysers. People - SUPERHEATED WATER SHOOTING OUT OF THE GROUND. Hello?! We live on the coolest planet ever. I love geysers! It was so amazing to think that thousands of feet below my boots, water was trickling down, being heated indirectly by a flippin magma chamber, trapped by limited convection and then shot out of the ground when the pressure was released. AWESOME in every sense of the word.
Shout out to West Thumb. This is a must-see if you ever go to Yellowstone. It was stunning,
especially in the twilight hours. Definitely one of my favorite places in the park.
Next, the family-ness. The only thing better than experiencing something so beautiful and
inspiring is experiencing it with people you love. It was so much fun to be with family in this amazing place.
{I feel like I should have a post dedicated to Shadowfax. He really is a key member of the family.}
They had these hilarious signs everywhere, warning people to stay on the path in order to avoid breaking through the crust and falling into a geyser chamber or pool. We got such a kick out of the illustrations. Which, in this family, usually results in mockery of some form. We mostly loved the expression on both the boy and the girl's face, the girl's pose, and the man walking away from his kids as if nothing is going on.
Other things: Old Faithful Inn is incredible! I've made it a bucket list item to stay there
one day, but apparently the place is already booked for the next two years. It's that awesome.
The famed Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. So huge and so breathtaking.
The geology of this place blows my mind. Also, I kinda freaked out when I saw columnar joints while I was driving, and made my dad take a picture of them for me. This right here used to be a lava flow. SO stinking COOL.
The sunsets. With such a big, wide open sky, nothing ever stood in the way of the gorgeous golden sunsets we got to see each night.
The bison! Um. They are massive. Even while driving Shadowfax, who resembles a tank, I was legitimately afraid that one of the bulls would tip us over. Those animals are just so dang huge. Also, Merritt and I were ecstatic to discover that they sound exactly like Apa the flying bison from one of our favorite TV shows. Also, on the subject of animals, we saw wolves and bears as well! I'd never seen a wolf in real life so that was exciting. They are beautiful.
And then the last adventure, and one of the highlights of Yellowstone: our hike. See, most people are fine with just driving around the park and seeing what they can see from their car. A legitimate method, no doubt! However, turns out you can only see 2% of the park that way. And we weren't quite satisfied with that. So on our last morning, we went hiking. Off the beaten path. It. was. paradise.
The sun began to rise as we started out, and it bathed everything around us in this golden-pink light. It was almost ethereal. Really. The lighting was absolutely beautiful and the scenery equally gorgeous. This was definitely one of those moments where I had to just stop and ask myself if this was actually real! It really didn't seem to be.
At one point we ran into some grazing bison and their flat little bison pies. I thought it would be fun to pick one up, just to look at it and see what it was like, ya know? Turns out most of them are light as feathers! We had a fun time throwing them like frisbees, which made for some great video footage.
This actually touched my lower teeth. But it's okay. It's just grass. [:
And that is how I met Yellowstone National Park. And fell in love with this planet all over again.
If you asked me about my favorite place in the world, it'd be this place. I will be back here soon.
{18 parks down, 40 to go till I reach my lifelong goal of visiting every national park in America! [: }
