Are You Yellow?

Over the Labor Day weekend I took the kids to visit my Grandmother in Rexburg, Idaho. We usually head up Friday night, find activities for the kids on Saturday and have a big barbecue (in the garage, due to rain) on Sunday afternoon. I thought about the fact that my kids had been so close to Yellowstone National Park so many times but had never been. So I decided to spend the day in the park on Saturday.

We drove up through Island Park and entered Yellowstone through the West gate. Since I was driving I put Whitney in charge of taking pictures. That decision yielded interesting results. As we approached the area of natural activity, the kids noted the steam rising from the geysers and thought the park was on fire. "Not this year." I replied.

My number one priority was seeing Old Faithful. Since it was a holiday weekend, there were plenty of other people who had the same idea. We timed it just right and got there 20 minutes before an eruption.





This was the best picture Whitney got of Old Faithful...

After Old Faithful I made for Mud Volcano. I had never heard of it before, and wanted to know what a 'mud volcano' was. I had my own ideas of what that means. The kids spent the whole time there walking around plugging their noses because of the 'rotten egg fart' smell.










After the Mud Volcano it was getting late, so I turned South again and made for Grandma's. Since the pass I bought for Yellowstone was good for Grand Teton National Park, I decided to drive through.







After passing the Grand Tetons we found ourselves in Jackson, Wyoming before cutting across back into Idaho. I found myself passing through tiny little towns like Victor and Driggs before returning to Rexburg. It was a lot of driving for one day. We left the hotel in Idaho Falls a little after 7AM and didn't get to Grandma's until almost 8PM. But I am really glad I took the kids. It was something I wanted them to see. I think next year I will leave a day early, and drive to Rapid City to see Mt. Rushmore, then up to Devil's Tower, Wyoming before heading back to Grandma's. Okay, maybe I'm not quite that ambitious.

Oh, and just so you know, we didn't have our barbecue in the garage due to rain this year. We had it in the garage due to high winds.