Monday, May 23, 2011

Yellowstone: Entering the park

So, if you follow me on Twitter, you definitely are aware of the fact that I was in Yellowstone National Park all of last week and that I saw a butt-ton of bears. I wasn't going to talk about it here very much, but then I realized that while I've lived within 100 miles of the park for most of my life, many of you have never been there. So I thought I'd play tourist for you guys and share some pictures.

Now Yellowstone National Park is a cool place. It's a thermal hotspot and a dormant super volcano. I spent a lot of my K-12 education learning about Yellowstone, so I can tell you a lot about these kinds of things. There are geysers and rare wildlife and all sorts of crazy stuff. If you ever get a chance to visit, go.

But until then, here's a small taste:
This is pretty self-explanatory, you know?
Heeheehee. Don't molest the animals. Please.
Now that we've "entered" the park, it's totally time to head towards one of the most iconic landmarks: Old Faithful.

For anyone who doesn't know, Old Faithful is a geyser. Geysers are hot springs where boiling water builds up pressure beneath the ground and then shoots a column of water/steam into the air. It's pretty cool. Old Faithful is unique because unlike most geysers, it has a decently reliable eruption timetable.
Old Faithful Inn, which is super historic. They have ice cream too.
Look at that cute red door!
And the gigantic fireplace of death.
For some context, here I am standing next to the giant fireplace. 
You should also know that the inn is very wooden.
The Old Faithful Visitor Center . . . buried in snow.
I love how the inside window is completely blocked. :D 
Another context image. Me, our truck, and a bunch of snow drifts.
And finally, Old Faithful itself.
See, wasn't that interesting? Now we're going to segway slightly to Gardiner, MT. The park entrance in Gardiner was actually the first one built, so it's a nifty little town. It's also quite close to the campground I stayed in, so I went there pretty much every day.
The Roosevelt Arch just outside of the park entrance.
Historic tour buses that convert into snow coaches, which is just awesome.
And a helpful sign for lost tourists.
Well that's all the pictures for today, but you will definitely get to see some more goodies before the week ends. Including bears. And hot springs. And maybe even a creepy tree or two.

Until then, how many of you have been to Yellowstone? Did you have a good time? Or is it one of those places that you plan on visiting in the future? Tell me in the comments.

8 comments:

Brenna Braaten said...

S o h e l p f u l t o k n o w w h e r e t h e N o r t h P o l e a n d N e w Y o r k a r e w h e n i n Y e l l o w s t o n e . Because, you k n o w, those are super important   l o ca t i on s    t ha t   y o u   n e e d      to know. In case you have some time to kill and want a brief trip there. Y ou know.  

Much love on the pictures. I like the ones with you in them. 

Brenna Braaten said...

For some reason, typing that failed. I can't tell you why. 

Sarah Robertson said...

I like the sign to Walmart the best. Because, you know, that's super important. The other side pointed to San Diego and Las Vegas, so they're definitely helping with trip planning.

Glad you like the pictures with me, even though I look super miserable in both of them. :P

Sarah Robertson said...

I can see that. 

Jessie said...

Love the photos! I heart the ice cream at the Old Faithful Inn! Also, I heart Old Faithful and thermal springs and bears and bison. Also, I've totally been to Wall Drug and it's not very awesome so you're better off going to New York or the North Pole.

Jackie said...

I've been there!  A long time ago, but I have been there.  It must have been awesome because I visited when I was four and I still have vivid memories of the place.  My favorite things were seeing the bison and elk, the stinkiness of the thermal springs, watching my mom scrape off a bison poo-pie from her shoe with a stick, and those flavored, sugar syrup sticks that I later found out you can pretty much get everywhere.  I slurped up the root beer flavored ones.

We were moving from Oregon to Ohio, so we made a big vacation out of it.  I'd like to re-take the trip now as an adult to see how much a really remember.

Sarah Robertson said...

We always get ice cream at Old Faithful Inn! :) It was totally freezing when we there and all of the tourists probably thought we were crazy though, especially since we were eating it outside while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

Yeah, I've been to Wall Drug too . . . it's definitely interesting. ^_^

Sarah Robertson said...

Haha, sounds like the kinds of things a four-year-old would remember. :P

It's awesome that you guys decided to make a trip out of it while moving though. My family is a little hardcore about things like moving and likes to get them done as quick as possible. ^_^

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