Yellowstone Highlights

Breakfast at Persephone Bakery, recommended by a good friend who lives in Jackson Hole. Delicious! Large coffees after our flight from Dallas to JH got delayed the night before… it was a long (or short…) night!

The drive from JH to Yellowstone takes you right through the beautiful scenery of Grand Teton National Park. Unfortunately, no awesome pictures of that because the views were clouded by smoke from wildfires in neighboring states.

We set up camp in Yellowstone as the temperature dropped. We also had a hard time convincing Kirby to keep her hat on!

We woke up to a COLD morning—21 degrees when we got out of the tent. Yikes! Fortunately that was the coldest day and it warmed up from there!

Overlook view of the Canyon from Artist Point

One of the views from the South Rim Trail, which we hiked with the stroller that afternoon. Not the best decision—the Ergo Baby would have been a much better choice for this trail. But when we started at the Uncle Tom’s Point parking lot, the trail was paved and flat, so we thought… “Easy! Let’s use the stroller.” Even with the bumps and terrain changes (and us picking up the stroller multiples times), Kirby took a great nap on this hike!

Chillin’ at the campsite after a day of exploring

Well you can’t go to Yellowstone and miss Old Faithful. It’s a bit of tourist area, really, but why wouldn’t it be? This geyser is very predictable, and we enjoyed catching several eruptions.

Kirby’s reaction to Old Faithful. Not impressed. OK, she’s not really old enough to be impressed yet!

We got lucky with our timing and caught some of the other major geysers—this one is Castle, named for the cone that has been built up around it. It was LOUD! Also, the awesome sidewalk/boardwalk system throughout the geyser basin allowed us to use our stroller with virtually no issues at all!

Lots of other geysers to watch and appreciate! This one is called Spasmodic Geyser.

Also, there are just tons of random thermal pools around, like this beauty.

We got up super early (Kirby helped with that) to head to the Lamar Valley in hopes of seeing morning movement among the wildlife. We didn’t see a lot of diversity, but we saw a lots of herds of wild bison, as well as some beautiful scenery.

This is what a traffic jam looks like in Yellowstone. These guys own the road. I mean, are you going to play chicken with a 1500 pound buffalo? I don’t think so.

View over Mammoth Terraces and the valley beyond

Mammoth Terraces are certainly one of the more unique thermal features in the park, as the hot springs here continue to shape the mountainside landscape.

We stopped in the morning at Grand Prismatic Spring, one of the largest and most colorful thermal features in the park. Here is the BEST view: take the Fairy Falls hike for about a mile, take a left up the hill, and voila! You have this beautiful vantage point overlooking the spring.

The Ergo Baby was definitely a great choice for this hike. The hill was steep! We were glad to have our trekking poles for extra balance as well.

We had a little bit of extra time so we headed back to the Canyon for a side trip we had missed on Sunday—a walk down to Uncle Tom’s Point. This “trail” takes you down into the Canyon via 327 metal stairs. It was a breathtaking, up-close view of the falls!

View down the Canyon from Uncle Tom’s Point.

Spent the evening in JH having a delicious dinner of bison burgers (which felt just a little wrong after watching bison all week… but they were very tasty!)

In true #garthsontour fashion, we got some delicious ice cream to enjoy in the JH town square. Yay for homemade treats like this!

View from our early morning departure. So thankful for the week we had to get away and disconnect from normal life. Travel is good for the soul!