by laura beth

So... Yellowstone. Yellowstone is amazing. All kinds of beautiful. All kinds of wildlife. All kinds of unique geological areas.

When we were near Custer State Park in South Dakota we weren't sure if we should go there or not. Bison are abundant at Custer and we wanted to see that, but ultimately we decided to pass and hopefully see bison in Yellowstone. That decision worked out well as we saw lots of bison pretty early on. So many that it us quite a while to get to our first stop in the park because traffic had stopped due to so many bison on the road. We almost got sick of seeing bison.

We stopped at the hot springs and marveled out all the various colors they produced (The textures and colors are really, really incredible-Laura). We went both high and low all through Yellowstone. The lake was beautiful. The landscape was gorgeous. The waterfalls were abundant. All that you would expect. It was crowded with traffic in parts, but we didn't mind as it was nice to take it in slowly. Whenever there was a lot of traffic you knew there was some sort of wildlife up ahead. Elk, bison, bear, moose, coyote (which some people thought were wolves), bighorn sheep , etc.

On our third and last day in the park we headed to Old Faithful. I love old faithful. It brings back memories of that trip when Laura, my cousin James, and I went on a crazy spring break trip in 2000 that involved two breakdowns and two weeks stuck in Fort Benton, Montana. It culminated with a photo of the three of us and our cardboard cut out of Princess Leia in the snow with Old Faithful going off in the background. This time the weather was great and we grilled bratwurst while we waited. Perfect.
After leaving Yellowstone we headed to Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are spectacular, but I was a little disappointed as I didn't know you don't drive through any part of them. The road and the mountain is separated by a river and you see them from a distance. There are trails for hiking and horseback though. Personally, I favor the Big Horn Mountains.

We made it into Idaho and ate at this restaurant/gas station where all the seats are made to look like little covered wagons. We finished the night by taking the motorhome to a drive-in movie theater. So great! The only condition was that we park in the back. We had snacks and beer and watched Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince followed up by My Sister's Keeper. I hope to do this many more times.