Yellowstone National Park: Part 2

We packed up our things from our shared rental with my family and hit the road north to see all the things in Yellowstone National Park! We started the day with a drive up to Old Faithful where we waited to view the geyser in all her glory. Then we walked around the area viewing the other geysers.

Then we were back on the road to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. I feel like I had a major travel fail here as I did not realize there was an overlook for this spring where you could have gotten a bird’s eye view of it and all its colors. Oh well, next time!

Next stop was the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, a small boardwalk trail to see more geysers, some that spew mud and make the most interesting sound!

This is where we said our goodbyes to my family as they headed back down to Jackson Hole (and eventually back home to Texas). And we continued through the park and into the town of West Yellowstone where we stayed for the night. Of course, we used our free hotel night at the Holiday Inn Express (thank you IHG cobranded credit card)! We had the best BBQ we had had in a long time at Firehole Bar-B-Que and we took our stuffed bellies for a walk down the main drag for some window shopping and ice cream…because there is always room for ice cream!

The next morning, we visited the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. We tried to engage our then four-year old daughter, but she wasn’t really having any of it. Then we made a quick sashay west on the Targhee Pass highway to cross the Idaho/Montana state line so I could check Idaho off my bucket list. I know, I know, I do count airport stops and quick state line crossings like this as an official “been there” on my bucket list. And the only reason why I do is I’m never sure if I will ever make it back.

After that we made our way back to Bozeman, but not without making a few stops due to bison in the road! We checked into our hotel (another free night thanks to the co-branded Marriott card) and ordered pizza for dinner. Jack joined us one last time, we said our goodbyes early as we had to be at the airport at 4:30am for our flight home.