Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park

Day 23: Sunday, July 21, 2019

We got up and organized to leave by doing our pull-down chores inside and outside the RV. The kids got up, dressed, and headed over to wake up the Vandy boys. They were hard to get out of bed, but they finally did and we all went to the park and had donuts and juice under the pavilion while pack up was still happening at the cabin.

We reluctantly said our goodbyes and got on the road, only to stop at the same gas station 10 miles down the road, haha! We made our way through the great state of Montana and the scenery was beautiful all along the route. We made a few stops along the way for gas and rest rooms, the most exciting stop being at the Clearwater rest area where we found two Montana kindness rocks!! It was such a lovely surprise and so timely that Tanya had just been telling us about the Casper Rocks project that they do in their town. Kinsey was ecstatic to find the first one and then Barrett spotted another. We took photos and then grabbed them with plans to hide at Yellowstone when we get there. What a fun way to bring happiness and smiles to others!

We stopped in Butte, Montana for a Walmart grocery stop and for lunch at Arby’s. These kids don’t get a lot of American fast food in Mexico, but see the commercials and Barrett was ready for the “meats” as they say on the Arby’s commercial!

We arrived at the Wagon Wheel RV Park around 5:30 pm and got the RV set up and laundry started. We got ourselves situated for the next morning and then decided to take a quick walk through the downtown area. We checked out a few shops and then headed back to the RV. We were not hungry for a big dinner so we ate a few leftovers and then called it a night.

Day 24: Monday, July 22, 2019

I was up early to get a run in around West Yellowstone before heading into the park. It was a cool, but refreshing morning and it was nice to explore the cute, little town by foot.

We got into Yellowstone National Park and made the 30 minute drive straight to the Canyon Village Visitor Center for junior ranger books and to look at the trail maps. We decided to go out to Artist Point to see the lower falls, take a hike on the Robbin Lake trail, eat lunch, and hear a ranger talk about the reason Yellowstone got its name. Kinsey hid one of her kindness rocks at the Robbin Lake trailhead sign and it was gone when we came back—four days later and we saw that someone found it and posted to Montana Rocks—yay!!!

The ranger talk was very interesting. We learned that Yellowstone was first named The National Park as it was the first park to be created by Congress. When they realized there were likely to be other national parks, they renamed it Yellowstone to follow the Native American and French descriptions of the river.

Next, we headed down the road to the Norris Geysers. There was quite a bit of traffic to get in, but we made it to explore the exhibits and then walked the boardwalk loop to see the geysers and hot springs. There were some really neat looking geysers and springs!

Along our travels through the park we saw some elk and two bison—just a start to our wildlife sightings in Yellowstone!

In the late afternoon we left the park and got back to the RV to cook and relax for the evening. We made some delicious chicken, tomato, pesto kabobs along with rice and then had strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum!

Day 25: Tuesday, July 23, 2019

We planned to beat the crowds to Old Faithful so we were up and out of the RV by 5:30 am! Although I do not mind early mornings, the kids have been sleepyheads this trip so even a 7 am wakeup is rough for them. They were pretty excited to see Old Faithful, though, so we were quickly in the car and driving into the park. The early morning promised some great wildlife sightings and we were not disappointed! Sean swears he saw a bear run from the side of the road into the trees, but none of the rest of us saw it. We did stop to see an amazing looking bull elk cruising across a field with the beautiful morning sky behind him.

We arrived at Old Faithful around 6:40 and the estimated time for the next eruption was 7:07 am +/- 10 minutes. We got a prime spot and bundled up in the cool, foggy morning air and waited for the main event. It started erupting at 6:57 and went to about 7:03 and it was a sight to behold!!

We walked part of the boardwalk to view the other geysers in the area, checked out the Old Faithful Inn (which the Grand Californian hotel at Disneyland is modeled after—pretty accurate!), and then headed to the visitor center by the time it opened at 8 am. The kids were ready to turn in their junior ranger books and receive their badges and because they were the first kiddos of the day, they got some extra goodies (stickers and swag).

It was almost 8:30 am at that point so were able to see another eruption of Old Faithful. It was more crowded and with the sun up, the fog lifted, and viewing it from a different angle, we got a totally different view of the eruption this time. Very cool!

We browsed around the camp store for some local beer and huckleberry wine and a few souvenirs. It was only 9 am at that point so we made a game-day decision to head into Grand Teton National Park to be sure to not miss it since we were so close. It was about an hour drive into the park and there was a bit of annoying construction on the main road between the two parks, but we got to the first small visitor center and got the kids’ junior ranger books and a recommendation for a great hike.

From there we drove further south into the park running along Jenny Lake and getting closer to the view of the Teton peaks. We stopped at a picnic area for lunch, and like in recent days, we were next to a creek so we waded in and skipped rocks for a few minutes before moving on.

It was really heating up by mid-day (thankfully, after many days where I have been cold in the other parks) and we made our way to the Taggart Lake trailhead, applied sunscreen, and prepared ourselves for a great hike. It was a pretty sunny trail in some spots and shady in others, but not too touch and about 1.6 miles out to a beautiful, clear lake with direct views of the Teton peaks. Although we did not plan on it, we all ended up in the water to some degree. A ranger later told us we chose the coldest of all the lakes in the park, but it was refreshing and a nice break from the heat before hiking back.  

We made our way back to the Colten Bay Visitor Center to see a ranger talk and to have the kids receive their ranger badges. Then we headed out of Grand Teton and back into Yellowstone for the 2+ hour drive back to the RV.

Though it had already been a long day, we took a quick pit stop at the sign for the Continental Divide and then Sean wanted to stop at the Grand Prismatic Geyser for a quick look. It was very windy when we got there, making the steam whip in our faces. We made our way quickly down the boardwalk and when we got to the main sight we realized that we were level with it and couldn’t really see the geyser in all it’s splendor. We saw that there was another raised trail we could have taken, but at that point we were over it so we snapped a few pictures and took off.

We got back to the RV park around 7:30 pm, made a quick dinner, did showers, and the kids and I played Skip Bo before calling it a night.

Grand Teton National Park Highlights
BDG-getting in Taggart Lake
KPG-swimming in Taggart Lake
EAG-making the hike out to Taggart Lake and seeing the views of the Tetons
SGG-seeing the grand Teton mountains up close

Day 26: Wednesday, July 24, 2019

I got up early again for a run before heading out on our day’s adventures. Barrett had been asking to go on a run with me, so I did 4 solo miles then grabbed the tired, grumpy boy and took him out for our short run together. We ran a few blocks back into town and posed for pictures with bison, bears, and cowboys. It was fun and he ended in a better mood than he started with—I love how a run can do that for us!!

We set out to get into the park and up to Mammoth Springs to meet our friends. On our way there, we made a quick stop at Gibbon Falls, which was pretty and we thought it looked like a natural waterslide (a very cold one!).

We got to Mammoth Springs area with some time to spare so we grabbed some drinks and a few souvenirs in the gift shop then headed to the Albright Visitor Center. We explored the exhibits and then listened to a ranger talk on wildlife safety. The message to stay far enough away from the wildlife in Yellowstone was a recurring theme throughout our visit, especially since a bison charged a group of people (who were too close to it) and threw a young girl in the air. Yikes!

Around 10 am, we met up with our old neighbors from Virginia, the Petersons. It was so awesome to hug them and see how much the kids have grown in the last 4 years. We were so happy that it worked out that our trips to Yellowstone could line up for this one day. We first explored the Mammoth Springs, walking along the boardwalk path and catching up. It was so great to see the kids fall into pairs/threes as if they’ve never missed a beat. They were all so little the last time we were together!

By the time we finished it was time for lunch, so we drove out of that area to a picnic area on the way out to Lamar Valley. We found a great shady spot to eat and the kids had a chance to play in the river trying to catch fish and getting soaked.

Next we got onto the road to Lamar Valley with high hopes for seeing wildlife and it did not disappoint. We saw an antelope (pronghorn) along the route, but went by too fast to take a picture. We got to an area that was completely full of bison in the meadow, probably 100+ of them! We stopped to take in the view and snap some pictures. It was great!

We kept going down the road and kept seeing more bison, some solo guys just chilling here or there, and other bigger packs. Then we came upon a buffalo jam with two guys blocking traffic in the road. We were probably 10 cars are so back and this one buffalo cruised right past our car, it was so awesome and really made our day!! We also saw a few antelope, which was nice as well!

We were very satisfied with our Lamar Valley bison viewing experience so then decided to turn around to make the trek back out of the park. It took about 2 solid hours from that point, but we got to see some new areas of the park and felt like we had really covered the majority of Yellowstone over our three days. We got back into town and stopped for dinner at the Canyon Grill in West Yellowstone. It was a cute, old school diner and I had a buffalo burger—honestly it tasted about the same as a beef burger💁—but it was worth a try! I paired it with Big Sky Moose Drool beer for a real Montana meal! No meal with friends is complete without ice cream so we walked to an ice cream shop (which there are many along this one street) and made sure the kids were adequately sugared up! With full bellies and hearts, we said goodbye to the Petersons and promised to think about when/where we can next get together, whether in Mexico or in the US. It is so awesome to have these special friendships that continue over the years and miles and I feel so blessed that we had this day together!!

We had met our RV neighbors in the morning and knew they had two girls about the age of our kids, and that they were bilingual, so we made sure they got together to play. From 7 pm to almost midnight the kids played while the parents had cocktails and chatted. It’s fun to meet people from different places and make these connections—definitely one of the great parts of RV travel! Needless to say, none of us were looking forward to the early morning ahead!

Tomorrow the adventure continues!

Yellowstone National Parks Highlights
BDG-seeing friends and going to see the bison
KPG-seeing Old Faithful erupt
EAG-meeting up with the Petersons and seeing the buffalo jam!
SGG-seeing the bison in Lamar Valley