yellowstone ho!

Last weekend we went to the world-famous, Yellowstone park.  We live about an hour and a half away from it, and it happened to be a perfect weekend to go.  It was the last weekend the park was open to car traffic, the place literally was a ghost town.  Ashley had heard that Yellowstone is like "Los Angeles" in the summer.  I'm assuming that's traffic-wise, but hey, it could be crawling with celebrities and fancy cars, great restaurants, beach access and what not.  Somehow, I doubt it.  The weather was beautiful, crystal clear day and brisk, but warm enough that we just needed a light coat.

We went with one of my very best friends, Bond, and his family.  They had a timeshare in West Yellowstone so we got to stay the night and live the high life for a day or so.  Ashley commented (and I agree), that seeing the park by car allows you to hit all the big spots, but also you don't get the real experience as you might if you were hiking and camping.  Next summer!  There's so much to see yet and we just saw a fraction of it.  Here are some of the highlights.

This was george doing his best Kevin Costner impression.  We saw buffalo multiple times.  They were all over the place. 

George was not scared... this was his reaction when I told him that we would not be taking one home with us.

Hot steam pours out of the ground everywhere in Yellowstone.  Half of the world's geothermal features are located in Yellowstone.

Family shot.  It's really a shame that this place hasn't been turned into a resort.  A Starbucks and Burger King would be so convenient.  We were quite peckish after a day of exploring.

When I told George about my plans for developing Yellowstone Park George exclaimed "I can just see a Best Buy right over these unsightly pools of water"

Old Faithful erupts approximately every 90 minutes.  We got there just as it was erupting. I was hoping for a little bit more downtime before the show. It was like skipping to the end of the Harry Potter series and finding out... whatever happens at the end of the Harry Potter series.

George was impressed with Old Faithful.

Not quite sure what this was. I think it was a coyote.  It would've been a lot cooler if it was a wolf.  Will someone out there tell me it was a baby wolf?!

I wanted to see a moose or grizzly really bad.  No luck... I kept a sharp eye out for any wildlife.

Me and Bond.  Want to see something magic - flashback twelve years!

Award winning photography from yours truly.  The rivers are just kind of different here.  Wide and shallow looking. In Colorado they always seemed, narrow and deep.  I don't know if that's reality - just my perceived reality.

Saw this happy family of elk on the way out.  Ashley took this picture before we had read the warning messages about elk.

A shot of the parking lot.  It really was a ghost town.  Highly recommend this time of year when you have kids running around acting wild.  They had a nice 1ft pool that George loved.  We can't wait to go back.  We think next time we'll maybe do some camping, biking - make it a real adventure.