MomMom and Pa arrived on the 1st of September and spent a week with us here in Yellowstone! We saw a lot of amazing geology, wildlife, and landscapes. We had good family time, enjoyed special treats and we were so happy to have them!

Yellowstone is HUGE with one major “grand loop” that goes around the park. There’s only one road that cuts through the middle to make it a figure 8. It would take 5 or so hours to go around the grand loop without any “animal jams”. We did a lot of driving this week! There are 5 entrances to the park. West. North. South (to Grand Tetons). Northeast. East. We are staying outside of the West Entrance.

For our first adventure with MM & Pa we cut across that middle of the park and headed to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (By the way, I highly recommend getting the app GypsyGuide for Yellowstone/Grand Teton!). In the canyon area we did the south rim first. Uncle Toms trail and staircase were closed which was a bummer but only for a second because look at these amazing views of the Upper Falls from Sunset Point:

It was a short stroll to the Upper Falls Viewpoint:

Next we were off to the famous Artist Point! We all loved it!

There’s where the park gets its name – the yellow stone!

Just amazing!!!!!

The large amount of people around us normally would have annoyed us dampened our spirits. We wanted so badly to sit and just enjoy the scene… but other people were waiting to take turns taking pictures so we quickly learned to just accept that this national park experience was going to be different than every other we’ve had! But it was so gorgeous we really couldn’t even be frustrated. Even just a few minutes of gazing at it all felt like an undeserved gift! We are grateful that all these people are getting the chance to enjoy Gods creation. 🙂

Something else we had to get used to was foreigners taking pictures of the Rooks lol. Clearly they hadn’t seen many blonde headed cuties before so it’s okay 🙂

There are definitely more foreigners at this park than any we’ve been to. Wow what a privilege to be born in America, where so many are dreaming to come live here or visit here!

Next we were off to the North Rim.

Here’s LookOut Point:

And then B and I went down the stairs right there on Red Rock Trail. It was so beautiful and worth the 250 foot descend on stairs and trail:

Inspiration Point was also inspiring 🙂

Like I talked about in my Grand Canyon post – I encourage any visitors to Yellowstone / Grand Teton to get the True North guide! The section on the canyon was great at explaining what evolutionary scientists believe about this canyon vs. the evidence we can see with our own eyes. For example, the narrow “v”shape of this canyon (in contrast to the U shape we saw in Glacier National Park’s valleys) indicates that the canyon was carved quickly by a river not slowly by a river nor was it carved slowly by glaciation (glaciers) as secular scientists claim. Creation scientists see this canyon as more proof of a quick, catastrophic cutting that happened after the ice age which was caused by the climate change after the Flood. More and more scientists are starting to find proof of catastrophic carving and accept and pursue that belief both here and the Grand Canyon!

After Canyon Village we headed to Lamar Valley on the NE section of the park, which is one of the best places to try to spot wildlife! We made one stop to check out this view:

And kept our eyes peeled the whole ride but didn’t see any wildlife until we hit Lamar. Then our little Junior Rangers were out there looking like a Nat Geo documentary:

So many bison!

Baby and Mommy coming down the hill!

This light colored baby was our fave!

But it has to be said. He/she is probably a real handful. Look at her mom’s winter coat. That poor lady is a hot mess!

This guy was particularly grumpy and laid down in disgust the whole time we were there. He must remember the olden days before people trying to take selfies with animals who could kill them with a hard sneeze. He was intimidating and I could totally picture him flipping a cow:

After bison watching, we were off to the Roosevelt cookout! The girls were so pumped to ride in a wagon. And being children they had the pleasure of being as close to the horses hineys as park guests can get! We passed another bison on the way out to Pleasant Valley:

And we really enjoyed our steak dinner and then songs around the campfire with cowboy coffee!

Our driver and wranglers and horses were the best!

It was very peaceful to be out in the middle of a quiet valley for dinner. The weather was gorgeous all week too!

The kids did a great job introducing themselves when asked on the ride back and AB even told a joke to the wagon!

After the cookout, it was time to make the long trek home. We’re grateful it was in a van and not a stagecoach which took 5 days to get around the park! Always look at the positive.

Before we left the northeast corner we got a special gift to see these 2 beauties! One right after the other. First the coyote. Can you spot him!?

I never would have seen him if it weren’t for the people stopped in the road pointing with their cameras. Yellowstone is America’s African safari!

Bye cute little ears!

And this gentle beauty was on the other side of the road:

Well when you put in the drive time it will eventually pay off! It was a great way to start our week with MM & Pa. If you gotta be in the car – these views sure make it worthwhile.