Our summer vacation.

We took the trip of a lifetime to Yellowstone this August. I can tell you, every morning since I've wished I was crawling out of my tent there, and not my bed here. I fell in love with it. The boys fell in love with it. We drove in from the North east entrance, through the Bear Tooth pass, and I had no idea it would be so amazing. I simply looked at the map, and suspected it would be better than the North entrance because it seemed more off the beaten path... but wow! It was so thrilling to be on top of the world.

 Just left of the center of this mountain line you will see bear tooth mountain.

 We stopped at every little creek and stream, took deep breaths of mountain air, looked at rocks, searched for animals.

 Lots of little waterfalls on the sides of the road before we even entered the National park.

 This might have been one of the most amazing waterfalls I've ever seen. The sheer power of the water was intense, and the way it rushed through these huge mountain side rocks was beautiful.

Same waterfall's other side view.

As soon as we got into the park we had a few pronghorn in a meadow beside us.

Crossing the Hayden Valley we had a buffalo traffic jam. Very funny.

We made sure to go to Old Faithful that first afternoon. Hunter called it "old facial." Grandma watched us walk up, and we waved to her on the live webcam feed, streaming from a camera that's attached the visitor's center.

Not far from Old Faitful we stopped to see these beautiful waterfalls- called Kepler Cascades. So beautiful.

Before the sun set completely we walked around the west geyser basin and enjoyed our first look at the colorful pools. The steam was so warm as night fell that it wet our faces with warmth, and fogged our glasses.

We saw this large coyote hunting there, too.

As we were leaving the parking lot here I another visitor told us there was a large elk nearby. We walked a trail looking for him, keeping our distance, but I suspected we were pushing him away with our sounds. He confirmed his presence with a large bugle that brought chills down Theo and I's spines. Most spectacular thing I've ever heard. We left, without seeing him, but as we pulled the car out of the parking lot I asked Theo to go left for just a bit to see if we pushed him all the way out of the woods and near the road... and sure enough- there he was. As magestic an animal can be.

 

And this was just our first day... and only a few of the 300 pictures I took that day alone!