Friday 7th July

The 5am wake up hits differently, when you also need to wake and dress to small children. Daddy lifted Elliott onto the toilet still asleep and dressed Nate as he tried to escape under the covers.

Why are we getting up at 5am? Oxbow Bend a river that if conditions are perfect, will present a beautiful photo of the mountains with a clean reflection from the lake.

Sunrise was 5:49 we arrived at 5:30 – initial feedback from Mummy was it was too misty to get the amazing shot. Lots of photographers had gathered to capture the moment. Slight issue was the temperature pre-sunrise and the boys were freezing and didn’t want to get out the car!

Mummy was in her element and taking photos on her Nikon. We watched the clouds changed from dark blue to pink then white. Amazing colours and visuals in such a short amount of time.

We even got a Mummy and Daddy shot with the boys sitting in the warm car next to us!

We also tried to be clever with this one.

After warming up, we decided to drive around a bit as early morning is the best time to spot wildlife. We didn’t have to wait long to see a large group of Elk grazing at the side of the road.

We jumped into the car and saw two vehicles parked at the side of the road. One giant truck with a couple (nearly) standing on the roof looking into the bushes.

The woman turned to us and mouthed “Three Bears” OMG

We got out of the car as slowly and quietly as possible. Mummy got the Nikon out with Elliott and headed down with another keen photographer who had just arrived. Daddy grabbed Nate and threw him up onto his shoulders.

We saw two of the three bears, the truck couple came over and asked if Nate wanted to use their binoculars. Nate tried his best but couldn’t see, Daddy grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.

Nate said “The big boy let me borrow his binoculars” as more and more cars appeared (some with their engines running) the bears turned and headed in the opposite direction.

We couldn’t believe we got to witness Grizzly bears in the wild with only a handful of people. Daddy told Mummy that when she wants something or needs something, she needs to remember that we saw three grizzly bears.

We didn’t know how to top the bears so we headed to the Jackson Dam for a quick look. With nobody around it was the ideal time to explore.

By this time, we had been up for 2/3 hours and we needed breakfast! We headed to the famous Jackson Lake Lodge for some breakfast. We opted for the quicker breakfast and ordered some tasty food – the portions were generous.

Our waitress Karen from Arizona took a liking to the boys. She asked if we had seen any bears? Timely question! She asked if we had seen any Moose? Nope! Karen grabbed some colouring pencils and performed an impromptu art lesson about how to draw a moose.

Jackson Lake Lodge shops had funny hats.

Next stop was the Information Station to hand in the boys book and pledge to becoming a Junior Ranger. They got the badge in Smokey’s and wanted another one. They didn’t have to memorise the pledge like in Smokeys just had to repeat it back to the Park Ranger.

We waved goodbye to Grand Tetons and looked forward to exploring Yellowstone. The first stop was Moose Falls a waterfall that most people miss as it’s right at the beginning on the park.

As we were leaving we saw this little fella.

We bought Nate some good sunglasses.

And a crazy one!

We moved onto West Thumb which provided us with the first view and smell of the geysers.

Amazing colours and natural wonders.

We decided we shouldn’t let the weather get us down and went on a hike around Duck Lake.

Known for…leeches! The hike was interesting as we were the only ones there. The lake was eerily quiet and as Mummy said “the scene from a disaster movie”

The boys started making a raft and pulling logs and sticks together.

Too cute

The silence was broken by about 20 people from Arizona coming onto the lake. Within 10min they had found the leeches! The trick is to lift the logs and twist. Hearing the news Elliott sprinted down to see the leeches and started to hunt for more.

Elliott found two but no leech related injuries so everything is good!

We ended the day by driving another 1hr to West Yellowstone to our next hotel. We have been told by Greg on the front desk that getting into the park before 7am is ideal. He also told me that most Americans are good, and he feels proud that Europeans are coming to experience the beauty that America has to offer.

Saturday 8th July

06:30 alarm and we are off again! Today is about geysers, not geezers but it’s still funny to hear the boys say geezers.

We headed straight for Old Faithful as we had been told to get there first due to the crowds. We pulled into the car park which looked full already at 8:30. Daddy did about 17 moves that were illegal and got us parked in front of the Old Faithful Lodge. The closest space possible to see Old Faithful.

Old Faithful was on time! She erupted exactly as the board had predicted. The issue was the wind, we were sitting in the wrong place and the eruption happened and we were covered in a mist cloud. We agree to watch it again later from a different spot.

We walked over to the historic Old Faithful Inn built in 1900s for the equivalent of $4.3m

Daddy sat with Nate and talked about making money in order to travel and stay in nice hotels. Daddy asked Nate, how are you going to make lots of money? Grinding chickens.

They also had some interesting drinks on offer.

We started another short walk and got to see Old Faithful erupt again (on time) but from a much better angle. No wind and only a handful of people. The amount of tourists here is incredible compared to Jackson Hole.

Tour buses and huge groups had started to gather for Old Faithful. The boys forgot their hats so we created a make shift hat with their jumpers. Nate said his shadow looked like a doggy so he was happy.

We need to mention the smell of the geysers. Hydrogen Sulphate smells like bad eggs! Getting a cloud of that every ten feet can be intense.

We started what would end up being our longest hike 3.6 miles. We were so proud of the boys for sticking it out, we got to see so many geysers. Daddy got “uppers” for both boys as they were getting tired.

Unbelievably colours, also Blue meanest the hottest temperature.

The bug that landed on Mummy’s shoulder and engaged a sort of half breakdance half boxers duck and weave manoeuvre.

We headed for the Ranger Station to grab the boys their Junior Ranger books and listen to Bill “Bison” Ryseson give his presentation about why everyone should be scared of bison more than bears. Bill was ex military and asked a group of 5-8 year old who had been in a poison gas simulator as bear spray was worse than that.

We headed for the historic centre and saw lots of early artefacts from Yellowstone.

Elliott decided to snap his brand new sunglasses next. He was devastated, but didn’t like Mummy trying to stereo tape them onto his face. He got so frustrated that he threw them on the ground and stomped off.

We even saw some Bison on the way out!

Mummy suggested we crack out the Firehole Lake scenic drive to see the waterfall. We were glad we did that, as we saw some an amazing powerful waterfall. We saw nesting Osprey and Mummy even got a shot on her fancy Nikon camera.

We are now on the hunt in West Yellowstone for a new pair of sunglasses that don’t cost $200. Our choices are $200 fishing sunglasses or a pair of $15 gas station specials!

Nate has developed an keen interest in Bigfoot and has asked numerous questions and now wants a T-shirt.

We had dinner in Firehole BBQ very high reviews and Tripadvisor reviews. The food was delicious, pulled pork and brisket sandwiches with beans, Mac and cheese and coleslaw.

What was more horrifying interesting was the social experiment of eating dinner while other people queued around us.

We took off and headed back from those sunglasses and some supplies before heading back to the hotel. Lots of Trump 2024 hats and shirts but only one car window.

Mummy has also been added to the injury list, as the scar from her mole removed on her leg has enflamed and looks sore. We are keeping an eye on it and will see if she can see a doctor if it gets worse in the morning.

Mummy realised that we forget to do the laundry or washing, so we just exchanged $20 for enough quarters to load into a shotgun. We will be grabbing the washing a bit later…

Sunday 9th July

Sunday in Yellowstone and a Sunday of natures most amazing wonders. Mummy had done her Yellowstone research perfectly as we were completely on plan today. Unfortunately Daddy forgot the food cooler and we were down to Pringles and Ritz crackers for lunch.

First stop was the Artist Paint Pot trail, we thought getting this one done earlier was a good idea and it’s quite a walk around.

The mud ones were really funny!

We jumped in the car and headed for Norris Geyer Basin which has a ton of geysers and springs to learn about

We have developed several walking games. One is the classic name a country (i.e France) then the next person needs to say a country starting with the last letter of the first answer E (i.e England). Elliott and Mummy like playing 21 where if you say 21 you are out. Each player can say one, two or three numbers counting up to 21 but can’t say 21 otherwise you lose.

The “Vixen” geyser due to her hot head and sporadic nature!

We eat our minimal lunch in the car before setting off for Gibbon Falls. The park was busy now and getting parked was becoming harder and harder.

None of this bothered the boys who wanted to climb the rocks and take photos.

We had planned to visit Grand Prismatic later in the day due to mist. If you visit later, the sun has burnt off the mist and it’s even more spectacular. The only trade-off is the volume of people heading to probably the number 2 spot in the park.

We knew the boys only had one walk left in them so we decided to hike to the higher viewing platform to see the whole of the 50ft prismatic. Through even more luck, we pulled into the packed car park a minivan left and presented us with an enormous space right near the entrance. Thank you!

It was busy and dusty but the boys made it, we saw two couples taking a pram and newborn up the hike so it’s not that bad. Daddy asked Elliott his thoughts “I love the blue, hate the smell”

The boys did so well with even more trail walking today. Nate has twigged that if he says his legs hurt he might be able to go on Daddy’s shoulders.

We headed back for a spot of swimming and Mummy tackled more quarters and laundry. We popped into West Yellowstone for a few sweets and a Fanta slush puppy.

The man on the desk said sometimes bison jams or elk jams can close the roads for hours. No amount of honking is moving a tired bison.

As we left the park, we reflected that we have seen some many geysers and springs and interesting wonders. What has been missing is doing a bunch of animal spotting, so that’s the plan for tomorrow!

Monday 10th July

Today will be renamed as Bison Day. We saw so many bison (not buffalo they are only in Africa and Asia) in various places throughout the day.

During breakfast we noticed how few people there were. Daddy thought it was due to 4th July weekend/week being over and just the tourists remained. As Nate was making his pancakes, Daddy asked if he wanted a spoon. Upon touching Nate’s shoulder, Daddy gave Nate a static shock. From that point on Nate was convinced that Daddy has transferred electric power to him.

First stop was Hayden Valley, where on the way we saw a bison just by the side of the road. He was very close to where it was safe to pull over so we got some photos.

We saw the world record for bugs on a car bonnet.

We drove from West Yellowstone for 1.5hr and we still haven’t covered all the park. There was a healthy mix of biker, RV and cars today. We saw the Thailand branch of the Harley Davidson motorbike group.

As we walked around the trail we saw Bison number 2 just sitting next to a boiling pool or mud. He was just chilling, a metre away from a boiling mud bath, so we walked past and headed to Dragons Mouth. The top part of the mouth has dissolved in the early 1930s but it was still impressive.

Mummy got cornered by a girl from Utah who was so excited about England it didn’t seem real. As Mummy told her about our and mash, Daddy walked down the trail to see what the bison was doing. Mr Bison started walking.

He turned and faced Daddy!

Then carried on walking. People were losing their minds, a women shouted why isn’t there a Ranger present? Another guy who was leading a tour group started shouting “You never know what the park is going to give you!”

Next stop was the Brink of the Lower Falls (North Rim) a rocky climb to see the amazingly powerful river.

We tried a new game today as Daddy kept losing to Elliott at 21. It was try to name all 52 states of America, impressively Elliott hammered through 21 states before stopping. Car parks are great places to spot number plates and more states to add.

We were walking back up the trail when Nate shouted then screamed. All Daddy heard was a dull tap. We looked around and saw a bug the size of Nate’s forearm flicked onto the floor. Daddy chased it for photographic proof. Nate has already said he wants to show all his friends this bug.

We were blown away by the power and speed of the river. This rapids are real. No Center Parcs rapids here, if you fall into it’s close your eyes and pray time.

We saw some of the most spectacular scenery today. Inspiration Point was one of the highlights, it’s just mind boggling the size and scale of this park.

The weather here is lovely and cool, we talked about when we did the Tallulah Gorge hike and how hot the weather and air was. Today has been sunny, but the wind is cool it feels like England on a summers day. Rather than the level on Mario 3 where the sun is trying to kill you.

We checked into our new hotel in Canyon Lodge, the boys completed their Junior Ranger books while Daddy unpacked. Daddy went to the car and immediately stopped as there was a bison in the car park! This one was in the grass verge between hotel and car park. Daddy asked Mummy if this was an elaborate marketing trick to increase reviews and prices.

We eat dinner in the Canyon Lodge restaurant and spoke with April (waitress) who was about to head to Scotland for a few weeks.

As we grabbed our ice cream, guess what? Yep another bison. This one was roaming the car park adding grass then knocking into a few trees. Elliott asked if it were a real bison or person in a bison costume!

We have a 5am alarm set for tomorrow, also this blog might come late as there is no Wi-Fi in the park and we need to wait for that sweet, sweet Wi-Fi juice to get all these lovely photos uploaded.

Tuesday 11th July

5am alarm, the second one of the trip. Nothing is easy at 5am, kids don’t want to wake up, body doesn’t function, lack of coffee. Nate decided he didn’t want to get dressed, so Daddy had to hold him down and dress him while he kicked and screamed. At 5:15am, lovely.

Why are we up at 5am? Wildlife. The animals are more active in the early morning.

We drove to Lamar Valley arriving just before 7:30am we caught our first “bison jam”

After the jam had cleared we saw a large group of cars with lots of people looking and pointing in one direction. After some chat with the group it was determined there were wolves out hunting bison. Mummy sprinted into a good spot between the “scopers” people who have paid anywhere from $400 to $1500 on a super fancy scope to see the wildlife.

Elliott jumped out of the car and tried to use his $5 binoculars to see. Mummy met a couple who are on a two week tour of Yellowstone. They kindly offered Elliott use of their binoculars and gifted him an older pair!

Nate on the other hand, refused to leave the car and Daddy had to bribe him with sweets.

With Daddy’s ankle repaired we took on a steep trail to Trout Lake. The guide says Easy and the views are incredible. We passed a family from Arizona on the way up that had left their hotel at 3am!

The first half of the lake is the fishing area, but when we arrived there was little to no movement on the water.

The second half of the lake is where fishing is banned (almost all the fish were hiding there).

But also had lots of wildlife, these squirrels kept us amused.

The boys were about done with walks so we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs for a last look around. Nate was let’s just say challenging. We agreed it was time to head to Gardiner and find our hotel.

Bee that landed on Mummy

We grabbed a bite to eat in THE CORRAL the boys played on the climbing equipment. Mummy tried an Elk burger.

We popped into a few gift shops that ranged from the generic to the bizarre. Your standard Yellowstone T-shirts or

We arrived at the hotel, first impressions were it’s like the scene in Ace Ventura 2 where he screams about a wall of death.

Aside from the wall of death, the hotel is nice, Pop on front desk showed us around. They have Pac-Man and an original The Simpsons arcade machine from the early 1990s

Tomorrow we head away from Yellowstone and make our way up Montana towards Bozeman. We pass some really cool places that we are sure to make memories in!