Our First Month in Yellowstone
April 1-30, 2022
The drive to Yellowstone was very pretty. We drove past tall red rock formations, through red cliffs that towered on either side of the road, and on long roads with snowy mountains in the distance. The drive was really long, so we split it up into two days and stopped Saturday night at a campground in Utah. On the second day, Sunday, we got to the small town of West Yellowstone, just outside of the National Park. We would be staying at a campground in West Yellowstone for a couple of weeks or so until we could move into the National Park itself, to the private campground there. West Yellowstone was a cute, ski-esque town with a population of 1200. There was an assortment of lodges and hotels, restaurants, and shops.
The Montana sign
Over the next three days it was snowy and cold, so Mia and I did some schoolwork, my mom did work, and the rest of the time we just hung out. Mia and I played together and took fun pictures on our phones; we also watched TV and helped our mom cook. It was really laid-back, which was kinda nice.
Playing models with Mia (she dressed up in one of my dresses and it looked so cute on her!)
On Thursday, while my dad was at work, my mom and Mia and I went downtown just for a chance to get out of the camper (the weather had been cold and we'd even had snow the past three days, but Thursday was warm and pleasant). Mia and I got new Yellowstone National Park hoodies at a gift shop and my mom went to the visitor's center to learn about stuff to do in West Yellowstone. The town was so small we could walk to most of the attractions, so we walked more than we drove around West Yellowstone. There was a little library not far from our campground, so Mia and I checked out books and movies. It was such a blessing to be able to check out stuff from a library again, since we'd been on the road and unable to check books out at local libraries since we didn't live in that area. But since my dad was working in the park, we were able to borrow things.
The weather in Yellowstone was so different from the weather back at home. The snow felt almost dry, and so light. And thirty-five degrees here was way different from thirty-five degrees back in North Carolina; I didn't even need to put on my parka and gloves if I went outside for a few minutes. One day it was snowing and I could see my breath, but I was wearing a sweater and hoodie and not even that cold. It was so different from what I was used to; I had never experienced weather like that.
Our first West Yellowstone weekend was busy, but good. My dad was off, so we went into the National Park on Saturday. That was one of the perks of being an employee: we got to go into the park before it was open to the public. Yellowstone is one of the most amazing places I had ever been. There were snowy plains, streams and rivers, herds of bison roaming the grasslands and roads, and geysers and hot springs everywhere. We went on a scenic drive first thing, and saw bison and a coyote. We wanted to see a grizzly from the safety of our truck, but no luck. We went to Old Faithful next, but it must have just gone off before we arrived because we waited for an hour and a half for it to explode. But when it did, it was extraordinary.
Old Faithful
That afternoon, my mom took Mia and I to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, only a few minutes away. There was a special program where the kids got to hide the bears' food in their habitat (they were locked away, obviously) and then the bears were released to find the food we'd hidden. It was definitely a special experience, and the bears were fun to watch as they dug for the food. There were informational boards about each of the bears, and the biggest bear there, Sam, weighed about 1050 pounds. The cool thing about the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center was that all of the animals there were unable to survive in the wild, either because of a physical or mental disability or because they had become to familiar with humans (like many of the grizzlies) and, instead of killing them, they were brought to the discovery center. After we fed the grizzlies, we did an owl pellet dissection (Mia was pretty grossed out, but I thought it was cool to find the bones in the pellets). Mia and I both found a rodent skull in our pellets. After we dissected the pellets, one of the keepers brought in a special guest: Acadia, a northern saw-whet owl that was only about seven inches tall. She was super adorable, and had been found and rescued near Bozeman, Montana, when she got stuck in a bike rack on the back of a moving car. Acadia's eye had been permanently blinded because of the accident, so she was brought to the Discovery Center so she would have a better chance of survival. There were more animals we got to walk around and see after we met Acadia. There were wolves (Mia and I got buttons with one of the wolves on each), otters, a frog, snakes, and a salamander. It was fun observing the animals in their habitats, and I enjoyed it so much more knowing that the animals weren't there in captivity; but there for safety.
Hiding the grizzlies food
They bolted right for the rocks where we hid the food and began sniffing around
Dissecting the pellets
Acadia
The salamander is on the right wall, sitting on a rock
The otters are on either side of the picture
Fish
On Sunday we drove to Bozeman, Montana. It was really far, but the drive was pretty and got my author/poet juices working. The river that rushed over rocks by the road, enclosed by snowy banks, was a pale green color and we saw people fly fishing in there as we drove past (though I'm sure the water was freezing). In Bozeman we went grocery shopping, and got a huge haul. We had to get a lot because Bozeman was so far, and on the drive back it started snowing again. But as we would soon discover, snow wasn't scarce here.
When we got back from Bozeman, our hubcaps looked like this. Anyone else getting ice-ninja-star vibes from this?
The next week was pretty uneventful. It snowed and snowed and snowed, (my mom was like, "Will it ever stop?" She isn't a cold weather person at all). Mia and I played with one another, I did geometry, and I read a new book series called The Secrets of Wayfarers Inn. It was about a trio of retired friends who bought an old historic inn used in the Underground Railroad. They restored it into a bed and breakfast, and reading this series made me want to convert a historic building into a B&B as well! This series was heartwarming and fun to read, and was Christian too; which I always appreciate.
Our sweet neighbor, Linda, let us borrow a puzzle
Mia built a small Lego village
That weekend, we did the same thing as last weekend: went to Bozeman one day and Yellowstone National Park the other. On Saturday we made the long but lovely drive to Bozeman to do some errands. First, my dad dropped us off at the mall and went to buy some new work boots. We started out in Barnes and Noble, one of my favorite stores. My good friend and soul sister, Avery, had sent me a gift card for B&N, and I got three books: two Keeper of the Lost Cities novels (that series is really exciting and interesting) and Little Women, which had one of the most beautiful book covers I had ever seen. Mia used her money to buy a book called Wings of Fire and got a book for an early Easter gift as well. We were both so happy with our new books, and I started reading right when we got back in the truck. We walked around the mall in Bozeman, too, and it was really nice. For lunch we went to a Thai restaurant called Thai Basil. It had tasty Pad Thai and a salad bar, and was a very good lunch. Before we drove back home, my mom ran to Walmart for some produce and other small items we needed, and Mia and I sat in the car with our dad and read our new books.
Reading in the truck
The next day was Easter Sunday. We got up and went to church, which was just down the road so we walked. While we were walking I heard church bells ringing, which is one of my favorite sounds in the world. My mom said, "The bells are calling us to church." The church we went to was small, simple, and pretty and the people were super nice. It was good to be in a church again, singing songs to praise God and listening to a sermon with fellow Christians. As we walked back, it felt like something from Little House on the Prairie as we walked home from church together. My dad kept sliding on the ice and making us laugh, and I felt so light and happy inside. We spent the rest of our wonderful Easter in Yellowstone. We went to Grand Prismatic Spring and Excelsior spring, but the hot springs mixing with the cold air made too much steam so we decided to come back another day when it was warmer. However, we saw several other colorful springs and a warm waterfall leading from the hot springs to the Firehole river (named so because of the hot spring water that warmed it). Next we went to Mammoth, another section of the park, which I loved. We saw some hot springs, which ran down little "terraces" like a waterfall, and drained into a wide, natural hole in the ground (I wondered where the hole led to and how it looked under there). Then we drove up to the north entrance of the park to see the Roosevelt Arch. We also saw some elk and deer on our drive as well. To top off the day, we saw a grizzly bear as we drove home, thanks to our neighbors who were also in the park that day. My mom was so excited, she snapped tons of pictures, and I was happy to have seen it from a safe distance. That Easter was one of the best I've ever had, and definitely memorable.
The church was decorated for Easter with balloons and lilies
Walking home from church
We saw a bison calf after just a few minutes in the park, and it was so cute!
The rippled ground underneath one of the hot springs near Excelsior and Grand Prismatic
A beautiful lake we saw while driving through the park. There are so many roadside attractions, from hot springs, and lakes to animals and mountains.
The terraces right before Mammoth
Deer we saw while driving to the north entrance
Roosevelt Arch!
The grizzly bear, foraging for food on the edge of the creek
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, but my mom and Mia and I were getting used to the chill time at the camper during the weekdays and enjoying it. I taught myself how to crown braid Mia's hair, and when I braided it wet and let it dry in the braid, her hair was super wavy and so pretty. She loved it. Mia kept busy with schoolwork during the week, I read books till my heart's content, and my mom worked with the travel agency. My mom and I also planned out future activities for our time in Yellowstone and mapped out our route for after we leave the park in mid-September. That weekend, we went to Idaho Falls on Saturday and church on Sunday. Idaho Falls was a cool area, and we visited the potato museum and a candy shop in nearby Blackfoot, Idaho, before heading there to spend the rest of our day. The potato museum was cute, and I learned several facts about potatoes--who knew they were so important? I learned that Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, got the idea of how to transmit a picture from one place onto a television screen, from the plowed potato fields on his uncle's Idaho farm. I also discovered that the average American eats thirty pounds of french fries in a year. After the potato museum, we went across the street to a candy shop that was so cute and pretty. The store owner, who used to be the mayor, was really nice and could make some killer fudge.
We went to a candy store in West Yellowstone and they had so much candy: taffy, chocolate covered espresso beans, chocolate brownie balls, and tons more!
Mia doing schoolwork
Reading my new book
Researching stuff to do in Idaho Falls
Mia and my dad eating dinner one night
My mom cooking
Planning together
Mia and I playing Legos
Mia remodeled her section of our bunkroom
Mia has started writing stories on my laptop, and they are so good!
World's biggest potato crisp. This potato crisp won the Guinness World Records
While in West Yellowstone, I found out that I was eligible to get a job working in the park since my dad was working there. I was so happy when I found that out. I'd been wanting a job so that I'd have something to do this summer, and I was ready to be making my own money. I got a job in the Upper Old Faithful area in the general store; working as a retail stocker. My first day was on May 3, and I will tell you all about it in the next post!
In my new uniform! My mom made me laugh, that's why I'm smiling really big😆
That candy looked really good! I think that its incredible how you showing your journey and your experience. Love how you take the pictures and how you also involve your whole family in the adventure.
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