The Best Stops in Yellowstone National Park

My husband, youngest son, and I went on a two-week out west road trip this past summer! It was absolutely amazing! We saw and experienced places and activities that we had never imagined being able to experience.

My husband was looking most forward to visiting Yellowstone National Park! Last year my youngest son asked to visit national parks, so we decided to make an amazing road trip out of it! Yellowstone was one of our first national park stops!

Here are some of the best places to stop and enjoy inside Yellowstone National Park!!

Old Faithful

Old Faithful is the first thing most people think of when they think about Yellowstone National Park. It is definitely one of those things everyone needs to see at least once in their lives!

We had the opportunity to see it twice on this trip! We found out that the second time was an especially high spout of water! It was neat that we got to experience both a small and a large burst!

I can’t forget my favorite photographer! My younger son enjoys taking pictures for me and he is VERY good! I’m glad that he enjoys photography! I definitely put his skills to the test this trip!

Here’s a video clip of what we got to experience that day!

Grand Prism Spring

I had been to Yellowstone once several years ago when my best friend lived and worked in Yellowstone. However, I did not get to see the Grand Prism Spring so it was on the top of my list to see this trip!

It was absolutely beautiful!

I had never seen anything like this before and I thought it was absolutely amazing!

Here is one of the information signs about Grand Prism Spring!

Learning about thermal ground

With all the springs and geysers, there were many signs about the thermal ground. I had never heard of such a concept, but it was very important to learn about this in this area! Basically, the ground is not very sturdy due to all of the pressure under the soil.

There are walking paths throughout all of the areas around the springs and some of the geysers because the ground is not very stable. All of the signs reminded tourists to stay on the bridge paths and stay off the ground!

The paths led you to all of the sites. You were able to experience all of the sites in a safe manner. I can’t imagine walking in these beautiful areas and falling through the ground!

I love being able to discover so many new facts and so much information when we travel! This is in addition to all of the beautiful nature we were able to experience!

Trails

There are trails and paths all throughout Yellowstone!

One trail that we walked led us to this natural bridge! This was the first activity my son asked for the entire trip and it was quite an adventure!

Of course, my husband and son wanted to climb up to walk over the bridge once we made it to the natural bridge! The views were just as amazing from the top as they were from the bottom of the hill!

However, this was more of an adventure than we planned on! We found several bear droppings along our way back to our vehicle!

Moose Falls

We thought we had seen all we were going to see on our last day in Yellowstone, but we happened upon an amazing waterfall on our way out the south entrance of the park!

This was a nice surprise for us!

It was definitely a beautiful and amazing stop!

You could climb down and get right into the water. I didn’t get my entire body in, but my flip-flops were off and my feet were it! It was COLD!

You could also walk up the hill, in the snow, and get a different view of the falls! It was surprising to me to find snow in June!

Here is the view from the path going up the hill!

TIP: Flip-flops are NOT good in snow! I love my flip-flops, but they were not appropriate for this slippery trail. I decided bare feet in the snow was the better option than flip-flops, so I didn’t go for an unintentional swim!

Bison

I love all of the wildlife throughout Yellowstone National Park. I was most amazed by the bison. We definitely don’t have those in Indiana, not even in zoos!

Here is a bison wandering alone. We did not see bison alone in the park, besides this one occasion.

One thing I was not aware of before our trips were “bison jams.” Yellowstone is the bisons’ home and we are visitors to their home.

They wander where they please and when they please. They even wander through the roads and cause traffic jams known as bison jams. We were stuck in bison jams on two different occasions. It took about an hour and a half each time to get through, but I did get some unique pictures!

The herds of bison were huge! I had no idea the bison herds would be so large!

Snow in June!

Snow was definitely a bonus find! We had no idea that we would find snow, particularly because we visited in June!

It was a surprise, but it was an amazing treat and I’m not even a huge fan of snow!

However, my kid that loves snow!

I love the look of joy on his face!

This is when he was throwing snow in my general direction. I threw some snow back…he found it in his pocket at our next stop!

We really were excited to see snow on summer vacation!

Simple Beauty of Nature

I am definitely an indoor girl, but this trip opened my eyes to the beauty and grandeur of some of what the US has to offer!

These pictures look like they could be puzzles or postcards. However, they are just pictures that I took while we explored the park!

I also loved the variety of nature we were able to experience. Snowcapped mountains! Lakes and rivers! Trees left behind after forest fires (my husband’s favorite, he’s a firefighter)!

The rivers were some of my favorite sites! I’ve always loved the water! I’m much more of a beach girl, but the rivers were beautiful and I enjoyed putting my feet in them! (It was too cold for my entire body!)

Visiting Yellowstone is definitely something everyone should do at least once in their lives! I very much enjoyed our out west adventure, visiting several National Parks along the way! I would recommend such a trip to everyone and I hope I have the opportunity to do it again sometime!

Check out these hotel options in the Yellowstone area:

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