Yellowstone National Park: Being a Tourist Amongst Tourists

I am not a worldly traveler, but I do like to sight see.  I am not an historian, but I do like history.  I am not a photographer, but I do like to take pictures.  I am not a creeper, but I do enjoy people watching!

 

 
We packed up our Subaru and drove 1800 miles, burning 72 gallons of gas in 4 days, to visit Yellowstone, our nations first national park.  Hmmm, 1800/72 the year the park was established...very strange...

 

There were so many different ethnicity's represented.  All of us with a common goal.  See and document as much of the park as possible.  It was very interesting seeing how all of us, though culturally different, shared the same awestruck faces when taking in all the natural beauty.  The range of color, temperature and scenery kept you wanting to see more.

 Walking around with my wife and daughter made me miss having my son with us (he had to work), at the same time relishing being able to share this experience with them.  

 There were couples pushing strollers, and elderly being helped by younger family members.  There were tour buses and RV's and there were bicyclists.  There were motorcyclists and there were hitchhikers.  Just about any type of person you could imagine, was represented.

 

Being born and raised in Hawaii, there was always natural beauty to be seen.  Here at Yellowstone the waterfalls were  different than what I was accustomed to.  In Hawaii it was sort of natural to see a waterfall cascading down a green mountain side.  Here you might hike awhile seeing sparse vegetation and dry rocky mountains  and all of a sudden there is a waterfall in a deep canyon.

The rivers varied quite a bit also.  Some were in deep valleys and some had wildlife in and around them.  I am drawn to water anyway , but seeing the rivers here was always a reason to stop, not that I did, I just wanted to.

There was time while learning, for some goofing around.  I usually do more goofing around than learning.  But, if it wasn't for my goofing around I might not want to learn anything!

The views and scenery are incredible and well worth whatever it takes to get there.  These pictures don't do it justice.  This park is truly a must see in person, once in a lifetime, bucket list...cliché .

Just in case you were wondering, yes, we did go see Old Faithful.  We also did go shopping, but I won't bore you with any of that!

This was an awesome experience that everyone should try to do.  We were only in the park 2 days and it wasn't nearly enough to even scratch the surface.  We have plans to return, but don't know when.

Enough rambling for today, tomorrow is just a short sleep away...