A Day at Yellowstone

Dad and I spent the day at Yellowstone National Park. It was amazing. We had beautiful weather (sunny, 60 degrees) and saw many spectacular views. To see the vastly different ecosystems within the park is pretty incredible. From geysers to dry and rocky to Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (awesome)...there is so much to see and do! I managed to talk Dad into taking a 3.6 mile hike on Elephant Back trail, the top opening out into a spectacular view of Yellowstone Lake. I know once Dad gets back home he is going to tell everyone, "Ashley tried to kill me! She dragged me straight up a mountain!", but only half the hike was up (although it was quite steep) AND I let him sit and enjoy a PowerBar at the top! I think that was pretty generous of me :) After that we made our way to the Old Faithful geyser where we stopped to checked out the Old Faithful Inn, one of the parks few hotels and something my mom would love. From its gigantic fireplace in the lobby (made with over 500 tons of stone!) to its outdoor deck overlooking the geyser after which it was named, it's really beautiful. I should have lobbied to stay there instead of the Days Inn we are headed to now! After scoping out the Inn and what could have been, Dad and I got some cookies, milk and hot chocolate and headed towards the geyser for its next show. It was fantastic to witness such nature in action when it errupted. I would have to say our only disappointment from today was that we didn't get to see a bear...and let me tell you, we were looking! Our hike was through bear country! I'd say that's not much to complain about though given the day we had...and I even said to Dad when we were on our hike (about 2 miles out in the woods at the top of a mountain), "I know I said I wanted to see a bear, but I think if I saw one out here right now I might shit my pants!" :)