Smoke was rising from the earth everywhere. It felt like we were in a different world, eerie and bizarre. The clouds were heavy, and dusk was falling quickly. And we didn’t know where we were going or what we might encounter along the way.
After traveling by plane for two days (don’t ask) and driving several hours, we finally arrived in Yellowstone for our vacation last summer. Thinking about where, if anywhere, we want to travel this summer, the adventure and freedom of last year’s vacation, seems a lifetime ago.
It’s been fun to look through the pictures I took and remember that trip.If you have kids in elementary school or older, I would highly recommend visiting Yellowstone. It was so much different than I had imagined, definitely an un-paralleled world. I did see vacationers traveling with young kiddos, but that wouldn’t have been for me. I would need my kids to be old enough to understand they could not leave the path and walk on the smoking hot earth or mud that might engulf them. (Luckily, my son was 24, so no problem there.) We stayed in West Yellowstone, at the Gray Wolf Inn. It was a great location for getting around Yellowstone, and very family friendly. Yellowstone is huge, much bigger than I had imagined. But it’s easy to break it up into 4 quadrants and explore a quadrant each day.
Grand Prismatic Spring
The Grand Prismatic Spring had amazingly beautiful colors. There were so many different angles to view it from, one from way up on the surrounding hills. I definitely got my steps in on this vacation!
Geysers
Of course we saw Old Faithful but later that day we just stumbled upon the Great Fountain Geyser just as it was about to go off. This was more exciting to me than Old Faithful. 
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
There were beautiful waterfalls in several places, and you could view the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone from both sides.
Animals
After the first two days, I was disappointed that we hadn’t seen any wild animals, but that all changed as we went to the eastern side of the park. Buffalo were everywhere, as far as the eye could wee. We also saw elk, a bear, and a coyote. No wolves, though. 
I plan to take some time to relax with my family this summer. I hope you are able to do the same, even if it is staying in the same location we’ve been in for most of the year. Let me know what your favorite vacation was, or how you plan to make the most of vacation time this year.