Yellowstone National Park

We've both been really excited to come to Yellowstone and we're glad to see that the roads have opened as planned today. We were starting to get worried with all the talk of 'worst winter ever' that we've been hearing. Driving in we decide to take the nature route which is the north road. We see lots of buffalo, deer, elk and a yellow-bellied marmot (who seemed to be as interested in watching us as we were him). Excitement mounts every time we think we've spotted a bear or wolf but each time it's just a rock or a big log, tut.

Stopping at Mammoth Springs we don't like the rotten egg smell but it's cool to see the different colours and the bubbling water. It starts to rain and it's getting late so we decide to head towards our motel for the nite, just as well as it's 30 miles away through more of the park with a 35mph speed limit! We know we can look forward to another day in Yellowstone tomorrow. We're staying in a really nice motel which has more of a B&B feel to it and is really cosy. Walking around the town we're not surprised to see that everything is closed for the season but we still manage to find a nice place for pizza and local beer, and it's well earned after a long day!

In the morning we set off early and we're excited to see the geysers and hot springs. As we're driving through the park James spots a tiny moving blob on the snow in the distance, but what is it? We take loads of pictures on full zoom and magnify as much as we can and agree...it's a wolf! Yet another animal ticked off the list, still waiting for those bears though!

Can you see him?

The next stops are Lower Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Springs where we 'ooh and ahh' at the different coloured hot springs and splurty geysers, they're wonderful to see up close. The colours (caused by thermophilic bacteria in the water) are so bright and vivid and waves of steam make the pools (and Christine) appear and disappear as if by magic.

On to the main attraction of Old Faithful. We sit next to a family who say they have been waiting for an hour so we should only have an half an hour to wait; Yes! After a while, and a few false starts, Old Faithful starts to splutter and then turns into a 40ft fountain! It lasts for about 5 minutes so we're surprised to see people leaving after 2 minutes. Fancy waiting for over an hour to see it and then not staying to watch it for the full 5 minutes, strange! When it's finished we go for a walk to see more geysers but most of the walking trails are still closed. We can still see a few different ones firing off in the distance.

Getting in the car we start to make our way out of the park but still have time to see more geysers and springs at Black Sand Basin, the eggy fumes have started to make us feel a bit sick though. We haven't booked anywhere to stay tonight so it's a drive for as long as we can manage until we spot some motels in Jackson. It's a spectacular drive through the mountains and we did well not to be on the road after dark!

We're disappointed with the no show bears, they're getting a bad review on tripadvisor! Wake up bears!