Island Park, Idaho ---Yellowstone Day 1

This year, my family decided to try something new for our summer adventure. A large cabin was rented in Island Park, Idaho on the lake. When I say large...it held all 25 something of us quite nicely! This area is beautiful and Yellowstone was just a few miles away so that was our first adventure while in the area.

I have never been to Yellowstone National Park and had no idea what to expect. This is a large park and you end up driving and stopping along the way to see what it has to offer. While driving we would all of a sudden hit a traffic jam...these are not usual traffic jams because it usually meant something exciting was along the road to see. The first jam we got in was an 'eagle jam'. This one...not too exciting. Large eagle sitting in nest. The next jam was a little more exciting...we knew from how long it was...it was something good. We all hoped for a 'bear jam' but we got a 'buffalo jam'. This was a huge herd of buffalo to the side of the road. They are ugly animals..but impressive. What was interesting was later in the day we returned this same way and every single buffalo was gone! I was surprised.

You cant make a trip to Yellowstone without stopping to see Old Faithful Geyser. Named because it is very reliable and every hour it erupts. So we stopped and ate our lunch while we awaited the show! It was very cool to watch.

I cant remember how high this thing shot up...but pretty amazing.

This was our lucky day at Yellowstone...because just down the path is Castle Geyser. It is not as faithful as Old Faithful and hard to catch. Rumor had it that it was going to go off within the hour so we headed down that way.

It was a bit of a wait. But with fun cousins and dirt along...all were entertained!

Ben gave up watching for this one....it was a good one too...he would have enjoyed!!

Castle Geyser...well worth the wait.

Castle Geyser

We had a few more stops this day including a few paint pots. We loved having all the family along to explore with! It made the drive and waiting so much more fun!!