Highlights from Yellowstone National Park

From June 29th through July 3rd, I went to Yellowstone National Park with one my best friends and another friend of hers (whom I now consider my friend as well).  It was the first time in quite awhile I’d really been able to get out of the house and have some fun and do something different.  And it was absolutely wonderful.

Anyone who’s been to Yellowstone knows how amazing it is.  Anyone who hasn’t been can probably guess a bit, or has seen some photos or a special on the Discovery Channel or something.  If you doubt it, let me assure you: Yellowstone is amazing, breath-taking, and inspiring.

It’s also exhausting.  The air was thin and dry, especially for someone like me who’s accustomed to the 100% humidity in Houston.  It took my lungs some time to adjust.  And we did SO MUCH walking and hiking!  Wooden boardwalks and stairs going up and down hills and mountains and around enormous geyser basins.  Hiking trails that go up and down and up mountains and over waterfalls.  I swear, we won’t need to exercise again for at least a year!  Though, by the time I got home, I was actually so used to the level of activity that the first couple days sitting around the house had me nearly pulling my hair out of my head.  I definitely need to find some kind of physical activity to keep my occupied.

So, on this little trip, I took 1,037 photos.  There’s no way I could share all of them, obviously.  And, of course, probably only half of them are actually any good.  I managed to narrow it down to 200 to share on Facebook.  But I definitely couldn’t put 200 photos on the blog, so I’ve been struggling to pick just a handful to share with you folks.  I’ve decided not to post any of the ones with people in them – its really not important to see me sitting in front of this or that geyser and what not, the important thing is the park itself.  So, here’s what I’ve got for you:

Young elk we saw on our first day in the park, not an hour after we got through the main entrance

Bison, just past the car.

I love this shot.

Clepsydra Geyser

Old Faithful Geyser

Blue Star Spring

Beehive Geyser (easily the most impressive one we saw erupt – it was HUGE)

Beehive Geyser, close up

Grotto Geyser – this never erupted (apparently it doesn’t very often) but it was bubbling and spraying a lot

not sure which spring this is

Grand Prismatic Spring – one of my favorite sights

Grand Prismatic Spring

Mound Spring in the Mammoth Hot Springs

A bacteria mat near Canary Spring

Canary Spring in the Mammoth Hot Springs

A bear we saw from REALLY far off – I zoomed in on my camera as much as I could

Lake Yellowstone at sunset

The Upper Falls – which were AMAZING

The Upper Falls

The Lower Falls

A meadow and creek in Hayden Valley

The main gate at the North Entrance, where we exited the park

The North Entrance Gate

As a note: all these pictures were taken with a fairly simply point-and-click camera, the Nikon Coolpix L100.  Someday I’d love to get my hands on a good DSLR and go back, but oh well…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos.  And please forgive me if they’re not utterly fantastic, I am not a photography by trade (though I love it).

Also, I have finished reading This Is Your Brain On Music, so expect a review of that pretty soon.  Until next time, folks!