Wow, can't believe I actually took this amazing picture! Good old Yellowstone never disappoints. It is a photographer's dream, with astounding gorgeousness aroung ever corner. We added a couple of days to our annual visit to see my parents in Wyoming and headed up to the northwest corner of the state to explore the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.
You just cannot imagine how beautiful this place is. It is mind-blowing, at any season of the year, but especially in the fullness of springtime. The weather wasn't so hot as we entered the Tetons, but we didn't let that stop us! We just put on our Stampin' Up fleece jackets and jeans and they were enough. Thankfully, the rain showers did not seem to affect the amount of wildlife there was to be seen.
You'll just have to take my word for it–the fuzzy critter in the center of this next photo is a bear. I was delighted–I've been to this area several times before and never seen one. Too bad my camera auto-focused on the branches instead of the animal!
We pulled into the parking lot of our lodge and saw a big crowd of people out on the decking. We booked it over there and walked up just as Old Faithful went off! The kids were pretty amazed, although as I suspected, the smell of the bubbling pools and vents was a turn off. All the thermal features were neat, but my favorite geyser was not visible at all, actually–it's deep in a cave in the side of a hill. Dragon's Mouth Geyser (see a quick video with sound that I snagged off YouTube here) is very impressive and the bubbles exploding and sending the water against the walls really do sound just like a fire-breathing dragon hiding in a cave! 
I was struck by the appropriateness of the fact that we were visiting the country's first national park so close to the July Fourth weekend. How blessed we are to have such abundant beauty in our country!
