Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons Review

Wow, the US is gorgeous.....and big!  I just got back from a five day trip to Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons with my 13 year old nephew.  What a fantastic trip! It is like bringing your 7th grade science class with you on tour.

I generally knew what a Geyser was, but, well not exactly.  And the difference between a Geyser and a Hot Spring or Boiling Mud Pot?  No, not at all.  With land spontaneously spitting out steam and mud bubbles, you can see why a 13 year old boy had a fabulous time.  The prismatic and volatile earthly wonders that are Yellowstone, which basically sits on an active volcanic mass that is ready to blow at any time, would be enough to entertain my nephew and I for quite a while.  Place this organic, living setting against the backdrop of plush green, rolling valleys, mountains, peaks and waterfalls, and we were ecstatic.  But add in all the wildlife that stroll before your eyes: black bears, grizzly bears, bald eagles, fox, moose, mountain ram, elk, antelope, snakes, yellow-belly marmots and buffalo, and we were giddy with excitement! 

Yellowstone is basically a big circle and I highly recommend that you do more than just see old Faithful and the Geysers in the South. It is very much worth while to drive up to the Northern part of Yellowstone. It is the least populated, has the best hiking, offers the most animal sightings and gives you the Yellowstone that you see in pictures: lush green valley and open, open sky.  We stayed at Roosevelt cabins ( only $65 per night) and it was like being in the Wild West.  It offers just a bed, with communal ( nice!) bathrooms and showers a few steps away, but was nestled at the bottom of a rolling hill that lead to one of our favorite hikes.  Bears can and do stroll by when they feel like it, which is exactly what we wanted.

If all this  wasn't enough, upon leaving Yellowstone, you immediately hit the Grand Tetons.  Here we stayed at Colter Bay Cabins which were so quaint and lovely at $85 with a bath and right at the base of Jackson Lake.   We canoed ( with the Grand Tetons just shooting up into the sky and reflecting back on the water, oh!) and hiked and skipped stones into Lake Jackson.  What a glorious trip!  Not to mention, the Grand Tetons gave me a chance to brush up on what is a glacier exactly ( you'll have to cut me some slack. I am from Chicago) and as always, we had to watch out for bears. Hee, hee!