My First Trip to Yellowstone, Documented

I just moved to Bozeman and my mother came to visit, so I decided I would do the touristy thing and drive through Yellowstone National Park for the first time.

One: I had no clue what entrance to start at, so we just picked one. I loaded up my mother, my son, and my niece and we were off. We were all pretty excited about it! The car vote was that we hoped to see a bear. Spoiler, we did not. Although my son claims he saw a number of them, a child's imagination is a wonderful thing.

As we headed to the north entrance by Gallatin, we took in all the breathtaking views of mountains, streams, and elk. About an hour and 20 mins into our drive, we entered the park. Free of charge (thanks to my mother's senior discount, hopefully she doesn't see this!) The traffic was not bad at all, we went from 2:30-7pm and it seems like that time was perfect.

We drove through, stopping for pictures, bison, and more elk. We got half way through our approximated four hours sightseeing adventure and were ready to head to the last little loop. Come to find out, that road was closed, so back through the exact route we just took. It was just as beautiful as the first time though. Stopping at Canary Springs for a little, we stayed for about 20 minutes, until we couldn't take the smell of sulfur anymore. It was potent, but the site was so incredible. As my mother put it, "looks like snow, smells like eggs, and feels like powder".

Moments like these, the sightseeing, the memories, and the photo opportunities are irreplaceable. I feel incredibly grateful for our little adventure, even if we didn't see a bear.