This end-of-the-alphabet thing is no joke! (Today is Y!)
While I’ve struggled with other late letters (obviously X, as it was a few days late…), I immediately thought of Yellowstone National Park for Y. This particular national park is a special one for me, as I grew up about an hour and a half from an entrance to the park. I visited many times while I was growing up, and even went on several “work trips.”
On one trip, I attended a several night writing workshop and saw baby wolves.
For a week during the summer before my senior year of high school, I camped in Yellowstone, worked for the Montana Conservation Corps, stayed up all night watching a meteor shower, and collected some bear fur that I found four years later in my bedroom (which caused quite a freak-out before I figured out what it was).
Another time, I went on a biking trip in the park before the roads opened to cars, and ended up having to carry my bike as a buffer between me and some bison on the road.
Then there was that trip where I got a 2nd degree burn from sticking my hand into a hot springs area that were…too hot. (It is called the Boiling River…boiling, Amy.)
Yellowstone National Park is obviously an experience. As the first national park here in the United States, in 1871, it deserves its title. It’s beautiful, remote, giant, and full of wildlife. Major attractions include the Old Faithful Geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Lake, Lamar Valley (most famous for the wolves!), the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and Tower Falls. While I don’t have pictures from every corner, because most of my sojourns in the park were before I had a camera (much less a camera phone…and now you know I’m old).
Yellowstone National Park practically raised me, and I always feel that elusive (well, for me…I’m sure some of you understand!) sense of “home” when I go back there. It was the place I went several times to push me out of my comfort zone, and I really do think it helped shape my personality. I hope to go back someday soon…but it’s also a place I know I will always go back to in my life.
Just like a home.
^the Boiling River…this time safely from my window. Although it is a great hot springs, just be careful!
^my cousin at Mammoth Hot Springs.
^some of the hot pots at Mammoth Hot Springs.
^me and the cousins at Yellowstone (I can’t believe I don’t have any pictures of myself and my siblings there??)
^overlooking the Lamar Valley.
^can you spot the elk?
^hello Mr. Bison!
^some lady elk.
^the writing workshop camp in the Lamar Valley.
^look at the color of that water. no filter
^Cooke City, on the edge of the park.
Linking up again for Travel Tuesday!
