{"id":2081,"date":"2013-06-20T08:36:59","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T12:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesg.net\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2013-08-12T09:25:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T13:25:57","slug":"yellowstone-national-park-3-day-trip-hitting-all-the-hilights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamesg.net\/?p=2081","title":{"rendered":"Yellowstone National Park – 3 day trip hitting all the hilights"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a day sightseeing in Las Vegas, we headed to the airport and caught an Allegiant Flight to Idaho Falls. \u00a0If there ever was a competition for most terrible flying experience, flying on Allegiant Air<\/a> would win the grand prize. \u00a0Idaho Falls Airport (IDA) is very small, and we were able to quickly grab a rental car from the Hertz Gold area while waiting for luggage to arrive. \u00a0Once we had our luggage, we headed to Walmart to grab some hiking snacks and grabbed lunch at a local BBQ restaurant. \u00a0 From there it was a very easy drive, some interstate and quite a bit of vacant back roads.<\/p>\n

After arriving in Yellowstone via the West entrance, we headed towards Old Faithful<\/a>. \u00a0Old Faithful isn’t the most active, or the largest geyser in the park, but it’s one of the most active large geysers, so it’s perhaps the best known tourist destination in the park. \u00a0Along the way, we stopped to take photos at a few of the parking areas along the lower geyser basin<\/a>. \u00a0Just before Old Faithful, I chose a quiet trail to propose to Kaitlin on \ud83d\ude42 (see photos in gallery). \u00a0We arrived at Old Faithful just in time, it started to erupt within \u00a0only a few minutes of waiting. \u00a0That night we stayed in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel<\/a> area, but in a frontier cabin instead of the hotel. \u00a0I had read mixed reviews on these cabins, but they were very clean and very basic. \u00a0No wifi access. \u00a0We ate in the dining hall and the dinner was fantastic.<\/p>\n

The next morning we headed towards Hayden and Lamar Valley’s looking for wildlife. \u00a0If you’re looking for wildlife spotting tips– stop reading here, we didn’t have much luck this trip. \u00a0We saw tons of bison, a few female elk, a couple of prong horn, and that was it. \u00a0We did see plenty of stunning scenery however. \u00a0The next two nights we stayed in a Frontier Cabin at \u00a0Canyon Lodge. \u00a0This cabin was set back in the woods a little ways away from the dining hall, but it was only a couple minutes drive to dinner, or they’d even pick you up with a free shuttle (although we never used it). \u00a0The food here was a lot more basic than what we experienced at Lake Hotel, but I had a bison burger which was very reasonably priced and also tasty.<\/p>\n

The following morning we once again went looking (without success) for wildlife along Hayden and Lamar Valleys. \u00a0Still beautiful landscapes, but no wildlife. \u00a0We then headed to Mammoth Hot Springs, which turned out to be the name of the town and not actually a large hot spring as we had expected. \u00a0On the way back we stopped to see Yellowstone Falls. \u00a0This sit was extremely crowded, but the view was amazing. \u00a0We pushed ourselves in for a quick photo. \u00a0Around here was the first time I “got” why they called it YELLOWstone, the canyon walls carved by the river were yellow. \u00a0Same formations as what you always see around the Grand Canyon, but the walls were yellow instead of read– super neat.<\/p>\n