Grand Adventures in Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming (National Parks Trip #1)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the first of our three cross country National Parks camping trips with travel trailer in tow.

Yellowstone, with its geothermal features, rivers, lakes, mountains and prairies provided us with a unique and incredible experience.  Although our family spent four full days exploring this Park – our country’s first official National Park – we could easily go back and spend another week there.  Each day in Yellowstone had its own special highlights, and one of our most memorable was the opportunity to watch the elusive wolf pack in the Lamar Valley.  The wolves were distant, but easily visible with binoculars, and this marked the first and only time we have ever seen wolves in the wild.  As much as we would have loved to spend even more time exploring Yellowstone, it was time to head south to Grand Teton National Park.

A Tribute to Friendship

Today is opening day of trout season in New York and it’s a bittersweet day for me.  Even though we live just a hop, skip and a jump from a well-known trout stream here in the northeast, I don’t fish, and the season itself doesn’t impact me in any way other than the fact that I’ll notice a number of vehicles parked at the various access points to the stream.  The reason it’s significant is because it was always a special day for my friend Bob.  Bob might possibly have been the first blogger on earth since he was on the job long before the term “blogging” was coined.

A Scavenger Hunt of the Most Unique Kind - West Yellowstone, Montana (National Parks Trip #1)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the first of our three cross country National Parks camping trips with travel trailer in tow.

Alan and I had talked for years about re-creating our honeymoon trip during which we tent-camped our way across the country to visit a number of grand and glorious National Parks and Monuments in the west.  We wanted to share that same adventure with the kids and, in the summer of 2007, we did just that.  Instead of a two man mountain tent, we slept in our travel trailer, but aside from that concession to our formerly youthful bodies, the adventure was much the same.  We hit all the same National Parks – Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain - picnicked at mountain lakes, hiked some of the same trails we had taken 28 years ago and saw the awe on the faces of our children as we introduced them to America.

In my previous post in this series, I had mentioned a scavenger hunt on which we had dragged the kids along.  I wouldn’t be able to share this story with you if I didn’t take you back in time to a cold September night in West Yellowstone 28 years prior to this trip . . .

The Mystical, Magical Landscape of Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (National Parks Trip #1)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the first of our three cross country National Parks camping trips with travel trailer in tow.

More than 35 years ago, as young adults, Alan and I had honeymooned by tent camping across the United States visiting seven of the grand and glorious National Parks and Monuments in the west.  In 2007, we re-created that very same trip with our kids who were ages 13 and 8 at the time.  It would prove to be the first of three National Parks camping trips (so far!) we would take following the purchase of our first travel trailer in 2006.

 

One of Yellowstone National Park's many scenic rivers

While I do love ALL of our National Parks, the visit to Yellowstone proved to be the highlight of that first cross country trip.  Why?  The most obvious answer is because of the geothermal activity in the Park courtesy of the numerous geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles.

A Camping Epiphany in Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (National Parks Trip #1)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the first of our three cross country National Parks camping trips with our travel trailer in tow.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary uses the following phrases (among others) to define the word “epiphany”:  (1) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking; and (3) an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure; a revealing scene or moment.  Well, let me tell you, people, I had a camping epiphany in Yellowstone National Park and it happened in the Madison Campground.