Favorite place: Yellowstone National Park

When I was younger, my grandparents and I went on many adventures. I was, and still am, very curious, so my grandparents hit all the destinations where there was a rich history or places where I could learn little things about nature, or how the world functions. These early experiences provided a passion to not only travel but to fully experience the atmosphere and culture around me.

Yellowstone National Park was one of these destinations, we loved it so much we went twice.

We would always travel in the summer, but in Wyoming, there's still snow. On our first trip, we got to witness a pretty severe snow storm. We were blocked out of the northern part of the park and had to completely switch our plans. However, we got to see beautiful snow covered sites, build snowmen, and eat the best pancakes I've ever had.

(Personal Photo of my grandfather and I with our

 Squidward-esque snowman; Photo from June 2007) 

If it weren't for that storm, we would have missed out on being stranded behind bison who didn't know how to share the road, seeing ducks skate across a frozen pond, or walk through the seemingly enchanted forest that connected our hotel to a shopping center.

(Personal Photo of Bison on Roadway; Photo from June 2007)

Our second trip was more mild so we got to adventure more comfortably. This trip is when we really saw the wildlife and had a greater focus on how we impact the world around us. The weather was beautiful and we spent every moment we could outside. We were able to see the grand canyon of Yellowstone and the Colorado river. We rock climbed, went on bear searches, and saw how natural wildfires can be very scary, but important for forest health. 

(Personal Photo of Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; 

Photo from July 2010)

Both trips we were able to stay at the coveted Old Faithful Inn, with architecture that is pretty breathtaking, but no TV's (something 10 year old me was quite troubled over). We would spend nights playing card games, drinking hot chocolate, and watching the geysers erupt. 

(Personal Photo of my grandfather and I playing a round of 

Gin Rummy; Photo from June 2007)

There's a calmness to this place that is unparalleled. It's like time stops ticking by and you can actually breath for a minute. I'll acknowledge that it is a bit of a tourist trap, but after a while you begin to focus less on site seeing and the people around you and more on the nature and the flow of things. The rotten egg smell however, is something I could do without. 

(Personal photo of Colorado River; photo from June 2007)

We traveled to many other "bucket list" places that are probably more noteworthy, or more appealing to others, but Yellowstone is somewhere I will always gladly voyage to.

(Photo of Grand Prismatic by Jacob W. Frank 2018. Source Flickr)