(6/29 – 7/8/2018)
My mom brought my nephew and niece to visit us in summer 2018. Grandma dictated that we were to take Nephew and Niece on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. She also instructed us that we should include a variety of places so that Nephew and Niece could have a “full educational experience”!
Day 1: Idaho
We stayed in Reno last night, and this morning we were driving to Idaho. Since we had a long drive, we only planned to visit Shoshone Falls today. When we arrived, it was already late afternoon.
Shoshone Falls is a very large and broad waterfall near Twin Falls, Idaho. It’s called “The Niagara of the West.” Even though it’s the end of June, there was still plenty of water, though the waterfall wasn’t as magnificent as we’d expected.
After spending some time walking around and taking photos, it’s time to get going to tonight’s hotel in Burley, Idaho.
Day 2: Yellowstone National Park
Twin Falls was about half a day’s drive to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, is the first US national park. We arrived at Yellowstone shortly before noon from the north entrance. Today we would only explore the northern part of the park.
We first went to Norris Geyser Basin information center to gather information and to purchase National Park Passports for Nephew and Niece so that they could start collecting stamps. Nephew and Niece also did additional shopping at the gift shop. They both have been saving their allowances for this. Norris Geyser Basin wasn’t very crowded. We walked on the boardwalk and were able to see the colorful terrain with many smoking holes.
Then we went to the Yellowstone Canyon to view the waterfall. Yellowstone Canyon was very colorful with a raging river flowing through. The magnificent Yellowstone Falls were thundering with huge amounts of water and were super impressive!
On the way to Mammoth Hot Springs, we found a spot with snow on the ground. Nephew and Niece were from a warmer region and had few chances of touching snow, so we had a quick stop to allow them time to explore. We also saw a black bear and some elks on the way!
Mammoth Hot Springs was considered one of the major attractions of Yellowstone National Park. There were series of yellow and white colored travertine terraces like frozen waterfalls. There were other thermos formations in the area. Liberty Cap was a distinctive dormant hot spring cone like a giant ant hill.
It was already close to 5pm, so we started to drive to our lodging in West Yellowstone. There was a big traffic jam on the way, because there was an elk on the roadside, and many drivers stopped to take photos.
Since Grandma didn’t inform us of their plan until several months ago, I could only get lodging in West Yellowstone. The options were also very limited there. I managed to get 2 rooms in a motel, which cost $300 per room, per night! Therefore, we would just stay for one night.
Day 3: More Yellowstone then Grand Teton NP
Every Yellowstone visit would include The Old Faithful Geyser, so that’s where we were heading this morning. On the way there, a big bison walked very close to our car, and it’s really worrisome even though that allowed us to take an excellent photo.
The Old Faithful Geyser did erupt faithfully. Nephew and Niece were both excited and asked us to take photos of them in front of the eruption.
Next, we went to visit the very colorful Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s the largest hot spring in Yellowstone. The outer ring was red, orange and yellow. Then a ring of green and light blue encircled the sapphire center. It basically included all the colors of a rainbow and was truly amazing. We walked around the hot spring, and of course we spent a lot of time taking many photos there.
We had a quick lunch break before driving past Yellowstone Lake in the south to enter Grand Teton National Park. We didn’t spend too much time in Grand Teton, though Nephew and Niece were able to go to the visitor center to collect their stamps.
We stayed in Afton for the night. We would drive to Utah tomorrow.
Day 4: Dinosaur National Monument
Almost all kids loved dinosaurs and dreamed of touching real dinosaur bones. So, we were taking Nephew and Niece to Dinosaur National Monument today.
There was a giant Stegosaurus model outside the monument, where we all posed for photos. A tram ride took us to the Quarry Exhibit Hall, where we could get educated and were able to touch real dinosaur bones. Both Nephew and Niece were thrilled with the experience, and Grandma was glad that they could “get educated” on vacation. Rei and I had never touched real dinosaur bones either, so we were equally excited.
Quarry Exhibit Hall was a huge building with an exterior of many glasses to bring in the light. There was a big wall inside with many dinosaur bones still embedded in it. Visitors could walk around to explore and touch the bones. There were also many exhibitions with detailed explanations. It’s a paradise for dinosaur aficionados!
There were petroglyph sites within the national monument too. (More about petroglyph later.) We visited a couple and took many photos. Then it was already mid-afternoon, and we had to leave to go to tonight’s lodge in Vernal, Utah.
Day 5: Fantasy Canyon
Not many people have heard of Fantasy Canyon in Utah, but it’s really an amazing site. It is in the northeastern corner of Utah and can only be reached by driving on some unpaved roads. Due to its remoteness, we hardly saw any other tourists here.
Fantasy Canyon is in an arid region with little vegetations. The place is not large, but it is full of interesting and somewhat weird rock formations created by weathering and erosion. It’s unlike any places I’ve visited before. The place was truly a fantasyland. People walked around the area and used their imagination to name the rocks. We spent a couple of hours there exploring and taking photos.
There were some pronghorns wandering in the area, and I managed to take some photos.
Afterwards, we drove to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where we would spend two nights. We had very long drive today.
Day 6: Glenwood Springs
Rei and I were avid hikers. We wanted to hike Hanging Lake Trail to see the beautiful Hanging Lake. Others only wanted an easy walk along the Colorado River. Moreover, Glenwood Spring was one of the larger towns on this trip, so they wanted to do some shopping.
Therefore, only Rei and I hiked the short but steep Hanging Lake Trail. This was a verdant place with lots of trees, shrubs and flowers. It’s great to see a change of scenery after the last couple of days of arid and brown views. We saw some yellow-colored columbine flowers near the lake. The area was quiet; there weren’t a lot of people there. The emerald-colored lake was serene and scenic. There were also waterfalls in the area.
After we returned to the hotel, they were done shopping too. So, we went out together to stroll along the Colorado River. It was a flatter and easier walk. We saw many beautiful flowers and butterflies on the way.
Glenwood Springs is also famous for its hot springs. None of them wanted to go to the hot springs either, so it’s just Rei and me. The water wasn’t very hot, but it was still quite relaxing. We spent an hour or so soaking in the hot springs before returning to the lodge to have dinner with them.
Since we spent two nights in Glenwood Springs, today was a more relaxing day without long drive. This gave everyone a chance to rest and to recover.
By the way, Colorado State has a historic hot springs loop where people can drive along and soak in many different hot springs. Glenwood Springs is one of them. Rei and I both enjoy hot springs. Hopefully we will be able to drive the loop someday.
Day 7: Sego Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park
Not many people heard of Sego Canyon either, though it’s archaeologically important with Fremont, Ute and Barrier-style ancient petroglyphs and pictographs. Sego Canyon is also in northeastern Utah, between Fantasy Canyon and Moab. We had to drive on some unpaved road to reach the canyon and the petroglyph and pictograph sites.
Fremont people were thought to live in the area from 600 to 1250 A.D. Fremont rock art had distinctive geometric human figures with inverted triangle bodies. Petroglyphs were more common for Fremont people. Some petroglyphs also included bighorn sheep.
Barrier-style rock art composed of pictographs of “alien-like” people. They dated to the late Archaic period, probably between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., older than the Fremont. There’s a big panel of several painted figures in red in Sego Canyon. The rock art was protected by fences, but we were able to take very good photos.
(Petroglyphs were carved rock arts, while pictographs were painted. They were jokingly referred to as “ancient graffiti.”)
After Sego Canyon, we drove to Capitol Reef National Park (so that Nephew and Niece could collect more stamps). There’s an orchard with apricots. Visitors could pick their own apricots, and the price was only $1 per pound! Such a good deal! Grandma, Nephew and Niece all had great fun picking apricots. The fruit was ripe and very sweet.
We had a short hike inside the national park. We could see interesting red sandstone formations from the trail. It was very hot today, so we didn’t do a long hike. Utah has several other national parks too. However, we didn’t have enough time, and the weather was too hot for hiking; therefore, Capitol Reef was the only Utah’s Big 5 we visited on this trip. (The other four are Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Zion. Rei and I have been to all of them.)
Afterwards, we drove to Torrey to check into tonight’s lodge. We treated them to a nice dinner at Café Diablo.
Day 8: Great Basin National Park
Today would be the last sightseeing day, and we were going to Great Basin National Park (another stamp opportunity). I booked a Lehman Cave Grand Palace Tour for all of us. Nephew and Niece were very excited because they had never been to a cave with stalagmites and stalactites. Grandma was also very glad because it’s very educational!
Rei and I have been to several caves, and therefore we weren’t very excited. However, the guiding ranger did tell interesting stories. He told us that many years ago, people put graffiti inside the cave. However, according to the law, anything older than 50 years old was considered historical, and therefore they couldn’t remove the graffiti!
So, this ended the US West National Park driving trip. We simply drove home from Nevada the next day. However, we stopped by a Pony Express memorial on the way home.
This trip covered a variety of places including national parks, scenic routes and archaeological sites. Grandma, Nephew and Niece were all very satisfied.
Amy 'n Rei 