One of the Best

Come forth into the light of things. 

Let nature be your teacher.

--W. Wordsworth

I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere around these interweb parts that I've spent a great portion of my life in Yellowstone National Park given that it's (probably) my dad's most favorite spot on Earth. The distance between Southern California and Yellowstone did not deter my father from trekking us up there for family vacations. And now that my parents live just hours from "The Park," as it's affectionately known in the extended family, it's become a yearly (or semi-annual) destination. Without fail, family members call other family members and report the animal sightings seen on their most recent visit. Typically, these calls are only meant to taunt and tease and usually don't disappoint in meeting this purpose. We can all spend several hours sharing our Yellowstone stories and talk about The Park in such a way that most people would be entirely lost (or bored) during the conversation.

But it's nice to reach a point with The Park that there's no mad dashing around to try and see everything. Instead, itineraries are now built around just seeing what we like most or haven't seen in a long while. For this family, it means a visit at just a slightly slower pace, spending time really getting to know a location or discovering lesser known areas that are seldom visited by loud, brash motorhoming tourists.

So when we discussed our holiday visit to Billings, my sister and I told our parents that we wanted to actually do something given that generally our winter visit consists of lots and lots of lounging in quitters, reading books, and watching movies. We wanted to do a little of those things, too, but since Billings is not our childhood home, cabin fever sets in pretty quickly.

So we were excited when my dad suggested that we take a winter trip to The Park--something that this family has never done. We invited grandmother along, since she would be in Cody for the holidays. And as a cozy group of five, we huddled in the Subaru as we drove to West Yellowstone the night before our winter sojourn by snowcoach into The Park.

I had been told that winter in Yellowstone was like nothing ever experienced. And this verdict proved to be true.


In all honesty, I think this winter trip into The Park rates as one of my top 5 nature experiences. The place was so unbelievably quiet, especially compared to the summer months, and seemingly so much more vast and desolate. Fresh snow added a delicate layer to the landscape, adding contrast to rich colors in the hot pools. And luckily, our snowcoach guide was a patient man who let us stop to get out and gave us time to explore the geyser basins at our own pace. Many times, the 10 of us in our group were the only ones on those icy boardwalks, and I spent a lot of my time thinking about visiting again next winter. I somehow need to get myself on skis and on some of those trails, because they were begging to be explored.

It really was a perfect day. And while we saw no bears or moose, we saw the usual elk and bison, plus 4 bald eagles and a bob cat.